USAF HPSP

[xDNA]

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Sup Friends,

Currently a Registered NICU Nurse, recently made the decision to pursue medicine after a lot of self-reflections. I grew up pretty disadvantaged, I always had a desire deep down to join the military but my mother was always discouraging it. Now I'm older and know undoubtedly I want to become a physician I believe the USAF HPSP will allow me to not only become a physician but serve my country and community.

My current interest is in Plastic Surgery. I love the idea of plastics, I know what makes me happy and gives me a sense of gratification and Plastics checks all the boxes thus far. With that being said, I know from reading throughout the forum it is immensely difficult to match into a lot of specialties and there's essentially no guarantee you'll even get the specialty you really desire, which is unfortunate.

I went to medicineandthemilitary.com and on their specialty page, it seems as though PRS isn't offered in Air Force?

https://www.medicineandthemilitary.com/careers-and-benefits/medical-specialties-and-roles
The website states,

"Please note that this list only includes specialties service members can train for in the active-duty Army, Navy and Air Force, along with the Guard or Reserve components, and not actual openings. All specialties are welcome, but openings change frequently based on need. For the latest availabilities in all Services, we recommend speaking with a recruiter."

This confuses me because I was under the impression in the HPSP you are considered active-duty and get active duty pay right? Does that mean I would have to pursue Plastics in Army or Navy HPSP?

On that same website there's a page on Residency + Match Day.
For Mil Match you have to apply to both JSGMESB and ERAS. After reading, JSGMESB match happens first and if you match in JSGMESB then you must do that residency, but if you do not then you would continue through ERAS match process? I'm asking for clarification here because reading some of the forum I was under the impression if you didn't match in the military then you just had to do GMO and try again. Does this actually mean that if you don't match military then you still have an opportunity to match in civilian residency, and if you don't match either then GMO is what's necessary ?

Thanks for your time guys,
Mike

 

[SirGecko]

Sup Friends,

Currently a Registered NICU Nurse, recently made the decision to pursue medicine after a lot of self-reflections. I grew up pretty disadvantaged, I always had a desire deep down to join the military but my mother was always discouraging it. Now I'm older and know undoubtedly I want to become a physician I believe the USAF HPSP will allow me to not only become a physician but serve my country and community.

My current interest is in Plastic Surgery. I love the idea of plastics, I know what makes me happy and gives me a sense of gratification and Plastics checks all the boxes thus far. With that being said, I know from reading throughout the forum it is immensely difficult to match into a lot of specialties and there's essentially no guarantee you'll even get the specialty you really desire, which is unfortunate.

I went to medicineandthemilitary.com and on their specialty page, it seems as though PRS isn't offered in Air Force?

https://www.medicineandthemilitary.com/careers-and-benefits/medical-specialties-and-roles
The website states,

"Please note that this list only includes specialties service members can train for in the active-duty Army, Navy and Air Force, along with the Guard or Reserve components, and not actual openings. All specialties are welcome, but openings change frequently based on need. For the latest availabilities in all Services, we recommend speaking with a recruiter."

This confuses me because I was under the impression in the HPSP you are considered active-duty and get active duty pay right? Does that mean I would have to pursue Plastics in Army or Navy HPSP?

On that same website there's a page on Residency + Match Day.
For Mil Match you have to apply to both JSGMESB and ERAS. After reading, JSGMESB match happens first and if you match in JSGMESB then you must do that residency, but if you do not then you would continue through ERAS match process? I'm asking for clarification here because reading some of the forum I was under the impression if you didn't match in the military then you just had to do GMO and try again. Does this actually mean that if you don't match military then you still have an opportunity to match in civilian residency, and if you don't match either then GMO is what's necessary ?

Thanks for your time guys,
Mike

Someone correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think the military sends anyone directly to plastics, if you do plastics in the military it’s as a fellowship. And on that note a quick perusal of the Navy GME goals this year indicates we are not selecting a plastics fellow this year. Don’t know how often we pick one up, someone in surgery may be a able to answer that better. I will say that the general tone from the military is that they want more generalist going forward so if you are super focused on plastics you might want to look elsewhere. (Or do plastics as a civilian and then see if you can join if you still want to be in the military at that point)

To answer your other questions: no you are not active duty on HPSP. You get a stipend but it isn’t active duty pay. You may be thinking of USUHS where the students are active duty and receive O1 pay.

The apply to ERAS thing is because everyone needs to do at least an intern year when you get out of medical school in order to be licensed. So GMO tours are sometime after intern year. They also sometimes let people train as civilian deferrment but you have to match that option in the GME selection board. (So it’s not like you can apply for whatever you want in the civilian match if you don’t match in the military, they still have to give you permission)

 

[xDNA]

Dang man, that's pretty disheartening.

 

[sysiphusrocks]

Sorry to tail onto this question, but I can't figure out how to start a new thread. Sorry.

What are your chances of getting the HPSP scholarship for the USAF if you are an alternate? I started med school a couple weeks ago