Usuhs

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I wouldn't worry too much about it White Lightning... it seems most people I talked to had one smooth, conversational interview and one with a skeptical interviewer. I did as well. Did you talk to the other people who interviewed with that same person?

Nope. I didn't have a chance to find the other person with the same interviewer. However, most of the other interviewees did not voice similar experiences. Like a said, I may actually have done better than I thought, but it definately did not feel smooth.
 
whitlght it sounds like we had the same experiences with different interviewers. I dont think the school intentionally pairs people up with a "conversational" interview and then a "confrontational" one. From what i got most of the people that interviewed had 2 normal interviewers. I agree though, you probably did just fine still. I feel the exact same way about my experience
 
whitlght it sounds like we had the same experiences with different interviewers. I dont think the school intentionally pairs people up with a "conversational" interview and then a "confrontational" one. From what i got most of the people that interviewed had 2 normal interviewers. I agree though, you probably did just fine still. I feel the exact same way about my experience

I was referring to the absence of punctuality of the interviewer. I have heard that schools sometimes purposely to see how you deal with it. I kind of doubt this was the case since in the presentations they specifically said that there would be NO games. I will keep my fingers crossed for both of us mslall. Did you interview on 9/18 as well?
 
I was referring to the absence of punctuality of the interviewer. I have heard that schools sometimes purposely to see how you deal with it. I kind of doubt this was the case since in the presentations they specifically said that there would be NO games. I will keep my fingers crossed for both of us mslall. Did you interview on 9/18 as well?

you guys (or gals?) are both ok, again b/c you interviewed so early. I think 5 minutes late is ok, especially for a faculty member or attending. just play it cool. as long as you're there on time, there's nothing you can do about it. if its anything more than 5 minutes late, then I might mention it to the admissions office. If the committe knows your interviewer was very late and you had a truncated interview, they should place less weight on that interviewer's opinions (especially if they're negative).

And whatever happens, make sure that you get to your next interview on time! (if you have one following) . . .even if you have to excuse yourself from the first one.
 
And whatever happens, make sure that you get to your next interview on time! (if you have one following) . . .even if you have to excuse yourself from the first one.

they give you a 45 minute break between the two interviews.
 
I interviewed on 09/25. My first interviewer was a few minutes late. He said they had some meeting/briefing about "us" (the interviewees) that ran a few minutes long I guess. But yeah, fingers crossed. Which branch did you preference?

Should be 4-6 weeks until we hear correct? My tour guide said thats what they say, but it actually turns out to be about 2-3? Sooner the better, but better late than never.

They dont always give you 45 minutes in between interviews. They do try to but i know there were a few of us on the 25th that had back to back interviews. It was like 3 out of the 30 or so. Two guys had interviews at 1 and 145 and was done.

Good luck everyone
 
I interviewed on 09/25. My first interviewer was a few minutes late. He said they had some meeting/briefing about "us" (the interviewees) that ran a few minutes long I guess. But yeah, fingers crossed. Which branch did you preference?

Should be 4-6 weeks until we hear correct? My tour guide said thats what they say, but it actually turns out to be about 2-3? Sooner the better, but better late than never.

They dont always give you 45 minutes in between interviews. They do try to but i know there were a few of us on the 25th that had back to back interviews. It was like 3 out of the 30 or so. Two guys had interviews at 1 and 145 and was done.

Good luck everyone

I put NAVY for my first preference.
 
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Should be 4-6 weeks until we hear correct? My tour guide said thats what they say, but it actually turns out to be about 2-3? Sooner the better, but better late than never.

Yeah, my tour guide said it would be about 3 weeks too. And I think one of the handouts said that conditional acceptances would go out on the 1st and 15th of the month... so maybe on 10/15 for the people who interviewed in Septmber?
 
Navy, huh? What was your main reason for choosing Navy over the other branches? I ask because I'm still deciding which to choose. I think I'd be happy with any branch, so long as I'm a doctor in the end. Figure I'll have to do some heavy online research during the next few weeks before my interview.
 
army bases are in middle america. navy is on the coasts. thats my reason (even with a GMO...or DMO or FS which could be cool)
 
I picked Navy for two reasons. First, I am bias because my uncle is a pilot in the Navy and really likes it. Second, I feel like the Navy offers the most diverse opportunities. If you want to run around in the sand you can go with the marines. If you want to be on a ship, you can do flight surgery (I am sure there are other opportunities to be on ship). I am pretty sure that the Navy is the only branch where you would get the opportunity to be a doc on a sub, but I could be wrong. There is also the possibility as a flight surgeon in the Navy that you will have an opportunity to actually get some stick time (how many civilian counterparts can say the same?). The fact that the bases are on the coast is obviously a huge bonus.

Since I have no prior service, some of this could not be completely accurate. From what I have been told I think these opportunities are realistic, although I am sure there will be someone on here that can shed some more light.
 
Hi everyone, I'm interviewing oct 17, trying to decide which branch I will choose also. I'm very interested in serving internationally and in humanitarian aid/disaster relief. Does Army or Navy more frequently participate in relief efforts? Also, saw a post earlier about public health service requiring a 10 year commitment, is this true? One more: can the military pull you out of a residency to serve somewhere? I'm afraid of a situation having to go serve before I'm well trained...(these are probably questions I'll ask day of as well).
Thanks! Just trying to iron out a few rinkles..some of the military medicine posts are so negative it's hard to know what to expect.
 
and by rinkles I mean wrinkles 😳
 
Hi everyone, I'm interviewing oct 17, trying to decide which branch I will choose also. I'm very interested in serving internationally and in humanitarian aid/disaster relief. Does Army or Navy more frequently participate in relief efforts? Also, saw a post earlier about public health service requiring a 10 year commitment, is this true? One more: can the military pull you out of a residency to serve somewhere? I'm afraid of a situation having to go serve before I'm well trained...(these are probably questions I'll ask day of as well).
Thanks! Just trying to iron out a few rinkles..some of the military medicine posts are so negative it's hard to know what to expect.

its totally possible, just depends on the time/place of the natural disaster. I talked to some GMOs on the Abe Lincoln, when she diverted to go help out the tsunami relief in '04, they said it kicked ass. likewise, i think one of the big decks (the iwo jima?) played in Katrina relief, and then again in the eastern med during the neo ops in Lebanon, in '06. (if there's a natural disaster near a coastline, the Navy can be there, since the Navy pretty much patrols the world). The host country of course has to be accepting of the help!
 
I am pretty sure that the Navy is the only branch where you would get the opportunity to be a doc on a sub, but I could be wrong.

And this is why I most certainly put Air Force!!!

Good luck to all...Sept 25th was great!!
 
Just found this post... Interviewed at USUHS on Sept. 18th and I really liked the place.

I found the interview experience very enjoyable. I stayed with a student-host (Army) who was great and very informative. Also, I enjoyed the interviews and feel pretty good about them, we'll see how things work out.
 
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. I am pretty sure that the Navy is the only branch where you would get the opportunity to be a doc on a sub, but I could be wrong.

im pretty sure that there are no doctors aboard subs. if you opt to be a DMO (dive medical officer) you are generally attached to a submarine support ship (not the sub itself) or seals, etc....
 
. I stayed with a student-host (Army) who was great and very informative.

i was looking quite forward to staying with a student host and put in my forms as soon as i got them....i guess they filled up or couldnt find a host because i havent heard anything with my interview on thursday. good thing i have a friend in DC
 
Has anyone had any difficulty scheduling their DODMERB physical?
 
Good luck Goose.

I chose to preference army for a few reasons. 1) the people I was exposed to that were in the army seemed to have a more positive feeling about the medical corps than those in the navy 2) i know this may sound crazy the opportunity to practice medicine in a "war" zone or on a forward surgical team appeals to me 3)generally straight through residency training, less of a chance, although not impossible 4) generally more residency options (more spots not more specialties, i'm fairly certain you CAN do anything in any branch there are just more opportunities in some 5) sure the dress uniforms aren't great, but at USUHS you get to wear ACU's 4 days of the week (ok so who cares about uniforms, obviously none of us at USUHS will ever get to wear the marines dress blues)

Sure middle America might not be great, i grew up in a navy family so I guess i'll just have to get use to the great plains/cornfields of Kansas. Provided i even get an acceptance offer

Yeah i've been having some problems scheduling DoDMERB. I had to change my site and the new site is apparently just does walk-ins, no scheduling. So I'm trying to figure out how to approach this on the dodmets website. I'm going to go "walk-in" tomorrow morning so I guess maybe i'll just put that as my schedule date? Any ideas?

A question: Does anyone know where you can get a copy of Fighting for Life? You can buy them on the website but they're 300$. If you haven't yet, watch the trailer. If you ever needed a reason to go into milmed its right there
 
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No troubles with DoDMERB mine, was completed last week. I just kept calling the contractor to push for earlier appointments. I did have to drive an hour and half for optometery but getting it over with was better than waiting a month for an appointment that was closer.

On the branch issue. Obviously the Army doesn't have base locations as a nice as the Navy. But for Amedd officers you'll spend most of your time in D.C., San Antonio, hawaii, germany or seattle all of which are great places. If you end up at one of the "middle america" bases they end up not being awful either. I was stationed at Campbell and we spent every weekend night taking the 40 minute drive to Nashville, Drum has nothing local but tons of places that are reasonable drives for weekend trips. Bragg and Polk are brutal I'll admit that, but if you get stuck in primary care at bragg you can always push for a surgeon slot in the special forces so theres really a silver lining everywhere.

I interviewed the 15th and got stuck with two non USUHS grad O-6s both were very nice but just wanted to hear my life story, didn't talk a whole lot about anything else. My first question from the Air Force doc was What do you want to talk about? which threw for a loop before I basically told him exactly what I wanted him to write in his report to the admissions committee so all in all i think it went pretty well

god luck to everyone who hasn't gone yet
 
Fighting for Life hasn't been released yet you can only get the promotional versions. Its screened at a lot of independent theatres, I saw it in Bethesda about two months ago. A couple posts have copies too that they've shown in MWR facilities
 
A question: Does anyone know where you can get a copy of Fighting for Life? You can buy them on the website but they're 300$. If you haven't yet, watch the trailer. If you ever needed a reason to go into milmed its right there

Don't know where to find a copy, though I'd love to see it. Unfortunately, being in Bozeman, MT has its drawbacks when it comes to movie screenings. Seems like an excellent movie though.
 
I appreciate everyone explaining their branch preferences. As for me, any one of the branches would be okay by me. So, I think I've decided to mark "no preference" and let them sort it out. Am I wrong to assume I'd have a better chance of getting a spot if I go this route?
 
im pretty sure that there are no doctors aboard subs. if you opt to be a DMO (dive medical officer) you are generally attached to a submarine support ship (not the sub itself) or seals, etc....


Well then, I guess that would fall in the other opportunities to be on ship category. That is surprising to me that there are no docs on subs. Do they have to surface for every health issue?
 
Well then, I guess that would fall in the other opportunities to be on ship category. That is surprising to me that there are no docs on subs. Do they have to surface for every health issue?

Subs have one or more IDCs (independent duty corpmans), a highly trained E-6 corpsman, and usually the cream of the crop. They can handle most issues while underway . . . but if it's serious enough, yeah they have to surface and transfer the patient to a big deck (probably within their battlegroup) or a nearby MTF. (during WWII, the IDCs would perform appendectomies! but those were during some different times . . .when a sub couldn't surface, b/c doing so would be tantamount to suicide).

anyhoo, the only ships that have MDs onboard are big decks (aircraft carriers and amphibs), and of course the hospital ships. from what I understand, they're pretty coveted billets, hard to get as GMOs.
 
for those of you that interviewed already - did they give you a recommended timeframe to complete DoDMERB? If they want it done soon after the interview i think ill need to hop on the bike in some garbage bags to sweat out 3 pounds of water before i weigh in :+p
 
for those of you that interviewed already - did they give you a recommended timeframe to complete DoDMERB? If they want it done soon after the interview i think ill need to hop on the bike in some garbage bags to sweat out 3 pounds of water before i weigh in :+p

They want the results within 60 days after your interview.
 
You don't have to meet height/weight standards for the DoDMERB, you'll have to be under the tables before officer training in the summer (and they may even waive that now its getting really pathetic). The DoDMERB just evaluates your health to ensure there is nothing that precludues you from military service, your weight will be documented but unless it causes other health concerns like high blood pressure you'll be fine
 
^^thanks for the reply. i think im at about 193 and would need to get down to 191 so it wasnt going to be anything insane...i was just curious if i'd need to do a little "sweatin-to-the-oldies" before the physical.
 
i was looking quite forward to staying with a student host and put in my forms as soon as i got them....i guess they filled up or couldnt find a host because i havent heard anything with my interview on thursday. good thing i have a friend in DC

Call them!!!! I've heard this from others too and I'd reply by adding my experience to the importance of staying/visiting with a student. My wife and I had dinner with a student the night prior to the interview, and I'd venture to say it was more beneficial than some of those who presented during the USUHS orientation.

Insight into the military: if something isn't happening like it should...bug people until it does. No one (especially military people) cares about you as much as you!
 
just to clarify the situation:

i got an email from usuhs and they said that they couldnt accommodate a match because this particular interview day the students were swamped studying for exams. (must be that time of year). on the plus side, the person i corresponded with was SUPER nice and i can see what others mean by the fact that it truly seems like the staff cares and wants you to come to usu.
 
hey guys,

as far as a student host -- be very proactive & CALL....i emailed the person they listed several times but she was apparently on vacation so never got my info. However, after calling the office I was put in touch with someone who set me up with a student host within 2 days. So......they are very helpful -- just keep in mind that if you don't receive a response via email -- CALL!!!


SEE SOME OF YOU ON THURSDAY!!!!!!! omg.
 
I appreciate everyone explaining their branch preferences. As for me, any one of the branches would be okay by me. So, I think I've decided to mark "no preference" and let them sort it out. Am I wrong to assume I'd have a better chance of getting a spot if I go this route?

This will not give you a better chance of getting a spot. Getting accepted has nothing to do with what your service preferences list. After they decide that they want to accept you, they attempt to match you to your service preference list. They will offer you a specific service (hopefully what you wanted), and you either accept it or don't go to USU. Since it has no effect on whether you get offered a spot, I would figure it out and write a preference (not AF).
 
I have it scheduled for next Thurs. I have to take out my contacts three days before and I can't find my glasses. I feel sorry for the people I am driving next to on the way to the physical.
 
well, after interviewing yesterday, they officially won me over.

I'm also going to echo some earlier posters by saying that if you have the time to do so, go on the sim center tour.....it wasextremely impressive
 
I have been reading this and other military med threads for about six months now and have enjoyed what you all have to say. I have my own query now and hopefully you current and interviewed students can help.
Heres a brief background...
I got my undergrad BS in Education and have been teaching for two years. I had an interest in medicine in HS but being in the competitive suburbs of Boston where all my pre-med hopeful friends went on to brown, tufts, and such I became a bit discouraged and pursued my second passion.
Last year I began volunteering at a free-clinic and soon realized I wanted to be in medicine. Since then I have been working full-time and taking 12+ credits a semester to finish my requirements.
I am pretty certain I want to get into FP and am focusing all my shadowing and clinical experience on the field and related pursuits (diabetic education, tobacco cessation, etc.).
So my question...do you think I should play up my experience in Education and focus on primary care? I know, working with retired and active duty AF docs, that FP is a big need of the military and the country in general. Would having this goal give you a boost when applying for USUHS or HPSP? Any thoughts or suggestions of other ways to prep myself for military med would be great.
God Bless
 
I have been reading this and other military med threads for about six months now and have enjoyed what you all have to say. I have my own query now and hopefully you current and interviewed students can help.
Heres a brief background...
I got my undergrad BS in Education and have been teaching for two years. I had an interest in medicine in HS but being in the competitive suburbs of Boston where all my pre-med hopeful friends went on to brown, tufts, and such I became a bit discouraged and pursued my second passion.
Last year I began volunteering at a free-clinic and soon realized I wanted to be in medicine. Since then I have been working full-time and taking 12+ credits a semester to finish my requirements.
I am pretty certain I want to get into FP and am focusing all my shadowing and clinical experience on the field and related pursuits (diabetic education, tobacco cessation, etc.).
So my question...do you think I should play up my experience in Education and focus on primary care? I know, working with retired and active duty AF docs, that FP is a big need of the military and the country in general. Would having this goal give you a boost when applying for USUHS or HPSP? Any thoughts or suggestions of other ways to prep myself for military med would be great.
God Bless

I don't think having a preference for a particular type of medicine (FP or something else) will give you a 'boost' in the admissions process. It's nice to see that you're goal-oriented and determined, but the admissions committee is mindful of the fact that students often change their minds. And it's not fair for someone on the admissions committee to hold a favorable or disfavorable bias over you, b/c you chose a particular type of medicine. The world (including milmed) needs good FPs, surgeons, cards, orthos, etc etc. So from a medical school admissions standpoint, your preference shouldn't matter at this point.

Now having said that . . . of course you should tout your experiences in clinic and education (one could argue the latter is more important in medicine!) Show that you're passionate about what you've done . . . passion is the redeeming quality that they're looking for.
 
I still haven't heard . . . . I know my app was complete and forwarded to admissions on 9/22. Time to panic???

Those of you that got your interview notices . . . did you get them on a particular day? (I'm trying to gauge when the admissions committee meets, this way, I can check my email in a more neurotic efficient manner! :laugh: )
 
DrMedal: I got my email on sept. 5......hope that helps with your calendar-calculations.

teacherman94: Playing up your experience in education and your interest in FP (and more importantly the reasons why FP) should be an asset for you in your essays and in the interview process. That being said, I dont think that your desire to be FP would give you an edge up from the rest of the applicant pool. Your desire to be specialty X shows committment and goal-oriented-thinking (which are good things to show - although as drmedal said - most med students change their mind about specialties when they actually rotate through)
 
I still haven't heard . . . . I know my app was complete and forwarded to admissions on 9/22. Time to panic???

Those of you that got your interview notices . . . did you get them on a particular day? (I'm trying to gauge when the admissions committee meets, this way, I can check my email in a more neurotic efficient manner! :laugh: )

Don't panic! I was complete about 3 weeks before I got an invite (on 8/19). It seems they send the invites out in batches... I wouldn't worry yet. Good luck!
 
I still haven't heard . . . . I know my app was complete and forwarded to admissions on 9/22. Time to panic???

Those of you that got your interview notices . . . did you get them on a particular day? (I'm trying to gauge when the admissions committee meets, this way, I can check my email in a more neurotic efficient manner! :laugh: )

just to break your balls a little bit.....the whole vibe of USUHS is totally the opposite of the "neurotic pre-med". Thats actually one of the factors that won me over. So, lose those neuroses and relax! 😀
 
I still haven't heard . . . . I know my app was complete and forwarded to admissions on 9/22. Time to panic???

Those of you that got your interview notices . . . did you get them on a particular day? (I'm trying to gauge when the admissions committee meets, this way, I can check my email in a more neurotic efficient manner! :laugh: )

Don't worry. I got the complete email on September 5th and the interview invite on September 23rd. You've got time.
 
just to break your balls a little bit.....the whole vibe of USUHS is totally the opposite of the "neurotic pre-med". Thats actually one of the factors that won me over. So, lose those neuroses and relax! 😀

i know i know . . that's the scientist/naval officer coming out in me . . . i gotta stop hitting the coffee.
 
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