jmartinezm
5-Year Member
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2012
- Messages
- 1
Hello,
I'm currently classified as a Senior (by hours, not by degree progress) at a University in South Texas, UT-Pan American, and I recently got around to considering transferring to the University of Texas - San Antonio in order to have a better chance of receiving a commission as opposed to taking my chances in OTS after graduation.
The thing is that I missed the deadline for this upcoming Fall Semester, and won't be able to start ROTC with the 100 level course until the upcoming spring semester. This also means that I won't be able to take the 200 level course until next fall and won't be able to attend field training until the summer of 2014. This in turn means that I won't be able to complete the ROTC program until Spring of 2016. This of course is assuming that I make the right impressions, get involved, keep my gpa high enough to be competitive and get selected for a HSI scholarship and field training.
At the end of all this, I would have been in school for 7 years, and if I do go ahead and transfer it'd be like starting brand new taking at least 3 and a half years to (hopefully) receive a commission and graduate.
The other thing that I was worried about was financial aid. I'm currently receiving federal financial aid and paying for school with a few loans and pell grants. I know that after 6 years, the financial aid stops flowing in, and I would be relying on that to pay my room and board for at least the next two years (since I know if I do get an HSI scholarship, it only foots the bill for tuition.) I'm sure I can manage by getting a part time job and paying some rent, but the hour cap is what I'm worried about. After this semester at my university, I'll have about 115 hours attempted, with 2 classes dropped, I'll have 108 credit hours with a cumulative GPA of 3.75. I know that the tuition rate by the hour increases after a certain number, so I was wondering if the HSI scholarship covered even that increase in dollar per credit hour? If it does, I was thinking that I could probably double major to get a second bachelor's degree since I would only need about 60 more credit hours for a Computer Science degree.
My last question would be, would it be worth transferring to get more of a secure commission or would it be better for me to just finish off my Computer science degree in these next two academic years and apply for OTS? I'm just looking to minimize the time it takes from now to join the Air Force as an officer, and I realize that staying where I am now would take a shorter amount of time, but I'd have to play the odds with OTS (which from what I hear is extremely competitive nowadays with all the force-reduction efforts going around), or I can take a year and a half more and try and secure a commission that way?
Thanks for any and all help that you guys can suggest.
I'm currently classified as a Senior (by hours, not by degree progress) at a University in South Texas, UT-Pan American, and I recently got around to considering transferring to the University of Texas - San Antonio in order to have a better chance of receiving a commission as opposed to taking my chances in OTS after graduation.
The thing is that I missed the deadline for this upcoming Fall Semester, and won't be able to start ROTC with the 100 level course until the upcoming spring semester. This also means that I won't be able to take the 200 level course until next fall and won't be able to attend field training until the summer of 2014. This in turn means that I won't be able to complete the ROTC program until Spring of 2016. This of course is assuming that I make the right impressions, get involved, keep my gpa high enough to be competitive and get selected for a HSI scholarship and field training.
At the end of all this, I would have been in school for 7 years, and if I do go ahead and transfer it'd be like starting brand new taking at least 3 and a half years to (hopefully) receive a commission and graduate.
The other thing that I was worried about was financial aid. I'm currently receiving federal financial aid and paying for school with a few loans and pell grants. I know that after 6 years, the financial aid stops flowing in, and I would be relying on that to pay my room and board for at least the next two years (since I know if I do get an HSI scholarship, it only foots the bill for tuition.) I'm sure I can manage by getting a part time job and paying some rent, but the hour cap is what I'm worried about. After this semester at my university, I'll have about 115 hours attempted, with 2 classes dropped, I'll have 108 credit hours with a cumulative GPA of 3.75. I know that the tuition rate by the hour increases after a certain number, so I was wondering if the HSI scholarship covered even that increase in dollar per credit hour? If it does, I was thinking that I could probably double major to get a second bachelor's degree since I would only need about 60 more credit hours for a Computer Science degree.
My last question would be, would it be worth transferring to get more of a secure commission or would it be better for me to just finish off my Computer science degree in these next two academic years and apply for OTS? I'm just looking to minimize the time it takes from now to join the Air Force as an officer, and I realize that staying where I am now would take a shorter amount of time, but I'd have to play the odds with OTS (which from what I hear is extremely competitive nowadays with all the force-reduction efforts going around), or I can take a year and a half more and try and secure a commission that way?
Thanks for any and all help that you guys can suggest.