To take HPSP or not

[Anonymous_26]

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So long story short I received a conditional acceptance to USUHS which was amazing since it was my dream school, but I couldn’t get the unconditional due to an unforeseen issue with my commissioning eligibility. I was simultaneously pursuing hpsp while I waited for usuhs and have since finished everything for it. My recruiter is convinced that I will get the scholarship even though usuhs deemed me unfit for the military (how that makes sense I don’t know). Must have something to do with hpsp being evaluated by MEPS while usuhs uses DoDMERB. I was pretty heartbroken about usuhs falling through but since that happened I have started doubting military medicine. If I do get the hpsp I’m not sure if I should take it or not. I have an acceptance at a DO school and two MD waitlists (hoping to get off one but it looks unlikely). Any advice would be appreciated since I will have to make a quick decision IF I get hpsp which I understand might not happen.

 

[DOswag]

Depends, do you WANT to be in the military? If you're doing it strictly for financial reasons then don't do it. If you want to be a military officer and physician, then go for it. If you're not 100% sure on the being an officer part, then just go to the DO school.

 

[ArteryStudyPainting]

You need to understand a recruiter is not on your side. At any time. Everything they say that is a selling point to you needs to be in writing. That's why I'm concerned they're saying anything to get you. Because they're saying things that don't make sense to you

And anything they give you, you ask questions to clarify literally everything. Don't at any point think I'm being annoying, I'll just sign to make it easier on them. They don't care. Even if they're annoyed, it's their job to be your liaison, whether they want to or not. But you need to advocate for yourself.

 

[DOswag]

100%, recruiters only want to fill a quota. They will tell you anything. So many patients that we find have significant mental health history not reported at MEPS (I'm a psychiatrist) that say the recruiter told them not to report it because it would hurt their chances of getting in. Now a few years later I'm recommending admin separating them because of specific mental health issues... (that goes into a discussion of unsuiting vs unfitting mental health conditions, most mental health stuff doesn't get you separated).

 

[Anonymous_26]

100%, recruiters only want to fill a quota. They will tell you anything. So many patients that we find have significant mental health history not reported at MEPS (I'm a psychiatrist) that say the recruiter told them not to report it because it would hurt their chances of getting in. Now a few years later I'm recommending admin separating them because of specific mental health issues... (that goes into a discussion of unsuiting vs unfitting mental health conditions, most mental health stuff doesn't get you separated).

I figured out pretty quickly that my recruiter was just trying to fill a quota but I told him all the things I wanted to be documented in my packet (even though he advised against 1 thing). I really did want to serve and do the officer first thing since my family has a long history of serving as officers. I have two people in my fam who are O6 and have been in 30 years each and made great careers out of it (1 in medical) which was why I was so excited about usuhs. I think seeing the process of two different apps though (usuhs vs hpsp) which have pretty much the same purpose of creating military physicians just shows me that there’s so much inconsistency with the evaluation process. I think it’s given me a glimpse of the inefficiency that people speak of in the military and it scares me. I wanted to do usuhs with a long term career but now that my whole path has potentially changed I really just feel torn. I appreciate the insight though. I have a lot to think about before I make the decision.

 

[militaryPHYS]

The bigger the system, the bigger the inefficiencies. Some people can deal with them no problem. With the military you also add in deployments, order mods and other X-factor unknowns that could derail your happy 30 year O6 dreams. Some people can also deal with these no problem. Many cannot.

If you aren't 100% on serving then stick with the civilian options that you have available right now. You can always serve later if the time is right for you.

 

[Anonymous_26]

So I just heard from the recruiter that I did get HPSP. It was always my backup plan behind USUHS so I feel like had I not had the conditional acceptance removed I would have never doubted my intentions to take the scholarship and go to a civ school. It’s been a whirlwind to get to this point but I do really want to serve still and I think that the scholarship is a great option for someone like me. I’m single, 24, have been really smart about finances to this point and would like to avoid debt, I want to serve, and I want to do a specialty that the military needs (either PM&R, fam med, ortho, EM, gen surg, or really anything. I also don’t care much about research so I can sacrifice on that to join. I appreciate the advice everyone has given, but someone has to serve and I’m really okay with some of the sacrifices that come with it (maybe I’ll think different at 35 but I can’t see that far ahead).