When Applying for Medical School Are You Required to Report Prior Military Service?

Question by Conflicted: When applying for medical school are you required to report prior military service?
I’m trying to decide what I would do because I’m in a precarious situation. I was given an administrative discharge because of “depression” so if I could leave out the fact that I’d been in the military altogether I would. If I DO have to disclose the information, I’m wondering whether or not I should come right out and blab about the depression diagnosis or mums the word?

Best answer:

Answer by Siggy D
Only where it actually applies toward your. You should list all organs that you’ve actually seen on the battlefield. Be concise but not too detailed.

Answer by LadyRoo
I assume you do have to report your military service….if anything, because you need to be able to account for that time-gap in your life.

I’m not sure about the military-specific rules (check the AMCAS website), but most schools have a question on their secondary applications asking applicants to explain any time unaccounted for by full-time education. That said, you can simply explain that you were in the military, although the issue might come up in interviews (although they’d probably be more interested in what you learned from your time in the military than why you left).

This is a tricky situation, but you’re certainly not the first person with this kind of issue….I’d talk with your premed adviser how best to proceed. If you’re still depressed, then I think you should hold off on med school in general (because med school is difficult/stressful enough for anyone)….but if you’ve been treated and have recovered, I don’t think it would be as much of a barrier as you think.

PS. That said, I’d avoid applying to USUHS. ;)

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