Hi,
I was envisioning using the Air Force to help pay for medical school; and am in self-training to apply to try out for PJ on a six year contract. How possible is it to attend medical school while you are a PJ? Has it been done? Would there be time?
Thanks,
John
John,
First off, congratulations on planning ahead. Becoming a PJ is a huge commitment and the follow on commitment to becoming a doctor is even more challenging!
Keep in mind that no one makes it through Pararescue unless you truly want to be there. My class started with 87 dudes and 2.5 years later, I graduated a class of 8. What I am trying to say is: make sure you are doing it for the right reasons...not just paying for college.
It is absolutely impossible to attend medical school while an active duty PJ. I will tell you about my path as others have taken similar ones. I enlisted in 1999 into maintenance. I went to school part-time at night and worked my Air Force job. I cross trained to PJ and continued to work and also go to school. Most of my classes were online. The few I took in residence were very hard as I had a 50% attendance rating due to being TDY so often. I went to school part-time during all three of my active duty deployments and all of my TDY's. (You are on the road well over 6-8 months per year!) It was extremely difficult, but it can be done. Now keep in mind that I earned my BS in business management/computers so it was possible to go half online, half traditional. This would be very difficult if I had to take science courses with associated labs while a full-time PJ. I have an active duty PJ buddy of mine who is taking science course towards med school but he is an instructor and doesn't go TDY or deploy. It is possible for him to take night classes. However, when he goes to medical school, he is either going to have to join the reserves and be a part-timer or get out completely.
I separated active duty in 2009, became a part-timer, and in 23 months took all my science prerequisite course work (and then some), took my MCAT, applied, interviewed, and was accepted. It was challenging to do all this as a part-time PJ as sometimes I would go a few months without working. I am working as a full-time PJ this summer to fulfill my annual obligations but as soon as medical school starts this August, I will be a ghost at the unit until Winter break.
Hope this clarifies your question. Take care.
GS
Hi! I just graduated from a UC in bio, and am applying to medical school. I was wrestling with commissioning as an officer in the Marine Corps when I hear about Pararescue. I haven't been able to think about much of anything since. Currently, I am studying for the MCAT, but my goal is to attempt to attend PJ school (or CRO... but the jobs seem very different). My question is, after putting in all of this time, and with a 90% attrition rate, what is the process of going from enlisted to accept an HPSP scholarship? I know that there is a good chance I won't be able to make it all the way through, the numbers aren't in my favor. But, I will gut it out to the end. Thanks for the help.
ReplyDeleteI regret not attempting the med school route. I trained as an Air Force Firefighter EMT and served at three bases and separated to attend Paramedic schooling. I then re-enlisted and stayed in the fire department until my profile changed due to smoke inhalation and carbon binding to the medics. What was funny was paramedic medicine was new and still on prime time television and I was called to the chief medics office and he asked me if I knew anything about medicine. I replied yes I was trained in Los Angeles fire as a paramedic and he asked what was a paramedic and I replied: "Have you watched the show Emergency?" He said yes, and replied that I was being assigned to manage the CCU, ICU, and Special duties (to be assigned one on one care) on the super critical patients. I followed on and became the only non-physician instructor of ACLS for the medical center.
ReplyDeleteI now reflect on this choice of not following on to med school as a blessing, because I would have never met and married the most beautiful and spiritual woman any man could ever dream of. She stayed with me almost twenty-eight years and went to heaven because of breast cancer. I am a Vietnam veteran and retired from respiratory/nursing after 33 years. I am now here waiting for the Rapture or God's calling me home to be with my wife for all eternity.
I finally found comfort in practicing respiratory medicine and teaching the young doctors critical care respiratory medicine at a major Medical University Hospital.
No Regrets