Hello all,
I am trying to decide if I should apply to an early decision program this cycle in my current city. It is my intention to simultaneously apply for the Army HPSP when applying to medical school, and want nothing more than to be an Army physician. Naturally my first choice would be to apply to USUHS and that has been my intention. However, my concern is that during school if I were to relocate my family it may not be ideal. If I were admitted locally, we currently have a very good support system and it would make attending medical school much easier on my family. With that said, my spouse and I both know what we are getting ourselves into regarding military service. We are both veterans with nearly 20 years of combined service, and have minimal concerns regarding that. However, I do know that medical school is a different type of challenge and I would like to set our family up for the best chances of success in the long term. I am open to any and all advice, and I thank you all for your time.
Respectfully,
Ryan
EDP is a risk in that should you be denied for EDP, you would be applying to all other schools relatively late. It’s not necessarily a killer for an applicant to apply that “late,” but the mantra is the earlier you apply, the better. There are probably several reasons why this is true, and maybe a few why this is false, depending on which schools you’re applying to. If you feel like you’re a really strong candidate and believe that a school would not consider you a gamble when compared to the standard applicant pool, it might be worth it. You seem like you have a compelling reason to go to that school. You could also relay that same compelling reason via the standard application process as well…
The USUHS vs HPSP thing is a little more complicated a really dependent on what you’re looking to do with your life/career. There are at least 2 people in my class, both prior service of 11+ years, who opted to go the HPSP route over USUHS despite getting accepted. The pay and benefits are amazing, but the lifestyle and educational experience might not be what you’re looking for (no idea about the latter). The mandatory commitment is longer, and supposedly there is no advantage to either route when it comes to residency selection (arguable probably). Is being away from other family the issue or is simply moving the issue? I’m not 100% sure, but I think it counts as a PCS, so the mil would probably cover the cost of the move… And if you haven’t heard of it, there is a thing called “save pay” which states that your base pay cannot go down from whatever your previous pay was. So you would enter as a 2LT with x years, and would get paid the larger of the standard pay scale and your previous base pay. I think it still applies if you’ve been out for an extended period of time, but again, not sure. The HPSP stipend is designed for a young, single person with no expenses, and there is no COLA. Depending on where you are, there’s a high probability that you would need savings or a secondary income to support your family if on HPSP.
My advice would be to get in everywhere you can and then go to the school that best fits your needs. The application process definitely favors the schools’ wants over the applicants’ wants.
Hey @kennymac,
Thank you for the feedback and advice. We honestly do not have an issue with moving, but I think that it might be easier on my family if we were able to stay while I am in school because we have family in the area. For example, my spouse has the desire to go back to school and use her GI Bill while I pursue a medical education. If we were able to stay here, our son has grandparents, aunts, and uncles that could help us out if we were too busy with our school to pick him up from his school, etc. Additionally, he is in first grade now, and I think it might be easier for him to spend another 4-5 years at this school and relocate after I am done with school than to make the move now. My health professions advisor seems to think that applying for EDP would make a compelling case, but I would hate to think that I might have passed up other opportunities or even not get accepted when I might have been able to get in somewhere else.
Your advisor probably understands your exact situation much more than we do in the forum (i.e. How competitive you are, maybe your fit for your target school,etc), so he/she would be able to give you more specific advice. Just like with dealing with a recruiter, make sure the advisor gives you all of the information for you to make the most informed decision. Knowing you got in early is HUGE, and applying in October isn’t a dream killer per se. I applied in September and it worked out, but it might have limited my options.
Having extended family support is HUGE! My in laws are across the country, but retired, and have made some long visits to help out with the kid to take some of the pressure off of my wife. Medical school is very time consuming.