Usuhs

[CliffC911]

I know this is a forum for Military Residencies, but I expect you are the best people to ask my question. I am a second year student at Dickinson College with a 3.45 GPA who has been a PA certified EMT for the past 3 years. After countless hours on website such as this one, I am absolutely convinced that USUHS is my best option. What can I do to make myself a more desirable applicant specifically to USUHS? Would ROTC give me an edge? Any suggestions on where to go next would help me a great deal. Is it possible to visit this early and express my interest?


Thanks,
Military MD-wannabe

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[iwakuni_doc]

The most important thing you can do is keep studying to keep your GPA up & do well on the MCAT - if you're competative at other med schools, you'll be competative at USUHS.

If you're interested in an ROTC scholarship, by all means pursue it - but don't do it just to make yourself look good for USUHS. There's no guarantee that your service will let you go to med school - even if you have the grades & MCATS. If they need "x" number of line officers - they're going to fill those positions first. That was the main reason I didn't do ROTC - a good friend had to be a surface warfare officer for a year before he was allowed to attend med school.

Many ROTC programs will have courses available to non-scholarship students - try one of these out, get to know the instructor & get a letter of rec. I'm sure the letter I got from a USMC Officer was extremely helpful in my getting a Navy Scholarship.

Hope that helps.

 

[Megalofyia]

How importat are LORs to USUHS?

 

[CliffC911]

I should say that my interest in ROTC is not only b/c I would think it would help me get into USUHS, and I do appreciate the advice to take a military science class regardless. This brings up another question... my school only offers Army ROTC, and I would like to be a Navy Doc...... would it be improper to ask an Army officer to ask for a LOR when applying to be a Navy Doc? I am also under the impression that you must declare what branch you are applying to at your interview... Is any branch easier than the others? And one more quick question.... Is there any more of a disadvantage at USUHS than other schools by being a non-traditional major (Policy Studies or Anthro for example) and if so, might this disadvantage be somewhat negated by picking up a chem or bio minor? Thanks for all the help.

Cliff

 

[Homunculus]

i used a 4 year Army ROTC scholarship for undergrad, and went through the medschool process.

if you are awarded an Army ROTC scholarship, you will be branched army at USUHS. reason being you have a 4 year obligation and they don't want you switching services.

if you get accepted to medical school on your first shot, you will get an educational delay to attend medschool. however, if you don't get accepted you will get branched and enter the army like everyone else. so if you can get hooked up to an early admission program it may save you a lot of stress and headache later.

being an ROTC grad does help at USUHS, and even more with HPSP. I would apply for both. You have to remember, though, that there will be prior service and service academy grads competing with you, so ROTC isn't *quite* as much as an advantage there as it is in HPSP-- in fact the HPSP recruiter told me most ROTC grads are shoe-ins for HPSP spots (yeah yeah, i know he was a recruiter, he's *supposed* to say that kinda stuff)

anyway, if you have any other questions, feel free to ask

 

[Megalofyia]

Does anyone know how important each component the application is to USUHS? Do they look at everything equally?