Auditions/Residency Application
Your 3rd and 4th year ADTs account for two of your audition rotations. You are required to do at least two rotations at Army hospitals, but you can do as many as you can sign up for! These rotations are key because you will also conduct your interviews with your desired specialty during this time.
As of today, MAR2021, one of the most up-to-date references is the Facebook group. My apologies as some of the information, below, may be out of date - I am getting a bit old... https://www.facebook.com/groups/HPSPStudentsAndPhysicians/
ADT Rotations
Hopefully, by the end of your MS3 year you know what specialty you are shooting for. Armed with this knowledge, you can set up your audition rotations at the Army hospitals. These are rotations within the specialty and location to which you hope to match. It gives the residents and staff a chance to work with you and get an idea as to if they want to take you on and invest 3-6 years training you in a specialty. Most people will do 2-3 audition rotations in their specialty at various hospitals.
The Army will pay for up to 2 rotations if they are designated as ADTs (one third year and one fourth year). During that time, you are paid as if you are on active duty (because you are), and the Army will pay for your travel and room/board. If you use your head and designate the more expensive rotations as active duty, you will benefit much more. For example, one of my auditions was in Hawaii. I designated it as active duty, and the Army paid to fly me out to Hawaii and to pay for accommodations for 6 weeks. If I had to come out of pocket for that, it probably would have cost about 10K. You will work with HRC to arrange this stuff when the time is right, usually not until the second half of MS3. The programs won’t want too many med studs rotating at any one time, so set up your rotations in advance so that the slots aren’t all filled by the time you try to get one. April/May is usually adequate notice, although I did set up a rotation in July for a September time frame and had no problem.
Non-ADT Rotation
In this scenario, you are responsible for your own travel and accommodations, although often you can stay at the hospital for no charge. Some students opt to do this because they have some extra time, and they want to get a look at more than 2 places. Remember that when you are rotating at programs in which you are interested, you are finding out for yourself what kind of a program it is, and if you would fit in there. Each program is unique and some will be a better fit for you than others. The best way to find out where you fit is to actually go and visit the program.
Scheduling a Rotation
There are a lot of rumors about this topic, so read this carefully! (I have learned the following by calling the HPSP office (1-877-MED-ARMY) and by speaking to residency programs)
Ground Rules
You are REQUIRED to do 2 ADT rotations - you cannot do more or less.
You can do as many non-ADTs as you would like.
You can only do 2 rotations per hospital.
They cannot both be in the same specialty.
They can both be ADTs, both non-ADTs or a mix.
Your Army residency application packet is due October 15th - you should therefore have all of your Army rotations done by then (they will understand if your last rotation spills into the third week of October).
AN ADT CANNOT CROSS FISCAL YEARS
The Army fiscal year is October 1st - September 30th.
You cannot have an ADT that starts before September 30th and ends after October 1st.
This is a billing issue (you are paid during ADTs and the Army cannot pay you across 2 fiscal years).
This rule does NOT apply to non-ADTs.
YOUR ADTS CANNOT OVERLAP IN TIME
An ADT is 45 days long, however, the rotation will only be 4 weeks long.
The extra days of the ADT cannot overlap the 45 days of another ADT
Technically, a non-ADT cannot be performed while still on the time of an ADT. I would never do this (as the ideal HPSP student), but I have heard of people doing so.
To have a chance at a specialty, you should do as many rotations in that specialty at different hospitals as possible (If you want to do Neuro, you should ideally rotate in Neuro at both Madigan AND Walter Reed).
Some specialties have more sites than you can feasibly rotate at - simply rotate at the sites at which you would prefer to do residency.
For specialties like Neurology or Psychiatry that have only 2 programs, each, you should definitely rotate at both sites.
Actually Scheduling a Rotation
Every hospital has a different timing and protocol for scheduling rotations - the earliest ones start in November, so be sure to contact the programs you are interested in early enough!
There will likely be some sort of application you need to fill out for the program.
If you want to potentially do residency there, be sure to indicate to the program that you are interested in interviewing while on the rotation.
Once you have submitted your application to the program and received confirmation, you should request the ADT on MODS (applies only to ADT rotations - obviously) for ADT dates that encompass your rotation dates. Be smart about this so that your ADT overflow days do not cross into another ADT.
Submit whatever forms your school needs to the Army residency program to do the rotation there.
Set up a Training Affiliation Agreement (non-ADT only). This may vary by school, but your school may require a TAA with the residency program for non-ADTs. I don't exactly understand why, but I just learned I needed to do so, and found the person at my school who does these kinds of things.
You will need the following before you start your rotation:
Vaccination records: Flu, MMR, Tb, Tdap, Hep A, Hep B, Hep C, Varicella, Meningococcal
Background check (for some rotations)
Complete Army HIPAA Certification
Finishing up residency applications
When you are a MS4, you will apply to residency via the MODS website. You will receive an email from HRC giving you the information you will need to find, log in, and use the MODS website. Once you get your login and navigate the website, this is pretty self-explanatory. Follow the instructions on the website carefully. The actual application is very simple: A few forms you just need to fill out, ensuring that all of your test scores are uploaded to MODS, your CV, your personal statement and a professional photo of your pretty face.
Some important dates to remember are that you have to have your primary application completed by September 15, and your rank list must be finalized by October 15. After that, kick back and relax. The selection boards will meet sometime in mid-November, and the match results will come out in mid-December, so you will know your match results well in advance of your civilian colleagues.
Points of clarification
Your 3rd and 4th year rotations are satisfied by rotations at Army Hospitals. As written in the HPSP contract, an ADT is 45 days long. The rotation itself will only be 4 weeks long. The remaining 2 weeks will be spent at your school.
You are permitted to do back-to-back ADTs, but they must be at different sites. However, you may do one ADT and one non-ADT at the same Army facility.
The idea is that you will perform rotations in the specific specialties you wish to pursue and at the specific hospital where you wish to pursue them. You may explore different specialties through your ADTs. You generally rotate through one specialty per ADT, but it is possible to rotate through two in a single ADT (two weeks per specialty).
You will likely some e-mails throughout your years in medical school. A few of which will notify you about events such as "Medical Specialty Night." These are events where residents and program directors from various programs across the country come together to give out information on their residency programs. I CANNOT RECOMMEND ATTENDING ONE OF THESE EVENTS ENOUGH. This was instrumental in increasing my understanding of how military medicine worked, as well as what specialties I was interested in.
These are often at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.