Hi everyone. I've been on this site for a while and made a few posts a few years ago about military medicine. To start off, I've always been interested in serving and come from a military family going back to WWII. For me, wearing the uniform is a personal obligation. In fact, during high school, I was planning on enlisting but a late birthday that required parental consent set aside those plans. I thought about doing ROTC but was advised against it from one of my professors who practiced military medicine since premed and ROTC is a huge commitment. That's when I begin setting my eyes on HPSP and the guard as well. I believe my first few posts on this site were questions regarding both of those.
Anyways, come now and I've been fortunate to hold an acceptance at a DO school, and this school has an average COA of $100k/year. I'm also fortunate enough to be selected for the 4 year Navy HPSP scholarship. That being said, I'm now having some doubt if I should move forward. My parents were initially very supportive, but they've become concerned about the whole PCS situation and deployments, and limited time to visit me. By the time I would leave the military, assuming I did a 3 year residency, my parents would be in their 70s. I expect to do residency at a military hospital, be moved around in the military and also expect deployments to be a thing, but part of me feels a bit odd about the parental situation. I would like to get married in my 20s and possibly start a family too, and I know it can be difficult to balance in the military. I would still like to serve and am open to serving in the guard/reserves since the balance is better, but the financial benefits aren't as good vs HPSP.
Now I know people say don't do HPSP for the money, and my number one reason for doing it is because I want to serve and continue my family's tradition. But the financial benefits are something that are still nice. As someone who is 100% intent on serving, but still wants to have some time for family, would taking the reserves/guard route be a better option?
Although active duty will have its constraints, do you think it would still be a good option? Would it be wise to take MDSSP to help with housing during medical school and then take HPLRP as well? Or would the better option be to take the loans, combine STRAP and HPLRP during third year of residency?
Anyways, come now and I've been fortunate to hold an acceptance at a DO school, and this school has an average COA of $100k/year. I'm also fortunate enough to be selected for the 4 year Navy HPSP scholarship. That being said, I'm now having some doubt if I should move forward. My parents were initially very supportive, but they've become concerned about the whole PCS situation and deployments, and limited time to visit me. By the time I would leave the military, assuming I did a 3 year residency, my parents would be in their 70s. I expect to do residency at a military hospital, be moved around in the military and also expect deployments to be a thing, but part of me feels a bit odd about the parental situation. I would like to get married in my 20s and possibly start a family too, and I know it can be difficult to balance in the military. I would still like to serve and am open to serving in the guard/reserves since the balance is better, but the financial benefits aren't as good vs HPSP.
Now I know people say don't do HPSP for the money, and my number one reason for doing it is because I want to serve and continue my family's tradition. But the financial benefits are something that are still nice. As someone who is 100% intent on serving, but still wants to have some time for family, would taking the reserves/guard route be a better option?
Although active duty will have its constraints, do you think it would still be a good option? Would it be wise to take MDSSP to help with housing during medical school and then take HPLRP as well? Or would the better option be to take the loans, combine STRAP and HPLRP during third year of residency?