OTS College Major

[lancer23]

I am currently in the NJ Air National Guard and an incoming college freshman. I am looking for an OTS fighter spot when I graduate and am not sure what major I should be in.

I am told that a STEM major does not matter unless I am going for a test pilot slot but that was on the USAFA forum.

Any guidance would be helpful!

 

[USNA_STEM_Prof]

"The highest grades in the most challenging curriculum." Of course people will argue about what "challenging" means but generally they're referring to STEM.

Further, remember that a given university may have a particularly elite curriculum in a specific field. Oceanography at Oregon State is a good example: they're a respectable state college but as I understand things, their Oceanography program is world class.

Lastly, at least with Navy, while degree and GPA matter, excellent scores on the ASTB/PFAR/FOFAR carry tremendous weight. I'm guessing that's applicable to USAF as well, so even if you major in a random liberal arts program and receive a low 3.0s GPA, crushing the aptitude exams can go a long way.

 

[MidCakePa]

Major in something that you’ll enjoy studying and genuinely want to learn about. College is challenging enough. Don’t make it harder by majoring in something that “looks good” on a resume but you don’t enjoy. Also don’t major in something just because you think it’ll be “easy,” because you might be so demotivated that you get poor grades.

 

[conrack]

In the recent past pilot slots were so competitive you basically had to have a STEM degree, now there is a serious shortage and the services are not able to be so picky. But be smart and find a major that is marketable in the outside world.

 

[mascara_mom]

I so agree with the above!
A young lady who my son commissioned with, was a communications major and now is a C-17 pilot as well.
Find what you love and look into jobs in that field in the civilian world.