Public University Transfer into a Service Academy

[colebgeorge]

Good evening,

I'm brand new around here and I'm looking for some advice. I'm just finishing up my first full year of university at Texas A&M and I'm finding myself to be struggling in the big university atmosphere. I'm stuck in a major that I'm beginning to find that isn't the best fit for me and my grades are suffering. I've finally decided to follow in my father's footsteps and pursue a career as a pilot (he was nonmilitary but I intend to be). I have always had a strong interest in flight due to my dad being such a prominent figure in my life and wanting to be like him, so I want to pursue a new major in aerospace/aeronautical engineering (or mechanical), but after some crunching of numbers I'm finding that my GPA will not be sufficient to get into A&M's aero program with my remaining credit hours, even if I get a 4.0 for every credit (39 credits completed, 81 remaining out of 120). So my dilemma is deciding whether to stick it out my current school and try to change my major to something more generic (such as mathematics or physics) and then try to fly in the military, OR to try and transfer into a service academy and have to essentially restart my entire college career with an engineering degree (if I can even get into the program). From what I understand, a nomination into a service academy is very tough to acquire and requires quite the resume. I'm very ignorant to this information so any help would be appreciated.
My current major is Geology and my gpa is a 2.46. Math gpa is 1.8
Thanks!

 

[MidCakePa]

An SA will be mighty tough to get into with that GPA. They are STEM-centric schools that will not look kindly on a 1.8 GPA in math. If you do receive an appointment, know that a pilot career isn’t guaranteed. The needs of the service take precedence.

Have you considered ROTC, either at A&M or another college that might better fit you? Or OCS after college? Either might be more realistic than an SA, and might be a surer path to being a pilot.

 

[davejean90]

Honestly I would talk to an Army recruiter and see if you are a good candidate for a Warrant Officer. Warrant Officers are the primary pilots in the Army and do not have the same BS/BA degree requirements as commissioned officers. With those current grades, you are going to have a difficult time being accepted in any commissioning source program let along being selected into an even more competitive military aviation program.

 

[jl123]

You should contact the admissions officer for your geographic area for feedback on your chances. To those of us outside admissions your math GPA would appear disqualifying, but an admissions officer might have a different perspective based on more complete information.

However, only one thing is certain - if you don't apply, you won't get in.

 

[colebgeorge]

Thanks everyone for the responses, I appreciate the feedback. In terms of a more wholistic approach into getting a nomination, my high school grades were pretty good (4.9 gpa out of 5.0, graduated 43 out of 460, three year team captain for the football team and got a handful of scholarships). I know my college grades and accomplishments will have more of an influence because they're more recent, but those might influence my chances. I know the Math GPA is very undesirable, but I still have 3 or 4 more math classes ahead of me assuming I reach differential equations. I'm also retaking the engineering calculus 2 (the class that brought my gpa so low in the first place) to bring up that piss poor number. I have looked into the on campus ROTC program which might be close to a service academy due to the fact that A&M is a senior military college, but from the cadets I've spoken to, they do not enjoy the sort of gimmicky traditions they have to follow. That option is always on the table and would probably be the easiest to pursue. Once again thanks for the responses, I appreciate all the help I can get.