HPSP: Health Professions Scholarship Program (Army, Navy, Air Force scholarships)

Figure 1: 'Nuff said.

Intro

Hpsp is the health professions scholarship program from the military. You can apply for one through the army, navy or Air Force, or all of them at once, and pick from whichever branch awards you one. It pays for all tuition, fees, books, and some equipment needed while in med school. They will NOT pay for a computer though.  You also get a $20,000 signing bonus, and a $2,100 per month stipend as a student.  The bonus gets paid out in installments three installments, starting on your first month of medical school.

Years owed to army

You owe the army one year for each year of school paid, or one year for each year of residency. Whichever is greater. Then you owe a few years of inactive ready reserve, where they only call you up for work if absolutely needed. This all has to total eight years. So if you do a 5 year Ortho residency, you owe 5 years active duty, and 3 years inactive duty. 

Why I signed up/ Residency stuff

I signed up for it because med school is expensive, I want to serve America, and I don't want to deal with the cons of the civilian healthcare system (ex: you don't need to buy malpractice insurance as a military physician). With that said, it has it's cons. If they critically need more of some type of doctors, it is ultimately their decision which residency I can do. If they need you to go somewhere foreign, like Germany, Japan, or Korea, you need to go. Also, during your inactive ready reserve period, they can call you up if there is a major conflict with another country.  This is unlikely because it apparently didn't happen with the last two wars.

I also did it for the chance to travel, and do something different from the pack. I'm honestly really excited to learn more about, and become a part of the military.  Furthermore I really do love America, and I want to support the country in this way.

I want to do something with surgery or procedures. I'm thinking Ortho or EM. On that note, the military residency match is in the early Fall. So you'll know where you're going before everyone else's match day. You CAN do a civilian residency in something if they need more of it. It's kind of a gamble though, because if you don't match they have you do primary care work or something for like 3 years. I haven't really looked to to that too much though. 

It's really up to you if you are into it.  People on the internet say to do it only if you are serious about serving the USA.  I am serious and want to, but at the same time, I do not want to have $350,000 (65 for my undergrad + 4*70 for med)  of student debt at ~7% compounding interest.  Doctors don't make as much money as they used to, and tuition is only going up, while pay for doctors is going down.

Pay in the Army

The Personal Statement

Figure 1: How I feel when I read an old essay.

Before I wrote my personal statement I read the book Essays That Will Get You into Medical School (link is to the newest edition).  We all know how to write an essay, but the reason I decided to read this is to find out what successful applicants wrote.  When I read some of those essays, all I could think was ho.... ly... shit, these are some really really good essays.  And they were AMAZING, not all, but most.  You don't need to be that amazing though.  The book will give you some insight into how to take your essay from typical, to pretty good.  As long as the rest of your application is strong that's about as much as you need.

Now, you should not let your essay be typical.  Here's what a typical med school app essay focuses on: 

• Wanted to do medicine since I was a child.
• My grandparent died and I found out medicine was my true calling.
• My dad/mom is a doctor and I don't want to do anything else.

These are not BAD reasons to go into medicine, but they are typical, and will make for an uninteresting essay.  The admissions committee is skimming reading thousands of these, and I bet most essays sound the same.  Hopefully you've fostered other hobbies and interests, or you have had meaningful experiences outside of medicine that you can also talk about.   For to help pay for my college education, I worked every semester.  In my essay I talked about my work experiences and how I have been shaped by them.

With that said, the central focus of your essay has to be why medicine.  You need to show that you're not a premed robot, and illustrate that you're an interesting person, but you absolutely have to answer why medicine.  If your essay does not answer that question, it's pointless.

As a final note, your premed adviser will probably want to read your essay and help you with it.  I recommend you do this, but don't solely rely on them.  Talk to them to make sure the content and aim is correct, then seek out English writing professors for grammar and structure details.  

Good luck!

References: Figure 1