if i was discharged from the military with an oth discharge, would that hurt me going to school to be a doctor

Question

i was in when i was younger and went awol just long enough to be discharged...so it wasnt drugs or anything too horrible, i regret it now but you live and learn.

oth stands for 'other than honorable'...
it's a commentary under 'general discharge'
-not honorable, but not dishonorable-

Answer 1

I don't think anyone really cares about military service anymore. Dubya was too afraid to go on active duty and Billy Bob was a total draft dodger. Both of them ended up becoming commander in chief over the entire US military. Most civilian employers do not know or care about military discharges. Anyway, an OTH is not the worst type of discharge, so I would not worry about it.

All of these people that are telling you that admission to medical school is based on character are totally off. Admission to medical school is based on school grades and intelligence. Just because you have an OTH discharge does not mean anything. Good luck in your endeavor!

Answer 2

Becoming a doctor and trying to get into medical school isn't just a grades thing. They base admissions on the whole character of the person. You may not think an OTH is a big deal but it is. Not only did you break all military regs but you also let your country down. Even you one single person can do that. You decided to f-off enough until they got tired of you and kicked you out. You calculated your demise. I'm not sure what you have been telling yourself since it happened to make it all sound ok to you, but it's not. I don't want a doctor that is going to decide to skip town on me when my sickness gets hard on him or a military diserter for that matter. Yes they also do background checks for doctors so you can't hide it even if you wanted to. Also, are you independently wealthy? You know you are no longer eligible for any federally guaranteed student loans with an OTH discharge right? No grants or scholarships either. SO, if you are thinking of trying to go to med school your only hope may be a foreign country without practicing in the US.

Answer 3

It could possibly get in the way of becoming a doctor, because they do do background checks, but most likely, you could probably still be a doctor, because AWOL isn't really that bad. But that's really a character thing, and you might not be taken seriously, if you're able to get through medical school from all of the costs. Your best bet may be doing something else to avoid having to get thru med school and then can't become a doctor because of that even if it's something you regret doing, people look at that and will probably judge it. Like they always say: "One bad thing could ruin a great day." It's possible though, you just hafta get your credibilty up or something.

Answer 4

Sounds like you were in the Marines but rest assured that it won't have any effect on your future. Remember, Steve McQueen got a dishonorable discharge from the Marines and so did Walt Disney and they did just fine. Unless they ask to see your DD-214, you don't have to tell them anything about it.

Answer 5

Depends what causes the oth dishcarge?

Have you check the school you are intrested in and checking out the application process. They like to dig a bit into the past and see what type of person you are.

Answer 6

Why did you get in trouble??? oth discharges are usually from awol, drugs, such things......this could keep you from getting hired somewhere but not from college. They'll let you go to college for anything but it's the after college where you might have difficulty.

Answer 7

If you become a DR don't let any of your customers find out about you discharge.


Added: If they find out a lot of them will hold this against you and you can lose them as customers. There is a huge Veteran population that still does not use the VA system for health care.

Answer 8

Oth?

Answer 9

that's a tricky question.

Answer 10

If you can't handle the demands of the Army, how are you going to handle
medical school???