USUHS How to be competitive

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Hi, I am interested in going to USUHS. What are some things that can make your competitive to be accepted? I know very well that others' experiences might not apply to mine, but I'm curious to see what others did
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Same things as any other school, plus an answer to the question: why military medicine?
 
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USUHS had a rep 5-10 years ago of being a fall back simply because most weren't interested in taking on a military career just to become an MD. However, the caliber of candidate and the stats of the recent incoming class have it ranked with a majority of the mid tier programs. You should approach it the same way you would any of those schools.

You should be prepared for the military lifestyle if you are not already so. While you can apply to a civilian residency, you will most likely match with your service and each has caps based on need. When I interviewed, they showed us a chart of the current availability for the M4's (c/o 2016). Some spots like Ortho, only had 2 available for the whole country - that includes all the scholarship people. That means you could either not match or more likely do GMO for two years.
 
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At orientation, Dr. Saguil (the associate dean of recruitment and admissions) said the common theme among accepted students is a demonstrable dedication to service, whether civilian or military. Only a third of the class has military experience, so two thirds of the class has service experience outside the military. The military is a unique organization that is called “serving” for a reason, and they want to see that you know what it means to serve other people.

Your MCAT/GPA don’t need to be that great to get an interview, but they need to be decent to get an acceptance. The competition fluctuates, but some years it is pretty high.

As far as residency spots, I’m not sure what year that was @CyrilFiggis. The Navy regularly has Ortho slots both for internship and residency. For example, this year there are 12 PGY-1 spots for Navy ortho and 7 incumbent intern PGY-2 spots and 5 remaining PGY-2 spots for incoming GMOs. The numbers were similar last year.

So not a ton of spots, but that doesn’t include civilian deferment, which they accept for Ortho (and other specialties). USUHS grads are guaranteed a military internship though.

As was said, the things that make you competitive for other schools work here. But you have to show that you know what service is and that you know what a military career means.

https://www.med.navy.mil/directives/ENotes/NOTE 1524.pdf
 
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Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
As far as residency spots, I’m not sure what year that was @CyrilFiggis. The Navy regularly has Ortho slots both for internship and residency. For example, this year there are 12 PGY-1 spots for Navy ortho and 7 incumbent intern PGY-2 spots and 5 remaining PGY-2 spots for incoming GMOs. The numbers were similar last year.
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@Matthew9Thirtyfive I interviewed in the 2014-2015 cycle with an Air Force priority. And I realized i mistyped. I meant to say Ophtho and it corrected to Ortho.
 
CyrilFiggis said:
@Matthew9Thirtyfive I interviewed in the 2014-2015 cycle with an Air Force priority. And I realized i mistyped. I meant to say Ophtho and it corrected to Ortho.
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lmao. Gotcha. Yeah, there aren't a ton of spots for ophtho. In the Navy this year, there are only 3 spots, and none of them are incumbent intern spots, so you will 100% do a GMO tour if you want ophtho.
 
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to add to what others have said, if you don't have a military background, make sure you can articulate both why you want to do military medicine and that you're realistic about what that means. Not just in terms of limits on residencies, but on how it can affect how you actually practice, in that you do what's best for the military even if you personally disagree with some of it/don't enjoy it. This was brought up by both of my interviewers - it seemed like they wanted to make sure people didn't come in with too idealistic of expectations.
 
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gonnif said:
I found the below webinars on Military Residency quite informative. I need to see if I can find the full Navy document

http://www.amsus.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/ArmyStudentWebinar_April2016.pdf
http://www.amsus.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/AirForceStudentWebinar_April2016.pd
AMSUS Student Webinar: What's Up With Military Residencies? - AMSUS | The Society of Federal Health Professionals
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I could only find the 2015 stuff, but I posted the 2017 note up-thread that has the current numbers for intern and residency spots.
Here's the intern brief: http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmpdc... Education Overview/Intern Brief 2015 WEB.pdf
Here's the GMO brief: http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmpdc...w/PERS GMO Roadshow 2015 Presentation Web.pdf
And here's the GME overview from USUHS. Goes through the process and talks about the JGMESB scoring: https://www.usuhs.edu/sites/default/files/media/osa/ppt/gmeapplications.pdf
 
Medical school that is free? Don't do it!
itsatrap.jpg
 
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lancecorpsman said:
Medical school that is free? Don't do it!
itsatrap.jpg
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For some people, who don’t know what they’re getting into and who really wouldn’t do well in the military, yes it is. I honestly think it’s better to have done a stint prior to applying so that you really know what you’re getting. I love it, and everyone in my cohort is ready to do 20 years (some of them have already done 10).
 
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Hello. I’m currently AD Air Force. I applied a year ago and wasn’t accepted. I want to apply again this December. I’m retaking the GRE and finishing up my Masters degree. Any other suggestions to make my application stronger and get accepted??
 
Starbrite4818 said:
Hello. I’m currently AD Air Force. I applied a year ago and wasn’t accepted. I want to apply again this December. I’m retaking the GRE and finishing up my Masters degree. Any other suggestions to make my application stronger and get accepted??
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I'm guessing you're not applying to Hebert. Are you applying to one of the PhD programs? I don't think any of us will really have any info on how to be competitive for that, as this forum is focused on getting into medical school.
 
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gonnif said:
I found the below webinars on Military Residency quite informative. I need to see if I can find the full Navy document

http://www.amsus.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/ArmyStudentWebinar_April2016.pdf
http://www.amsus.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/AirForceStudentWebinar_April2016.pd
AMSUS Student Webinar: What's Up With Military Residencies? - AMSUS | The Society of Federal Health Professionals
Click to expand...
Hey, I just got an interview here and Im doing additional research. Just generally speaking, would USUHS be better if I were to go into surgery for residency as opposed to another MD program. Do u think I would have the same/more/less opportunities to match

@BombsAway
 
I might want to do USUHS. I would like to get back into the military life, and work in an aid station and whip my staff into shape. We had a pretty good medical staff at Polk, who took PT seriously. Was proud of them.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
At orientation, Dr. Saguil (the associate dean of recruitment and admissions) said the common theme among accepted students is a demonstrable dedication to service, whether civilian or military. Only a third of the class has military experience, so two thirds of the class has service experience outside the military. The military is a unique organization that is called “serving” for a reason, and they want to see that you know what it means to serve other people.

Your MCAT/GPA don’t need to be that great to get an interview, but they need to be decent to get an acceptance. The competition fluctuates, but some years it is pretty high.

As far as residency spots, I’m not sure what year that was @CyrilFiggis. The Navy regularly has Ortho slots both for internship and residency. For example, this year there are 12 PGY-1 spots for Navy ortho and 7 incumbent intern PGY-2 spots and 5 remaining PGY-2 spots for incoming GMOs. The numbers were similar last year.

So not a ton of spots, but that doesn’t include civilian deferment, which they accept for Ortho (and other specialties). USUHS grads are guaranteed a military internship though.

As was said, the things that make you competitive for other schools work here. But you have to show that you know what service is and that you know what a military career means.

https://www.med.navy.mil/directives/ENotes/NOTE 1524.pdf
Click to expand...
I had a question. Are USUHS medical students (I would do Army route) able to apply to civilian residencies like Duke, etc.? If so, how hard is it?
 
CyrilFiggis said:
USUHS had a rep 5-10 years ago of being a fall back simply because most weren't interested in taking on a military career just to become an MD. However, the caliber of candidate and the stats of the recent incoming class have it ranked with a majority of the mid tier programs. You should approach it the same way you would any of those schools.

You should be prepared for the military lifestyle if you are not already so. While you can apply to a civilian residency, you will most likely match with your service and each has caps based on need. When I interviewed, they showed us a chart of the current availability for the M4's (c/o 2016). Some spots like Ortho, only had 2 available for the whole country - that includes all the scholarship people. That means you could either not match or more likely do GMO for two years.
Click to expand...

I had a question. Are USUHS medical students (I would do Army route) able to apply to civilian residencies like Duke, etc.? If so, how hard is it?
 
PKV1 said:
I had a question. Are USUHS medical students (I would do Army route) able to apply to civilian residencies like Duke, etc.? If so, how hard is it?
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We are contractually and legally guaranteed a military residency, so they try to place you in a military residency first. Whether or not you are able to get permission to do a civilian residency depends on the specialty, your application, and the year. Last year I think 10 students went to civilian programs, and that was a high number. That’s about 6% of the class.

Also keep in mind that depending on how you go to a civilian program, you may end up in the IRR and lose your military pay and benefits for the duration of the residency, not to mention the time toward retirement.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
We are contractually and legally guaranteed a military residency, so they try to place you in a military residency first. Whether or not you are able to get permission to do a civilian residency depends on the specialty, your application, and the year. Last year I think 10 students went to civilian programs, and that was a high number. That’s about 6% of the class.

Also keep in mind that depending on how you go to a civilian program, you may end up in the IRR and lose your military pay and benefits for the duration of the residency, not to mention the time toward retirement.
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What is the IRR? I am interested in serving the military anyway because I want to serve those that have served our country so losing certain benefits is a low cost to me.
 
ITrustInHimAlone said:
What is the IRR? I am interested in serving the military anyway because I want to serve those that have served our country so losing certain benefits is a low cost to me.
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You can always join after residency
 
CyrilFiggis said:
You can always join after residency
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Are you talking about doing a civilian fellowship? The reason I ask about civilian residencies and fellowships is because there are certain schools (civilian) that excel in certain fields (not all) - so this would translate to getting the best education for the military. If I can get the best education even if that means a civilian residency/fellowship, I want to do that, but ultimately I would like to serve the military.
 
gonnif said:
This information may be out of date, but many years ago, the Army funded some civilian residency slots for this reason. The specific example I recall was EM and Trauma Surgery at U Miami
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The military variably funds out service spots, but many of the out of service spots are deferred which means you are in the IRR and are paid and have the benefits of any other resident. At least in the Navy, almost all of the residencies have partnerships with civilian programs so that we can get a variety of exposure.
 
Da_LoP said:
Hi, I am interested in going to USUHS. What are some things that can make your competitive to be accepted? I know very well that others' experiences might not apply to mine, but I'm curious to see what others did
Click to expand...

After having countless friends attend military academies and having grown up in a military family, and also hoping to attend USUHS. I would say talk to people in military medicine. Whether that is medical admin, PAs, RNs, or actual doctors. The military is a lot about who you know. See if you can talk to a recruiter for the branch you hope to go into. Tour the campus early would be a good idea to get some face to face time. Depending on how close you are to applying I would say start getting in shape to pass the PT test, these differ for each branch. There are also other ways to get into military medicine you can also go by way of HPSP (ROTC equivalent of medical school, in my opinion). HPSP gives you less of a commitment then USUHS does, which is something they will ask you about in the interview, are you planning to make a career out of the military. Residencies and fellowships will add to the time commitment you "pay" back.

Medicine + The Military

Learn about the career opportunities and lifestyle that the Military has to offer medical students, residents and licensed physicians.
www.medicineandthemilitary.com www.medicineandthemilitary.com

There is the general link to the overview of both programs.
 
evo512 said:
Residencies and fellowships will add to the time commitment you "pay" back.
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This depends on multiple factors. Residency may or may not add to your time in. It depends on the length of the residency and your commitment. Fellowship does because you can’t pay back two GME commitments simultaneously.
 
ITrustInHimAlone said:
Are you talking about doing a civilian fellowship? The reason I ask about civilian residencies and fellowships is because there are certain schools (civilian) that excel in certain fields (not all) - so this would translate to getting the best education for the military. If I can get the best education even if that means a civilian residency/fellowship, I want to do that, but ultimately I would like to serve the military.
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no. You don't have to do USUHS or HPSP to be a military physician. You can do a civilian medical school and residency and then get commissioned after. If $$ is an issue, there are post-graduate repayment programs like HPLR that can pay $250k over 4 years. The benefit of this is that you have more control over your commitment.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
The military variably funds out service spots, but many of the out of service spots are deferred which means you are in the IRR and are paid and have the benefits of any other resident. At least in the Navy, almost all of the residencies have partnerships with civilian programs so that we can get a variety of exposure.
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You mentioned the navy having residencies that had partnerships with civilian programs. How about the Army?
 
ITrustInHimAlone said:
You mentioned the navy having residencies that had partnerships with civilian programs. How about the Army?
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Not sure, sorry. I’m guessing they probably do because military MTFs don’t see a lot of trauma and more complex things that you need to see in residency.
 
ITrustInHimAlone said:
You mentioned the navy having residencies that had partnerships with civilian programs. How about the Army?
Click to expand...

Not sure if this is exactly what you're asking about, but like @gonnif mentioned earlier the Army partners with University of Miami/Jackson Memorial for some things. I don't know anything about residency spots but I know that their surgical teams (not just docs - the whole team of nurses, etc as well) do training exercises at Ryder Trauma Center. Miami med students are able to observe/participate in some of those exercises as well.
 
TelemarketingEnigma said:
Not sure if this is exactly what you're asking about, but like @gonnif mentioned earlier the Army partners with University of Miami/Jackson Memorial for some things. I don't know anything about residency spots but I know that their surgical teams (not just docs - the whole team of nurses, etc as well) do training exercises at Ryder Trauma. Miami med students are able to observe/participate in some of those exercises as well.
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So I know a guy in the Army that goes to USUHS as a fourth year and he is going to Duke for urology for residency. I was wondering whether that was a partnership.
 
ITrustInHimAlone said:
So I know a guy in the Army that goes to USUHS as a fourth year and he is going to Duke for urology for residency. I was wondering whether that was a partnership.
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Don't know, sorry. However, I would suggest that if you're really interested in doing a civilian residency, you consider joining the military after you finish your training (as others have mentioned). There are some possibilities and partnerships for civilian training after USUHS, but it's better to think of those as the exception rather than the norm.
 
ITrustInHimAlone said:
So I know a guy in the Army that goes to USUHS as a fourth year and he is going to Duke for urology for residency. I was wondering whether that was a partnership.
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If he’s going to Duke then he is going as civilian deferred. Every year we have a few people who do this, but it is a small number of students. It depends on how much they want you in a specialty, the number of military spots, your competitiveness, etc.

You have to be selected in the military match for civilian deferment and then enter the civilian NBME match and successfully match.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
If he’s going to Duke then he is going as civilian deferred. Every year we have a few people who do this, but it is a small number of students. It depends on how much they want you in a specialty, the number of military spots, your competitiveness, etc.

You have to be selected in the military match for civilian deferment and then enter the civilian NBME match and successfully match.
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Also I hear that there are a lot of partnerships for civilian fellowships especially for army physicians. Is that true?

Also mind letting me know the implications behind being civilian deferred?
 
ITrustInHimAlone said:
Also I hear that there are a lot of partnerships for civilian fellowships especially for army physicians. Is that true?

Also mind letting me know the implications behind being civilian deferred?
Click to expand...

Can’t really speak to fellowship. I know that most residencies have some sort of partnership with civilian institutions, often more than one. At least in the Navy. I’m assuming it’s the same for Army. I would think fellowship would be the same, but I’m not 100% sure.

Civilian deferred depends on whether it’s really FTOS or deferred. If it’s really FTOS then you are funded through the DoD and get your pay and benefits. Most people who go civilian I think go civilian deferred, and there you go into the IRR. You are no longer active duty and don’t have any military pay or benefits while in residency, and it doesn’t count toward retirement.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Civilian deferred depends on whether it’s really FTOS or deferred. If it’s really FTOS then you are funded through the DoD and get your pay and benefits. Most people who go civilian I think go civilian deferred, and there you go into the IRR. You are no longer active duty and don’t have any military pay or benefits while in residency, and it doesn’t count toward retirement.
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It also doesn’t count towards your time owed.
 
Do you all know the average length (number of months) of deployment for army, navy, and air force? A friend of mine that goes to USUHS just informed me that it differs between branches.
 
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ITrustInHimAlone said:
Do you all know the average length (number of months) of deployment for army, navy, and air force? A friend of mine that goes to USUHS just informed me that it differs between branches.
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Differs between branches and setting (eg, boots on ground versus ship deployment in the Navy). Generally somewhere between 7 months to a year. Humanitarian deployments are usually shorter.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Differs between branches and setting (eg, boots on ground versus ship deployment in the Navy). Generally somewhere between 7 months to a year. Humanitarian deployments are usually shorter.
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For boots on ground, is it usually on the longer side? 1 year? What about the Navy? Or Airforce? I heard the airforce has the shortest deployments and the army is usually on average the longest - i am trying to figure out by how long? Correct me if I am wrong,
 
ITrustInHimAlone said:
For boots on ground, is it usually on the longer side? 1 year? What about the Navy? Or Airforce? I heard the airforce has the shortest deployments and the army is usually on average the longest - i am trying to figure out by how long? Correct me if I am wrong,
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Boots on ground in the Navy is usually longer than a ship deployment. Ship deployments tend to be about 7 months, but can be as long as 9-10 months. Depends on if they get extended or not. Personally, I'd rather do a 7 months ship deployment than a 6 months deployment to the sand box. Ship deployments can get old, but at least you're seeing a cool port every 3-4 weeks for most of it.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Boots on ground in the Navy is usually longer than a ship deployment. Ship deployments tend to be about 7 months, but can be as long as 9-10 months. Depends on if they get extended or not. Personally, I'd rather do a 7 months ship deployment than a 6 months deployment to the sand box. Ship deployments can get old, but at least you're seeing a cool port every 3-4 weeks for most of it.
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Is it true that army deployments are usually the longest of them all? Like more than a year long? Isnt all of it boots to ground?
 
ITrustInHimAlone said:
Is it true that army deployments are usually the longest of them all? Like more than a year long? Isnt all of it boots to ground?
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Navy has different types of deployments. Boots on ground, ship deployments, etc. The Army is all boots on ground AFAIK, and yes they tend to be longer than the other services.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
I do not know a ton about Army deployments fortunately. But I believe they are mostly around a year. Navy deployments tend to be 7-9 months.
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I am guessing you have experience with deployments. How is it like being separated from family that long and what do you do to keep in touch?
 
ITrustInHimAlone said:
I am guessing you have experience with deployments. How is it like being separated from family that long and what do you do to keep in touch?
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It sucks, but it is what it is. That's the job, unfortunately. I made sure to try to talk to my wife on facebook messenger or through email as often as possible. It wasn't always every day, and sometimes it would be weeks if we were doing something where we had to be hiding. But overall I was able to communicate most days. When we hit ports, I would facetime them every day.

But it is hard. I left when my oldest kid was 4 months old and got home just after her first birthday. She wouldn't let me hold her for like 10-15 minutes because she wasn't totally sure who I was. But after she heard my voice for about 10 minutes, she wanted me to hold her and wouldn't let anyone else do anything with her for like 2 weeks.
 
Wow that must have been tough. Thank you for sharing by the way and giving your first hand experience. Glad your daughter would not leave you for 2 weeks, haha. The reason I am thinking about these things is because I want to be an active father - I want to raise them to know Christ. It takes time though so I know I will need to be dedicated. That is why I really want to ask people that have experienced this stuff before I fully push myself in.
 
ITrustInHimAlone said:
Wow that must have been tough. Thank you for sharing by the way and giving your first hand experience. Glad your daughter would not leave you for 2 weeks, haha. The reason I am thinking about these things is because I want to be an active father - I want to raise them to know Christ. It takes time though so I know I will need to be dedicated. That is why I really want to ask people that have experienced this stuff before I fully push myself in.
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It’s possible to be active in your kids’ lives. Being an enlisted person or even a SWO on a ship is much different than being a medical officer.
 
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