Military
Scholarships for Medical School
Editor's note: The following was sent to us via email. We thought it would
be prudent to publish this if for no other reasons than to
highlight the dangers of accepting bad premed advice and to help motivate any
prospective applicants to fully research their admission options. Please note
that we support our troops and this is intended solely for informational
purposes for prospective military doctors.
I noticed your website when I did a search for pre-med advisors.
I wanted to offer you some important advice about the good and bad sides of
military scholarship. Very neutral, facts only topics and questions that pre-med
students should ask before accepting one of these scholarships.
My pre-med advisor was instrumental in my choosing a military scholarship,
but there are just things she didn't know...and I didn't know to ask. By the
time you understand what questions to ask....you are already a medical student,
you've already accepted the scholarship, and it is too late.
I am just finishing my four-year commitment to the Navy. I was not told any
untruths when I joined...I just didn't know as a a med student that there were
important questions to ask.
I'll give you some examples of general questions/recommendations/ truths that
I have, and you can decide if you are interested in trying to make your site
even more valuable as a source of info for pre-med students.
All information provided here can be verified by a
recruiter...if you know the right questions to ask. Often premedical students are
not fully aware of the impact that military scholarships can have on their
career paths. The military scholarship can be the right choice for some, and
the wrong choice for others. It is actually more of a personal decision than a
financial one, and can only be a sound decision when all information is reviewed.
Do not rely solely upon recruiters as sources of
information. Seek out actual military scholarship recipients who have completed
their commitments…preferably in recent years. Persons who have completed the
military obligation are able to tell the entire truth about the experience
without personal gain or retribution.
Most of the information here is based on Navy scholarships,
however the three branches are very similar. (the Marines do not have
physicians…they use Navy physicians)
**It is true that you will graduate debt-free from a
financial standpoint. The full medical school tuition is paid, along with
reimbursement for required books/equipment, and a standard monthly stipend for
living expenses. It is true that there are exciting, unique assignments and
tours that one can only experience as a military physician or reservist.
**It is not true that the military has "all of the
best equipment." In reality, while they do their best to keep up with the
times, hospital budget limitations make updating expensive equipment very
difficult. It is often hard to keep up with the costly, advanced diagnostic
machinery that is available in tertiary care civilian hospitals.
***Very Important***When you are finishing medical
school, you must apply for a military internship/residency. It is the
exception, rather than the rule, that a deferment is granted to do a civilian
residency. They will not tell you what type of residency to choose (i.e. family
practice, general surgery, pediatrics, etc), but they will make you do a
military residency if there are spots open. They meet the needs of the military
training programs before allowing any civilian deferments. With less and less
students applying for these scholarships, it is more likely that one must plan
to do a military residency.
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