Questions About Air Force HPSP

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Hi Everyone!

So I was originally a pre-med student, so received my BS in Bio. For various reasons I switched to nursing and am now in a program to get my BSN. I have just recently started looking into various military nursing and have decided the Air Force seems the best fit. I have seen lots of people saying all military is full and making cuts. In respect to this, Does anyone know how many get accepted for the nurse HPSP program? Or even how likely they are to hire a new grad? Being active duty is something I'm really interested in, but also trying to get a feel for how feasible it is. I have reached out to my local recruiter, but have yet to hear back.

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Ok so I'm mobile so I can't edit my post. I was mistaken and now see the HPSP is a graduate scholarship.

If I'm graduating with my BSN in March 2017, when should I apply then?

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

There are different programs that you are eligible for. One of them (which may not exist anymore) pays you a stipend and your school expenses while you are in school; you'd want to get on board with that ASAP. The other one is called the Nurse Transition Program (NTP), and you start applying for that when you have about 12-18 months left in school. As of right now (although it can change), the Air Force still is giving 40K in loan repayment for 4 years of service to nurses. Either way, it is extremely competitive.

The numbers change all the time, and only a healthcare recruiter could give you a ball park estimate based on last year. Truthfully, they decide on numbers at almost the last minute. Anyone who is telling you numbers months in advance is guessing.

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The one that pays you a stipend while in school, is that same as the HPSP program?

Thanks so much for tht info! I'll just have to bug the crap out of my recruiter then haha.

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

I directly commissioned as an experienced nurse. I'm not familiar with the stipend program. The only person I've ever known to use the stipend program was a CRNA student; I don't remember what it's called.

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My mother sent me to a friend of hers that is a Lt. Col in the AF and a nurse, who also apparently conducts a lot of the Chief Nursing Interviews for applicants. He mentioned the Nurse Intern Program, said it was 5 months long, is this the same thing as the NTP program, do you know?

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

There is a nurse residency program for all nurses who enter the Air Force with less than 1 year of experience; it isn't the application process but actually part of the training program once you are accepted. New grad nurses either enter via ROTC or are directly commissioned after a lengthy application process when they near graduation from a BSN program. The AF uses direct commission to supplement ROTC enrollment numbers; hence, direct commission is harder to obtain.

This direct commission program for new grads is commonly referred to as the Nurse Transition Program (NTP), even though NTP is actually step 2 in the training program. It involves 5 weeks of general officer training (Commisioned Officer Training=COT), 12 weeks of new grad nursing training (this is the NTP part of the program), and then a year of monthly meetings/projects (called DCO) when you first start working as a nurse on your own.

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Thanks so much for clearing all of that up, I really appreciate it!

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