<p>My S has gotten some emails from the army about their med school programs. Says that they pay everything to whatever school you attend (room, board, books, etc. plus a stipend). Obligation of a certain number of years of service after graduation. Sounds like a good deal. Anyone know someone who's done this?</p>
<p>They also ask you to do a military residency, which is not necessarily a bad thing. But I believe those years do not count towards your service requirement.</p>
<p>I've heard really varying information on whether or not residency counts towards the years of obligation. Because of this discrepancy, I'm beginning to think that each branch of service has slightly different requirements/benefits. But I know for a fact that at least one girl in my class joined up, and has told me on more than one occasion that her years of residency count towards her obligation...perhaps there are certain clauses that require her to get called up into duty faster or something...</p>
<p>Now that I think about it it's a silly thing for me to say.</p>
<p>Your requirement is a residency plus a certain number of years beyond that. So obviously the residency is part of the requirement -- the question is simply, how many more years?</p>
<p>Well I guess what I'm getting at is, according to the girl in my class, if your obligation is 7 years, you could do a neurosurgery residency and have no more time owed once you were finally done with your training. The years begin to count as soon you graduate.</p>
<p>But I've also heard people say that if your obligation is 7 years, then no matter what, after you complete your residency (whether internal medicine or neurosurgery) you have 7 years left...and that's where I get confused...</p>
<p>On one program, it is 4 yrs plus another 4 yrs on call (in case of an eruption like 9/11) in ADDITION to residency.</p>
<p>I went through med school on this scholarship, though not with the Army. I don't have time to write everything I know, not right now. Unless someone else gets to it first, I will have a nice, long commentary about the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program a little later.</p>
<p>All three branches of the service offer a med school scholarship. It is set up by Public Law, so the major rules are the same for all three branches. Some of the differences in obligation may be confusion between the med school scholarship and the obligation from the the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.</p>
<p>More to follow.</p>
<p>My cousin's D did this with the Army and while I don't know her exact particulars, she really loves her life in the Army. Good luck!</p>
<p>The Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program is the program about which your son received information from the Army. All three branches offer this scholarship. All of the major rules (i.e., benefits, obligations, etc.) are the same for each branch of service. I'll mention later why there can be minor differences.</p>
<p>There are 2,3, and 4 year scholarships available. Each year of scholarship has one year of obligated service or "payback". </p>
<p>The scholarship pays tuition, fees, required books, required equipment, and a monthly stipend. I believe, but am not positive, that this stipend is tax free. It was tax free when I was a student.</p>
<p>While you are a student, you are also commissioned as an O-1 officer in the Inactive Reserve in your branch of service -- Ensign in the Navy, 2nd Lt in the Army and Air Force. You also do 45 days of training each year in which you draw full pay (not tax free) and benefits of and O-1. You can, to some degree, coordinate this with your vacation time. As a first or second year med student, you might spend this time in an Officer Indoctrination Course. As a third or fourth year, you can spend this as a clinical elective in one of the teaching hospitals. If your schedule only allows month blocks for electives, then you can spend a month at a hospital and just simply get paid for the other 15 days. If your schedule just doesn't allow for this time, the you just get paid for it. Most people try to schedule their electives where they might want to do their residencies. It gives you a chance to be seen there, interview, etc. I think the clinical electives are something important to do, not avoid. I was able to sweet talk my way into a clinical elective at the end of my second year, when technically I wasn't supposed to be allowed to do one. This is where some of the minor differences come in. One branch of the service might say you must arrange your training at the closest training hospital, while another might let you go anywhere.
All three branches require you to apply for your residency in the military, but there are more people than there are spots. Some are allowed to do their training in a civilian program. All of the military residencies are certified by the ACGME, the same body that certifies civilian residencies. All of the residents are trying to get board certified by the same boards as civilian residents.</p>
<p>Unless they changed the rules in the last five years, the payback is one year for one year. The time you spend in residency and fellowship does not count toward this educational obligation. So if you have a 4 year scholarship and do a 4 year residency, you spend 8 years on active duty before you can resign your commission. But if you spend your time in a military residency, those years count toward retirement. The years you spend in the Reserves as a medical student count toward retirement ONLY when you spend 20 years on active duty. (Your retirement pay is then based on 24 years of service, not 20.)</p>
<p>I think it is still true that military resident pay is higher than civilan resident pay. Your pay comes from a combination of pay and allowances. The food and housing allowances are tax free. If you are in a high cost area, that housing allowance might be more than $2000 a month, tax free. Once you are in your payback, things can be a little different. The military underpays some specialties compared to civilians -- think surgery, neurosurgery, orthopedics, plastic surgery and anesthesia. The pay for pediatricians and internists is not so far off.</p>
<p>For some, the big drawback about a military scholarship, is, no surprise, you are in the military. You have to do military things when you are done. Some of the things you get told to do are not what you want to do. Like pack your bags and go to the Middle East on short notice. Also make sure you get all "promises" in writing. All branches of the serivce are notorious for saying you can do something, but then making it nearly impossible to do that thing once they have you.</p>
<p>If you are considering a military scholarship, look at all three. Their training hospitals are in different geographic areas, the exception being Bethesda and Walter Reed, but Walter Reed is supposed to close. Look at the lists of places where each branch has its hospitals, the places where you will be doing your payback. It's no surprise that most Navy hospitals are near the ocean. All three have some hospitals in pretty remote places. Also, the Navy is notorious for having some people have to take a break in their training between the first and second years to have you serve as a General Medical Officer on board a ship. That year DOES count toward your payback.</p>
<p>Think about serving your county AND do the math. Please, when you think about serving your country, look past the current boneheads in office and think about the servicemen and women and their families and how you just might REALLY help them. As far as the math goes, I think it's really hard to predict exactly what specialty you will train in before you start med school. It's hard to say, "I can make more money in those four years of payback as a civilian than I can in the miltary." I can say that it felt great to graduate from med school with ZERO debt. </p>
<p>I have no regrets.</p>