Too late to apply for HPSP?

[mdr8]

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So I was accepted to a school this past fall. I am beginning to consider the HPSP option, but am wondering if it is too late to to work on applying for one of those scholarships at this point in the year? Also, if it was too late and I decided to apply after my first year of med school, what is the commitment for the 3 year hpsp scholarship? I had a difficult time finding consistent info. as to what the 3 year scholarship entails exactly. Thank you all!

 

[xffan624]

So I was accepted to a school this past fall. I am beginning to consider the HPSP option, but am wondering if it is too late to to work on applying for one of those scholarships at this point in the year? Also, if it was too late and I decided to apply after my first year of med school, what is the commitment for the 3 year hpsp scholarship? I had a difficult time finding consistent info. as to what the 3 year scholarship entails exactly. Thank you all!

Contact a recruiter. I have friends that started later in the year so it can be done, but you're not going to get the answers on this forum where the HPSP is pretty much seen as the equivalent of selling your soul.

 

[mdr8]

Contact a recruiter. I have friends that started later in the year so it can be done, but you're not going to get the answers on this forum where the HPSP is pretty much seen as the equivalent of selling your soul.

Selling your soul huh? I thought it was a relatively common thing to do.

 

[xffan624]

Selling your soul huh? I thought it was a relatively common thing to do.

It is, which is why I think the SDN view is a bit skewed. I did serve with military docs and did deploy to a combat zone and it's not the nightmare it's made out to be. Many of the pre-meds or medical students who give the advice regarding the military will only being going by whatever they've read on SDN which as great a resource as it can be, can tend to have a groupthink phenomenon that doesn't always reflect reality.

Of course, I caveat all of this with the warning that if you are only doing it for the money (i.e. have no desire to serve in the military at all), then it's probably a bad idea. If you have thought about doing the military at some point in your life and perhaps have some prior experience (ie. family members, etc), want to serve your country, have flexibility in where you want to live and what specialty you want to do, and have zero financial support, then it's something to consider.

 

[mdr8]

Yeah I will have over 200K in debt (undergrad and postgrad degrees combined) going into medical school that are only going to be accumulating interest. The medical school I am accepted to is an expensive one too (50k tuition). The largest benefit of doing this scholarship would definitely be keeping me from entering a backbreaking state of debt in the future. That being said, I am definitely curious about experiencing life in the military. I have an uncle who served in the navy for many years and multiple close friends that have been in the army for quite some time. They definitely have their complaints but overall they seem to feel serving in the military gave them a different perspective on life in a positive way. Did you get the HPSP scholarship or were you with the military before medical school?

 

[xffan624]

Yeah I will have over 200K in debt (undergrad and postgrad degrees combined) going into medical school that are only going to be accumulating interest. The medical school I am accepted to is an expensive one too (50k tuition). The largest benefit of doing this scholarship would definitely be keeping me from entering a backbreaking state of debt in the future. That being said, I am definitely curious about experiencing life in the military. I have an uncle who served in the navy for many years and multiple close friends that have been in the army for quite some time. They definitely have their complaints but overall they seem to feel serving in the military gave them a different perspective on life in a positive way. Did you get the HPSP scholarship or were you with the military before medical school?

In the military before. Using veteran's benefits now to pay for school. They did pay off my undergrad and masters loans when I was in so that was good (about 75K total paid towards my loans for two extra years of service).

After finishing graduate school, I realized I needed a break from school and being an indebted student, so I did the military as an Army officer doing mostly public/environmental health (my grad degree).

 

[Medguy22]

I've read some pretty horrible things about this scholarship. Often times you are forced into residencies that you simply won't want to be in. Not to mention that if you choose to specialize you end up losing money in the long run. There are a lot of websites that show the math. Essentially, if you know you are going into primary care, then this scholarship nets you a small benefit (not worth selling your soul over). If you choose to specialize, you end up losing money in the long run.

 

[Donald Juan]

I'll second what xffan said: if you want to be in the military then go for it. If you're doing it for financial reasons only, then don't. I was in the service as an enlisted member and I loved it, but it's certainly not for everyone.

You have an ungodly amount of debt already, and I don't believe the military is gonna help you pay for any of that, so even though you'll get med school paid for you'll be making military pay and still have 200k+ of debt...I don't think that is any better than being a civilian doc with 500k of debt.

 

[PL198]

holy crap you better make bank. what are you going to have in loans when you finish residency, like 600k? compound interest is a real ho

 

[Slack3r]

Don't get your heart set on a competitive surgical subspecialty with the military. Very few spots, fierce competition, and difficult to be granted deferment to apply for civilian residencies.