National Health Service Corps

The National Health Service Corps is a government run program designed to provide primary health care to underserved areas, and they offers full-scholarships to medical school as a tool to meet that goal.
For each year the NHSC pays for your education, you must put in one year in a selected NHSC area. These areas can be anywhere in the US and range from rural to urban, or even prisons. Last I checked their website they had over 600 positions, where well over 275 were for FP, and over 30 for IM.
If you do not fulfill your contract (say you decide later not to do primary care and specialize instead), then the fines are pretty heavy.
What additional information do people have on this organization? I know that some people say it is the worst thing they have ever done, but I think that may be because they wanted to break their contract. What are the chances of getting a spot you in an area you want? What does the full-scholarship really mean (tuition, fees, book, supplies, room and board)? I have an interview in June and would appreciate anything you may have on this organization.
Thanks

I have also been interested in these and was wondering about everything that BACMEDIC as asked.
My biggest question is do you get to pick the location?
And when should you apply…after 3rd year, 4th year, 1st year…?

I investigated NHSC before medical school (applied and got offered an interview but then turned it down). It seems like a great program for some people.
It wasn’t for me for because I wasn’t 100% totally sure I was going to do primary care (which now that I’m in medical school, I know 100% that I’m NOT going to do primary care) and I got accepted to an inexpensive medical school. If you take the scholarship and then decide to go into something else, you must pay back TRIPLE what they gave you in scholarship and stipend. They pay for tuition, books, supplies plus a living stipend of about $1000 per month.
Yes, you can pick where you want to go, but it is like looking for a job. You apply and interview and see if you get the job. You have a limited amount of time to get a job yourself, if not they pick a place of greatest need (in these cases often it is a prison) and you get sent there. There are locations in every state. But remember that these locations are underserved for a reason, typically because people choose not to live there. There is a website that you can search for current locations requesting NHSC physcians (when I have more time to find it I’ll post the website).
Your time commitment for service (which must be immediately after you finish residency…you CANNOT do a fellowship before completing your service) is equal to the number of years you got the scholarship (minimum of 2 years).
They do have a program for those that did not take the in-school scholarship which consists of X amount of dollars (I think $50,000) for each year of service towards loan repayment. The Indian Health Service has a similar program as do many states.
Perhaps someone that has gone through the program can correct any errors I’ve made or add to the discussion.

Quote:

…They do have a program for those that did not take the in-school scholarship which consists of X amount of dollars (I think $50,000) for each year of service towards loan repayment. The Indian Health Service has a similar program as do many states.



Seems that this would be the way to go, but there must be a reason why people choose the scholarship. Anyone know the reasons? Is it even harder to get one of these?

the reason the loan repayment program is attractive is because you set a lot more of the terms - you look for the job, you choose it, you’re not under any obligation to take it. Whereas NHSC during medical school is obligating you to that payback period. I knew someone who did it because she wanted the stipend and was already borrowing so much money for school that she didn’t want to borrow further for more of her expenses. Hope that helps, I don’t know THAT much about it but will be investigating the loan repayment program when I’m nearing the end of my residency and looking for a job…