Grad School / Flight School Question.

My DS is a 2016 appointee. We have been discussing ideas of what degrees makes the most sense for him. He hasn't decided exactly what degree he wants to pursue. Right now, he is thinking about an aeronautical engineering degree but he waffles back and forth with chemistry and electrical engineering. He might switch his major once he starts but it's good to think about options ahead of time.

I know that 50% of the USAFA grads go to pilot school. He is leaning towards flying but time will tell. I also know that some of the students go to grad school right after they finish their undergrad.

Assuming you were picked to go to grad school, can a student then go to pilot school? What percentage of seniors are offered grad school slots? How are those grad school slots chosen?

Thanks for any and all advice.

From reading John Boyd's biography, it seems to me that if you go back to school while on duty, then you will end up in a desk job with little to no chance of going back into flying, let alone going to flight school. But then again, this is an assumption I made from reading a book.

FromRVa15- VERY incorrect.

I was a chemistry major. CC's DS was a BS major. I am pursuing my PhD at RAND and CC's son will be joining me here very soon. Eagle36 finished his Masters at AFIT a little bit ago and is currently in IFS and will start UPT soon.

CC's DS and I both have pilot slots after RAND. My AF classmates at RAND also do (they were BS and electrical engineering majors).

About 10% of each graduating class goes to graduate school. Many of us go with UPT slots waiting for us after. They are chosen based on grades, merit, and necessity (some jobs need a masters or prefer a masters like analyst and engineer)

I graduate October 2013 and then head to Laughlin for UPT. (I'm a 2010 grad USAFA)

There have been many posts about grad school on here. Search graduate school under the search box above.

hornetguy said:

FromRVa15- VERY incorrect.

I was a chemistry major. CC's DS was a BS major. I am pursuing my PhD at RAND and CC's son will be joining me here very soon. Eagle36 finished his Masters at AFIT a little bit ago and is currently in IFS and will start UPT soon.

CC's DS and I both have pilot slots after RAND. My AF classmates at RAND also do (they were BS and electrical engineering majors).

Click to expand...

I had no idea CC's son was going to be going to RAND. What a small world

Hornet was as clear as could be. (As usual). Going to grad school has absolutely no affect on losing your pilot slot. "Unless you choose to give it up after grad school".

One thing I will add. The OP eluded to choosing what to major in. I will say that for those who choose to major in Behavioral Science, that grad school is much more difficult to get. Main reason is that because of the type of occupations associated with Behavioral Science, there are very few intermediate Graduate programs. Usually, an individual is employed with a B.S. undergraduate degree, or they go straight to a PhD degree. "Depending on what they are wanting to do". Very rarely will you find too many "Master's" programs in the Behavioral Science field. The "RAND" scholarship is the only PhD program that the Air Force will accept for a Behavioral Science major following the academy; and they only offer 3 slots per year to that. Most of the grad school scholarships my son applied to mentioned if he was accepted, he'd have to change his study to government studies, poli-sci, or similar. BS was my first degree, and a master's program after is difficult to find. That was true 25 years ago when I majored in Behavioral Science and it's still the same now. They are out there, but not a lot of need. Again; you either work with a bachelor's degree or a PhD.

For the engineering majors, this is not a big issue. But for any other person thinking of going to the academy and working your butt off to hopefully get a grad school slot after the academy, think hard if you want to major in Behavioral Science. The available grad school slots are quite limited. Best of luck... Mike....

CC and Hornet. Thanks for the advice. I did a search and learned a lot from your prevous posts.

I am busy reading.

I put in RAND in the search bar. Specifically relating to RAND, little or nothing pops up. I assume you are talking about http://www.rand.org/paf.html Correct?

Right organization, wrong division. Look up the Pardee RAND graduate school. The PAF fellows are senior officers on one year senior professional military education assignments. The graduate students include us USAFA grads.

hornetguy said:

FromRVa15- VERY incorrect.

I was a chemistry major. CC's DS was a BS major. I am pursuing my PhD at RAND and CC's son will be joining me here very soon. Eagle36 finished his Masters at AFIT a little bit ago and is currently in IFS and will start UPT soon.

CC's DS and I both have pilot slots after RAND. My AF classmates at RAND also do (they were BS and electrical engineering majors).

About 10% of each graduating class goes to graduate school. Many of us go with UPT slots waiting for us after. They are chosen based on grades, merit, and necessity (some jobs need a masters or prefer a masters like analyst and engineer)

I graduate October 2013 and then head to Laughlin for UPT. (I'm a 2010 grad USAFA)

There have been many posts about grad school on here. Search graduate school under the search box above.

Click to expand...

Thank you, that cleared up my questions and doubts.

You maybe confusing the school issue with what the AD world calls PME. For many fliers timing is everything because of "gate" months. If the flier has met his/her gates, than the AF can sit them down in a desk, depending how long they are at the desk, and their rank it may be very difficult to get back in the cockpit. Bullet went to PME in residence as an O4, had met his gate months, so upon graduation he was forced to take a desk assignment, he fought to get back into the cockpit 3 yrs later.

For right out of the gate as an O1 going to grad, that is not going to be an issue for the majority, unless they shut down the UPT pipeline.

Just to reemphasize what Hornet said, yes it's possible. In my UPT class alone, there are five of us from USAFA (2010 grads) who start UPT next month after doing graduate school first. At IFS currently, there are roughly 10 of us from 2010 who are getting ready to start. Most of us who are here right now earned a scholarship through our academic major at USAFA to attend AFIT in Dayton, OH and they held our pilot slots. The others, and some who will be joining in the next month or so, earned national competitive scholarships to schools like RICE, Harvard, and MIT. Your future cadet will receive plenty of information on applying and what's available when the time comes, but know that the opportunities (as of now and for the last many years) are available.

And hornet, I'm amazed you still have enough time to be the first to respond on here. lol. Hope RAND is going well!