Brown BS/MD vs United States Naval Academy

[Tern]

Hello, I am a current high school senior choosing between the United States Naval Academy and Brown PLME (8 year BS/MD program). The Academy and medicine are both dreams for me and I know they might not be compatable.

Brown PLME

Pros	Cons
guaranteed admission into Warren-Alpert medical school no need to take MCAT no need to apply to medical schools open-curriculum	no financial aid 80k+ per year for undergraduate 90k+ per year for medical school 700k+ total

United States Naval Academy

Pros	Cons
guaranteed job as Naval officer upon graduation military community and connections attend med school for no tuition (Uniformed Services University) or educational costs scholarship (any medical school) free get paid around 1k monthly leadership, discipline, and physical development	less likely chance of going into medicine must apply for Navy med corp billet (<20 students per year) will have to take MCAT will have to apply to medical schools

Everything about the Naval Academy, from lifestyle to military opportunities, appeals to me more except for the non-guarantee in medicine.

If I go to Brown, I will likely do ROTC or the Health Professions Scholarship Program, so I will ultimately end up in the military.

I know this is a decision that will ultimately be up to me. I would like to get outside opinions on these two programs to help me make a better educated decision.

Does anyone have any thoughts on these two programs in general and when it comes to medicine? Does anyone have experience with either of the programs? Thank you!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Congratulations!

Tell me more why each program is your dream program. What are your must-haves or must-not-haves?

 

[Tern]

Congratulations!

Tell me more why each program is your dream program. What are your must-haves or must-not-haves?

Thank you!

For the Academy, it's the unique environment of USNA. They emphasize leadership development and interpersonal skills because they are graduating officers to the Navy. I want that character development and to be in a tight community/cohort that I can't see myself getting at Brown, simply because of the nature of USNA. I enjoy the military lifestyle of physical fitness and discipline at USNA, which wouldn't be the same as ROTC or HPSP at Brown. It's also the opportunity to serve, but I understand I can enter the military even if I go to Brown.

For Brown, it's the opportunity to get a "guaranteed" MD. I won't have the stress of applying to medical school or taking the MCAT and I know it gets more selective each year.

I don't have must-haves / have-nots as nothing deters me from the schools. I'm mostly looking at the opportunities I will be afforded and what I will gain from each program. I will say I don't care about location, dining, or other such slice-of-life-y things.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

One thing to also consider is your preparation for medical school. If you decide to go Navy (beat Army), you will likely have limited opportunities to do typical "premed" activities or get prehealth advising, at least compared to Brown. Of course, I doubt it's "impossible," but you may not have as many people doing typical premed club things at the Academy.

A different forum discussion (not reddit)

Wondering about Premed experience at USNA

I was wondering about what the premed experience is like at USNA and how it could compare to that of a prestigious school like Duke (Assuming I have obtained an ROTC scholarship). If you could speak to your experience with premed at USNA that would be greatly appreciated, I have read the USNA...

www.serviceacademyforums.com

Different website discussion (no endorsement implied)

Medical School and Service Academies - Gain Service Academy Admission

The Service Academies offer the chance for a select few graduates to commission as an officer and go directly to medical school to serve in the armed forces as a doctor. In this post, we discuss how to get into medical school directly after graduation and commissioning from the Air Force...

www.gainserviceacademyadmission.com

 

[Wamuu]

Hello, I am a current high school senior choosing between the United States Naval Academy and Brown PLME (8 year BS/MD program). The Academy and medicine are both dreams for me and I know they might not be compatable.

Brown PLME

Pros	Cons
guaranteed admission into Warren-Alpert medical school no need to take MCAT no need to apply to medical schools open-curriculum	no financial aid 80k+ per year for undergraduate 90k+ per year for medical school 700k+ total

United States Naval Academy

Pros	Cons
guaranteed job as Naval officer upon graduation military community and connections attend med school for no tuition (Uniformed Services University) or educational costs scholarship (any medical school) free get paid around 1k monthly leadership, discipline, and physical development	less likely chance of going into medicine must apply for Navy med corp billet (<20 students per year) will have to take MCAT will have to apply to medical schools

Everything about the Naval Academy, from lifestyle to military opportunities, appeals to me more except for the non-guarantee in medicine.

If I go to Brown, I will likely do ROTC or the Health Professions Scholarship Program, so I will ultimately end up in the military.

I know this is a decision that will ultimately be up to me. I would like to get outside opinions on these two programs to help me make a better educated decision.

Does anyone have any thoughts on these two programs in general and when it comes to medicine? Does anyone have experience with either of the programs? Thank you!

As a disclaimer, I have not been in the military before, but I do want to weigh in as someone who was recently admitted the MD route.

You will likely hear others say this in your personal life, but taking a guaranteed path into medicine WITHOUT taking the MCAT is a dream, let alone just meeting a minimum set by the program. Studying for the MCAT is hard because you don't even know whether you'll get in, even with a good score. Now, should you go the ROTC route, they're going to make you spend four years of your life plus more for residency. On top of that, any branch of the military will sort of force you into a residency program that they need bodies in, which is often IM, FM, peds, or gen surg.

So here's how it would look for you, if your name was John:

• Years 1-4: John attends medical school with the 4-year HPSP scholarship.
• Years 5-7: John completes a 3-year family medicine residency program through the military.
• Years 8-11: After finishing his residency, John's 4-year active-duty service obligation for the HPSP scholarship begins. He serves as a family medicine physician in the military.
• John's 4-year HPSP service obligation does not begin until after he finishes his 3-year residency.
• The residency years (Years 5-7) do not count towards paying back the HPSP obligation.
• John's active-duty service commitment (Years 8-11) is solely to repay the 4 years of medical school tuition covered by HPSP.

In other words, instead of the 7 years of school/residency, you are spending 11 before you can begin making an actual attending's salary, since the military pays you a fraction of a civilian doctor regardless of specialty. This is where people will recommend you just apply for PSLF at the start of residency so you can spend maybe half the 10 years paying basically nothing and only a few years of actual payments. Whatever is left over at the end of that decade is forgiven (this is the road I will be going down).

Honestly man, I'd go with a great school like Brown to study some subjects that prepare you well for school and that you enjoy, get into the program, and be a doctor without the biggest hurdles in the process.