How I went from ROTC CADET to HPSP MEDICAL STUDENT!! | HPSP Military Medical School Scholarship

How I went directly from ROTC cadet to medical school with an HPSP Military Medical School Scholarship: my tips, journey, & advice!! Watch this if you are a premed in ROTC and want to go directly into medical school after commissioning/graduation before active duty! Or if you are following my journey and are just curious :) ***ALL OPINIONS/VIEWS/STATEMENTS IN THIS VIDEO ARE 100% MY OWN, + DO NOT REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE US MILITARY OR DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE OR RESERVE OFFICER TRAINING CORPS. *** GENERAL ADVICE DURING UNDERGRAD/ROTC: Find time to get solid clinical experience. Schools want to see consistent clinical experience, or a large number of hours. Shoot for at least 100.Try getting in a large amount of hours by working over the summer – you can make money while working full time, and accumulate up to 400-500 hours. -Scribe, CNA, EMT, Paramedic Gain leadership experience within ROTC. -Color Guard, Arnold Air Society, Drill Team, flight/squadron/wing commander positions, volunteer, step up, show you want to be there. Gain leadership experience outside of ROTC. -Join different clubs that actually interest you! Volunteer in the community. -If there is a local VA Hospital near you, try to volunteer there! Warning: the background check usually takes a few months to process, so plan ahead. Try to get some research experience – not required, but highly recommended. -Look at summer research internships, ask professors if you can join their lab. During summers: -Recommendation: do a full summer of research, clinical experience, or a job that requires great leadership skills. -If possible, save up as much money as you can, so this is not something you have to worry about as much during the school year. TIMELINE Freshmen Year – AS100 Talk with your academic advisors and ROTC Cadre about your goals of going directly from ROTC to medical school. Plan out ALL your classes – both major requirements and premed requirements. It is likely that they are not used to students following this process, so you will have to explain it to them so they can become familiar with it and are able to help you. Make sure your school’s pre-health office is aware you are on the premed track so you can get a pre-health advisor and so they can help you throughout the process. Take necessary classes, get leadership experience, make connections with professors/supervisors. Sophomore Year – AS200 Continue w/ classes, leadership experience, & developing connections Focus on doing well during Field Training (FT) Prep while juggling classes, extracurriculars. -Receive FT Enrollment Allocation in spring & get all necessary items for FT & complete FT Prep Summer after Sophomore Year - Attend Field Training Junior Year – AS300 Take necessary classes, get leadership experience, make connections with professors/supervisors. Start studying for the MCAT -Most people need at least 3 months of consistent, planned studying to do well. Start writing your personal statement & start asking professors/supervisors for letters of recommendation. Meet deadlines for the Pre-Health office at your university so you can get a committee letter of recommendation – extremely important. -A Pre-Health Committee letter is a letter written by the faculty at the pre-health office of your undergraduate university. It combines outside letters from professors, supervisors, and doctors that you submitted, along with other information the committee may require, such as an interview with you and a committee member and/or other essay questions you will be asked to fill out regarding your interest in medicine/leadership experience. Take MCAT by end of junior year – June 15th at the latest. Report MCAT Score to your Det CC ASAP so they can finalize and submit your Pre-Health Board package. June/July after junior year: submit applications. The earlier the better! Fill out secondary applications – get in ASAP. AFROTC Pre-Health Board will meet at end of August. Senior Year – AS400 Finish secondaries that you may be receiving Attend (and crush!) your interviews Decide on a medical school, alert your cadre members. ACADEMICS You must take all of these classes by the end of your junior year (if you are in a 4 year program) or end of your 4th year (if you are in a 5 year program). -This is because you must have the MCAT score prepared by the end of your second to last year, and you need these classes to do well on the MCAT. Still talk with your individual advisors about any questions you may have about classes. Spread out the courses, but also make sure that you are planning to take them the semesters that they are offered from your university, so you don’t fall behind. Some courses are only offered in the spring or fall. Even if you are a first year, you should have your classes completely planned out by the second semester of your freshmen year.