CAREER CHOICE

College Students Going Into the Military and Medical Field as a Career Choice



College Students Going Into the Military and Medical Field as a Career Choice

Medical students or residents interested in serving their country and receiving substantial funding for their education and training might consider a short- or long-term career in the U.S. military. Major branches of the military — including the Army, Navy and Air Force — offer options ranging from full funding of medical school, graduate education, and even fellowships to well-compensated post-graduate training and loan repayment through service in the reserves. In exchange, medical students and physicians must serve for two to eight years, depending on the branch of service and the specialty track they choose. When the obligatory service period has passed, physicians may either remain in the military or enter civilian practice.

For Capt. Ramey Wilson, M.D., a member of the Army Medical Corps who is doing his residency in internal medicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the Army's program was an excellent fit. After graduating from West Point in 1994, Dr. Wilson applied to the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, in Bethesda, Maryland, the country's only federal medical school.” “Instead of having $95,000 in debt at the end of medical school, I have no debt and was even able to buy a house,” says Dr. Wilson, 30. At the end of his residency, Dr. Wilson will have a seven-year obligatory “hitch” in the Army — in essence, one year for each year of education and residency.

There are two primary routes to pursuing medical education and training through the military: the reserves and the Armed Forces Health Professionals Scholarship Program (HPSP). Medical students and physicians in residency must formally apply to enter either the HPSP or the reserves. The HPSP provides up to $175,000 for four years of medical training at an accredited medical school, plus a monthly stipend of about $1,100. A separate Financial Assistance Program provides an additional payment of about $22,000, plus the monthly stipend for physicians in certain specialties, including family practice, orthopedic surgery, internal medicine, and general surgery. Whether students attend the USUHS or a “mainstream” medical school, the curriculum has to include components that ensure physicians are prepared to practice in nontraditional settings such as war zones.

In the reserves, physicians or residents receive a salary or education-loan paybacks or both, and resident compensation is often slightly higher than in the civilian sector. In some programs, up to $50,000 in loan repayment is available. Nearly 65 percent of the Army's medical forces are in the reserve component, where commitments and opportunities for service range from full-time positions to very part-time gigs — two days a month and two weeks during the summer.

For medical students or medical school applicants, requirements for HPSP are much the same as they are for nonmilitary scholarship programs — a solid GPA and good scores on the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), along with recommendations from faculty ...