Navy/Army scholarship plus having a spouse

[hockeyguy1771]

Hey guys,

So I am entering my D1 and have been on the phone with my current dentist. He has been pushing me to go the Navy/Army route. I am super interested as it makes the most sense financially, however, I am unsure.

I have a serious girlfriend and we will be engaged within a year or so. She has her masters in Nursing, making it fairly easy for her to get a job.

We both would love it if I were to go the Navy or Army route; however, our biggest fear is being separated for 4 years as I would maybe be put overseas or something.

Just curious if anyone has any personal stories with how they handled the Navy/Army while having a spouse. Is there any way to request being located in America and not overseas? We would NOT care where I ended up. We just want to make sure that we are together.

Any advice or stories are much appreciated!

Thanks

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[Bingwen]

Hey guys,

So I am entering my D1 and have been on the phone with my current dentist. He has been pushing me to go the Navy/Army route. I am super interested as it makes the most sense financially, however, I am unsure.

I have a serious girlfriend and we will be engaged within a year or so. She has her masters in Nursing, making it fairly easy for her to get a job.

We both would love it if I were to go the Navy or Army route; however, our biggest fear is being separated for 4 years as I would maybe be put overseas or something.

Just curious if anyone has any personal stories with how they handled the Navy/Army while having a spouse. Is there any way to request being located in America and not overseas? We would NOT care where I ended up. We just want to make sure that we are together.

Any advice or stories are much appreciated!

Thanks

I have talked with a few younger dentists who did the Navy and they have never been asked to go abroad (both 3 years into their repayment). They had the option and it was a 6 month ship out if they wanted it. You give a list on your preference of station and both have gotten their top picks. The Navy also helped get their spouse a job. Nothing is a garuntee though so just keep that in mind when applying to something like this. They essentially own you for the amount of time that you will be in repayment.

Also check the numbers on whether or not a 3 year is worth it for you. You get less money then if you do the 4 year and I am not sure how that stacks up to just doing taking the loans.

 

[hockeyguy1771]

I have talked with a few younger dentists who did the Navy and they have never been asked to go abroad (both 3 years into their repayment). They had the option and it was a 6 month ship out if they wanted it. You give a list on your preference of station and both have gotten their top picks. The Navy also helped get their spouse a job. Nothing is a garuntee though so just keep that in mind when applying to something like this. They essentially own you for the amount of time that you will be in repayment.

Also check the numbers on whether or not a 3 year is worth it for you. You get less money then if you do the 4 year and I am not sure how that stacks up to just doing taking the loans.

I'm going to Penn... 500k in debt. Def worth it hahahah. Didn't even think about that though!

 

[Bingwen]

I'm going to Penn... 500k in debt. Def worth it hahahah. Didn't even think about that though!

Most of knowledge on the funding is from when my wife was looking into it, so some of it might be dated.... You will still owe your first year and they won't cover all of the costs for your remaining 3 years. Plus you will make less money as a army/navy dentist. So just make sure the number add up given that you won't have control over some parts of your life and practice.

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[XxxxDentLifexxxX]

I'm in the same boat actually! Plan on marrying my gf soon and becoming an army dentist after (hopefully) getting the HPSP scholarship. After talking to a recruiter, you can create a list of your top choices of stationing, but you obviously aren't guaranteed your first choices. So in theory all your choices could be in the States if you wanted. But my recruiter said that a spouse can accompany you to any base, including those overseas (think Germany, Korea, etc.) the only place they can't follow you to is deployments (where you go to war zones), which aren't guaranteed for everyone but are only 9 months. Also another good thing is that since you would be an officer, you can live off base if you're in the states which is kind of cool. Main thing I guess is there is a lot of uncertainty for 4 years but it is only 4 years of your lives and will be a cool adventure for the both of you. I'm really excited/hopeful about mine! I like to think of it as breaking out of the rat race- not being stuck in one area for a long period of time. Pm me if you want to talk more!

 

[hockeyguy1771]

Most of knowledge on the funding is from when my wife was looking into it, so some of it might be dated.... You will still owe your first year and they won't cover all of the costs for your remaining 3 years. Plus you will make less money as a army/navy dentist. So just make sure the number add up given that you won't have control over some parts of your life and practice.

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They only pay 3 years off? Interesting. I never realized that!

 

[hockeyguy1771]

I'm in the same boat actually! Plan on marrying my gf soon and becoming an army dentist after (hopefully) getting the HPSP scholarship. After talking to a recruiter, you can create a list of your top choices of stationing, but you obviously aren't guaranteed your first choices. So in theory all your choices could be in the States if you wanted. But my recruiter said that a spouse can accompany you to any base, including those overseas (think Germany, Korea, etc.) the only place they can't follow you to is deployments (where you go to war zones), which aren't guaranteed for everyone but are only 9 months. Also another good thing is that since you would be an officer, you can live off base if you're in the states which is kind of cool. Main thing I guess is there is a lot of uncertainty for 4 years but it is only 4 years of your lives and will be a cool adventure for the both of you. I'm really excited/hopeful about mine! I like to think of it as breaking out of the rat race- not being stuck in one area for a long period of time. Pm me if you want to talk more!

It's not letting me PM you! Send me a message if you can.

 

[Bingwen]

They only pay 3 years off? Interesting. I never realized that!

Yeah because you would be too late to apply for the program as an incoming you will have to apply for a 3 year scholarship. Which actually the Navy doesn't really have as they give it to the 4 year applicatant who got waitlisted. So army and air force are your options.

 

[XxxxDentLifexxxX]

It's not letting me PM you! Send me a message if you can.

I can't either. Here, I fixed my settings try to now

 

[hockeyguy1771]

Yeah because you would be too late to apply for the program as an incoming you will have to apply for a 3 year scholarship. Which actually the Navy doesn't really have as they give it to the 4 year applicatant who got waitlisted. So army and air force are your options.

Ok that makes complete sense actually. If only I thought about this seriously a year ago. I'm assuming I'd only have to serve for only 3 years compared to 4 then?

Also, when you say I'd make less money being an army/navy dentist, are you referring to the stipend? Or how much i would make post-service.
Thanks a ton for the help!

 

[Bingwen]

Ok that makes complete sense actually. If only I thought about this seriously a year ago. I'm assuming I'd only have to serve for only 3 years compared to 4 then?

Also, when you say I'd make less money being an army/navy dentist, are you referring to the stipend? Or how much i would make post-service.
Thanks a ton for the help!

Yeah, so you would only owe 3 years with the scholarship then.

So again this info is dated since I just have the info from my wife but your income would be about 90k a year. You do get other stipends (housing, malpractice insurance, etc) and stuff like that which helps bring that up but you are capped on your income potential for the most part (more patients doesn't equal more money).

Again money wise you will be coming out ahead but it isn't as good for the 3 year and if control over your practice is something that is important to you, it is something to at least consider.

 

[hockeyguy1771]

Yeah, so you would only owe 3 years with the scholarship then.

So again this info is dated since I just have the info from my wife but your income would be about 90k a year. You do get other stipends (housing, malpractice insurance, etc) and stuff like that which helps bring that up but you are capped on your income potential for the most part (more patients doesn't equal more money).

Again money wise you will be coming out ahead but it isn't as good for the 3 year and if control over your practice is something that is important to you, it is something to at least consider.

Ok damn thanks a ton for the heads up. I'll look into that. Never realized there was a cap. I am also fairly interested in specializing which I need to consider with making this decision. Thanks so much!

 

[Bingwen]

Ok damn thanks a ton for the heads up. I'll look into that. Never realized there was a cap. I am also fairly interested in specializing which I need to consider with making this decision. Thanks so much!

Yeah cause specializing will add more years to your requirement. The dentists get paid officer pay not production pay as far as I understand it. So you will get paid what an O3 or captain gets paid (I believe) when you leave dental school. If you move up a rank you will get paid more.

 

[rebecca_chatul_tov]

Hey guys,

So I am entering my D1 and have been on the phone with my current dentist. He has been pushing me to go the Navy/Army route. I am super interested as it makes the most sense financially, however, I am unsure.

I have a serious girlfriend and we will be engaged within a year or so. She has her masters in Nursing, making it fairly easy for her to get a job.

We both would love it if I were to go the Navy or Army route; however, our biggest fear is being separated for 4 years as I would maybe be put overseas or something.

Just curious if anyone has any personal stories with how they handled the Navy/Army while having a spouse. Is there any way to request being located in America and not overseas? We would NOT care where I ended up. We just want to make sure that we are together.

Any advice or stories are much appreciated!

Thanks

I would go Navy if possible because they typically do better procedures in terms of patient health. The dental clinic where I shadowed on a Navy base was opting to do partial crowns instead of full crowns where appropriate, had a full dental lab in their clinic, did work with gold, and would repair things like veneers. My experience in being enlisted in the Army (being a patient) is that they are pretty stingy with cosmetic procedures. I broke a tooth due to a weapon impact and didn't do a line of duty. I ended up having to pay out of pocket at a private dentist to get a crown on the front tooth because the clinic wouldn't cover what they considered a 'cosmetic' procedure. Since commissioning I have run into other officers that have broken teeth during deployments and the Army wouldn't fix it to a decent standard due to "policies." I haven't seen the Navy nickel and dime Sailors that way so my advice is to go blue (coming from a 6th generation green suiter).

No one can guarantee that you won't be stationed overseas. You can request and that has a pretty good chance of being honored since there are not that many slots available overseas for dentists compared to other jobs, but ultimately you don't get a final say. All the services do a pretty good job of providing support for spouses. Being a SM spouse is a pretty awesome gig (wish I could just be a spouse). Most bases have decent MWR outlets for officers' wives.

 

[Big Time Hoosier]

Lots of misunderstandings/misinformation on this thread. I’m too lazy right now to set it all straight. Search around on the military dentistry forum for more accurate information.

Military Dentistry

Big Hoss

 

[Bingwen]

Think you linked the wrong thread mate.

Lots of misunderstandings/misinformation on this thread. I’m too lazy right now to set it all straight. Search around on the military dentistry forum for more accurate information.

Military Dentistry

Big Hoss

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[Big Time Hoosier]

Think you linked the wrong thread mate.

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Nope, pretty sure I linked to the military dentistry sub-forum. Now, this would be an incorrect link:

Mase - Wikipedia

Big Hoss

 

[Bingwen]

Nope, pretty sure I linked to the military dentistry sub-forum. Now, this would be an incorrect link:



Big Hoss

Nope that one works. Cheers.

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