Applications are being accepted for a special program that provides an academic helping hand to Regular Army enlisted soldiers who want to attend medical school.

The Enlisted to Medical Degree Preparatory Program, or EMDP2, is a two-year, post-baccalaureate regimen of study to prepare soldiers for the Medical College Admission Test, and to meet course requirements for medical school attendance.

The application deadline for the program that opens in September 2015 is Jan. 23.

The Army has partnered with the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Bethesda, Md., to offer an academic program that allows soldiers to remain on active duty while completing coursework required to attend the USUHS or civilian medical schools via the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program.

Soldiers who are accepted for EMDP2 will attend courses in their current enlisted grade.

Application rules require that soldiers extend or re-enlist for 54 months of active service, or have enough time to complete the 36-month service-remaining requirement upon completion of the EMDP2.

Soldiers are not eligible for this program if they are attending, or will attend, MOS training related to a reclassification or re-enlistment contract.

Army policies further require that applicants agree to apply for the university's medical degree program upon completion of EMDP2. Soldiers also may concurrently apply to a civilian medical school.

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Soldiers who complete EMDP2 and who are appointed as commissioned officers to attend medical school will serve their 36-month service remaining requirement, and the active-duty service obligation incurred for attending medical school, consecutively.

Soldiers who complete the EMPD2, but who fail to be accepted for medical school, will serve their 36-month service remaining requirement in enlisted status.

Application requirements and procedures for EMPD2 are spelled out in MilPer Message, 14-326, dated Nov. 14. Included in those details are the following: