Taking on a Minimum HPSP commitment

[dreadnought17]

Hey everyone,

I've been bouncing back and forth between whether I should try to join the Navy in order to pay for my education. The things I have read on here, in addition to information I have gotten from one of the physician's I used to work for in the Navy, have been dissuading me. Despite all of this, a portion of me still wants to join. Besides the funding, I think that I think I miss certain aspects of being in the military (I am prior enlisted). Today is the first day that I thought of doing the minimum of 2 years and I was hoping to hear your opinions. I have not touched my post 911 gi bill and I am a year out from having my bachelors. My proposed plan is this; use 2yrs of my post 911 gi bill at a public institution and use the last year as Montgomery while being a part of an HPSP program for the remaining two years. One of my fears with this plan is that I could end up with two years without a residency and I am unsure if this would make it more difficult for me to find a residency on the civilian side. If this isn't valid, I guess there is also a fear that I might end up hating the fact that I delayed my medical education by two years because I had a rose tinted view of my service and of the physicians I worked with. Another fear is getting pushed into a residency I am not 100% behind. I am unsure of whether the second fear is founded, as I do not know if the Navy can really force you to pick one (they were able to decide a lot of other things from my experience). Has anyone done anything like this?

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[MusicDOc124]

Hey everyone,

I've been bouncing back and forth between whether I should try to join the Navy in order to pay for my education. The things I have read on here, in addition to information I have gotten from one of the physician's I used to work for in the Navy, have been dissuading me. Despite all of this, a portion of me still wants to join. Besides the funding, I think that I think I miss certain aspects of being in the military (I am prior enlisted). Today is the first day that I thought of doing the minimum of 2 years and I was hoping to hear your opinions. I have not touched my post 911 gi bill and I am a year out from having my bachelors. My proposed plan is this; use 2yrs of my post 911 gi bill at a public institution and use the last year as Montgomery while being a part of an HPSP program for the remaining two years. One of my fears with this plan is that I could end up with two years without a residency and I am unsure if this would make it more difficult for me to find a residency on the civilian side. If this isn't valid, I guess there is also a fear that I might end up hating the fact that I delayed my medical education by two years because I had a rose tinted view of my service and of the physicians I worked with. Another fear is getting pushed into a residency I am not 100% behind. I am unsure of whether the second fear is founded, as I do not know if the Navy can really force you to pick one (they were able to decide a lot of other things from my experience). Has anyone done anything like this?

I think you have some misinformation.

The Navy only offers 3 and 4 year scholarships. The only branch (last I checked) that offers 2 year scholarships is the Air Force.

With that said, the minimum commitment to active duty is 3 years (2 and 3 year scholarship lead to 3 year commitments while 4 year leads to 4).

Once you switch from Montgomery to Post-9/11, you cannot switch back to the Montgomery GI Bill.

What do you mean you could end up with 2 years without a residency? Are you referring to a GMO tour? Those tours are usually 2-4 years to correspond with your obligation (or additional training for those who pursue flight medicine as a GMO), but you cannot practice without a license, and thus you would complete your intern year at the very least somewhere. This could potentially delay you completing residency for 2-3 years, but there is much to be gained from going to practice in such a setting (unless you are planning on being a surgeon, but it can still be done - look up "HERO DO" - former Marine become a Navy doctor, did GMO tour and deployed, went out after all of that to become a urologist). Anyway... Many if not most do go straight into residency.

To be clear, if you go straight into residency, this doesn't count as payback, and your obligation is actually the longer of what you receive (length of scholarship or length of residency), and time isn't paid back until after you are complete with your training. So if you do 1 year internship and a GMO, you'd be out in 3-4 years. On the opposite side of the spectrum, if you go straight into residency for say neurosurgery for 7 years, your payback is no longer 3-4 years, but rather it is 6-7 AFTER residency, and residency in my example is a military residency, so you'd actually be active duty again for 13-14 years. If you do a civilian deferral, your payback will still be the 3-4 year regardless of length of civilian training, but you do not get paid or promoted while on civilian deferral I believe.

As for being pushed into a residency you are not behind... well you can't match into a residency you don't apply to. It's the same as the civilian side with that. Apply to what you want to do/what you're competitive for.

 

[dreadnought17]

Thank you for the quick reply. I was referring to a GMO tour and I was misinformed (both regarding switching the GI bill and the minimum commitment). I will check out the physician you referenced and look more into the program.

 

[MusicDOc124]

If you really want to go back in, having been prior service, HPSP isn't a bad idea, but there are other options to consider too.

1) HPSP (Navy, AF, Army) - during med school, leads to mil res or civ deferral, active duty after
2) FAP (Navy, AF) - during civilian res, active duty after
3) TMS (Navy) - during civ res, reserve duty after
4) MDSSP (Army) - during med school, national guard during and after (not sure if it is linked with active or reserve)
5) STRAP (Army) - during civ res, can be linked with MDSSP - see MDSSP
6) Direct Commission (Navy, AF, Army) - after training and you are a qualified physician

I believe MDSSP has the longest pay back time. STRAP gives you more while in a way cutting that MDSSP time down a little if both are taken. STRAP by itself I believe has the same payback as MDSSP.

 

[dreadnought17]

Thank you again for the reply! I didn't know about the other avenues; the physicians I interacted with while active duty were all HPSP or USUHS graduates. These were the only programs that the other corpsmen referred to also. Looks like I've got some more options to consider.

 

[B4y 4RE4 N4Tiv3]

HSCP(Navy) is also an option, med school counts as active duty time.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

HSCP(Navy) is also an option, med school counts as active duty time.

Unfortunately there are only 1-2 slots per year. This year there were 2. So not a very reliable option.