Naval Postgraduate School

NROTCdad

NROTCdad

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This is probably premature seeing that my DS is a 1st year NROTC Cadet, but I was just reading about NPS. I know he has aspirations of getting an advanced degree(s) in Physics and is really committed to serving. So does anyone know what happens when he gets his BS? Does he have to fulfill his active duty commitment before applying to NPS or will they consider deferring active duty?

Thanks!
 
There are many programs and paths for gaining an advanced degree during a Navy officer’s career. I went to NPS as an O-3, fairly typical. That’s full-time duty.
Some attend civilian grad schools, full-time duty.
Some go to Naval War College, Army War College, National War College, AFIT, etc., full time.

“DUINS” is Duty Under Instruction, the sweetest deal, active duty, and your assignment is going to school full-time.


Some attend Naval War College local classes after regular duty hours in major fleet home ports. Some do the distance course.
Some use Tuition Assistance to do local college or distance after regular duty hours or at sea.
There are other programs.
The majority of officers get their Master’s during that first shore tour as a LT or LCDR. You’re expected to have one by the time you are eligible for promotion to CDR, pay grade O-5.


All the programs involving Navy dime or Navy time will require some years of payback. That can vary with retention needs.

There is also the option of doing it on your own time and dime, and incurring no additional obligated service.

The chosen field has to be on the approved list of Navy-useful subject areas.

Some small percentage of SA and NROTC grads are allowed to go right after commissioning. That will push their entrance into the operational Fleet 1-2 years down the road, and they will have to hit the deck running to catch up with same pay grade officers who are 1-2 years ahead on their professional quals. For those who score Oxford or the like, it’s usually worth it.

Your DS will get plenty of briefs on this, as well as career counseling from senior officers and his detailer (assignment staff). He’ll figure out what path is right.

Tell him to keep his grades up at college. NPS relies on an Academic Profile Code (APC) to set thresholds of eligibility. He will also have to be doing well professionally as documented in his officer fitness reports grades and comments.

Use the Search function - there are many threads on this.
 
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I admit to being fairly clueless about it all, back in the day. My detailer called me and asked me if I wanted to go to NPS, in a program related to my career field, Monterey sounded good, as did full-time school, no problem with my APC, detailer said it was the right thing to do, and I got orders within two weeks, reported 6 months later. Loved it there.
 
Geez, I forgot it’s Monterey. He’ll die for that. btw, what did you get your degree in?
 
Capt MJ covered this well as she always does. Monterey is amazing. Many with young families often aren’t huge fans because of costs, but most figure it out. A few things to keep in mind... every career field has its own path. So where this fits in can vary. It also depends on his end state goals of service and career length how this plays out. The other item is there is generally a pay back tour to going to NPS. So he will occur a few extra years of service to attend and also many times it sends him to a follow on billet where this can be used prior to another fleet tour (in most cases). I am not a huge proponent of newly commissioned officers going to school immediately. For many they are eager to join the fleet or their initial career school. And it also initially puts them behind their peers. For instance 2 years at NPS out the gate means no flight school or other training. It eventually evens out but it’s really hard to predict what future promotion rates will be, especially for certain career fields. It’s why each speciality has a career counselor and detailer that can help guide an officer and make the best decision for each person based upon their specialty and goals.
 
NROTCdad said:
Geez, I forgot it’s Monterey. He’ll die for that. btw, what did you get your degree in?
Click to expand...

MS, Transportation Management. Ops Analyis/Research-based logistics. Names change over the years, not sure what it’s called now.
 
NROTCdad said:
My DS wants Physics, or maybe Materials Science
Click to expand...

That’s a few thousand steps and quite a few years down the road. He’ll focus on his service assignment first and his warfare qualification during operational tours, and then see what appeals.

He may not choose to get his post-grad degree while serving. He may choose to separate after serving enough years to use his GI Bill to go pretty much anywhere he can get in. Yellow Ribbon schools offer in-state tuition and additional scholarships to vets. Many states offer additional benefits to their resident vets. Top schools have embraced older vet students for both undergrad and grad.

There is nothing wrong with serving honorably and getting out. The system is designed like that. We’ve sponsored many USNA mids who have used their Post 9/11 GI Bill and home state benefits to attend grad school or med school or vet school at Stanford, Duke, Penn/Wharton, MIT, Harvard, Northwestern, etc.

Some more fun reading:

https://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill/post911_gibill.asp

You can read about Yellow Ribbon at va.gov as well.
 
I did my masters while in my last two years of active duty. I took a mix of classes on campus and online. My best friend is an F/A-18 driver and they have a very set career path that doesn’t really allow NPS attendance as a full time student. He actually completed his degree from NPS remotely. Same profs and classes he would of had if got to attend full time, but had to fit it in. There are tons of paths to advanced education in the military. So much of it can depend on a specific specialty and desired career path. Some decide command isn’t something they want so will take some more desirable shore billets, training or education instead of maybe a joint or Pentagon tour (just one example of 1000s) that is sort of needed to climb the ladder.
 
One last thought - for his shore tour, he can go to an NROTC unit as an instructor, work on his Master’s there. Many do. I had a helo pilot friend, alum of Penn NROTC, went back as an instructor, got his MBA.
 
I had some friends do the NROTC prof route and get Masters at MIT, GW and Ivies. They loved it. Great option Capt MJ brings up.
 
NPS grad here, with an Applied Physics Master's. At NPS you work on getting a subspecialty (mine was Undersea Warfare) and the degree corresponds to the courses you take. That's what CAPT MJ was referring to with warfare specialty. However, there's such a wide variety of choices out there to fill the needs of the navy. For example, my pilot in my operational squadron went to NPS as well, but he took Aero-engineering. A classmate in ROTC flew S-3's (carrier based sub-hunters), and he was picked up for Space Operations.

Screening for post-grad work happens during the first operational tour, so like everything else in the military, he needs to show sustained excellence in his assignments.
 
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