For starters, I'm a 38 year old (obviously) non-trad prior (Army Reserve-92-00) service pre-med who's very interested in trauma surgery. Yes, I understand that these desires often change during the MS-3/4 years, but I also have come to appreciate how my learning curve and interests have changed over the past ~20 years of my life. Even if I decide I hate surgery, I know myself well enough to understand that I would likely pursue emergency medicine instead. So, assuming I can meet physical standards (not an issue I feel I will face by the time I'm ready to enter med school (~50 pounds lost in the last year due to diet and exercise and planning to start the Shaun T Insanity workout in the next week or so) and assuming my strong personal desire to enter into trauma surgery, would HPSP be the right choice? Honestly, I have often thought that I would want to pursue a civilian contractor career in trauma surgery even if I went a more traditional route (in fact, HPSP has only occurred to me the last couple of weeks) due to my strong desire to return to my service to the country-leaving the reserves has been one of my bigger regrets in life (and was based more upon the political climate of the late 90s and my personal financial situation than any personal dislike of the military itself-I love the fact that I served and proudly salute rather than cover my heart when the national anthem is sung at sports events and wore my red, white and blue cords with honor at my community college graduation). So, assuming the academic and physical sides become a non-issue, and my personal conviction to serve my country remains just as strong, how good of an idea is HPSP for someone who's interest lies in the field of trauma surgery? My gut tells me that few places in the world would give the kind of trauma field experience like a year in, say, Kandahar would, but my head wonders what the chances of a 44ish year old PGY1 getting assigned to a war zone would be (or even the chances of the current 'War on Somebody Deserving/Politically Expediting An American Boot in the Face" extending that long). While I would LOVE to say finances aren't a concern, in reality I know that for anyone who's parents can't pay for med school out of pocket (and my retired parents including a (medically controlled) bone cancer stricken mother can't), they are. But I also realize that a medical career (especially a surgical specialty) offers financial options that reduce those concerns in the long term. My biggest concerns here revolve around my chances of getting into a trauma surgery residency with secondary concerns about being able to help out my (military) brothers and sisters based on that residency. I honestly see myself doing everything I can to return to military service in one way or the other when I finish residency. In terms of GPA, I realize that, due to some immature mistakes in the early 90s, I am more likely to be a strong DO candidate than an MD candidate (but, to be fair, some of the best treatment in my life has been at the hands of DOs, including one who integrated OMM into his practice, so I have zero issue with the philosophy), but I want to pursue the academic and school choices that are most likely to align with my desire to pursue trauma surgery. On the personal front, I'm (very happily) divorced with two children who will be college aged by the time I'm ready to start med school, with zero plans to get into any sort of long-term personal relationship in the next few years (in fact, that's one of the things I tell women I date up front). My daughter (who will be 18 in September-GAH!- and graduating from high school early in December) is planning to enlist Army (despite my efforts to talk her into Air Force) and is hoping to ship to BCT early next year. My son will be graduating high school in 2015, the same year I am hoping to start med school. So family is a a secondary factor in my relocation/possible deployment concerns.
tl;dr Would I be better off (in terms of residency options) going with a civilian trauma surgery career or with a HPSP career, given my strong personal desire to return to military service as either an O3 or a civilian contractor? Let's leave finances out of the equation for the moment. Maybe add a secondary "MD vs DO school" option to the mix.
tl;dr Would I be better off (in terms of residency options) going with a civilian trauma surgery career or with a HPSP career, given my strong personal desire to return to military service as either an O3 or a civilian contractor? Let's leave finances out of the equation for the moment. Maybe add a secondary "MD vs DO school" option to the mix.
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