Originally posted by edmadison:
[QB]There is one hidden disadvantage with USUHS. All USUHS folks MUST do their residency in the military. The military programs are good, but there is a limited number of them. HPSPers will get automatically defered if they do not get one of their five choice...."
Hmmmm once again a misnomer perpetuated by the experts....It is not a fact that all USUHS MUST do residencies in the Military, it is possible to get a deferment but highly unpractical. The reason for this is that when you are on deferment you are basically out of the military therefore if you do a 5 year residency in a civilian institution ,after graduating from USU, when you come back in the military you would still be an O-3 with less than 2 years of service for pay and rank purposes. This is a bigtime setback in a military career because all of your peers that you went to school with already would have 5 years time in service and time in grade toward promotion and you would be starting from day 1.
The "hidden disadvantage" really isn't a disadvantage unless you have your heart set on doing a civilian residency. The fact of the matter is that USUHS students consistently get their first choice of specialty over 95% of the time and their first choice of location in the high 80%...I'm not sure what HPSP is but I'm sure it isn't that high. As the Col. in charge of the Joint GME selection committee assured us "USUHS students have historically faired very well in the selection process" and rightfully so since the military knows that we (USUHS) students have made a committment to be around a while and are expected to be the future leadership of military medicine. This, as opposed to HPSP students who are expected to have large numbers departing the military after their 4 year payback period.
The question that you want to answer for yourself is: what do I want out of my career as a physician? If the answer is: I want to be a career military medical officer, USUHS is the obvious choice. If the answer is something like: I'm not sure that I want to spend an extended time in the military but I would like to serve for a while just to test the waters...and oh yeah free school is nice too, then check out HPSP. One is not necessarily better than the other, but the two programs are designed to accomplish two different things. HPSP is kinda like hiring temps who you expect to get out after 4 years, but with the option of staying on if they like it. For most, it doesn't make good financial sense since after their obligation is up they only have 4 years in toward retirement, whereas USUHS students will have over 10 years in towards retirement + another 4 years of credit toward retirement pay. USUHS sets you up to be a future leader in the military healthcare system as a career medical officer.
Either way you are doing a good service for your country, and will get opportunities to do things that civilian docs never will (some might say that is a bad thing, personally I look forward to it). Best of luck whatever path you decide on, and give USUHS a visit if you get the chance, many people who are initally unsure about the school are pleasantly surprised after a visit.
