Medical prep school program offers path to commission

Enlisted airmen who are interested in medical careers as officers have until Sept. 6 to declare their intent to apply for a new pilot program to prepare them for med school.

The Enlisted to Medical Degree Preparatory Program will allow qualified airmen to attend medical prep school full time for two years. The Air Force will cover all costs of attending the school, and participating airmen will remain on active-duty status and receive full pay and benefits.

Participants will transfer to Bethesda, Md., and attend prep school at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences. After successfully completing the program, graduates will apply to the university’s medical school or other civilian-run medical schools.

Once a participant graduates the prep schooland is accepted into an approved medical school, he will be commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Medical Services Corps. As fourth-year medical students, those lieutenants will be eligible to apply for medical residencies approved by the Air Force Health Professions Education Requirements Board.

Airmen who take part in the program must commit to three years of active-duty service, which begins after completing the prep school. Classes begin July 1, 2014.

Applicants must be younger than 33 as of June 30, 2014, have at least 36 months but no more than 10 years time-in-service as of Sept. 30, 2013, and hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited school. Enlisted members from all career fields are eligible to apply, if they meet all other criteria.

Those interested must e-mail an intent to apply statement to the Total Force Service Center by Sept. 6 and will find out by Sept. 16 if they have been released from their career fields to compete for selection. If they are eligible to compete, airmen must submit their applications by Nov. 1.

Interested airmen can find the full eligibility criteria and application guidelines on myPers, or https://mypers.af.mil, by searching for “EMDP2.”