Posted on Oct 17, 2018
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Hi, first question here. I am a high school senior who is heavily considering military service of some sort, preferably as a doctor in the Army. I plan to apply to HPSP or USUHS after my undergrad. However, an Army recruiter got ahold of me through my school and asked me to consider joining the Army Reserve as a medic during college, claiming that it will provide me with extra experience and financial aid that will help me on my way to med school. They also said that I can fullfill my active duty time from the enlistment contract after I get commisioned. However, I talked to two teachers that were officers in the military who told me to not trust recruiters. Also, especially with the high attrition rates of prospective medical students, my parents would kill me if I stayed as enlisted. With that said, would the benefits outweigh the costs of joining the Reserve as a medic first, or should I wait until I finish my undergrad and apply directly to military med school? Additionally, if I were to choose the enlisted Reserve route first, how much extra time would this take?
Potential Recruit
Medicine
Recruiter
Posted 7 y ago
Responses: 6
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You should join either the active or reserve component and use the Tuition Assistance to pay for your undergraduate. Being a medic is irrelevant, just focus on college in order to meet the prereqs for medical school. The active component has a program for Soldiers with bachelors to attend a post bacc program at USUHS for two years to prep for med school application.
The reason you should enlist first is because you will be viewed more favorably than your civilian competition because you've shown you're adaptable to military life already. There is no extra time added or slowing you down by enlisting first. The only part that will slow you down is the period you are in basic and AIT. You can just as easily be a fueler or supply clerk, it's only one weekend a month and two weeks over the summer. The best part is that you can finish your undergraduate without owing any money.
The reason you should enlist first is because you will be viewed more favorably than your civilian competition because you've shown you're adaptable to military life already. There is no extra time added or slowing you down by enlisting first. The only part that will slow you down is the period you are in basic and AIT. You can just as easily be a fueler or supply clerk, it's only one weekend a month and two weeks over the summer. The best part is that you can finish your undergraduate without owing any money.
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SFC (Join to see)
MAJ Samuel Weber ROTC is another good option. I wasn't saying he shouldn't do ROTC, I was saying he should use the military to pay for college as opposed to waiting until his undergraduate. His question was very wordy and confusing but I think he was asking if he should join VS waiting, not which route should he join.
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PV2 Kadel Fu
SFC (Join to see) Sorry for the wordy and confusing question. My main question was whether I should enlist as a medic first, but any information helps.
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SFC (Join to see)
PV2 Kadel Fu whether you should enlist, join ROTC, go Active, Reserves, or National Guard is a really in depth conversation. The best thing is to identify your end goal, time line, and the amount of suck and financial stress you can handle. Do you want to be a poor college student and push through school? Or maybe you want to be financially stable and move through school slowly. Maybe some mixture of both. That's just for the undergrad. Then there are the routes to medical school: USUHS, HSPS, AMEDD direct commissions, and probably even more. It's best to talk to a subject matter expert in each field. No single person can tell you what will work best in your situation because you're basically a blank slate at this point.
I would talk to these people:
Active duty Recruiter
Army Reserves Recruiter/Career Counselor
Army National Guard Recruiter/Career Counselor
AMEDD Recruiter
ROTC Cadre/Recruiter
Green to Gold recruiter
Research these programs:
Enlisted medical degree preparatory program
USUHS
HPSP
ROTC
Army Green to Gold
Tuition Assistance and scholarship programs of your specific state National Guard (they vary by state)
You'll see I put active duty recruiter and career counselor separate. In the Guard and Reserves they are the same thing. In the Active Duty the recruiter gets you in and the Career Counselor guides you on the programs available to you while you're in.
It's a lot of research. Feel free to contact me directly when you have questions. I'll give you the information I know and point you in the right direction for the information I don't know.
I would talk to these people:
Active duty Recruiter
Army Reserves Recruiter/Career Counselor
Army National Guard Recruiter/Career Counselor
AMEDD Recruiter
ROTC Cadre/Recruiter
Green to Gold recruiter
Research these programs:
Enlisted medical degree preparatory program
USUHS
HPSP
ROTC
Army Green to Gold
Tuition Assistance and scholarship programs of your specific state National Guard (they vary by state)
You'll see I put active duty recruiter and career counselor separate. In the Guard and Reserves they are the same thing. In the Active Duty the recruiter gets you in and the Career Counselor guides you on the programs available to you while you're in.
It's a lot of research. Feel free to contact me directly when you have questions. I'll give you the information I know and point you in the right direction for the information I don't know.
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Honestly, with your goal of becoming a doctor, an enlistment in the Army Reserve as a combat medic is going to do little in terms of assisting you with medical school. The college money is a drop in the bucket for what you will need, and the medic training (civilian equivalent to an EMT) is not going to exempt you from the required courses you will have to take in pre-med. There are paths to becoming an Army Doctor, but an Army Reserve medic isn't really one of them. The good news is that those paths can significantly cover the expenses of medical school, whether up front with scholarships or on the back end with student loan re-payment. You would just owe the Army active duty time, followed by some reserve time, as a commissioned health care professional. Good Luck.
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TSgt David Holman
SFC J Fullerton The other thing I would point out from a current medic is that your training is more geared toward the nursing side of the house, and you don't really get into the stuff that would prepare you to be a privileged provider unless you go the IDMT/IDC route (which you can't do until you are at least an E4 with experience). On top of that, a reserve medic is going to see time one weekend a month, 2 weeks a year (unless on a deployment or on Active Orders) and unless you are working in the medical field on the outside, those skills will quickly diminish. PV2 Kadel Fu I would seriously recommend that you take some of the advice from lower on the board, apply for as many scholarships as you can, and go the USHUS route if possible. Worst case scenario, you can usually work loan repayment into a contract.
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LTC Jason Mackay
PV2 Kadel Fu - and SFC J Fullerton 68W is a little more involved now.
Soldiers in this MOS must also obtain certification from the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians at the EMT level or higher. They also merged combat medic with LPN when they made 68W
Medics were the primary source of Army PAs until the last few years, which the Army would send you to school to become a PA. Now they take Civilian PAs in off the street.
PV2 Kadel Fu , enlist or don't. If your goal is to become an MD and you have the way forward, go forth. If you don't have the means or you are unsure, enlisting is a good way to work with doctors, nurses, and other medical treatment professionals
Soldiers in this MOS must also obtain certification from the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians at the EMT level or higher. They also merged combat medic with LPN when they made 68W
Medics were the primary source of Army PAs until the last few years, which the Army would send you to school to become a PA. Now they take Civilian PAs in off the street.
PV2 Kadel Fu , enlist or don't. If your goal is to become an MD and you have the way forward, go forth. If you don't have the means or you are unsure, enlisting is a good way to work with doctors, nurses, and other medical treatment professionals
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My 2 cents: wait until you graduate and then apply to USUHS. Get any other scholarships you can as im assuming you have a solid GPA and SAT/ACT scores. I have a good number of friends currently at USUHS and while being prior service certainly helps get in, I've watched a lot of buddies with good intentions stay enlisted (I almost did the same).
Best of luck!
Best of luck!
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At your age I had similar plans and did my research. I’m going to give you the facts of MY experience and then my opinion. I planned on going to West Point, but chose ROTC because I already had my AA and wanted to graduate sooner. It didn’t go according to plan. Someone convinced me being a Special Forces Medic would make me more competitive for Med School. Recruiter convinced me being a Medic was the best way to ensure I would be an SF Medic after I earned a green beret. Recruiter wasn’t completely forthcoming with me and I stayed a Medic. Struggled with Chemistry so I figured I would attend the IPAP (PA Program) and then go to Med School later. Didn’t go as planned, went Reserves to go to Nursing School and work towards being a Nurse Practitioner. Going back to college in my mid 20s was harder than I expected. Realized being a Medic was what I loved, being an NCO was my calling.
I’m not a Doctor and at this point have no desire to do anything other than what I do now.
Key Takeaway: Life Changes
My Opinion: If you know for sure that you want to be a doctor, follow that dream. Focus on that. If you can afford school without the Army, finish your Undergrad and go to Med School. The Army will still be an option for you after you become a doctor. Trust me, the AMEDD Recruiters will find you. Once you’re in, whether it’s as a Medic or a Cadet, things can get in the way and becoming a doctor COULD become more difficult and MAY not be an option the longer it takes to get there. This could be good or bad depending on whether or not you’re like me. Weigh your options.
If my daughter were asking me these same questions, I would tell her to find a way to get into Med School on her own and THEN join the Army. If you have additional questions I will be with Dozens of Army Reserve Doctors in about 30 hours and they’ll be more than happy to provide additional guidance.
P.S. You’d probably make a good Medic and enjoy the hell out of it. Make the decision for you, not for your parents.
I’m not a Doctor and at this point have no desire to do anything other than what I do now.
Key Takeaway: Life Changes
My Opinion: If you know for sure that you want to be a doctor, follow that dream. Focus on that. If you can afford school without the Army, finish your Undergrad and go to Med School. The Army will still be an option for you after you become a doctor. Trust me, the AMEDD Recruiters will find you. Once you’re in, whether it’s as a Medic or a Cadet, things can get in the way and becoming a doctor COULD become more difficult and MAY not be an option the longer it takes to get there. This could be good or bad depending on whether or not you’re like me. Weigh your options.
If my daughter were asking me these same questions, I would tell her to find a way to get into Med School on her own and THEN join the Army. If you have additional questions I will be with Dozens of Army Reserve Doctors in about 30 hours and they’ll be more than happy to provide additional guidance.
P.S. You’d probably make a good Medic and enjoy the hell out of it. Make the decision for you, not for your parents.
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SFC (Join to see)
PV2 Kadel Fu, I agree. We need all the doctors we can get. If paying for undergrad isn’t an issue, then just focus on finishing that and keeping your GPA up. Get into Med School. The Army will help you pay for it one way or another. Let me know when you get close and I’ll help point you in the right direction if need be. Good luck to you.
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I would look into ROTC for Pre-Med or Biology. If you had good grades in High School and did well on the SAT/ACT, you should consider college first. Then if you are accepted to medical school while in your junior-senior year in college, you could request an education delay and receive a full scholarship to medical school with residency training in the military. We also have a very competitive program at the Uniformed Services Health Science University (USHSU), this is where the Army, Navy and Airforce train a good number of our physicians. The benefit is that you earn 2LT/ENS pay while in medical school (about $48K per year of pay) and all tuition is paid for by the service. Time as a medic will it help you become a Physician, but it could help you decide if Medicine is your calling. Good luck.
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