Step I requirement by 15 SEP

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
DD214_DOC

DD214_DOC

Full Member
Verified Member
Army
Physician
20+ Year Member
Joined
Jun 23, 2003
Messages
5,786
Reaction score
913
Members don't see this ad.
I'm not sure if I just stupidly looked over this or not, but I had no idea the military required we have a passing score on Step I by 15 SEPT. My school does not require it until February, so I decided to schedule mine in October and actually see my wife and son for a few weeks before rotations began.

I know from speaking with the advisor that if no waiver is granted and no score reported, all benefits cease on 15 SEPT. Obviously I would have to take a LOA from school since I wouldn't be able to pay tuition. Does anyone know how easy it is to get the waiver and the reasons they give them?

The only notification I have received regarding this requirement was the email two days ago stating the above. I'm not sure how I missed something this important.
 
I guess the military fun begins. I didn't have time to call the advisor today about the details of the waiver. I'm sure as hell not just going to take the boards to meet the deadline and end up barely passing or worse.

😡
 
Better check the small print. There might be a clause that says if you fail to take the test you automatically double your payback🙂
 
HooahDOc said:
I guess the military fun begins. I didn't have time to call the advisor today about the details of the waiver. I'm sure as hell not just going to take the boards to meet the deadline and end up barely passing or worse.

😡
Click to expand...

Nice attitude. You're right. You shouldn't change your plans to make sure that you stay within rules. Everybody else should cater to you.
 
The best part was when I sent in my scores they wouldn't accept a print out of my online score report, they wanted a copy of my mailed score report.

I didn't understand because both were copies. Be prepared to have your Step II score by Sept 15 next year too. I almost missed the deadline for my Step II score because my mailed score report was late and they wouldn't take a print out.
 
Getting a waiver is pretty easy. Last year, my school didn't let out until late July, and early August was the earliest I could take the exam, so my score did not come in until late September. All I had to do was send an email stating such, and a waiver was granted.
 
HooahDOc said:
I'm not sure if I just stupidly looked over this or not, but I had no idea the military required we have a passing score on Step I by 15 SEPT. My school does not require it until February, so I decided to schedule mine in October and actually see my wife and son for a few weeks before rotations began.

I know from speaking with the advisor that if no waiver is granted and no score reported, all benefits cease on 15 SEPT. Obviously I would have to take a LOA from school since I wouldn't be able to pay tuition. Does anyone know how easy it is to get the waiver and the reasons they give them?

The only notification I have received regarding this requirement was the email two days ago stating the above. I'm not sure how I missed something this important.
Click to expand...

Wow, Army is harsh. I know its in the contract but October should be good enough, shouldn't it?
 
When I was in med school, we were required to take the boards before starting rotations. If we failed them, we were promptly pulled from our rotation schedule. 👎

Thankfully, there was a >90% pass rate
 
HooahDOc said:
I'm not sure if I just stupidly looked over this or not, but I had no idea the military required we have a passing score on Step I by 15 SEPT. My school does not require it until February, so I decided to schedule mine in October and actually see my wife and son for a few weeks before rotations began.

I know from speaking with the advisor that if no waiver is granted and no score reported, all benefits cease on 15 SEPT. Obviously I would have to take a LOA from school since I wouldn't be able to pay tuition. Does anyone know how easy it is to get the waiver and the reasons they give them?

The only notification I have received regarding this requirement was the email two days ago stating the above. I'm not sure how I missed something this important.
Click to expand...

As a HPSP medical student you need to adhere to both HPSP and your school policy. As for september 15 requirement this was the HPSP policy when I graduated medical school few years back and it is explicitely written the HPSP handbook. If you have any questions give them (HPSP office at falls church) a call for that HPSP policy as this was listed on mods website few years back. E-mail was nice gesture on their part to remind you.
 
You probably did not just miss it. They just don't let you know. You really have to be proactive. This can be difficult if you don't what to look for not to mention the fact that you should be concentrating on school and if you have a family you obviously have other things do than too than trying to find all this info on your own. They should just provide a timeline it is not that hard. The same thing happen to us. We feel the same way about the time contraints if the school does not have an issue with it and you are in good standing they should be more flexible. We were not aware of the waiver at the time and did not apply for it. We had to take out loans to pay for everything. So in our case doing this program caused the exact opposite strain on us that we had hoped to alleviate by completing the program in the first place. I guess they don't realize that cutting all funding does not exactly help the student perform well. So we did what you were thinking said screw them. We will do it when we are ready you are not paying for a thing anyway. If they ever give us any money it will probably end up being like the FAP progam of course the whole point was to receive the help during school. 😡 I cannot tell the amount of grief this has caused and it could have been avoided so easily.
So in addition to this for be ready to submit scores for step II ck by Sept 15 and Step II cs by January I believe. You also need to choose your residency before you start fourth year because your completed application is due by Oct. 15 of fourth year minus your dean letter no exceptions (as we were informed 15 days ago). ( my husband is a fourth year). To everyone out there who would say well you can't get something for nothing blah blah. No kidding who is? They just don't need to micro manage your time right now, you will be out school enough and then you will be all theirs. They say "completing medical school is your job right now" so let us do it.
Feel free to pm me if you have any other questions you think I can help with. By the way if you get put on LOA with the military then they send absolutely no info.
 
Last edited:
haujun said:
As a HPSP medical student you need to adhere to both HPSP and your school policy. As for september 15 requirement this was the HPSP policy when I graduated medical school few years back and it is explicitely written the HPSP handbook. If you have any questions give them (HPSP office at falls church) a call for that HPSP policy as this was listed on mods website few years back. E-mail was nice gesture on their part to remind you.
Click to expand...


We were never given a handbook and only heard about after finding this site. Guess we were unlucky.
 
mom2four said:
We were never given a handbook and only heard about after finding this site. Guess we were unlucky.
Click to expand...

Website: mods.army.mil.
OR call your HPSP office at falls church.

As HPSP applicant your husband should/need to be intimately familar with mods.army.mil. I am sure he knows above website. This is where he obtains info about the order, match, LOA, application, TDY, fees, reimbursement info etc. HPSP info is readily available at this site so that there is no confusion. Any further clarification could be obtained at HPSP office by calling.

Thousands of HPSP applicants went through before him by utilizing the above website and I am sure he could do the same. Where is he during the process? Why are you taking more proactive role on this? My wife had to take care of three kids during medical school and I certainly took care of all things, stayed on top all things without any problem. Good luck to your family.
 
Hi,
Yes we know of this website, but we were unable to utilize it in time for it to help in terms of step one. I congratulate you for being able to 'be on top things" as you were. Everyone's situation is different ,however, I do not feel compelled to explain myself further. I assume that as you have mentioned many have been able to complete the program without any major difficulties and that is great. I only refer to my personal experience. I do have to disagree about all of the information being available. For example the info for match deadlines etc. were just made available. So the information is not readily available all the time but disbursed on more of what they consider a "need to know basis". Their concept on how much time people need may work fine for some but not for others. As to whether or not my husband could have done a better job in terms of getting information you may be right but I do not judge him because it does not undo what is done. I can only support and assist which is why I seek information here. In any case I have only asked a couple of questions because I though i was free to do so. I suppose it was my mistake to share so much information as to leave me in a state open to judgment and ridicule. Blessings to you
Proud wife and mother2four
 
Last edited:
FYI, the requirements of the waiver are the following


Written Request
Evidence of scheduled exam date
Letter from school indicating their requirements as different from the Army
 
What does the waiver actually waive? Does it mean that you will be given more time without penalty or just more time?
 
Pretty much you just get to take the test when you say you are. I had a friend in the Army HPSP who did this and it went fairly painlessly.
 
mom2four said:
What does the waiver actually waive? Does it mean that you will be given more time without penalty or just more time?
Click to expand...


I can get as much time as I want if I don't like getting paid. The waiver allows me to take the exam without having to be put on a LOA and lose the benefits. I think the 15 SEP date is just some arbitrary date the Army chose, presuming it to be close to the date requirement of most medical schools. They really don't want people dicking around and being pulled out of rotations, thus delaying their graduation date. My school doesn't require a passing score for some time so it isn't an issue with me.

Now, let's hope it's approved. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be.

On another note, unless I'm reading things wrong I believe the military has the option to basically activate you if you fail the boards more than twice. I know you get terminated from the program. Not sure what they do with you after that.
 
Well good I am happy for you!

As far as activating you after failing the boards twice I havn't read anything that specific. From what I know as long as you are still in school they should not be able to do this but they will cut your funds after failing once until you pass. (They are suppose to reimburse you but I cannot attest to that.)
Concerning the USMLE dates the contract we have says that you must pass them before graduation but does not give dates so not knowing about the deadline is probably not common only because most just happen to take it before that date and it never beomes an issue. In any case I am very glad to hear that you will be able to prepare without a financial concern looming over you. Happy studying.
 
HooahDOc said:
I can get as much time as I want if I don't like getting paid. The waiver allows me to take the exam without having to be put on a LOA and lose the benefits. I think the 15 SEP date is just some arbitrary date the Army chose, presuming it to be close to the date requirement of most medical schools. They really don't want people dicking around and being pulled out of rotations, thus delaying their graduation date. My school doesn't require a passing score for some time so it isn't an issue with me.

Now, let's hope it's approved. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be.

On another note, unless I'm reading things wrong I believe the military has the option to basically activate you if you fail the boards more than twice. I know you get terminated from the program. Not sure what they do with you after that.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure they give you the option to either work as a tech checking blood pressures and taking X-rays for a couple years or they have you strap on a helmet for the Human Cannonball training program.
 
HooahDOc said:
They really don't want people dicking around and being pulled out of rotations, thus delaying their graduation date.
Click to expand...

Note to self: some quality words are still not being censored. 👍
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Avatararrow
Weight requirement question for USUHS
Replies
13
Views
3K
Caverject
Caverject
V
failed step 1, what now?
Replies
0
Views
540
vcentwin
V
W
HPSP vs HSCP and why I chose what I did
Replies
2
Views
945
idoitforv
I
B
Requirement Direct Commission of Civilian for Physician Assistant NAVY/ ARMY
Replies
0
Views
1K
benjarosa123
B
Carcassonne
Don't join- 15 yrs done, I'm out
Replies
20
Views
6K
TheTruckGuy
T
Top