Hello,
I'm currently an ROTC student applying to medical school for 2007. Do you guys know if it's possible to get an educational delay to go to medical school and still branch into the reserve? I'm trying to avoid being obligated to do a military residency. I've been in the army before, and I'd like to be an active duty doctor, I'm just worried that my career after the army might suffer because of a weaker residency/delayed fellowship opportunities. Thanks for your help.
if you receive the educational delay, regardless of whether or not you do hpsp, then you will be assigned to the reserves. i presume what you mean is to be assigned to the ready reserve instead of the IRR.
if you don't take ROTC, then you could join a local reserve unit while you're in medical school, but that won't really further any of your goals. your 1 weekend/month and 2 weeks/year is only a drop in the bucket toward your ADO or toward retirement points. and you don't gain anything towards pay because your IRR time already counts for pay. i suppose you do ensure that you won't have any IRR time added on after you get out, but that's typically a non-issue for people who do army residencies. and that's not to mention the extra hassle of drilling during an already stressful period, i.e. medical school.
the only way to avoid your rotc ADO is to find a way to be on active duty while in medical school. outside of usuhs, that's simply not an option. you're stuck with at least applying for an army residency.
the only loophole i've ever heard about was one guy who, right before graduation, declined his commission. he already had his education delay, so when he got to medical school, he joined a local reserve unit as an E-4 according to the terms of his ROTC contract. somehow, and i don't really know how, his 4 years with the reserve unit while in medical school counted towards his ROTC ADO. he simultaneously applied for and was accepted for HPSP, so he was commissioned via HPSP as a 2LT and got his med. school tuition paid for as well. long story short, he ended up with both college and medical school paid for with only a 4 year ADO after his residency - but he still had to do an army residency.
obviously, i'm a little fuzzy on the details, but the guy swore he did this. i have no idea if this loophole still exists. it sounds pretty risky to me, and nevermind that you're going to piss off your PMS something awful by declining your commission at the last second.
all in all, you're stuck. pretty crappy for a decision many people make while they're 17 years old and still in highschool.
