I am a high school sophomore, and I’m interested in becoming a doctor for the army or navy. I was wondering if I need to be doing anything specifically to become a doctor for the armed forces, and what a ROTC scholarship is and if I need to pursue that or not. I am already planning on going pre-med in college, but I wanted to know if I have to go on a different track to be a doctor on the armed forces. Since my parents are immigrants, I really don’t know much about serving in the forces. Any help is appreciated. Thanks
ROTC is not your route to be military physician. There are a variety of options on military and med school including Uniform Services University of Health Sciences (USUHS). Google USUHS is a good start - but you have a long time before you are at that point.
In addition to applying to the Uniformed Services medical school you can also apply for a military scholarship, Army, Navy and AF all have them, after you are admitted to a medical school. They pay
for medical school and you do some military training while you are attending medical school and enter the military upon graduation. Most of the students who do this will do their residency at a military medical center and then you owe 4 years of military service after residency. It is not necessary to be involved in ROTC to do this.
I do know someone who went ROTC through college and medical school but that was years ago. He owed a ton of years of service but he had already decided he’d be happy with a long career in the military as a doctor. We eventually lost touch, but he was happy with his choice.
Make sure you want to be a soldier/sailor first before wanting to be a doctor.
You could also look into the Military Academies as well…http://www.usma.edu/chemistry/sitepages/medical%20school%20option.aspx