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| Figure 1: 'Nuff said. |
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
