ROTC (without scholarship) + HPSP?

[RedOktober]

I have a few questions concerning joining ROTC before moving on to med school and HPSP:

From what I understand, ROTC has 2 kinds of commitments:

1. If you get a scholarship, you have to pay your years of military-paid education with years of service.
2. If you don't get get a scholarship, you have to commit yourself to 4 years of service for getting promoted to 2nd LT. (which is a choice you can make at the end of senior year, correct?)

Would joining ROTC (without accepting scholarship) improve my chances at getting into the HPSP program? If I don't get into HPSP, I am not committed to anything right?

I would, in essence, be taking ROTC classes during college for the sole purpose of gaining an edge in the HPSP application pool. Would this be fine?

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[mslall]

I have a few questions concerning joining ROTC before moving on to med school and HPSP:

From what I understand, ROTC has 2 kinds of commitments:

1. If you get a scholarship, you have to pay your years of military-paid education with years of service.
2. If you don't get get a scholarship, you have to commit yourself to 4 years of service for getting promoted to 2nd LT. (which is a choice you can make at the end of senior year, correct?)

Would joining ROTC (without accepting scholarship) improve my chances at getting into the HPSP program? If I don't get into HPSP, I am not committed to anything right?

I would, in essence, be taking ROTC classes during college for the sole purpose of gaining an edge in the HPSP application pool. Would this be fine?

HPSP is not a competitive scholarship. Doing ROTC to get the HPSP scholarship is completely unnecessary. I have no idea if you can just choose not to commission if you dont take the ROTC money. Ask a ROTC guy.

 

[janneyc]

Agree with the above. Pretty much, get into med school, you can get the scholarship. It's gotten a little more competitive with the bonus now being offered, but if you just apply early... you'll be just fine.

 

[colbgw02]

I have a few questions concerning joining ROTC before moving on to med school and HPSP:

From what I understand, ROTC has 2 kinds of commitments:

1. If you get a scholarship, you have to pay your years of military-paid education with years of service.
2. If you don't get get a scholarship, you have to commit yourself to 4 years of service for getting promoted to 2nd LT. (which is a choice you can make at the end of senior year, correct?)

Would joining ROTC (without accepting scholarship) improve my chances at getting into the HPSP program? If I don't get into HPSP, I am not committed to anything right?

I would, in essence, be taking ROTC classes during college for the sole purpose of gaining an edge in the HPSP application pool. Would this be fine?

Bad idea. You can only take ROTC classes without joining the ROTC program for the freshmen and sophomore years. If you want to participate for the last two years, they'll expect you to join ROTC even if it's without a scholarship. That includes signing a contract, being commissioned, and paying back time (in the medical corps or otherwise).

 

[Perrotfish]

HPSP is not competitive. If you have an acceptance to medical school and you want the scholarship, you have the scholarship. The level of incompetence and irresponsibility that you would need to display to not get the scholarship despite having a letter of acceptance in hand would probably maim you and would certainly cause your medical school to rescind the aforementioned letter.

Also no, you can't participate in 4 years of ROTC (even without the scholaship) without committing yourself.

So focus on getting into medical school and don't worry about the scholarship. The scholarship will be waiting for you if you get in.

 

[RedOktober]

Ok, thanks for the advice guys. It was really helpful.

 

[OnceND]

ROTC will complicate a lot of things for you if you have educational ambition beyond undergrad. I had a bad experience with ROTC due to the required summer course date (LDAC) and matriculation. Ended up having to quit and bank on the option that I would not be assigned enlisted active duty time to fulfill the ROTC contract obligation.

As a side note, my other classmate who was also accepted into medical school commissioned then received the acceptance letter and had to petition to 1.) get the Officer Basic Course canceled 2.) re-branch to medical service corps from transportation 3.) request leave of absence in the meantime to get ready for med school.

Case in point, the military needs doctors.....ROTC is pointless for professional programs and a waste of time for them.

Good luck

 

[ValeRx]

I'm curious about the viability of ROTC and Pharmacy students, since there is no HPSP for us.