So, I actually did this exact thing. It was a bad idea, and I wouldnu2019t have done it this way if I had known better because it was impractical. Hear me out. After enlisting into the National Guard as a medic, I became a non-scholarship cadet (doesnu2019t matter) with ROTC that ended up going National Guard when I commissioned. Itu2019s been extremely difficult along the way, but this was the easiest way that I could have gone to medical school after ROTC given my personal career goals (MD/PhD, oncology). So, it is doable. The struggle however, is when you decide you want to go active duty and/or take the HPSP, which is the Armyu2019s scholarship for medical school.Allow me to give you the steps you need to take for the various options.Undergraduate degree requirements: You will need to take the courses necessary to satisfy the requirements for medical school. Medical schools require that you have Introductory Biology, Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physics, Psychology, Sociology, and (most schools) Biochemistry. Hence, you will need to perform all of your advising and class scheduling as if you were a normal student taking a pre-med course of study. For advice on this, please refer to my answer here. (beware, itu2019s a lot of information!)Career options (Active, Reserves, Guard): You will need to make a decision regarding your career options. Do you want to go active duty as a doctor? If so, ROTC isnu2019t the most fantastic route to go.. However, if you decide you MUST do ROTC (paying for your undergrad, money on the side, boredom), AND you want to go active duty, you will need to get a letter of approval (LOA) from Cadet Command. You also have three options as far as schools if you want to go active duty/getting school paid for. You can choose to attend the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS), you can get an educational delay and go to a civilian medical school on your own dollar, or you can go to a civilian medical school with the Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) paying for it. Weu2019ll talk about this in 3. However, if you decide youu2019d like to join a specialty that the Army may not necessarily need (oncologists, urologists, gastroenterologists, etc. act as internists for the Army on deployments, cardiothoracic and vascular surgeons are used as general surgeons sometimes, etc.) or youu2019d rather have a prominent civilian career, you can go into the National Guard/Reserves. This is the more permissive option, as you donu2019t need to bother with u201cbig Armyu201d when it comes to getting your approval. Weu2019ll discuss this in 4. Hence, you would go through all of your undergraduate as a medical student doing ROTC on scholarship or not, then commission as a Lieutenant into the Guard/Reserves and request from your state medical recruiter to be slotted as a medical student. You will become non-deployable and will be placed into a medical detachment to learn from doctors when you drill, and will simply attend drill as a medical student until you finish medical school and become a doctor.Active Duty: So, getting your LOA from cadet command is a huge pain. Itu2019s even a worse pain if you desire to attend USUHS. These letters of approval need to come from the brigade commander (or higher) at cadet command. After counseling with your commander at your ROTC detachment, you will work with your Human Resources Administrator (HRA) to submit your request for approval from Cadet Command. If you end up deciding to go this route, I believe Iu2019ve still got the number of the gentleman you need to call. So, shoot me a message/email if you do. With USUHS, you will need a letter of approval both to apply, and to actually begin school. Meaning that you will submit all of your application information to USUHS, and even attend your interview, but will need your LOA to be considered for admissions. Getting your LOA for the HPSP includes the same process, but only for approval by the HPSP after youu2019ve already been accepted to a medical school OR earned above a certain score on your MCAT, which all but guarantees the HPSP that youu2019ll be accepted somewhere. I took the old MCAT, so our criterion (I believe) was a 28. SIMILARLY, if you decide you want to go active duty, but donu2019t want to incur as long a service obligation as you would by stacking either of the above options on top of your obligation you receive from ROTC, you can compete for an educational delay. This process must begin EARLY in your senior year of college (august-september at the latest), and should be discussed prior to that time with your commander and HRA. You are not guaranteed an educational delay, and will need to show high merit and have an acceptance to medical school in-hand.National Guard/Reserves: Again, the National Guard/Reserves is a more permissive option in that it doesnu2019t interfere with what you do in ROTC, hence you would go through all of your undergraduate as a medical student doing ROTC on scholarship or not, then commission as a Lieutenant into the Guard/Reserves and request from your state medical recruiter to be slotted as a medical student (as opposed to a normal lieutenant, who will be deployable and have to attend BOLC etc.). You will become non-deployable and will be placed into a medical detachment to learn from doctors when you drill, and will simply attend drill as a medical student until you finish medical school and become a doctor. If this is your desired route, you need to ensure that you are in contact with your state medical recruiter early on so that you can start on the paperwork necessary to be slotted as a medical student.Why you should pick another route: Now, the cons of doing ROTC and entering medical school:You will incur a service obligation from ROTC, whether you are a scholarship or non-scholarship cadet. This can become problematic if you change your mind as to what you want to do later, or if you become disillusioned with the military at some point and would rather simply pursue a fully civilian career as a doctor.The paperwork and process for any of these options can become a huge burden with studies, work, extra-curriculars, etc. There are lots of headaches, and because this is a sort of rarity in ROTC there is not a very well-developed pathway for students aspiring to medical school to continue forward with their education and serve their obligation afterwards.If you choose to go active duty and donu2019t do the ed-delay route (which would leave you paying for medical school out of loans or out of pocket), you will incur a service obligation from both USUHS and the HPSP in addition to your ROTC service obligation. Here is a good thread that discusses the service obligations and the way they compound. Further, if you decide to go National Guard/Reserves, they lack programs that will pay for your school up front. I know that the Guard has the MDSSP, which will pay you a 2200 dollar stipend while you attend school. They also have loan repayment for after you graduate medical school, but you will have to take out loans while attending to pay for school and the obligation is steep. Here is some information about this program.With any of these programs, there are caveats as to which specialties qualify for them. If you do USUHS or the HPSP, you are guaranteed to have to do a military residency. Because of this stipulation, there are limited slots you have to choose from. Hence, if all the surgery slots are filled you will be unable to pursue surgery unless you are approved to go to a civilian surgery residency (which is rare).If you really want to do military medicine and do not NEED the money from ROTC to pay for your undergrad, it makes more sense to avoid the military options entirely until you begin medical school, as you donu2019t need to deal with the headaches Cadet Command will give you and your service obligation will be less.NONE OF THE MILITARY OPTIONS MAKE FISCAL SENSE. DONu2019T DO IT FOR THE MONEY! You can take out loans to cover costs every step of the way and go into practice as a civilian doctor to pay them off. You will be debt-free in a matter of years and will have more control over your life. However, if youu2019re a patriot and you want to practice military medicine, these are awesome options.Iu2019m extremely passionate about this topic, and I want nothing but to help prospective military physicians to make educated decisions about their careers. Please feel free to message/email me if you have any questions. I am extremely familiar with this topic, and am well connected with people that can answer your questions if I cannot.Thanks for reading!
