Wait-listed for HPSP... what are my chances?

[SESmithPhD]

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I was informed a few weeks ago that i was wait-listed for the 2013 4-year AF HPSP. I'm currently ~15 on the wait-list. My recruiter has told me that last year they took as many as 30 individuals off of the wait-list.

Is that typical? Do I still have a realistic chance of being called up before Aug?

I was also told that if I'm not called up before the end of the fiscal year (Aug) I would default to the top of the list for consideration of the 3-year HPSP in the falll.

Am I any more likely to be offered the 3-year HPSP if i wasn't selected for the 4-year this time around?Anyone have any numbers or wisdom/insight on this?

I'd like to be able to start making some financial decisions before school starts in the fall and not having a clear answer on this is making that difficult.

 

[Snowdon48]

My recruiter also told me 20-30 get pulled off the waitlist on average and since med schools start early August one would think you have a good chance at finding out before then. Can't know for sure though.

Were you waitlisted by the March 20th board? If so your chances for the 3 year will be better since your app will be in early. MCAT/GPA?

 

[soccerbabe7582]

Interestingly though, I heard from my recruiter that they ADDED another board meeting for May 1st because there weren't enough applicants in the 3-year scholarship pool for the AF. It seems strange that that would be the case considering there are people on the wait list for the 4 year still....

 

[narcusprince]

I was informed a few weeks ago that i was wait-listed for the 2013 4-year AF HPSP. I'm currently ~15 on the wait-list. My recruiter has told me that last year they took as many as 30 individuals off of the wait-list.

Is that typical? Do I still have a realistic chance of being called up before Aug?

I was also told that if I'm not called up before the end of the fiscal year (Aug) I would default to the top of the list for consideration of the 3-year HPSP in the falll.

Am I any more likely to be offered the 3-year HPSP if i wasn't selected for the 4-year this time around?Anyone have any numbers or wisdom/insight on this?

I'd like to be able to start making some financial decisions before school starts in the fall and not having a clear answer on this is making that difficult.

Celebrate 🙂

 

[Oo Cipher oO]

I was informed a few weeks ago that i was wait-listed for the 2013 4-year AF HPSP. I'm currently ~15 on the wait-list. My recruiter has told me that last year they took as many as 30 individuals off of the wait-list.

Is that typical? Do I still have a realistic chance of being called up before Aug?

I was also told that if I'm not called up before the end of the fiscal year (Aug) I would default to the top of the list for consideration of the 3-year HPSP in the falll.

Am I any more likely to be offered the 3-year HPSP if i wasn't selected for the 4-year this time around?Anyone have any numbers or wisdom/insight on this?

I'd like to be able to start making some financial decisions before school starts in the fall and not having a clear answer on this is making that difficult.

I would start getting your financial aid in order (turn in FAFSA, etc) just in case it doesn't pan out. Be prepared for all possibilities at this point.

 

[SESmithPhD]

Things seem a little "off" in that regard. Why not ask me if i want to apply for the May 3-year?
Also, it seems strange to me that there is that much attrition in regards to turning down these scholarships. The HPSPs aren't exactly easy to apply for especially when you consider processing at your local MEPS and obtaining additional unique LORs. Are there really 20-30 individuals each year who get cold feet and turn down the scholarship after all that effort and time to consider the ramifications of the process they've started?

Regardless, I've begun the process of submitting my FASFA and applying for loans in the mean time.

 

[Snowdon48]

Things seem a little "off" in that regard. Why not ask me if i want to apply for the May 3-year?
Also, it seems strange to me that there is that much attrition in regards to turning down these scholarships. The HPSPs aren't exactly easy to apply for especially when you consider processing at your local MEPS and obtaining additional unique LORs. Are there really 20-30 individuals each year who get cold feet and turn down the scholarship after all that effort and time to consider the ramifications of the process they've started?

Regardless, I've begun the process of submitting my FASFA and applying for loans in the mean time.

A fair amount of that attrition is due to people applying for the HPSP in multiple branches and then choosing a different branch once they get multiple acceptances. The others read all the negative posts about milmed on SDN and get scared off 😉

 

[SESmithPhD]

Well it looks like all my worrying was in vain. My recruiter called me Friday to let me know the AF had freed up 30 additional 4-year HPSPs and that anyone already on a wait-list (that's me) was going to get an acceptance offer! (on side note, why exactly they chose to offer up 30 additional scholarships isn't clear to me and I'd love to know the reasoning/logic behind it..)

I'm in! Now I've just to ensure that my security clearance and commissioning goes though quickly enough for me to try and squeeze into the July COT before medical schools starts!

Since I already have a PhD do you think there's a possibility I'll be able to commission as a Captain rather than just the perfunctory 2nd Lt.? Wondering if I should ask my recruiter this question and if it has any merit as commissioning in the AF though any other route with a doctorate is as a Captain why should my situation be different because of the HPSP?

 

[244913]

Well it looks like all my worrying was in vain. My recruiter called me Friday to let me know the AF had freed up 30 additional 4-year HPSPs and that anyone already on a wait-list (that's me) was going to get an acceptance offer! (on side note, why exactly they chose to offer up 30 additional scholarships isn't clear to me and I'd love to know the reasoning/logic behind it..)

I'm in! Now I've just to ensure that my security clearance and commissioning goes though quickly enough for me to try and squeeze into the July COT before medical schools starts!

Since I already have a PhD do you think there's a possibility I'll be able to commission as a Captain rather than just the perfunctory 2nd Lt.? Wondering if I should ask my recruiter this question and if it has any merit as commissioning in the AF though any other route with a doctorate is as a Captain why should my situation be different because of the HPSP?

They'll probably bring you in as a full colonel. Even a Captain would be too "perfunctory." Go right now to clothing and sales and get uniforms fitted. Make sure to get the field grade "fruit salad" on your cap too.

GO RIGHT NOW!!

- ex 61N

 

[teacherman84]

No, all HPSP and USUHS students are O1 during school. Whether youre a PhD, PharmD, officer with 10 years flying heavies, or just a lowly premed with just a BS...we all get the perfunctory O1.

You may get some CSC once you promote to O3 after school. So rather than an P3 with 0-2 years you might be an O3 with 3-4 years

 

[idq1i]

Well it looks like all my worrying was in vain. My recruiter called me Friday to let me know the AF had freed up 30 additional 4-year HPSPs and that anyone already on a wait-list (that's me) was going to get an acceptance offer! (on side note, why exactly they chose to offer up 30 additional scholarships isn't clear to me and I'd love to know the reasoning/logic behind it..)

I'm in! Now I've just to ensure that my security clearance and commissioning goes though quickly enough for me to try and squeeze into the July COT before medical schools starts!

Since I already have a PhD do you think there's a possibility I'll be able to commission as a Captain rather than just the perfunctory 2nd Lt.? Wondering if I should ask my recruiter this question and if it has any merit as commissioning in the AF though any other route with a doctorate is as a Captain why should my situation be different because of the HPSP?

Love 61N response.

If you haven't answered your own question yet, you are going back to school, and are coming out with a doctorate (of the medical variety), at which point you pin on CPT. If you want to get commissioned through your PhD field (unless it's in basket-weaving), then you may get CPT as constructive credit.

 

[Cooperd0g]

Since I already have a PhD do you think there's a possibility I'll be able to commission as a Captain rather than just the perfunctory 2nd Lt.? Wondering if I should ask my recruiter this question and if it has any merit as commissioning in the AF though any other route with a doctorate is as a Captain why should my situation be different because of the HPSP?

A word of caution: Many an officer on the line side spent 4 years in a service academy working their ass off to earn that "perfunctory" rank. Many in ROTC put forth more effort than just signing a dotted line to earn that "perfunctory" rank. And real officer candidate school graduates, not that knife and fork BS crap you will go through, went through what many quit because they can't handle it to earn that "perfunctory" rank. And in the two years that they wear that "perfunctory" rank they could actually be in charge of millions of dollars worth of equipment and the lives of actual men, possibly in combat. So you might want to keep your "entitled" attitude in check if you get the honor to SERVE those people in the medical corps.

 

[Perrotfish]

A word of caution: Many an officer on the line side spent 4 years in a service academy working their ass off to earn that "perfunctory" rank. Many in ROTC put forth more effort than just signing a dotted line to earn that "perfunctory" rank. And real officer candidate school graduates, not that knife and fork BS crap you will go through, went through what many quit because they can't handle it to earn that "perfunctory" rank. And in the two years that they wear that "perfunctory" rank they could actually be in charge of millions of dollars worth of equipment and the lives of actual men, possibly in combat. So you might want to keep your "entitled" attitude in check if you get the honor to SERVE those people in the medical corps.

The difference between a medical corps 2nd Lt and a line 2nd Lt is that the medical corps Lt expects that no one will take him seriously, while the line officer is surprised.

 

[SESmithPhD]

They'll probably bring you in as a full colonel. Even a Captain would be too "perfunctory." Go right now to clothing and sales and get uniforms fitted. Make sure to get the field grade "fruit salad" on your cap too.

GO RIGHT NOW!!

- ex 61N

Ha! Thanks for the laugh on that one. Always nice to see some humor on here.

No, all HPSP and USUHS students are O1 during school. Whether youre a PhD, PharmD, officer with 10 years flying heavies, or just a lowly premed with just a BS...we all get the perfunctory O1.

You may get some CSC once you promote to O3 after school. So rather than an P3 with 0-2 years you might be an O3 with 3-4 years

I figured that was the case but decided to field the question out of curiosity/ignorance anyway.

A word of caution: Many an officer on the line side spent 4 years in a service academy working their ass off to earn that "perfunctory" rank. Many in ROTC put forth more effort than just signing a dotted line to earn that "perfunctory" rank. And real officer candidate school graduates, not that knife and fork BS crap you will go through, went through what many quit because they can't handle it to earn that "perfunctory" rank. And in the two years that they wear that "perfunctory" rank they could actually be in charge of millions of dollars worth of equipment and the lives of actual men, possibly in combat. So you might want to keep your "entitled" attitude in check if you get the honor to SERVE those people in the medical corps.

Perhaps you misinterpreted my usage of the word perfunctory in that the AF could choose to commission us physicians at any rank they choose in a fundamentally arbitrary manner. In that regard CPT may actually seem a little excessive for an HPSP. I certainly don't feel entitled to any rank as of yet, quite on the contrary, i asked in part because I simply want to put myself in the best possible position I can be (given my preexisting education and experience) to play the roll that's expected of me once I get there. Certainly not out to roll or disrespect anyone. No need to mince words.