Foreign Area Studies

U

usafahopeful1

Prospective Cadet 2017
5-Year Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2011
Messages
224
What kind of jobs (in Air Force and/or Army) do FAS majors usually end up with?
I have been looking through majors and am thinking (have not decided) that foreign area studies would be a good fit.
Also, I want to go to a service academy, but knowing that I may not get in, does anyone know of other schools that offer majors similar to foreign area studies? I haven't seen any at other schools I am looking into.
Thanks!
 
Your USAFA major will not impact your AFSC, unless you want an AFSC that requires specific degrees (Developmental Engineer, Chemist, etc), or want to go to Test Pilot School in the future.
 
Im a foreign area studies major (Russian) and i got selected for 14N intel. But Im AFROTC, not USAFA. Im not sure if the job selection process is different for each.
 
My DS will commission this May in Military Intelligence, Army. He is an East Asian (Chinese) major and Russian minor. Also, studying Finnish.

Check out Indiana University. They have excellent foreign languages and they also cooridinate with Army's summer language studies, I don't know what it's now called. But it is Intensive study over the summer (10 credits) and then extra money for you to study the same language in the fall. Go HOOSIERS!! :smile:

Ol' Miss also has a great Chinese department.
 
My d. graduated with that major. AFA She was very interested in the semester immersion program, I think she said they were looking for particular major or minors in order to qualify for that. (so maybe that's why she chose FAS) She had a great time, and then "won" another scholarship to go to the same school for a month after graduation. (btw, that didn't count for her 60 days off so she got to enjoy an extra 30 days before reporting to her first job) She was chosen to be in the AF specialist area (sorry, don't know a lot of details,) but she participates in online language classes from the MML institute in california that are on skype. (that's to keep up her language skills)
The immersion environment is great to learn, but the unlearning happens quickly, so you really need to work at it.
I think she said you have to be an AF officer for 7 years and then you can apply to have your own post in one of her language countries. (it was in an article in the AF newspaper, maybe you can find it)

Do you have any special language that you're interested in? It never hurts to take a few lessons along the way. We have found great tutors through craigslist (depending on where you live, of course). Once a week with a private tutor plus some homework is easily better than just taking classes in school. It's pretty easy to find either textbooks to follow, or other reading material that you can use with a tutor. As part of the language you'll also be learning about the country, culture, geography, food, etc, so I would choose something that you really would thoroughly enjoy!!!!
 
lotsofbooks said:
My d. graduated with that major. AFA She was very interested in the semester immersion program, I think she said they were looking for particular major or minors in order to qualify for that. (so maybe that's why she chose FAS) She had a great time, and then "won" another scholarship to go to the same school for a month after graduation. (btw, that didn't count for her 60 days off so she got to enjoy an extra 30 days before reporting to her first job) She was chosen to be in the AF specialist area (sorry, don't know a lot of details,) but she participates in online language classes from the MML institute in california that are on skype. (that's to keep up her language skills)
The immersion environment is great to learn, but the unlearning happens quickly, so you really need to work at it.
I think she said you have to be an AF officer for 7 years and then you can apply to have your own post in one of her language countries. (it was in an article in the AF newspaper, maybe you can find it)

Do you have any special language that you're interested in? It never hurts to take a few lessons along the way. We have found great tutors through craigslist (depending on where you live, of course). Once a week with a private tutor plus some homework is easily better than just taking classes in school. It's pretty easy to find either textbooks to follow, or other reading material that you can use with a tutor. As part of the language you'll also be learning about the country, culture, geography, food, etc, so I would choose something that you really would thoroughly enjoy!!!!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info!
I really am interested in all languages, but I have never gotten a chance to a language like Polish, or Russian. I am nearly fluent in German and Swiss German (lots of time in Switzerland), am in French 5 Honors and will be taking the French AP test this spring. I also have minimal Italian and Spanish skills. I really enjoy the cultural aspect as well, and how the differences in languages reflect the differences in cultures,which is part of why I thought a FAS major would be great for me. If I get to go to USAFA (I am a junior in hs), I would love to be able to do any studying abroad possible.
 
This is just an idea for you--Don't know where you're located, but we've found really good native language tutors via craigslist --It's so worth it to try some if you can. I have a theory that if you really like your tutor, that will become your favorite subject. That was my experience-- (and we're talking subjects like Latin, Chemistry, Math) Our lives have been so enriched by knowing these people from other cultures. Our latest one is working as an Au Pair, and I started thinking that if you had connections with an au pair agency you could have a lot of different languages to pick from. Our tutor has the whole weekend off and she is working on her masters as an English translator. She is 24, an excellent teacher, she only wanted to charge $10 per hour, but I'm paying her more. She shows up early Sunday morning, and gets there before we do! I think the language level is higher than what you'd get at our local university. It can be hard to find classes for some of these languages. My d also did an adult ed course in the evenings, but the pace is really slow even though the class was only 7 people. At your age you will learn more quickly and have better pronunciation than the others. Really any language you can find will enrich your life!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top