- Joined
- Dec 1, 2016
- Messages
- 59
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- 29
Good Evening Everyone,
I have been considering a career change and entering dentistry for some time, and have been lurking the forum for a couple of weeks now. I figured some of these questions may be best to ask rather than endlessly searching.
About me: I am an Active Duty O2 in the Coast Guard with 2.5 years of service under my belt, with 2.5 to go until my initial commitment is up (CGA graduate). I am a single male without a serious girlfriend/kids. Luckily for me and the rest of my classmates, we will have full access to the Post 9/11 GI Bill in May due to Congress forgetting about the Coast Guard Academy. Normally a Service Academy graduate or ROTC scholarship recipient has to fulfill their initial obligation of service before accruing time for the GI Bill benefit. Since they forgot about us, we are entitled to it while serving our obligations. However...
I am still interested in serving my country. There are ups and downs about the military, like everything in life, but I do enjoy wearing the uniform, traveling around, helping others, and meeting people from all walks of life. Part of this is why I'm drawn to dentistry of course, among other various reasons. With that in mind, I would like to pursue dentistry and get the HSCP scholarship and use it alongside my Post 9/11 at a state school.
My understanding is that the HSCP will enlist me as an active duty E7 (chief pay but of course I'm not a real chief), and the time in dental school will count towards my time in service/retirement. I will have 4 years of AD time for dental school. When you add in my 5 years of AD this would put me at 9 years of service as an O3E (hoping to make O3 in 1.5 years while in the CG). I know there's not a base pay difference in terms of O3E and O3 at 9 years service, and the BAH isn't that significant either.
My questions/thoughts are as follows:
1) Is there anyone else on these forums who have used HSCP & GI Bill together? How was it? I know that I wouldn't be able to collect the MHA due to being AD, but that's okay. The GI Bill will pay tuition/fees for ANY state school that I would be accepted to. It provides 36 months of benefit, but you only spend it when you're actually in class. So my benefit wouldn't be used during summer/fall/winter breaks; only when I'm taking classes. From what I've researched, this should cover my entire dental school.
2) Would you consider this course of action to be a good career move? I figure that I would be grandfathered into the current military retirement system, and could still retire at 43, albeit with a better skill set as a dentist than a general line officer. My impression is that the Navy Dental Corps promotes a bit faster then the Line Officers. O5/O6 retirement at 20 years sounds like a good gig (especially if I could get high 3 for O6 at Year 17). At 43 I would still be young, healthy, and debt free with plenty of years to practice dentistry. My plan at that point would be to open a private practice or use my military travel benefits/pension to travel around the world and provide dental care to low-served communities around the world. I love interacting with all sorts of people, and the ability to help others in a meaningful way carries a lot of weight.
3) I'm 2.5 years out from my commitment. I think this gives me enough lead to study for the DAT, shadow, and take the appropriate pre-reqs. I was an engineering major as an undergraduate (originally was a political science major, but switched to engineering) and lack biology and organic chemistry courses. My overall GPA is a 2.8, but I got A's and B's in my science courses (Chem I, II, Phys I,II, Meteorology). Would I be competitive with all of this, assuming good grades at a 4 year local college for the pre-reqs?
4) I would hope to do an AEGD after Dental School. With 11 years to go at that point in service, I figure specializing won't hurt. And the maturity I have gained as an O would motivate me to do well in DS so I can get the grades to be accepted to a residency.
I have been considering a career change and entering dentistry for some time, and have been lurking the forum for a couple of weeks now. I figured some of these questions may be best to ask rather than endlessly searching.
About me: I am an Active Duty O2 in the Coast Guard with 2.5 years of service under my belt, with 2.5 to go until my initial commitment is up (CGA graduate). I am a single male without a serious girlfriend/kids. Luckily for me and the rest of my classmates, we will have full access to the Post 9/11 GI Bill in May due to Congress forgetting about the Coast Guard Academy. Normally a Service Academy graduate or ROTC scholarship recipient has to fulfill their initial obligation of service before accruing time for the GI Bill benefit. Since they forgot about us, we are entitled to it while serving our obligations. However...
I am still interested in serving my country. There are ups and downs about the military, like everything in life, but I do enjoy wearing the uniform, traveling around, helping others, and meeting people from all walks of life. Part of this is why I'm drawn to dentistry of course, among other various reasons. With that in mind, I would like to pursue dentistry and get the HSCP scholarship and use it alongside my Post 9/11 at a state school.
My understanding is that the HSCP will enlist me as an active duty E7 (chief pay but of course I'm not a real chief), and the time in dental school will count towards my time in service/retirement. I will have 4 years of AD time for dental school. When you add in my 5 years of AD this would put me at 9 years of service as an O3E (hoping to make O3 in 1.5 years while in the CG). I know there's not a base pay difference in terms of O3E and O3 at 9 years service, and the BAH isn't that significant either.
My questions/thoughts are as follows:
1) Is there anyone else on these forums who have used HSCP & GI Bill together? How was it? I know that I wouldn't be able to collect the MHA due to being AD, but that's okay. The GI Bill will pay tuition/fees for ANY state school that I would be accepted to. It provides 36 months of benefit, but you only spend it when you're actually in class. So my benefit wouldn't be used during summer/fall/winter breaks; only when I'm taking classes. From what I've researched, this should cover my entire dental school.
2) Would you consider this course of action to be a good career move? I figure that I would be grandfathered into the current military retirement system, and could still retire at 43, albeit with a better skill set as a dentist than a general line officer. My impression is that the Navy Dental Corps promotes a bit faster then the Line Officers. O5/O6 retirement at 20 years sounds like a good gig (especially if I could get high 3 for O6 at Year 17). At 43 I would still be young, healthy, and debt free with plenty of years to practice dentistry. My plan at that point would be to open a private practice or use my military travel benefits/pension to travel around the world and provide dental care to low-served communities around the world. I love interacting with all sorts of people, and the ability to help others in a meaningful way carries a lot of weight.
3) I'm 2.5 years out from my commitment. I think this gives me enough lead to study for the DAT, shadow, and take the appropriate pre-reqs. I was an engineering major as an undergraduate (originally was a political science major, but switched to engineering) and lack biology and organic chemistry courses. My overall GPA is a 2.8, but I got A's and B's in my science courses (Chem I, II, Phys I,II, Meteorology). Would I be competitive with all of this, assuming good grades at a 4 year local college for the pre-reqs?
4) I would hope to do an AEGD after Dental School. With 11 years to go at that point in service, I figure specializing won't hurt. And the maturity I have gained as an O would motivate me to do well in DS so I can get the grades to be accepted to a residency.
