Military Service Negatively Affecting Med School Admissions?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

764rachel

New Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2012
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
I am joining the Coast Guard Reserves. Haven't signed anything yet, but I'm pretty committed / excited about going to boot camp this summer.

As a reservist, I would work 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks over the summer. It's a 6 year contract, and I'm an undergrad freshman now. I will be in until my third year of med school ends.

Assuming I maintain a competitive GPA and perform well on the MCAT, is this something that would deter the ad coms? I'd be leaving school and not studying once every month, and I could be called into active duty at any time.

Is this even possible, given the workload of a first year med student has?

Preciate the help!
 
I am joining the Coast Guard Reserves. Haven't signed anything yet, but I'm pretty committed / excited about going to boot camp this summer.

As a reservist, I would work 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks over the summer. It's a 6 year contract, and I'm an undergrad freshman now. I will be in until my third year of med school ends.

Assuming I maintain a competitive GPA and perform well on the MCAT, is this something that would deter the ad coms? I'd be leaving school and not studying once every month, and I could be called into active duty at any time.

Is this even possible, given the workload of a first year med student has?

Preciate the help!

They won't look down on it but I think you have better options if you apply for Armed Services Health Professions Scholarships. Once you get into medical school you can join either Navy, Army or Air Force and get free tuition + 20,000 stipend a year. You will have to serve for 4 years after your residency though.
 
I am joining the Coast Guard Reserves. Haven't signed anything yet, but I'm pretty committed / excited about going to boot camp this summer.

As a reservist, I would work 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks over the summer. It's a 6 year contract, and I'm an undergrad freshman now. I will be in until my third year of med school ends.

Assuming I maintain a competitive GPA and perform well on the MCAT, is this something that would deter the ad coms? I'd be leaving school and not studying once every month, and I could be called into active duty at any time.

Is this even possible, given the workload of a first year med student has?

Preciate the help!

Military service is almost never looked down upon by medical school admissions, from what I understand. You stand a better chance of getting in as a reservist than as a civilian.
 
USMC vet here, I'm a senior, starting med school in six months. Military service definitely helps your application, but when interview season comes around in a few years, you'll probably get a few questions to the effect of, "Your obligations to the military won't interfere with academic responsibilities, right?" (Which, there shouldn't be any big problems except for maybe third year of MS, depending on when your contract is up).
 
I am joining the Coast Guard Reserves. Haven't signed anything yet, but I'm pretty committed / excited about going to boot camp this summer.

As a reservist, I would work 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks over the summer. It's a 6 year contract, and I'm an undergrad freshman now. I will be in until my third year of med school ends.

Assuming I maintain a competitive GPA and perform well on the MCAT, is this something that would deter the ad coms? I'd be leaving school and not studying once every month, and I could be called into active duty at any time.

Is this even possible, given the workload of a first year med student has?

Preciate the help!

First year won't be the problem. 1 weekend a month can be problematic in third year however, since you don't actually get most weekends off. Unless the school is willing to work with you, you might end up delaying your clinical years by a year. At any rate, military service isn't frowned upon, but as bigloley notes, there may be wiser paths.
 
First year won't be the problem. 1 weekend a month can be problematic in third year however, since you don't actually get most weekends off. Unless the school is willing to work with you, you might end up delaying your clinical years by a year. At any rate, military service isn't frowned upon, but as bigloley notes, there may be wiser paths.

Worst case scenario OP could use that year as a research year or to get a master's, which really isn't a terrible thing IMO.
 
I think you have better options if you apply for Armed Services Health Professions Scholarships. Once you get into medical school you can join either Navy, Army or Air Force and get free tuition + 20,000 stipend a year.

I'm having deja vu.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I think you have better options if you apply for Armed Services Health Professions Scholarships. Once you get into medical school you can join either Navy, Army or Air Force and get free tuition + 20,000 stipend a year.

Déjà vu!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I think you have better options if you apply for Armed Services Health Professions Scholarships. Once you get into medical school you can join either Navy, Army or Air Force and get free tuition + 20,000 stipend a year.

This looks good on paper, but there are a lot of caveats for the HPSP. The Military Medicine forum would be a good place to start if you're considering any military-related medical options (HPSP, FAP, etc.).

As for the service obligation while in school... that depends on where you get accepted and how easy (or hard) it would be to transfer you to a local reserve unit. I'm not familiar with the CG Reserves, but my gut tells me you may be limited in where you apply for medical schools. If both are something you're passionate about, you'll find a way to do them both. Good luck. 🙂
 
Worst case scenario OP could use that year as a research year or to get a master's, which really isn't a terrible thing IMO.

Exactly what I was thinking. I think it would be a great way to show interest in a school's 5-year MD/MPH program (if you're so inclined)!
 
At least in the Army Reserves/National Guard you can miss drills if you have a good reason. I have a friend who did not go to a single drill during the school year. It means you miss out on the pay, BUT you'd get the time to study. Check with your Coast Guard unit about doing that, or if you have a drill that is unfortunately scheduled, sometimes you can go with another unit for a different weekend.
 
It's a good option, minus third year, which might be a problem. I'm not sure about Coast Guard, but National Guard can call you to active duty during school. That's a problem (had a friend take 8 years to graduate undergrad because of being called up in the middle of semesters and stationed in different areas), especially during medical school. I'd suggest ROTC, serve, then medical school or HPSP, if you want to serve and go to medical school. It's less risky than being called up and missing semesters/transfering... during school.
 
fwiw......I was told by an adcom member at my school that mil service was like adding 2 or 3 points to your mcat score
 
usmc vet here, i'm a senior, starting med school in six months. Military service definitely helps your application, but when interview season comes around in a few years, you'll probably get a few questions to the effect of, "your obligations to the military won't interfere with academic responsibilities, right?" (which, there shouldn't be any big problems except for maybe third year of ms, depending on when your contract is up).

+1
 
fwiw......I was told by an adcom member at my school that mil service was like adding 2 or 3 points to your mcat score

It helps but I'd stay away from formulas, because MCAT is subject to the law of diminishing returns. Most schools would treat the guy with the 36 and the 39 identically, while 3 points is meaningful if you add it to a 27. But I don't think military is less valuable for the higher scorer. So it's a silly rule of thumb. It goes a long way with certain adcoms, leave it at that.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think there's a difference between how they look at completed military service and active time commitments to Reserve Duty. I know the Coast Guard won't likely have as many surprise deployments for their reserve component...but it's still possible.

Even after your 6 year contract, you'll still have 2 years IRR, but barring WWIII you should be safe from being called up. Speaking as someone who was able to get out ONLY because of a medical discharge post 9/11, it can get tricky sometimes. The less-informed ADCOMS might look on ONLY these .01% scenarios and imagine the worst, but I'd tend to agree with the MD/PhD or MD/MPH programs available to allow for academic flexibility needed during drill time. If your unit's really nice...they might let you do all your drill in a compressed 2 month time period for the year all in the summer, but that's a rarity. Ask about it...can't hurt.
 
Military service is almost never looked down upon by medical school admissions, from what I understand. You stand a better chance of getting in as a reservist than as a civilian.

ehh i dont know about that. Obama gave a spiel about how veterans and serviceman disproportionately make up unemployment. If business don't want to hire these people why would medical schools want to accept them?

I feel like they would somehow relate.
 
Believe me, military service, or prior military service, will be a boon to your chances.

I personally wouldn't do it while in Medical School, though. Maybe a 3-4 yr contract while you are in your undergrad phase.

Also, if you are young, have you considered the life of an active duty medic or corpsman in another branch of service?
 
ehh i dont know about that. Obama gave a spiel about how veterans and serviceman disproportionately make up unemployment. If business don't want to hire these people why would medical schools want to accept them?

I feel like they would somehow relate.

We're not talking about the average military person. We're talking about someone who, presumably, has a college degree and would have a good enough GPA and MCAT to get in without any kind of nudge. Military status would likely be a huge bonus in that case.

One thing to note is that the armed forces can pay really well, especially if you're married - you receive extra pay for separation from your spouse, and that money gets factored into the budget of an average military person. Thus, once that person is discharged and that money is no longer coming in, it makes it impossible for veterans to support themselves without finding jobs that make $60,000+ (all estimates). How many of those jobs regularly go to people without college degrees? Does military service equate to a college degree?

These people are factored into unemployment as well despite the fact that, presumably, they could get a lower-paying service job.
 
Top