When is the best time to join the military as a physician?

[ExcaliburPrime1]

I am an MD/PhD student in the 4th year of medical school. I was thinking about joining the military when I was younger and even tried out for a spot at West Point, but I guess I was a far better college student than I was a high school student and things didn't go my way.

Anyway, I still have the desire to serve, but as a physician. Should I wait until after finishing residency or is there a route of joining while I am a resident?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

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[Red Lobster Actual]

Anyway, I still have the desire to serve, but as a physician. Should I wait until after finishing residency or is there a route of joining while I am a resident?

Read up on Financial Assistance Program (FAP) for the Navy. There's also stickies on this sub forum about that topic as well.

 

[ExcaliburPrime1]

Read up on Financial Assistance Program (FAP) for the Navy. There's also stickies on this sub forum about that topic as well.

Thanks. Just finished reading that thread!

 

[WernickeDO]

Don't forget you can always become a DOD contractor and take care of troops, if that is your goal. As far as getting good usage out of the Ph.D portion of your MD/Ph.D, I'm not sure the military will always support that, although there are always exceptions.

 

[IlDestriero]

For you, never.
Do you want to use your PhD and do significant research? The .mil isn't the best, or even an OK choice for starting a serious academic career. You need to jump start your academic career and it will be the .mils lowest priority. There may be exceptions for a few mil specific research topics, but that's why they're called exceptions. When you leave the military you will be way behind and you may hurt your chances for an academic track at a major research program.