<p>I want to become a doctor a orthopedic surgeon to be exact. Problem is I'm stuck between which route to take.
I have recently gained an interest of joining the military but I'm passionate about the medical field. People are telling me I can become a specialist. In the Military, but I heard that being a doctor in army is more stressful. So I don't know if I should join ROTC in college or go to a military based college all together or should just go to college get my degree and than join the military.</p>
<p>Perhaps these pages might help you?
<a href=“20 Common Types of Doctors and What They Do”>http://healthcareers.about.com/od/healthcareerprofiles/a/MilitaryMedicalJobs.htm</a>
<a href=“How Becoming a Doctor in the Army Works | HowStuffWorks”>http://science.howstuffworks.com/military/army-careers/becoming-doctor-in-army.htm</a></p>
<p>Here are some things to think about:</p>
<p>-If you go through ROTC or a military college, you will incur a service obligation (regardless of whether you have a scholarship or not). In order to go to medical school directly after college, you need to get an academic release. I have heard from friends in ROTC that it is very difficult to get an academic release; you need to be really one of the very top academic candidates. Otherwise you will have to serve your 4-year commitment first and attend medical school after that (which isn’t so bad, but some people don’t want to do that).</p>
<p>-One additional option is to go in through the Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP). Either the Army, the Navy, or the Air Force (depending on from whom you get the scholarship) will pay for four years of medical school, including a stipend of around $2,000/month. In return, you will serve for 4 years as a physician in the military. I’d Google around the Internet for more information, as the different branches differ on their expectations and restrictions (for instance, I have heard third-hand that the Navy yanks a lot of their physicians into the service directly after the internship and before the residency, which may cause issues later in your medical career). I also think that in the HPSP they do have some control over the residency that you are allowed to go to because once med school is up, you belong to them. It’s usually in the military’s best interests to allow you to go to a residency - but they may have a large hand in choosing that residency, and they don’t really need orthopedic surgeons as much as they need good old primary care physicians.</p>
<p>-If you join the military as a physician after medical school + residency, you will go in as a direct commissioned officer in most cases. DCOs don’t go to the traditional OCS; they go to a shorter training program and get right to work as a physician afterwards. There’s still physical and leadership training, it’s just shorter.</p>
<p>-AFAIK the military is always recruiting physicians. I think they have a hard time retaining physicians in the service; many (most?) of the physicians who enter come in through the HPSP leave after their service obligation is up. So if you chose to do neither ROTC nor the HPSP and went in the DCO route, you could still probably get in. There are also loan repayment programs for health professionals so the military would assist you in paying off the majority of your med school loans.</p>
<p>-Military physicians, in general, earn less than civilian physicians. (They do make the basic military pay scale + special pay, and I think MDs come is as O-3s.) However, they also don’t have to set up their own practices or pay for malpractice insurance. But you do, of course, run the risk of getting deployed - and even without deployments there are “temporary duty assignments,” which can sometimes run just as long as a deployment. For some people this isn’t a problem (they want to travel!) and you do get special extra pay for it, mostly non-taxable!</p>
<p>@juillet Thank you for the in formation now I have more pros and cons. Right now the cons are winning, I dont want to be a physician thats the problem. The pro that might weight all the cons out is that they well pay for my medical school. URGH!!! This hard.</p>
<p>PS…dont take this in a creepy way but your beautiful…I saw your profile picture.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, you don’t want to be a physician? Then what’s your question, exactly?</p>
<p>You do NOT necessarily incur a service obligation simply by attending a military college or participating in ROTC. My S is not fully committed to the officer path either and his application list included some senior military colleges which require participation in ROTC but do not require commissioning. He also applied to some universities with NROTC programs and some that he would simply attend as a civilian and perhaps serve after college. He did not apply to service academies or for ROTC scholarships since he was not certain he wanted to commission. I guess we will find out May 1st which path he chooses to take!</p>
<p>You should apply to a variety of programs while you continue to research your options and figure out what you want to do. Good luck! :)</p>
<p>A ROTC scholarship does entail a service obligation but just participation in ROTC does not. And @juillet is absolutely right that it is highly competitive to get a med school slot out of ROTC.</p>
<p>@jcc I see what you meant my bad I feel dumb…Yes I DO want to be a physician.</p>
<p>@sandkmom @Erin’s Dad Getting a medical scholarship in the military is hard I understand that ANOTHER downfall. I want to attend medical school and going to the military to get assistance with that, with out a doubt they will reimburse by me having to sign a contract of service. The military doesn’t give out free medical school money they will always want you to sign a service contract. </p>
<p>people join ROTC to join the army as a commissioned officer rather than a E-1, E-2 (privates) etc; So it wouldnt make since for me to join ROTC without servicing plans.</p>
<p>Ok so now it seems you are certain that you want to be a doctor AND certain that you want to try for a very competitive ROTC scholarship. That’s great! Please just make sure you are certain that you want to serve in the military as well! Good luck!</p>