Medical Corps
Cadet Application to the Medical Corps
Cadets can apply to the medical corps through either the Air Force Health Professions Scholarship Program (AFHPSP), which involves attending a civilian Medical School or the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUSHS). Each year HQ AFROTC identifies Pre-Health Cadets to enter their Pre-Health program. These cadets are guaranteed an Air Force scholarship to complete medical schooling if they are accepted into a civilian medical school or USUHS prior to graduating from their undergraduate program. Below are the steps AFROTC cadets must take to apply:
Step 1: Choosing the right major
You are able to major in any subject when deciding to study medicine, however, you must take a certain set of undegraduate classes to meet pre-medical requirements. This set of classes varies for each medical school, so the student will have to look up the required classes for the school they desire to apply to. This information is readily available on each school’s website. An example of a list of required classes from USUHS is provided below. We recommend choosing a major that makes the cadet eligible for a Type I scholarship. Of the available Notre Dame majors, Chemistry has the most overlap with the requirements for most medical schools.
Step 2: Get Accepted into pre-health program
Make an appointment with the Pre-Health office at your school, which for Notre Dame can be found in the Jordan Hall of Science. They offer resources to better prepare students for the application process. You must gain acceptance into the pre-health program during your sophomore year. In your junior year, you will have a dedicated class and advisor to personally review your application.
Step 3: Take the MCAT
We recommend taking the MCAT no later than spring semester junior year. Taking a lighter course load during junior year gives plenty of time for daily MCAT review to score well. You goal is to score a 510 or better. The only caveat to this is that your senior year will be more academically rigorous. Note: The Notre Dame college of science only accepts a limited number of Air Force ROTC credits toward graduation.
Step 4: Apply to Cadet Pre-Health Board
The board for selecting pre-health cadets will come through an message from HQs. Your detachment cadre will notify you when the board will meet for the year. When the message for the board comes out, you must submit a memorandum to your Detachment Commander for approval to compete for non-line in the Pre-Health category. The template for this memorandum is provided below as attachment 2.
Step 5: Gain Acceptance into accredited medical school or USUHS
Apply for civilian medical schools at the end of their junior year or beginning of their senior year. If you receive an unconditional acceptance letter from an accredited medical school, take a copy of the letter to your Detachment as soon as possible.
USUHS will notify Physician Education of Pre-Health cadets selected to attend USUHS. Physician Education will send the appropriate detachment a contract package to be completed by the cadet.
IMPORTANT: Start your American Medical College Application Service Start (AMCAS) application the summer after junior year and be sure to submit your application as soon as the application opens up. The guidance will tell you that you are not allowed to apply until after you have been approved for the Pre-Health Program. APPLY EVEN IF YOU HAVEN’T YET RECEIVED APPROVAL. After talking to other applicants and the directors of my school, you put yourself at a serious disadvantage if you apply late. If you are not accepted as a Pre-Health cadet, understand that you will not be able to matriculate into medical school, even if you are accepted. If you are rejected for the program, but get into medical school, notify the board and they will likely reclassify you so you can attend school.
Pre-health cadets not accepted into an accredited medical school prior to graduation have two options. They enter active duty as a line officer or apply for an educational delay. For more information on these options, cadets should contact their detachment personnel or contact the AFPC Educational Delay program manager at 210 565-2638.
Step 6: Detachment forwards acceptance letter to HQ AFPC/DPANE
The Detachment will forward a copy of that acceptance letter to HQ AFPC/DPANE, Physician Education Branch. When Physician Education receives confirmation of selection, they will email a contract and pay package to the appropriate AFROTC Detachment.
Step 7: Completes Physician Education Branch contract/pay package
The Detachment will assist cadets in completing the required forms and return them to Physician Education. Cadets going into the AFHPSP program will be commissioned into the line upon completion of their undergraduate degree and will be reappointed into the Medical Service Corps the next day.
Step 8: Detachment submits completed package
The Detachment will ensure the contract package is complete and returned to Physician Education by the established suspense date.
Step 9: Detachment commissions cadet
WIthin 24 hours of commissioning into the line of the Air Force upon completion of their undergraduate degree, the detachment will adminster the Oath of Office again to comission you into the Medical Service Corps the next day.
Step 10: Detachment forwards Line of the Air Force and MSC oaths
Detachment forwards Line of the Air Force and MSC oaths to AFPC/DPANE, Physician Education Branch.
Geeneral Tips
Grades are an important consideration throughout the process. We recommend keeping at least a 3.6 cumulative and science GPA to be competitive for medical school acceptance. One bad grade (C or lower) will not eliminate you from medical school, but will require explanation and show evidence of improving. One example of such improvement would be getting a C in Organic Chemistry I and an A- in Organic Chemistry II.
Detachment 225 has alumns that have successfully completed this process - please notify your cadre if you would like to be linked up with an officer serving in the Medical Corps.
ATTACHMENT 1- USUHS ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS
Academic Requirements
Although grades are not the only criterion used in decision making, the quality of an applicant's work at the pre-professional level is of major interest to the school, and the average GPA of our incoming class is a 3.6 (cumulative and in the sciences).
Students must have attained a baccalaureate degree as of June 15 of the year of planned matriculation from an accredited academic institution in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico or another U.S. Territory. All academic prerequisites must be completed by June 1, 2017. If you have not listed all of your prerequisites on your AMCAS application, please email a statement to your Admissions Counselor informing the Admissions Committee of any additional classes you will be taking, as well as when and where you are taking the class, the name of the class, and number of credit hours. Waivers to this requirement will be reviewed on a case by case basis.
Applicants must have completed the following course work:
- One academic year of organic chemistry including laboratory
- Biochemistry may be substituted for the second semester of organic
- The Admissions Committee will accept general organic chemistry, introductory organic chemistry, structures and reactions and chemical structural analysis
- Please consult your school's course catalog to make sure that your particular course is organic
- One academic year of general or inorganic chemistry including laboratory (Biochemistry may be substituted for the second semester of organic chemistry)
- The Admissions Committee will accept general chemistry, biochemistry, physical chemistry, analytical chemistry, inorganic chemistry and introductory chemistry
- One semester of calculus or statistics
- The Admissions Committee will accept business calculus, survey of calculus and introductory calculus. The committee will accept statistics courses from natural and social science fields
- One academic year of general physics including laboratory
- The Admissions Committee will accept introductory physics, calculus-based physics, algebra-based physics and mechanics, fluids and engineering
- One academic year of biology including laboratory
- Additional, upper level Biology coursework should be taken if one has had AP or IB Biology.
- The Admissions Committee will accept general biology, human anatomy, human physiology (or anatomy and physiology combined), microbiology, zoology, animal biology and cell biology
- The Committee will not accept botany, plant biology, environmental biology, prokaryotic biology, environmental science, ecology or geology
- If you have taken a course which is not listed above, contact the Admissions Office via email for a personal response
- One academic year of writing intensive humanities, social science, language or psychology courses. Any combination of two semesters or three quarters' worth of classes is acceptable for this requirement
Online courses or CLEP will not be accepted for the prerequisites. This requirement cannot be waived and prerequisites MUST be taken in a classroom setting. AP or IB courses for which your undergraduate institution has given you credit are acceptable for Calculus, Statistics, Inorganic Chemistry, and Physics. AP or IB courses for which you have been given credit are also acceptable for the requirement to have one year’s worth of credits in English, the Foreign Languages, Psychology, or the Humanities. If you have received credit for coursework through the AP or IB systems, we strongly recommend that you take upper level coursework in the sciences and humanities to demonstrate your ability to thrive in rigorous, advanced college courses. Please see our FAQ's for more information on course requirements.
ATTACHMENT 2 - NON-LINE POSITION CONSIDERATION MEMORANDUM
DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE
AIR UNIVERSITY (AETC)
3 June 2015
MEMORANDUM FOR AFROTC DETACHMENT 225
FROM: Cadet Lawrence C Gray II
SUBJECT: Non-line Position Consideration
1. I wish to compete for non-line in the Pre-Health category.
2. I understand that receiving a non-line enrollment allocation does not guarantee that I will be selected to medical or dental school. If I am not selected for medical or dental school, there is no guarantee that I will be continued in the AFROTC program and allowed to commission. My ability to remain in the program and commission will be contingent on the needs of the AF and the availability of a new enrollment allocation based on my academic major.
3. I understand that if I am selected for any of these programs I am ineligible to apply for an educational delay.