Recent content by orbitsurgMD

I see the good idea fairies have found the stash of Popov.

The Navy has progressively withdrawn from ophthalmology training support. At one point there was a solid accession of 11 PGY2 (first-year of ophtho) slots. In a single year, they closed one center and cut the number down to three new residents per year. With the loss of Bethesda Naval Hospital...

How exactly will you strengthen your application? Do you plan on coursework? Community service is nice and all, but it isn't going to supplant strength of your academic record or of your testing scores. It's great that you did three majors and have an interesting extracurricular record to claim...

What is your plan for "gap years?" How will you answer the interviewer who asks you why you felt the need for gap years when so many applicants are eager to get started with medical school. I don't know anything about the 18x program except for the apparent association with special forces. For...

How the offers are extended and for which specialties is what will matter. The problem will be for those specialties that are needed that the services don't have enough training slots in their own programs to fill. Sure, the option still exists for deferments, but those were always relatively...

If you don't plan on a career and you are financially much better off leaving after minimum ADSO and getting a desirable residency won't be a difficulty, why exactly would you consider staying?

Thirty-four states now have medical education loan forgiveness programs. The VA and USPHS have HPSP programs. Soon the USCG is starting its own HPSP program, or so I hear.

If this idea fails (it will, because it is that bad) the blame falls squarely on BUMED. Instead of moving away from GMO assignments and toward straight-through training, this plan perpetuates the institution of the GMO with one year of GME. This is a tiny bone of truly dubious value being thrown...

There is a solution to this. It will cost some money, but it will work better than any of the other proposals. "OMO" assignments should be delegated to those best trained to perform those tasks: board-eligible or board certified medical officers in IM, FP and EM tasked on a rotating basis to do...

So the (claimed, touted) straight-through training plan is rejected in favor of this. Instead, they are spending the future value of a residency slot for otherwise annual residency applicants on a scheme to lock in some trainees to a residency of uncertain quality at the expense of a three year...

Does "guaranteeing a PGY2" slot at a point 3 years after finishing internship entail a contract or not? What happens if the specialty is overmanned and the number of slots for PGY2 is reduced. Does this apply to all specialties or only those undermanned? I will say this: they have done this very...

Well, let's hope not. A "reasonably big war" might entail mobilization of some reserve elements to reinforce certain military elements. Medical may be one of them. Most likely, the initial actions would be piecemeal: defer retirements, defer transfers to the reserves of those with remaining...

So much depends on chance. While some branches claim to be selecting HPSP graduates for straight-through training, many don't. There aren't enough PGY2 slots for all of the people who have been doing duty as GMOs. It is a fiction--and untrue--to believe that those not chosen are less deserving...

Radiology is diverse. There are procedural practice areas, interventional neuroradiology being prominent, where your practice might seem more like neurosurgery than reading images. I would expect that area will grow. Ortho is diverse also. The hand and spine people have their fiefdoms.

Read ahead. Get a basic understanding of what is involved and how military medicine has changed over the years. Do the best you can in undergrad to have the strongest application possible. Get accepted to medical school. Stay in touch on this forum to get the latest from members actively serving...