usuhs interviewees

[abw]

Hey guys!
I had my usuhs interview yesterday , but it seemed like nobody knew which branch of the military to choose. I was wondering what everyone wound up ranking first. (btw i chose navy). also, does anyone know if your branch choice affects your admission?

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[Sweet Tea]

i know next to nothing about usuhs. do they make you pick a branch when you apply? can you change it later if you decide you'd be better off in the air force?

 

[kaos]

I put AF first, Public Health Service second. No, the adcom never finds out what your preference is; your preference sheet is put separately, so they never see it.

Good luck!!

 

[abw]

i know next to nothing about usuhs. do they make you pick a branch when you apply? can you change it later if you decide you'd be better off in the air force?

They make you choose a branch by the end of the day you interview. If you ask, they'll give you an extra form to fax in if you change your mind later.

 

[Sweet Tea]

thanks for the info.

 

[srabulldog]

(btw i chose navy).

My husband is applying to USUHS and has done some research on the different branches. He's found that with the Navy, it is almost totally a guarantee that you'll be sent out on a ship, and probably more than one time. It's said that the Air Force offers the best standard of living, especially for women. My husband chose the Army because they have lots of residency training programs in the specialty that he's most interested in (orthopedics). Hope that helps...

 

[Celiac Plexus]

I interviewed at USUHS 3.5 years ago (I'm a 4th year med student now... Actually the branch of service that you pick DOES make a difference as far as admissions goes.

From the people that I spoke with on my interview day, the air force slots fill up the fastest. This si due to the fact/perception that the air force has the cushiest bases or something like that. Navy fills second since it is not as desirable as air force. In the nay, I believe that they still highly encourage/require a GMO (general medical officer) tour after graduation and before residency that ususally is for 1 year. Army fills last due to the fact thta the army is the biggest branch and therefore has the most MD slots open.

How does all this matter? Well, if you put navy down as your preference, and all the navy slots are filled, you will only be considered for an army slot AFTER all of the army applicants have been exhausted. Therefore, there could be army slots open that you will not get considered for if you put navy as your preference, and there are still people on the army list waiting for an army slot. However, it's pretty early in the admission cycle so you will probably get offerred a navy slot.

I was actually on the waitlist, and I had chosen navy as well. I got a call from the adcom in May or June saying that they were getting to the end of the army waitlist and would I be interested in an army slot if they ran out of army applicants. Apparently the navy slots had already been filled for some time.

SO, if you want to maximize your chance of admission to USUHS, and you don't really care what branch you are in, put army down. Personally, I would rather be in the navy since the uniforms are way cooler! In any event, I did not get offerred admission and I wound up at another med school. But I loved USUHS and I would have seriously considered going there if I had been offerred a spot.

Good luck!

 

[rotatores]

If you are in the Navy (which I am) it is not a done deal that you will be on a ship one day, but you will get a GMO tour. People sometimes get the two mixed up. A GMO tour means that you can work with a special forces unit, on a ship, flight surgeon, etc.... You have to remember that they only have a 1 to a few physicians on any one ship. Most of the medical staff out at sea is enlisted. For examble a HM1 (E-6) in the Navy can prescribe meds and in emergency situations perform surgery (kinda scary).

Most of the students in my class at USUHS who are in the Navy tend to be single. The Air Force does seem to have the best living conditions (but do you really want to be made fun of by the other branches your whole life, j/k). It also seems to be that if you're Mormon you are required to join the Air Force.

If you ask me the Navy has the coolest options...if you're young and single.

Take care

 

[rotatores]

Oh ya, forgot to mention..if you are prior service you can get a waiver for the age requirement. I think that for every year of prior service you can add on another year to the age requirement. I'm not totally sure though. I do know that we have two guys with prior service who are about 38-39.

As far as picking a branch, the best route is to say no preference b/c this maximizes your chance of getting something.

 

[srabulldog]

Hey- I had a question. Does anyone (interviewee, current student) know anything about the 3rd and 4th year clinical rotations? My husband interviewed at USUHS on Oct 3 and during the interview he was told that typically the students will do the rotations in different teaching hospitals throughout the country. Does anyone know if this is optional? Where are rotations done in the DC area? Since we have a family, him going off and doing rotations all over for 2 years would be like deployment rather than education! Does anyone have more info on that???

THanks

 

[abw]

When they spoke to us during our interview, they talked briefly about the 3rd and 4th year clerkships. Somebody already in the school probably knows a lot more and can probably answer this a lot better. However, what they said was that you should probably do about 2-3 clerkships in different areas of the country besides d.c. More than that is too taxing because of the strain of constant moving - they highly advise against moving that much. People who are married who would like to stay within the Bethesda area can request a waiver or something like that to get to stay completely in the Bethesda area, however the amount of people allowed to do that is limited, so it's chosen by lottery. The officer who spoke about this said that if you're so worried about moving around for these clerkships, the military might not be the right place for you since you will be moving around at least a few times (at least to get to the school, for your residency, and to a permanent base). One thing to consider, though, is that clerkships only last about 3-6 weeks (i think) which isn't too long a time to be away from family. That's just what I've heard, but again, you might want to ask a student there.

 

[rotatores]

abw is absolutely right. It's also recommended that you do your rotations in the areas that you would like to do your residency in. That way when it comes to matching for residency they can put a face with a name.

 

[srabulldog]

Thanks for the info. Along the same line, I am wondering where the guys would live when they go to 3rd and 4th yr rotations off-site. Are there furnished military apartments available? Does this cost extra $, since the student would still be maintaining a household in DC? Where would they live? Obviously our family wouldn't go with my husband. Besides, when he's doing his rotations, he won't have lots of Free Time to spend with us... About the rotations, is there any way to choose which rotations you'd go off-site to? For instance, if he wants a surgery rotation away, can he request to go to a certain base, or is he automatically assigned a rotation and a training hospital? Thanks for any info on this, again!

 

[abw]

Hey!
From what i understand, the military pays for your housing while you are at an alternate clerkship site. My tour guide told me that everyone tries to do psychiatry in hawaii as opposed to ob/gyn or surgery so you can have time to enjoy yourself. So, from this, i'm assuming that you have a bit of a choice. I think it's probably like anything else though where they have to have enough spots to accomodate your request. but again, you might want to ask a student . . .

 

[Jet915]

Hey ABW, i interviewed the same day too..........what was your name? Anyways, I chose the Air Force mainly because the better standard of living and the fact that in the AF, I wont have to do a GMO tour and can go straight to residency (atleast that's why my first interviewer who is in the AF said). I also asked her about picking a specialty and if it mattered what branch I was in in order to do a certain specialty and she told me it wasnt uncommon for an AF doc say to do residency in an army hospital if that was the only place that the specialty was taught.

Jetson

 

[abw]

hey jetson!
i sent you a pm - keep in touch about how everything goes with usuhs! good luck!
alli