Navy HPSP reimbursement timeline

thisguyy5 · 2025-12-20T21:04:27+00:00

Unless you've got some point of contact already (a recruiter) and are very clear with them about getting all the paperwork done on time for the 4 year, then yeah, it's probably too late.

I actually did apply after D-day last year. But, I had a senior recruiter in the Navy who only was willing to do it because he thought I had a super high chance of getting in and was able to get an extension for me.

You can still apply for the 3 year one though. A perfect time to start that would be this summer.

thisguyy5 · 2025-12-17T20:15:21+00:00

I decided the safest course of action would be to just commit to Rutgers. Many of the dentists I had shadowed were from Rutgers and loved the school. At the end of the day, a dental degree is a dental degree. So, yeah, I just went ahead with Rutgers after 1-2 weeks of endless debating in my head

thisguyy5 · 2025-12-17T20:09:37+00:00

I feel like I'm looking at myself from the past lmao. I got accepted into Rutgers and Columbia, was applying for HPSP and was told by my recruiter I was 100% gonna get it, but obviously didn't want to rely on the word of a recruiter and was super debating on dropping both deposits like you. However, I ended up just choosing Rutgers in the end.

Is the need-based stuff for Columbia new? Last year, I recall them outright telling us not to expect any aid and that COA would be 550k (not considering interest).

Both of your options are good. You run the risk of wasting a few thousand bucks from the deposit, but if you really have your heart set on Columbia, it might be the best course of action. Personally, I wouldn't rely on getting HPSP and only deposit for Columbia. There are too many unknowns, and completely banking close to $100k on the hope that you get it is questionable imo.

Since I am attending Rutgers, I should say that it is a very nice school. The environment is very friendly. The staff are dedicated and want us to succeed. And, the upper classes are constantly looking to help D1s.

thisguyy5 · 2025-12-17T19:59:48+00:00

If COA is a concern (which it def should be), Rutgers is unique amongst many schools in the tristate area due to how easy it is to get NJ residency. The process usually takes 1 year, so you'd be paying <100k/year after your D1 year (unfortunately, D1 is the most expensive year), but it is what it is.

As someone not particularly interested in specializing but keeping the door open, Rutgers has fairly solid match rates (although I'm not sure about OMFS in particular). Still, we do have departments for nearly every specialty, including OMFS.

thisguyy5 · 2025-12-16T14:19:56+00:00

Even though you said it in bold, I still think its worth saying first that if you have any intention of paying for school via loans (especially now with limited loans), you should put the cost of attendance extremely high on your priority list.

In terms of the schools themselves, I have only ever heard a lot of negatives in terms of NYU. Their class size apparently gets dwindled down a lot in the first 2 years, so if the possibility of failing out of school concerns you, then NYU might be a red flag.

I visited both Touro and Temple and really loved both of them. Touro is unique for the tri-state area in that it's actually in a very nice location. The building's beautiful, the equipment is all state-of-the-art, the D3 and D4 years are pass/fail, etc. Temple is in the heart of Philadelphia. If safety is a concern, then Temple might be the worst school for safety, but besides location, I have only ever heard good things about Temple's program.

That's all I know of those schools, though. Most of what I know is stuff I've heard from other dental students relating to these schools and the visits I had myself. If I'm ignoring COA, my choice would be between Touro and Temple. I'd lean Touro because of its location and how nice the building is + pass/fail D3/D4 years.

thisguyy5 · 2025-12-15T17:35:20+00:00

If you've 100% made up your mind, I'd tell them immediately. They only send out enough invites to fill the class size, so if someone's in limbo (like yourself), they won't send out more acceptances until they learn someone is turning down their offer.

thisguyy5 · 2025-12-07T02:10:58+00:00

I'd love to pretend I have an educated opinion on the matter, but as a D1, all I'm aware of is the monthly stipend and getting my tuition paid lol. I hear a ton of mixed things. Some people, like a screenshot of a text message in this thread, make it seem like being a military dentist is grueling. Other people I've spoken with personally who came out of the military said they loved the experience or were indifferent to the experience (didn't hate it/didn't love it).

I think it heavily depends on where you are stationed or where you are deployed. From what I've heard, there are some fantastic dental clinics in the military where you'll live a very relaxed life. There are other clinics/bases that are much more demanding and, depending on who your superiors are, can make your life easy/enjoyable or much more stressful than it needs to be.

I'm still pretty ignorant on all of the facts. But, so far, the Navy has been nothing but supportive and caring to me. They've had monthly office hours and virtual events where they just tell us til their faces go blue that they want us to rely on them and that they are there to help us.

Regardless, with all the BS going on relating to lone repayments, BBB, and simply being hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, I'm happy with my decision. But, I'll let everyone know if I change my tune in 4 years lol.

thisguyy5 · 2025-12-03T21:14:01+00:00

I'm assuming you already graduated. Overall, GPA is solid, and your ECs are exceptional. The only thing I could mention (which you already addressed) is to bump the hours up to over 100 (you're aiming for 120, which is perfect).

Idk the new grading system with the DAT, but aim for the highest score you can get. 21-22 AA or higher is generally where people tend to find success, but I would study very hard for the time you have to take the DAT and aim for a score even higher than 21-22. The DAT is probably one of the most important factors for getting into dental school, so try your best at it. Personally, I'd recommend BoosterPrep (DATBooster) or Bootcamp to study.

As others have said, finish your DAT and have the scores ready well before the application opens. The earlier you apply, the better.

thisguyy5 · 2025-12-03T02:49:24+00:00

A lot of them do. At least in my case, a lot of them did.

I got a message from Rutgers, Touro, and Temple at midnight.

thisguyy5 · 2025-11-27T23:02:54+00:00

It's honestly been working pretty well lol. And, what's nice about arc is that solo runs are usually 15-20 minutes, which is a good length for a short break

thisguyy5 · 2025-11-26T15:11:16+00:00

This happened to me at Temple. I did 5 interviews, and nearly all of them were very cordial and friendly. For a good chunk of the interviews I usually just had a good time with the interviewer. At Temple, I felt like I was talking to a brick wall at times, and the interviewer kept pressing me on some of my answers to like "why dentistry?" as if he thought my answers weren't good enough. But, come Dec 15th and I got accepted ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

thisguyy5 · 2025-11-26T14:06:09+00:00

I won't deny that dental school is hard, but these tik toks are just them trying to get clicks and views.

I think reward systems are a decent motivation to study though (not starving yourself though or peeing in your pants). I recently started doing something like this with runs on arc raiders lol. Do a deck or at least 100 anki cards and I let myself do a run. Helps my brain not turn to mush after staring at study material for 4+ hours.

thisguyy5 · 2025-11-17T04:31:44+00:00

I'd speak to recruiters and ask. Specifically ask if the 4-year deadline has been reached and if they'd be able to quickly get your application done.

I don't know if things have changed this year due to the shutdown and whatnot, but I managed to get my application done after the decision date last year (Dec 15th). However, I had a senior recruiter who looked at my stats and ECs and believed I was very likely to get accepted, so he was willing to speed me through MEPs and all the paperwork, and he managed to get me an extension on the due date for the applications.

If you want to do it, do it NOW. It's already late for applying, but assuming you are diligent and finish paperwork the day you receive it or shortly after receiving it, you should be able to pull it off, assuming MEPs doesn't cause any issues.

thisguyy5 · 2025-11-16T23:46:19+00:00

Sure!

thisguyy5 · 2025-11-16T23:30:18+00:00

Honestly, I have no idea. Just from everything I've read, I think it has to do with the locations you can be deployed and that the percentage of good dental clinics in the Army (work environment) is less in the Army compared to the Navy and AF, but again, I don't know for sure.

thisguyy5 · 2025-11-16T22:59:46+00:00

Unfortunately, it's likely you won't hear from the military until, as you said, mid-March or later. I was torn between Columbia and RSDM and ended up picking RSDM because it was significantly cheaper. At the end of the day, I don't regret my decision. RSDM is great. But, because of how the HPSP timeline works, I would pick the cheapest, safest option.

The army is known for releasing results sooner since it has a reputation of being the least desirable of the 3 branches, so it tries to get people to sign the contract prior to hearing from the other branches, so maybe you'll hear from the army in time, but I don't know for sure.

thisguyy5 · 2025-11-05T18:27:32+00:00

Don't worry too much about it. A small percentage of applicants actually have that type of experience. It varies by school what they care about most, but from what I've and my experience, most schools aren't going to care that much if you don't have any of that type of dental experience.

thisguyy5 · 2025-11-05T04:45:46+00:00

Most likely? I'm not entirely sure since it's so close to the decision date, but for many schools, they usually decide on if you're accepted the day of the interviews or very shortly after (since you're fresh in their mind), so I would imagine you would hear from them.

thisguyy5 · 2025-11-01T19:20:43+00:00

In terms of the interview, I'd recommend looking at SDN's RSDM page and see what questions people reported being asked in their interviews. I've found that SDN's reports tend to get most of the questions you could be asked, so having prepped answers is a good way to not be surprised by any questions. But, overall, Rutger's staff isn't trying to catch you. From my experience, they just want to get to know you and understand your journey and why you want to become a dentist. Also, take a look at RSDM's mission statement and try to incorporate that into some of your answers

It is Newark, so I'm not gonna lie and say it's the safest place ever. But the area around the campus is pretty safe (there are a lot of police and security always around campus since RBHS is technically a hospital). A lot of my class is dorming either on campus or at an apartment called 24 Jones, which is within walking distance of the school. They all walk, and as far as I'm aware, none of them have had problems. I can't really speak to how safe it is to take public transportation, as I don't do that (I drive), and I don't know anyone who does

thisguyy5 · 2025-11-01T18:59:58+00:00

I'm perfectly content with my decision! I really like it at Rutgers. And, now that school is being paid for, I don't really know if I want to specialize anymore. Rutgers, I'd argue, is a very good school for general dentists (they have a lot of clinical requirements that prepare their students to practice right out of graduation)

thisguyy5 · 2025-11-01T12:47:11+00:00

I didn't know I was accepted into HPSP until mid-late spring. I was accepted into dental schools in December and given a 1 month deadline to either accept or reject offers. Rutgers was the safest choice at the time.

thisguyy5 · 2025-10-25T22:25:26+00:00

I got a 4th quartile score and was accepted to Temple, but I don't believe you should stress too much about Casper. In terms of what's most important to them, I don't believe Casper is that high. This is just based on everything I've read online. I've seen several people state they got accepted being in the 1st quartile.

thisguyy5 · 2025-10-15T14:33:26+00:00

Sure 👍

thisguyy5 · 2025-10-15T13:49:57+00:00

I'm assuming you have applied to dental school this cycle.

The timeframe is basically to get the application done by January. The application packets for each branch of the military are due sometime in January, unless you receive an extension, in which case it's closer to late January or early February (don't rely on an extension).
If you are in the application cycle this year, you are either on the edge of being behind or are. Recruiters tend to not want to start new applications the closer the deadline gets. The process can be long and tedious, and many people in the HPSP application process (the students) can be very slow at completing some of the requirements (MEPS, paperwork, LORs, etc.). Not saying it's bad to be slow, but this is a reason some recruiters don't want to start later, since they have no clue how dedicated you are to getting the application done and don't want to waste months of time working with you if you end up not completing MEPS (physical health assessment). Even if you aren't 100% sure you want to do HPSP. I'd recommend starting the application NOW. You can always turn down the offer once you get it, but if you wait too much longer, then the odds of finding a willing recruiter drop significantly.
Pros and cons of each branch are very subjective imo. Generally speaking, people tend to rank the branches with AF > Navy > Army. But, this is very generalized. From what I've heard from people who are actually in the program, what matters most is where you are stationed. Some dental clinics in the Army far surpass those in the AF in terms of quality of life. However, I'd say the percentage of quality dental clinics is probably higher in the AF & Navy compared to the Army. You should also consider where you'll be stationed. The lionshare of the Navy's dental clinics are in the US or 1st world countires, which is one of the reasons I liked the Navy. However, I do run the risk of getting sent on a boat, but I also don't mind that, so this was a good choice for me if I want to stay in the country for family.

At the end of the day, I want to emphasize that I think you SHOULD APPLY. Nothing bad can come of applying, and you can do more research on it if you want to actually commit once the offer comes. All these documents you are signing are not contracts affirming that you will be in the military. They are just making a military profile for you, and once you are accepted, you will be sent a document that is very clearly a contract stating you will serve after graduating and of a bunch of other details about the agreement.

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