Prior service with family HPSP/USUHS seeking advice

[2XY1XX]

Fellow SDNers,

I recently have been accepted to several DO schools and my wife and I have chosen to attend RVU-SU to stay close to family here in Utah. I also have an interview at USUHS later this month, so that is an option still on the table. I have some concerns that I would like some advice on. I am prior service, 6 years enlisted AF and am a matrix HPSP applicant with an HPSP offer accepted. The problem I have is that my oldest will be 16 turning 17 when I am done with residency. With the military route, both HPSP and USUHS, I will likely be deployed and/or we will be PCSing during his senior year of high school. This is worrisome to me. I do not mind going back to the military and feel that it would be a wise decision for financial stability during this arduous process of medical school and residency, but worry about the instability that military life would have on my children when they are older and I am done training. Being active duty while they were young was no big deal and my wife and I enjoyed the adventure. However, I worry about how military life will be on older kids, projected to be 17, 15, and 12. My wife and I are considering going the traditional civilian route. With my GI Bill, I would end up at probably 220-250000 in loans all said and done. This includes undergraduate debt for both her and I. Then of course, there is the whole forbearance thing which would take us to more like 280-310000. Anyone out here with older kids in the military? How did they do? Would we be better off doing it civilian and moving once for residency? I am thinking I could find work wherever we settle for residency so we wouldn't have to move after I am done.

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[backrow]

If you have the chance to attend an M.D. school and you still go with a Rocky Vista campus I will question your sanity. Well established D.O. school will also give you a significantly better education.

I would caution you on your math regarding ages as many people change their minds on what specialty they want to do when in medical school, so I wouldn’t necessarily count on that. They could be older or younger depending on what you are thinking.

I would also caution you that some residencies are not fans of their residents sticking around the same area. I would also say that coming out of Rocky Vista you will probably be limited in where you can match for residency which may not be where your family wants to live. (Yes, the top RV grads will probably be able to go where they want, but take the average grad). And then there’s fellowship if you decide to do that.

In my opinion there are many other considerations than kids when it comes to deciding to do HPSP/USUHS. (Small caveat if you have special needs kids, have kids that you know would struggle mightily with moves, etc)




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[Gastrapathy]

If you’re going to RVU over another option, that is a bad choice.

Is Voc Rehab an option (this is the best deal)?

6 years of service plus HSCP and GI Bill might be an ok choice. Then you are 10 years after med school and only have 10 years of residency and payback.

 

[DrMetal]

Agree with the above. Go to USU over Rocky Cola. You’ll like USUHS, youll get O1E pay. True you wont be close to your extended family, but you (and your spouse) better get used to that if youre going to be in the mil. Most of us haven’t had extended family around for years

 

[teacherman84]

Agree with the above. Go to USU over Rocky Cola. You’ll like USUHS, youll get O1E pay. True you wont be close to your extended family, but you (and your spouse) better get used to that if youre going to be in the mil. Most of us haven’t had extended family around for years

Not related to the original question, but this is what we thought and we're OK with when we went the mil route. My mom, who is still ADAF, PCS's to where i matched to do AD residency a few months before I got there (this is after months of being told she was going to a different base). We both decide to live on base and are next door neighbors for 3 years of residency.
Now my projected first duty station after fellowship is going to put us in the same town as my in-laws...

To the original question, moving in HS or MS sucks, it's rough on kids. I hated it as a kid, but looking back I'm glad I experienced what I did, different places/people as a kid.

And agree wit the RVU weariness. I've met solid RVU grads, but a lot of variety too. Southern utah is beautiful, and I get the family appeal, but I would take a second look at my other options.

 

[Cooperd0g]

In all honesty an interview with USUHS at this late in the season means a waitlist spot at best. USUHS does rolling admissions so getting an early interview is key to acceptance.

As far as RVU goes, I know a few people that went there. They were wholly unprepared for internship compared to everyone else. For example, a couple of that I have met had never, and I mean NEVER, done an inpatient rotation of any kind for any specialty. They had no idea what progress notes were. They had no idea how to do a full H&P for admitting a patient. Their differential diagnosis skills were almost non-existent. These were strong people and worked their ass off and ended up doing fine during internship, but not without a seriously difficult first couple of months and very understanding residents and staff.

Being close to family is nice, but the first RVU isn't more than a few years old itself and is already expanding. This does not inspire confidence to me. If RVU is your only option then that might be better than re-applying next year as it is probably too late to do much to change your application.

As for kids, mine is pretty young, but I have been in long enough to see kids of all ages and stages. Here is what I have learned: kids can handle it as long as the parents can handle it. Parents tend to freak out and worry about this stuff a lot more than it truly effects the kids.