ROTC vs HPSP

[Badgers2]

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I am going to be a freshman in college next year on a pre-dental track. I know I still have a long time until I even apply for dental school but I am confident that dentistry is what I want to do. I am also confident that I want to go through the military. I have been reading through a lot of these threads and I have gotten the feeling that doing both ROTC and HPSP is a bad idea. So the way I see it is that I have two options

1. Go through ROTC, try to get a three year scholarship, and then apply an ed delay in order to go to dental school while I pay for it myself

2. Pay for undergrad myself, apply for the HPSP scholarship, and then go to dental school with that and complete my AD service after that.

Which one would be a better choice? If there are any better options that I haven't come across then please help me out! Especially if you are or have been in either program! And both of these would involve the same 4 years of service, correct? Just trying to figure stuff out and thanks for the help!

 

[coolslugs]

HPSP by a mile, especially for private schools. You could do both if you want to do a 20yr military career, but getting that educational delay means you have no margin for error if you do not get into dental school right after graduation.

 

[Badgers2]

HPSP by a mile, especially for private schools. You could do both if you want to do a 20yr military career, but getting that educational delay means you have no margin for error if you do not get into dental school right after graduation.

Could you explain to me why it would be a 20 year career if they are only paying for 8 years of school. Why couldn't I just do my 8 years and then get out?

 

[ramborhino]

Does time in ROTC count towards pay or retirement? [I think for those who attend a service academy, the time counts towards pay, but not retirement (but not 100% sure)]

Barring any exceptional benefits from doing ROTC, I would skip that option for undergrad and just apply for HPSP/HSCP for dental school. Just attend a solid in-state public undergrad with low tuition. I don't think ROTC is the best option for healthcare careers (hinges largely on the needs of the service and you get one shot where you have to be accepted AND get the ed. delay waiver, and if it doesn't work out, derails your career plans by a few years).

 

[krmower]

Doing ROTC
Pros - 1) have a broader military back ground and understanding of how the Army works than most of your peers. 2) Undergrad paid for 3) Could sign up and do the SMP program with the National Guard and have your time in service bumped up (your number of years that count for pay although your retirement won't be affected much).

Cons - 1) ROTC will add extra classes to your course load 2) Some summers you will have required training that you will do 3) Your mandatory obligation with the military will be longer. This will affect your earning potential in the military since dental specialty pay can only be taken once your initial obligations are all paid off. For someone who does the Academy or ROTC their obligation will be paid off at year #10+ if they specialize whereas someone who only does HPSP may be eligible beginning year #6+. At current bonus rates you would lose out on an earning potential in the military of $200k for the ROTC obligation.

 

[Act0fgod]

My take is do both. Why do I say that...because it's what I did. 🙂 I'm going to discuss only the AF because that's all I'm familiar with. Something that hasn't been mentioned is the AF (maybe the other services as well - check google) has something called an ROTC pre-health cadet. If you are classified as an ROTC pre-health cadet you are placed into a different application pool for dental HPSP (if you want to go to med school you are guaranteed HPSP if you get into a med school and you are given other benefits if you want to do optometry, nursing, pharm...).

The year I applied for HPSP there were five slots reserved for the ROTC pre-health cadets, academy graduates and those applying from active duty. The academy will only allow 2 people a year to go to dental school (there aren't always 2 people that want to), not sure how many ROTC pre-health cadets there are but don't think it's many that want to do dental and often there aren't any from active duty applying.

Now to talk about some other things on this thread. The time at the AF Academy, West Point, Naval Academy or ROTC does not count for pay or retirement (not familiar with SMP).

You could get out at the 8 year point if you did ROTC and choose not to do a residency after dental school. Even better look into UOP and their 6 year program and see if that works (probably won't).

All that being said you're what 17-19 (unless you are starting college later in life) and while I admire your foresight my career looks nothing like I thought it would when I was about to enter high school.