Would this plan work?

[SteinmetzMD]

I'm a high school junior applying for a 4-year Army ROTC scholarship, and was wondering if this seemed like a feasible plan:

I want to attend my UG under the ROTC scholarship, and probably will major in Biology. I was planning to then apply to Dental School and use the HSPS scholarship to pay for DS, and become a Dentist in the Army. Will the Army allow me to continue on to Dent School after I've been on an ROTC schoalrship?

Also, how much time is owed to the Army after this? And would ROTC greatly lower my chances of getting into Dental School (time consuming)?

I'll be applying to these 5 if that helps at all:
1. University of North Georgia
2. VMI
3. Indiana University
4. Purdue University
5. University of South Florida

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[coolslugs]

I'm a high school junior applying for a 4-year Army ROTC scholarship, and was wondering if this seemed like a feasible plan:

I want to attend my UG under the ROTC scholarship, and probably will major in Biology. I was planning to then apply to Dental School and use the HSPS scholarship to pay for DS, and become a Dentist in the Army. Will the Army allow me to continue on to Dent School after I've been on an ROTC schoalrship?

Also, how much time is owed to the Army after this? And would ROTC greatly lower my chances of getting into Dental School (time consuming)?

I'll be applying to these 5 if that helps at all:
1. University of North Georgia
2. VMI
3. Indiana University
4. Purdue University
5. University of South Florida

A lot of maybes in your plan. A 4yr ROTC scholarship will incur a 4yr active duty commitment. A 4 yr HPSP scholarship will also incur a 4yr active duty commitment. So together you are looking at 8yrs of active duty. Here are the big maybes: What if you can't get an ROTC scholarship?...that's no big deal in your long term plan. What if you can't get an HPSP scholarship?...the Army may still allow you to go to dental school, but you will have to pay lots of $ for it. What if you can't get into dental school right after college?...Uh oh, the Army may want you for some other job for your ROTC commitment. Also, what if you are on an ROTC scholarship and get into dental school, but the Army says no and do not give you a waiver to go...what then? A lot of consider...!

 

[krmower]

Things to consider:

1) If you do ROTC you will owe a minimum of 8 yrs to the Army on active duty. The downside is that if you specialize it will be a minimum of 10-12 yrs. Understand that this will affect how/when you can take the large specialty pay bonuses, and can affect your salary by $50k/yr. If I was going to go to dental school, I would not do ROTC.

ROTC has the potential of causing you to lose $200-300k of future earnings by doing ROTC.

Google search "federal loan forgiveness act" (also mentioned in this board). This may help you eliminate some of your undergrad debt after you come on active duty if you stay for 10 yrs.

2) If you do ROTC you will not owe 8 yrs IRR...because you will do at least 8 yrs active duty and this will fulfill your obligation from HPSP.

3) I have never seen an ROTC graduate that was accepted into dental school following undergrad be turned down by the Army for education deferment, so you can do that. If you choose to go forward with ROTC, discuss the process so you understand ahead of time what you must do.

The problem becomes what if you don't get accepted right after undergrad...then you will have to come on active duty. They won't sit around and let you continue to defer on the chance/hope that you get accepted.

I do not believe ROTC will decrease your chance of getting into dental school. It will set you apart from other applicants.

 

[SteinmetzMD]

Honestly, I have no problem being a normal line officer in the Army after ROTC if something goes wrong, I have a huge desire to serve my country any way possible, the Dentist thing is just a personal preference

Is it possible if I'm not immediately accepted to Dental School, to do my 4 years, get out, and then reapply?

 

[dentclc]

If you don't end up getting into dental school right out of undergraduate you could also serve your four years as a line officer, apply for dental school during the last year of your commitment and then use GI Bill benefits to cover a large portion of your tuition bill and have no further service commitment.

 

[twh019]

To me it sounds like you may be on the fence about what's more important to you, being an officer in the Army or a dentist.

I would advise to really think about what you want to do as a career. I almost joined right after high school, but I had scholarship money that led me to college, pre dental, and now dental school on HPSP. I wouldn't change a single thing. You will find more about yourself in college and if I were you I'd keep my plate as clean as I could throughout your college career.

It's great that you already have thoughts about your future after undergrad before starting though. If the only debt you had was from undergrad (hopefully not some astronomic private school costs), and you got the HPSP, I'd say you were doing okay.

 

[SteinmetzMD]

To me it sounds like you may be on the fence about what's more important to you, being an officer in the Army or a dentist.

I would advise to really think about what you want to do as a career. I almost joined right after high school, but I had scholarship money that led me to college, pre dental, and now dental school on HPSP. I wouldn't change a single thing. You will find more about yourself in college and if I were you I'd keep my plate as clean as I could throughout your college career.

It's great that you already have thoughts about your future after undergrad before starting though. If the only debt you had was from undergrad (hopefully not some astronomic private school costs), and you got the HPSP, I'd say you were doing okay.

I feel the same way, it's a tough choice! But I guess it's a little early to decide now. If I still feel motivated to go into dental by the end of my sophomore year, I'll pursue that path. If not, I'm a contracted cadet that can be a line officer. Win-win situation

 

[J814]

Hey. I think it's commendable that you want to serve and that you already have an idea of where you want to be in four to five years. If I had known about the various ways of joining the military at your stage in education, I would have definitely considered doing ROTC. I think it comes down to, like what people above me have said, whether you want to be an officer or a dentist. The good thing is that, eventually, you can be both.

When I found out about HPSP halfway into my junior! year of college, I scrambled to find out about ROTC, whether I'd be eligible, and what the best course of action was to pursue military dentistry.

I called my school's ROTC coordinators - officers, I believe, and professors for ROTC courses at my university - and they told me that if I wanted to do ROTC this late in the game, I could. I would just have to go through the physical fitness tests as soon as possible. On top of that, I would be obligated to serve by December of my graduation year. That means if I had not heard back from schools by December of 2012, I would have had to serve my years as an officer before I would have a chance to reapply to dental schools

For me, that was too much of a risk. All I wanted to do was to become a military dentist in the quickest way possible, which was to finish undergrad, apply to dental schools, get accepted, and get accepted for the HPSP.

It worked out for me as I wanted! I chose the right way for myself, but for you, it may be different. I hope this makes sense. Another perspective for ya!

 

[BioBeaver]

Hey. I think it's commendable that you want to serve and that you already have an idea of where you want to be in four to five years. If I had known about the various ways of joining the military at your stage in education, I would have definitely considered doing ROTC. I think it comes down to, like what people above me have said, whether you want to be an officer or a dentist. The good thing is that, eventually, you can be both.

When I found out about HPSP halfway into my junior! year of college, I scrambled to find out about ROTC, whether I'd be eligible, and what the best course of action was to pursue military dentistry.

I called my school's ROTC coordinators - officers, I believe, and professors for ROTC courses at my university - and they told me that if I wanted to do ROTC this late in the game, I could. I would just have to go through the physical fitness tests as soon as possible. On top of that, I would be obligated to serve by December of my graduation year. That means if I had not heard back from schools by December of 2012, I would have had to serve my years as an officer before I would have a chance to reapply to dental schools

For me, that was too much of a risk. All I wanted to do was to become a military dentist in the quickest way possible, which was to finish undergrad, apply to dental schools, get accepted, and get accepted for the HPSP.

It worked out for me as I wanted! I chose the right way for myself, but for you, it may be different. I hope this makes sense. Another perspective for ya!

Awesome post man, definitely helps! Thanks for your service and best of luck

 

[jbop]

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