Grad School

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xmike_yyy

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After graduating the academies, I believe it is expected to serve active duty for a period of time(5-7 years). Am I able to do graduate school and active duty at the same time?

Thank you!
 
Yes.

Speaking from the AD Air Force pilot side, folks would typically get their pilot training/initial qual training/mission training out of the way first. Once things have somewhat calmed down, then people would typically start to look for grad school options, be it all-online (most popular option), or weekend/evening/online+in-person hybrid program with a local university.
 
Son #1 did his masters during his first and second duty station after pilot training. It was a blended program through Florida International University. They met one evening a week but had a full-time course load that was done online. When he moved to Korea they waived the in-person class time for the last two months of his program and he finished it there. A masters is a requirement to continue moving up ranks after O-4.

Stealth_81
 
Stealth_81 said:
Son #1 did his masters during his first and second duty station after pilot training. It was a blended program through Florida International University. They met one evening a week but had a full-time course load that was done online. When he moved to Korea they waived the in-person class time for the last two months of his program and he finished it there. A masters is a requirement to continue moving up ranks after O-4.

Stealth_81
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Do officers take time off and go to school for a master's degree/etc. on campus or is it the norm to do graduate school online and while in service full-time?
 
Aviator25 said:
Do officers take time off and go to school for a master's degree/etc. on campus or is it the norm to do graduate school online and while in service full-time?
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All the services have their own grad schools that some of their officers will be assigned to as a student. Generally,
I think all services do this after initial tours in the fleet/field and for the Navy its often around 5 to 8 yrs of service. That is not
every officer by any stretch of the imagination but its not uncommon. There are other opportunities for full time student as well
as the part time/night school that has already been described.
 
Aviator25 said:
Do officers take time off and go to school for a master's degree/etc. on campus or is it the norm to do graduate school online and while in service full-time?
Click to expand...
It depends. There are 3 ways you can do graduate school -
1) Full time as your active duty job. You incur an additional service commitment, but this time is served concurrently and generally equates to 1.5 yrs per year of school, so a 2 year degree = 3 year extension. This path is typically funded by the branch of military.
2) Full time, but as a time-out of the military. You are effectively a civilian and are not getting paid and you typically self-fund the degree. Your original service commitment is intact and essentially paused while you go to school. After the degree, you pick up where you left off and continue serving your active duty service commitment.
3) Part time, on your own, self funded. There is no additional active duty service commitment.
 
@shiner pretty much summed it up, but I'll add that graduate school opportunities also depend strongly on the career field within the service. For example, the technical acquisitions career fields in the Air Force (61D/C and 62EX) have a lot of slots for full time school, whether it be at AFIT (the Air Force's graduate school) or through a civilian institution (CI) program.
 
Aviator25 said:
Do officers take time off and go to school for a master's degree/etc. on campus or is it the norm to do graduate school online and while in service full-time?
Click to expand...

Good answers above already. In my son’s case, it was all done outside of his full-time AD job of flying. He did a lot of school work on evenings and weekends. He did get some tuition assistance from the AF but the payback was concurrent with his pilot commitment so it really didn’t matter. He was also single during that time so it was a lot easier to get it done.

Stealth_81
 
Only a few things to add.
1. There are some slots for graduate school after graduation, but they are VERY competitive.
2. In the Army after a successful company command there are some opportunities for grad school. For example, if you are selected to teach at USMA you will get your masters in whatever area you will teach. For engineering, for example, you would be sent to Georgia Tech for a masters and, if selected to teach at a higher level, a doctorate. The Army also has you select a “functional area” at this point and some areas will require you to attend graduate school. Comptrollers, for example, get a masters in finance at Syracuse or, if they are going medical comptroller, Georgetown (I think). FAOs (Foreign Affair Officers) go to language school and often get a masters in something. My brother, a logistics officer in the Navy, was sent to Ohio State to get his MBA.
3. Masters requirement is not a requirement in the Army for advancement after O-4, but almost all will have the equivalent by attending service schools.
Really, you will be amazed at the different paths available in the military. DW is on her third “military career”, three different branches in the Army.
 
For USAFA, roughly 10% of the graduating classes have the opportunity to go to grad/med/dental school after graduation. I was fortunate to be one of them in my class back in the day. Plenty of others (as noted above) do grad school while on active duty, mostly online, but some do weekend courses. Depends on your career track and training usually.
 
I started a grad program while on Navy shore duty - at night and continued it after shifting to the reserves. My son is a submariner and did full time grad school in Europe after language school while on Active Duty.
 
My USNA engineering husband transferred from SWO to CEC when he was at the 5 year point. The CEC sent him to a civilian grad school to get his masters at the 10 year point. It was only a one year program, so the payback was 2 years.
 
Not mentioned here..but for those that are planning on staying in (the Navy at least); some form of grad school is encouraged , if not mandatory for advancement. I don't know the current environment, but it was made pretty clear to us that if you go through your first shore duty assignment without pursuing advanced education, you will be behind the pack. That's one of the reason that USNA tours are attractive--many opportunities to pursue post grad work.

All that being said, (again , at least for Navy), your first tour is not the time to be thinking about post-grad education. The #1 priority is to not only qualify, but to learn and excel in your chosen (or assigned) warfare specialty and taking care of your people. There will be plenty going on during your first seas duty that you really don't have time to do anything else.
 
Just to add to the above, it seemed just about every Lt. stationed at DS' NROTC unit was working on a Master's at the university.
 
hornetguy said:
For USAFA, roughly 10% of the graduating classes have the opportunity to go to grad/med/dental school after graduation. I was fortunate to be one of them in my class back in the day. Plenty of others (as noted above) do grad school while on active duty, mostly online, but some do weekend courses. Depends on your career track and training usually.
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It should also be noted that USAFA has a program for graduates to do a one year 'bridge' program at Vanderbilt University and get their Bachelors Degree in Nursing
 
I met a young USNA grad, now Lt SWO, last week. He is now 2.5 years out of the academy. He'd picked up his Masters from GTown under the USNA's VGEP program; (early completion of BS USNA, accelerated masters program). Then, while out on his first deployment he had completed a Masters in "Data Analysis (?)" from Stanford via internet.

He is 25-26 with: BS USNA, Masters GTown, Masters Stanford. -------not bad
 
septaneno said:
I see a lot of prospective grads posting here that they received < 3.0 GPA and wanting to know if they have a shot of getting into grad school. A lot of the responses people post are the same, but I thought I'd post my thoughts on this as a summary. Source: I'm a STEM professor at an R1. First, I want to give a bit of a background into my process. I get > 30 applications to work with me every year, so I don't have time to look really carefully at each one. The first thing I do is run through the applications and immediately ignore any with < 3.2 GPA in their last school. You can see the immediate problem here -- I'm unlikely to even spend much (if any) time reading your application and looking at the subtleties -- I flag your application "no" and move on. There are a few exceptions to this:
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Are you a STEM Professor or a College Freshman?

Does ROTC require enlisting also?

I am about to finish my first year at college and have a 3 year ROTC scholarship and I don't contract until next fall, so I have time to decide. I have a good GPA right now (I'm taking freshmen classes so they are very easy), I easily max the APFT, and my most recent ruck was 8 miles w/ 60 lbs...
www.serviceacademyforums.com
 
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