HSCP Navy Applications

[EmilyB1994]

Hello everyone! Not sure if this is the right thread, so sorry in advance if it is not. I am applying to physician assistant school this cycle and am speaking with a recruiter on Monday for some information about the Navy. I have been interested in joining for awhile and especially to their HSCP.

Am I too late to be meeting with a recruiter? I hear some applicants send out their packet when they apply to PA school? Or am I on the right track?

For those who have applied, how do you think the process was? Were there minimum qualifications for you to be considered? Look forward to hearing back. Thanks!

[vb315]

Emily,

Just for clarification, you're applying through CASPA this cylce, to start PA school in 2019? If so. you're on track. I'm an Active Duty Collegiate through HSCP currently. I was accepted to school in July 2016, and started my package with my recruiter then. I was subsequently chosen in April 2017, after another candidate declined the offer. Generally, the recruiter wants you to have an acceptance before they begin working with you.

The new Fiscal Year (FY) starts October 1st, so you'll want to have everything ready to submit by then - or as close to then as possible.

As for the process, it's a lot of paperwork, medical clearance, interviews, etc. It really makes a difference if your recruiter is on-top of their game, so that everything can be done quickly and efficiently. With that said, it's just a matter of getting everything completed ASAP. The goal is to submit it as soon as the new FY starts! I hope this helps. Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

[EmilyB1994]

Just now, vb315 said:

Emily,

Just for clarification, you're applying through CASPA this cylce, to start PA school in 2019? If so. you're on track. I'm an Active Duty Collegiate through HSCP currently. I was accepted to school in July 2016, and started my package with my recruiter then. I was subsequently chosen in April 2017, after another candidate declined the offer. Generally, the recruiter wants you to have an acceptance before they begin working with you.

The new Fiscal Year (FY) starts October 1st, so you'll want to have everything ready to submit by then - or as close to then as possible.

As for the process, it's a lot of paperwork, medical clearance, interviews, etc. It really makes a difference if your recruiter is on-top of their game, so that everything can be done quickly and efficiently. With that said, it's just a matter of getting everything completed ASAP. The goal is to submit it as soon as the new FY starts! I hope this helps. Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

That helps so much, thank you very much! I am very excited to begin this process.

[Anachronist]

vb315 pretty much covered it but just wanted to share my experience.

I was interested in it but was hesitant to start the process until I had an acceptance to a PA program. I was accepted in Nov of this cycle and contacted a recruiter the first week of Jan. He informed that they had already received enough applications to fill all of the slots for this FY, on top of that, he explained that the fastest he ever saw an application get approved was 28 days and that even if I started immediately, the cutoff would elapse in that time. (There was also something worth mentioning about different graduation times; I'm set to graduate in July 2020, if it would have been Oct 2020 then I would be counted in the same FY that you are, so the program length/specific dates may have some effect. The recruiter's first question was "when do you graduate?").

On top of that, if you do miss the boat, there are essentially zero extra benefits for joining after and they require either 1 or 2 years of experience. Economically (using gross average numbers), after the 3 year term of service it is about break even, you receive the majority of benefits early on (tuition + stipend), and then the salary weans them down once you've graduated; bit still a good deal no doubt. If you join after, you just get a 30-ish% pay cut and a standard contract. (At least this is how it was explained to me by the recruiter).

So long story short, if you want to pursue it, start as soon as you can/they will allow.

P.S. Just out of curiosity to vb315 if you don't mind answering, what program are you in? The July acceptance seems uncharacteristically early of all of the programs I'm aware of that are normally Sep-Feb (though that is only 20-30 that I researched out of the ~200 in the US).

[moleashish]

@vb315has been great with responding to the HSCP questions. @Anachronist has solid info too. 

I was just accepted for the HSCP Scholarship today. Yay. 

I was accedpted to PA program in Dec and started the process for HSCP right away by contacting the recruiter (You should contact them sooner). I first heard from the recruiter in Dec 2017 and started everything. He was great and got my application streamlined. By February I had everything I needed and last month in March my application was reviewed and today I heard the good news. 

Yes the recruiter will want you to have the Acceptance Letter on Hand before they start really working with you, but you can have many things ready already to make things move faster. 

Here is what I wrote for someone asking about what they needed to get started with the application. 

The application and filling out forms are the ones that take the longest. Here is the list I want you to have it ready:

1. DD214 if you are veteran

2. All your military evals 

3. Birth certificate

4. Citizenship certificate if you were a citizen of different country

5. LORs from two professors

6. LORs from employers. (I did two LORs from professors, 3 from employers)

7. Health record/Dr visit records from the last 5 years.

8. Background check will take the longest as it is tedious process so have the contacts of all your employers and supervisors from the last 10 years. Have personal and professional references for the last 5-10 years. Have references from schools you've attended. Have information about the places you've lived in the last 10 years.

9. The rest the recruiter will have to set up. Things like health screening appointments and interviews with Navy officers.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask. 

Good luck. 

[vb315]

12 hours ago, moleashish said:

@vb315has been great with responding to the HSCP questions. @Anachronist has solid info too. 

I was just accepted for the HSCP Scholarship today. Yay.

Congrats!

 

18 hours ago, Anachronist said:

P.S. Just out of curiosity to vb315 if you don't mind answering, what program are you in? The July acceptance seems uncharacteristically early of all of the programs I'm aware of that are normally Sep-Feb (though that is only 20-30 that I researched out of the ~200 in the US).

I'm at the University of Bridgeport in CT. I interviewed and was accepted in July, 2016, which is early in the year. It's probably because the class started in Jan 2017. so they had to have acceptances out early. I was wait-listed at my top choice (Stony Brook) so I jumped at UB because I had the opportunity, and couldn't pass, not knowing if I'd get into Stony Brook. Good thing I did because I never got off the wait-list at Stony Brook haha

[StevenBrule]

On 4/14/2018 at 9:22 PM, moleashish said:

@vb315has been great with responding to the HSCP questions. @Anachronist has solid info too. 

I was just accepted for the HSCP Scholarship today. Yay. 

I was accedpted to PA program in Dec and started the process for HSCP right away by contacting the recruiter (You should contact them sooner). I first heard from the recruiter in Dec 2017 and started everything. He was great and got my application streamlined. By February I had everything I needed and last month in March my application was reviewed and today I heard the good news. 

Yes the recruiter will want you to have the Acceptance Letter on Hand before they start really working with you, but you can have many things ready already to make things move faster. 

Here is what I wrote for someone asking about what they needed to get started with the application. 

The application and filling out forms are the ones that take the longest. Here is the list I want you to have it ready:

1. DD214 if you are veteran

2. All your military evals 

3. Birth certificate

4. Citizenship certificate if you were a citizen of different country

5. LORs from two professors

6. LORs from employers. (I did two LORs from professors, 3 from employers)

7. Health record/Dr visit records from the last 5 years.

8. Background check will take the longest as it is tedious process so have the contacts of all your employers and supervisors from the last 10 years. Have personal and professional references for the last 5-10 years. Have references from schools you've attended. Have information about the places you've lived in the last 10 years.

9. The rest the recruiter will have to set up. Things like health screening appointments and interviews with Navy officers.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask. 

Good luck. 

Woah! Congrats!  you were really on top of that.  

 

[EmilyB1994]

I spoke to a recruiter today through the chat option on Navy site and he said I could not start my application or meet with a recruiter until I had an acceptance. Is this true? I have spoken with some people in the HPSP and HSCP who say they were able to meet with a recruiter and do the interviews, physical, etc and have their application ready to send when their acceptance came in.

[moleashish]

4 hours ago, emilyclairebray said:

I spoke to a recruiter today through the chat option on Navy site and he said I could not start my application or meet with a recruiter until I had an acceptance. Is this true? I have spoken with some people in the HPSP and HSCP who say they were able to meet with a recruiter and do the interviews, physical, etc and have their application ready to send when their acceptance came in.

I was able to speak with a recruiter because I found the nearest Navy Officer Recruiting Office from google and dialed their office no. But mostly, it is true that they will not start the process until they know you are accepted.

The people you spoke to might have gotten lucky to actually get physicals and interviews done before getting accepted. I don't know how true is that, because that's a lot of planning to get you set up to see providers at a military facility. 

However, you can still get other things that are under your control as the list I posted above. Also, I would just google Navy Officer Recruiter and find the nearest location to you and call them. Hopefully they can start helping you. When I used the chat option, they were not that helpful.