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Many Options, Please Help Me Decide!


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I will be separating from the military anywhere from 9 months to 1 year from now. Afterwards, I have so many many options.

 

So, I decided that I will create the possibilities, priorities, and pros/cons on this page.

 

Priorities:
1) Meeting a woman that will one day be my wife (I've been severely limited in Nowheresville, UA for the past 3 years)

2) Increasing my scope and increasing the amount of money I make

3) Least amount of time possible at this point

 

Options (in no particular order):

1) Stay in the military system without being active duty. (Pros: Meet many women, allowed to work in different hospitals in clinics, counts towards retirement)

2) Work a normal big city hospital. (Pros: Lots of women, lots of things to do. Cons: Likely lower pay and scope of practice)

3) ER residency (Pros: Will be able to make good money working in a rural setting for less hours, depending on the job. Fast-paced, which I like. Cons: Less access to women (presumably)

4) LECOM APAP (Pros: Reduced cost by 45k-58k by GI bill (depending on how long I stay in), more money, more autonomy. Cons: Who know where health care is going? Lost wages. May be difficult to find a wife. No guarantee that I'll get any of the specialties that I want.)

5) Taking #1 or #2 and my 3.5 years in military FM and working in one the State overseas jobs, which sounds awesome.

 

Any advice would be awesome! Thanks :)

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I love how access to women is reviewed in each category hah.

 

LECOM APAP ...  residency, tuition, to potentially not get an ED residency and "settle" for something you do not want.

 

I pick ED residency and find a good ER position. Want more money ? Work an extra shift a week to add 20k to your income .... will still work less hours than residency after LECOM.

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I love how access to women is reviewed in each category hah.

 

LECOM APAP ...  residency, tuition, to potentially not get an ED residency and "settle" for something you do not want.

 

I pick ED residency and find a good ER position. Want more money ? Work an extra shift a week to add 20k to your income .... will still work less hours than residency after LECOM.

an extra shift a week = 20k? dang so how much is an average salary and working hours for ER PAs?

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I love how access to women is reviewed in each category hah.

 

LECOM APAP ...  residency, tuition, to potentially not get an ED residency and "settle" for something you do not want.

 

I pick ED residency and find a good ER position. Want more money ? Work an extra shift a week to add 20k to your income .... will still work less hours than residency after LECOM.

Good advice man! Thanks!

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Guest Paula

Sign up for a dating site.....Match.com but not that one that just sets you up for  one night stands.  No woman will want you if you are all used up and spent. 

 

Go to church.  There will be a nice lady there for you.  My friends single daughter has the most gorgeous blue eyes, like a Husky.  Do you want me to set you up?

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Sign up for a dating site.....Match.com but not that one that just sets you up for  one night stands.  No woman will want you if you are all used up and spent. 

 

Go to church.  There will be a nice lady there for you.  My friends single daughter has the most gorgeous blue eyes, like a Husky.  Do you want me to set you up?

Dating sites don't work for me (for various reasons that go beyond the scope of this thread lol).

 

I don't do one night stands.

 

And, yeah sure, I generally take every opportunity that presents itself and see where it goes.

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Young, single, about to get out of the military, and looking for adventure?

 

If that were me, I'd be all about the State Dept PA jobs. At least for a couple of years. Rack up some more time toward retirement and benefits.

Yeah, I'm definitely interested in that, but I don't yet meet the 5 year minimum requirement (I'll have just over 3 when I get out).

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If you REALLY want to do rural EM then you don't have to worry about matching into EM (if you get into LECOM)....many places in rural America will take any warm doc. 

If Uncle Sam is going to foot much of the bill (and pay you E-5 BAH for 3 years) then I think you would be a fool to not try for LECOM.

 

Don't go to the city to meet a woman if you want to practice rural EM.  That would not work out well in the long run.

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  • 7 months later...

I was looking forward to your update!

 

Sorry for the lead-on!

 

Update

 

Background: I'm a 28 year old single male that is due to separate from the military after 3+ years primarily in family medicine. I can move anywhere and do anything. I've already had interviews in this area and down some lucrative offers (due to the fact that I do not want to stay in this area).

 

I've applied to various places across the country (from job boards) and have had some sketchy interactions (a cardiology job in Hawaii no-showed a Skype interview, then emailed me back the next day, wanting to do the interview right then and there). I couldn't find much from Kaiser, but, when I did, I got rejected (how would one even get into Kaiser? Seems difficult).

 

My most promising lead right now is what will likely be (based on my knowledge of the military system) a good job at a big military base. I applied for a contracting position there. It would be a really good "downtime" job between the stressed of the military and my next adventure. And it would be in a completely different area of the country. The recruiter loved me, loved my credentials, but told me that they will want to talk to my supervisor before hiring me. My supervisor is a really nice guy.....unless he's mad....and I made him mad a few times. So I'm not sure what to expect there.

 

Also, I'll pretty much have to start right after I separate, which I'm not crazy about.

 

If that opportunity falls off, then I will likely just go home and relax for maybe a month (eat some of that homecooked chicken parm!) and travel for maybe another month. Then, when I'm all refreshed, I could call a bunch of the recruiters that have been hounding me and see if they have an offer that I like. Working for the VA or an ER residency also crossed my mind. And, definitely, at the 5 year mark (2017-2018) in my practicing, I will be applying to the State Department (those jobs sound amazing!).

 

Of course, I am still considering the LECOM APAP, but I'm just not sure if my heart's in it (though it would be almost free with the GI Bill).

 

I'll continue to keep everyone posted!

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