Nick's Intro/Career Question

Axxif

5-Year Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2013
Messages
57
Hello, my name is Nicholas (U can call me Nick, Nicholas, or [preferably] Axxif). I am currently an upcoming Junior of High School, and I am trying to plan out my future career. I know for a fact that I want to to join the Armed Services (either the Army or Air Force), and commission as an Officer through a Service Academy/ROTC. My current information is as follows:


- 4.0 GPA/4.069 QPA at the end of my Sophmore year
- Have yet to take ACT or SAT, and do not know what my ASVAB score is (My school gave all it's students parts 1-13 for a career test, but as usual they have yet to show us, and probably won't)
- Tied for second or third place of my class Sophmore year, and was tied for first place of my class Freshman year
- Have completed Honors Chem and English, am taking AP English, AP US History, AP Chemistry, Honors Physics, and Trig/Precalc next year, and am planning on taking AP Literature, AP Physics, French 4 (Weighted), and AP Calculus my Senior Year, as well as other non-weighted classes. Am hoping to also enter into NHS this school year, as well as maybe take up student government
- Have been actively enrolled in JROTC the past two years, had served as our unit's Training/Operations NCO (CSSG) during my Sophmore year, and earning Superior Cadet of my grade for both years. I will be serving as my unit's Marksmanship Captain this year, and am hoping to make Unit Commander my Senior year (we all can dream, can't we?)
- Active member of my school's Tennis and Quiz Bowl teams, and was a member of our school's Mock Trial team the last two years, as well as other various events, competitions, etc... hosted by our county's Gift Coalition
- Outside of school, I'm a Junior Volunteer Firefighter, and am involved with a local church organization


With that being said, I have a handful of different ideas that I am interested in doing. For starters, before attending college, I am considering enlisting under 12M/Air Force 3E7X1 (firefighting) to both get a couple years of prior service under my belt, and for the training and little bit of experience that it offers. Next, I would like to either go to a Service Academy or to a college with ROTC and study Civil Engineering and/or Architecture (preferably for the Army), eventually commissioning. I am in the greater Pittsburgh Area, and the closest AROTC is located on Pitt University (about a half hour or so drive away, on a good day), with cross-town agreements with a couple other schools, most notabliy to me Carnegie Mellon. Now, I am wondering if any of you guys could give me advice on my situation. Should I try to enlist and then after a couple of years go to college, or should I go straight from the getgo? If I enlist, should I do Active, Resrve, or Nat Guard? Should I try to get into a Service Academy, or do you think that it might be better to try ROTC at somewhere (not necessarily Pitt, but definitely a possibility) that has a good Civil Engineering/Architecture program? If I should try an ROTC, where should I consider? Many thanks for any advice yinz offer! Also, if you have any questions about any of the above, please don't hesitate to ask!
 
Hello, my name is Nicholas (U can call me Nick, Nicholas, or [preferably] Axxif). I am currently an upcoming Junior of High School, and I am trying to plan out my future career. I know for a fact that I want to to join the Armed Services (either the Army or Air Force), and commission as an Officer through a Service Academy/ROTC. My current information is as follows:


- 4.0 GPA/4.069 QPA at the end of my Sophmore year
- Have yet to take ACT or SAT, and do not know what my ASVAB score is (My school gave all it's students parts 1-13 for a career test, but as usual they have yet to show us, and probably won't)
- Tied for second or third place of my class Sophmore year, and was tied for first place of my class Freshman year
- Have completed Honors Chem and English, am taking AP English, AP US History, AP Chemistry, Honors Physics, and Trig/Precalc next year, and am planning on taking AP Literature, AP Physics, French 4 (Weighted), and AP Calculus my Senior Year, as well as other non-weighted classes. Am hoping to also enter into NHS this school year, as well as maybe take up student government
- Have been actively enrolled in JROTC the past two years, had served as our unit's Training/Operations NCO (CSSG) during my Sophmore year, and earning Superior Cadet of my grade for both years. I will be serving as my unit's Marksmanship Captain this year, and am hoping to make Unit Commander my Senior year (we all can dream, can't we?)
- Active member of my school's Tennis and Quiz Bowl teams, and was a member of our school's Mock Trial team the last two years, as well as other various events, competitions, etc... hosted by our county's Gift Coalition
- Outside of school, I'm a Junior Volunteer Firefighter, and am involved with a local church organization


With that being said, I have a handful of different ideas that I am interested in doing. For starters, before attending college, I am considering enlisting under 12M/Air Force 3E7X1 (firefighting) to both get a couple years of prior service under my belt, and for the training and little bit of experience that it offers. Next, I would like to either go to a Service Academy or to a college with ROTC and study Civil Engineering and/or Architecture (preferably for the Army), eventually commissioning. I am in the greater Pittsburgh Area, and the closest AROTC is located on Pitt University (about a half hour or so drive away, on a good day), with cross-town agreements with a couple other schools, most notabliy to me Carnegie Mellon. Now, I am wondering if any of you guys could give me advice on my situation. Should I try to enlist and then after a couple of years go to college, or should I go straight from the getgo? If I enlist, should I do Active, Resrve, or Nat Guard? Should I try to get into a Service Academy, or do you think that it might be better to try ROTC at somewhere (not necessarily Pitt, but definitely a possibility) that has a good Civil Engineering/Architecture program? If I should try an ROTC, where should I consider? Many thanks for any advice yinz offer! Also, if you have any questions about any of the above, please don't hesitate to ask!

Do not enlist. Go straight to college. You probably have a better opportunity of a scholarship that way. Pick a school you like and that has a major you are interested in. Commuting and cross town schools can be difficult when you need to be at PT at 0'Dark:thirty. Also pick a school you can afford should something go wrong and you lose a scholarship. If a scholarship doesn't come through (you seem like you're on the right track for one), and finances is an issue, then you can consider enlisting and tackling college later.
 
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