USUHS interview

[youprobablyknowwho]

Hi all I have a couple questions going into my interview for USUHS.

First about branch preference. I have a very strong preference for the Navy and if it were not offered I’d honestly not be sure about the USUHS route— I might go civilian school and try later. Should I be honest about this on the preference form and not rank other services or should I rank them anyway? (It’s possible not to rank but I’m not sure how this would look to admissions). Also, does anyone know how typical it is to be offered your preferred branch?

Also a question about rotations if anyone knows. If I wanted to do a lot of my rotations at one of the major hospitals outside DC (say, San Diego just for example haha), how feasible is this to arrange?

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[SirGecko]

Just answer honestly on the service question. They fill each service individually. If you can only do Navy and Navy is full they can offer you the alternate list. If you don’t want to be in the Army or the Air Force it does you no benefit to tell them you would accept a spot.

Unless things have changed recently there are a great number of rotations outside the dc area. Probably can’t avoid it entirely but you can certainly do the majority of your rotations at other hospitals. Now trying to do them all at one specific hospital is much harder and likely not feasible. This is especially true if it’s a desirable location like San Diego. I’ve known some people who essentially moved to Portsmouth for their rotations but doing the same for San Diego or Hawaii is very unlikely given how popular it usually is to get rotations there.

 

[Barrel Proof]

I, too, went in with a Navy bias. Let me tell you, in hindsight it was probably a mistake. My trajectory would have been much different had I chosen Air Force. And I did not even consider it. In the end, I saw classmates who were not as competitive as I was go straight through in the specialty I wanted simply because they were Air Force and Army. I got a fancy TY internship and GMO tour. Which, now that it is all behind me, ended up being a really great experience and I am glad that it was part of my path. But the point is, there is much to consider so I would try not to be close-minded.

There are big differences in training opportunities between the branches. Even the competitiveness, particularly for the more sought after specialities can vary by branch. Maybe less so in the future with Navy getting rid of GMOs and moving towards straight through training. Idk. But regardless, it would behoove you to take the time to learn the ins and outs of GME by branch/service. This is something I did not do and wish that I had. I would keep an open mind. What’s the harm? After some consideration, list the branches by preference and if at the end of the day you don’t get your top choice there is nothing keeping you from turning it down.