Talk to me about...

[sawineaux79]

Anyone here enter as an officer or have a spouse who did? Anyone try for officer school multiple times?
I'm interested in Medical Service Corps/Healthcare Admin/Physician's Assistant school/ maybe even Intel. Just starting to research everything. I'm 33, so for the most part I only have one shot for these interests. Talk to me, share your thoughts.

TIA

[basilosaurus]

Well, H did ROTC, so his experience probably doesn't relate to yours.

However, when I was in nursing school, I looked into commissioning. I decided against it, but I did meet with a recruiter a couple times, so I might be able to answer some specific questions.

First, what's your background? Do you already have medical degrees? Or are you looking to commission in a general field and hope to get picked for a medical track? I can tell you the latter probably won't happen.

[sawineaux79]

Jun 17, 2012 3:25:27 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

Well, H did ROTC, so his experience probably doesn't relate to yours.

However, when I was in nursing school, I looked into commissioning. I decided against it, but I did meet with a recruiter a couple times, so I might be able to answer some specific questions.

First, what's your background? Do you already have medical degrees? Or are you looking to commission in a general field and hope to get picked for a medical track? I can tell you the latter probably won't happen.

I have a BS Biology and MBA. 10 years healthcare/research experience, but no licensing such as medical assistant or nursing or anything. I think healthcare administration is my best bet, but I'm open to suggestions. I mainly want to enter for stability, actual TRAINING to do my job, and of course the benefits are nice too. 80% of the people I have spoken with tell me to go for it and report positive experiences. 20% say NO NO NO. Looking for as much feedback as possible, I know the recruiters try to sugarcoat sometimes.

[Dory1988]

Hi, I've applied several times to different branches in attempt to become an officer. I was a non-select for the Navy 3 years ago, I applied as an Army reserve (they were not accepting apps for AD) HCA in the fall but the closest position ended up being over 6 hours away and was for an O-3 not an O-1. I'm now on my 4th officer's application (my second officer's board with the Marine Corps) so if you have any specific questions feel free to ask. If you want to go HCA or PA the MC isn't for you. I believe the Navy has a really good program for PA's. I also have a lot of useless knowledge regarding the medical officer programs (HCA, PA, etc) because it's all stuff I have looked in to in the past.

[sawineaux79]

Jun 17, 2012 5:04:36 GMT -5 Dory1988 said:

Hi, I've applied several times to different branches in attempt to become an officer. I was a non-select for the Navy 3 years ago, I applied as an Army reserve (they were not accepting apps for AD) HCA in the fall but the closest position ended up being over 6 hours away and was for an O-3 not an O-1. I'm now on my 4th officer's application (my second officer's board with the Marine Corps) so if you have any specific questions feel free to ask. If you want to go HCA or PA the MC isn't for you. I believe the Navy has a really good program for PA's. I also have a lot of useless knowledge regarding the medical officer programs (HCA, PA, etc) because it's all stuff I have looked in to in the past.

Sent you a PM!

[krista]

I believe you're too old to commission in the Army Medical Service Corps. I needed an age waiver to commission at 30 as a nurse. MSC isn't really a branch that's in great need of officers. Also, you can't direct commission into a general healthcare admin position. You would have had to go through ROTC or OCS. Your best option would be to try for the Reserve and work on getting an AD position from there, but it's not easy.

eta: I just read that you have research experience. Depending on the area, you may be able to direct commission as an environmental science officer.

[Dory1988]

HCA is a direct commission, at least it was when I was applying last fall.

[beans]

You should look into the Health Professionals Scholarship Program (HPSP) if you havent already. Air Force, Navy, and Army have programs. Going to be applying this year to the Air Force HPSP as a psychologist. The age limits for the health core is typically older than general commission. The program is that you commission while youre in school and then when you graduate, you go AD duty. MH has looked into the PA program a little as well as their nursing, but I don't know how they work specifically. But for instance, as a psychologist- I apply after I've started school, if I get it I will be commissioned as a Lt in the reserves while I am in school. Sometime before I go to internship I'll have to go to COT (commissioned officer training, their boot camp Army calls it BOT idk about Navy). When I go on to my internship year, I'll be a captain AD (pretty much gauranteed internship placement which is really good for psyc right now). Once you're licensed you owe one year per scholarship year you received (again this is what I know from the psyc program idk about others but I do believe it's the same for doctors at least).

If you want to go into the medical corps, make sure you're specifically talking to a medical recruiter.

[krista]

Jun 17, 2012 9:05:06 GMT -5 Dory1988 said:

HCA is a direct commission, at least it was when I was applying last fall.

70A is now? It was not when I came in, but that was a dozen years ago. That's interesting since MSC is never hurting for officers.

[Dory1988]

Jun 17, 2012 12:55:23 GMT -5 krista said:

Jun 17, 2012 9:05:06 GMT -5 Dory1988 said:

HCA is a direct commission, at least it was when I was applying last fall.

70A is now? It was not when I came in, but that was a dozen years ago. That's interesting since MSC is never hurting for officers.

Yep.

[krista]

Jun 17, 2012 15:06:57 GMT -5 Stan said:

I'm on my second application for an O program, my Marine Corps O application took 7 months, and in the end I did not warrant an age waiver. I'm now working on my application with the Army, so we'll see where that goes. Good luck!

I didn't know that I'm really sorry to hear that. You will make an outstanding officer in whichever branch is lucky enough to have you. Good luck!

[sookie]

Jun 17, 2012 17:50:48 GMT -5 krista said:

Jun 17, 2012 15:06:57 GMT -5 Stan said:

I'm on my second application for an O program, my Marine Corps O application took 7 months, and in the end I did not warrant an age waiver. I'm now working on my application with the Army, so we'll see where that goes. Good luck!

I didn't know that I'm really sorry to hear that. You will make an outstanding officer in whichever branch is lucky enough to have you. Good luck!

I didn't either. I'm sorry Stan. You'll make a great officer and the MC is missing out!

[pesci]

I worked in medical administration on the enlisted side in the Air Force for 9 years AD, and 2 as a contractor. Almost all of the MSCs I worked with throughout my career were prior enlisted and had an MBA or master's in HCA.

I don't know all of the specific requirements, but have heard it is a really competitive field. Good luck!