Will declaring a Mandarin Chinese major help or hurt chances of an AFROTC scholarship

cb7893 said:
He might get sent to an Arabic speaking country to learn. I would think the overseas experience would be valuable to him and to the Marine Corps.

P.S. still crossing fingers for scholarship.
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Me too! It would be but he figures he'll get enough time overseas, and the 6 semesters of Arabic will take care of the rest... and I'm sure it will get him some time in an Arabic speaking country if nothing else will. He actually wanted to learn Farsi but SC doesn't offer it. But the military can teach him that. They taught my niece and then called her back to active duty within 7 days of 9/11, so I know it can be done!
 
cb7893 said:
He might get sent to an Arabic speaking country to learn. I would think the overseas experience would be valuable to him and to the Marine Corps.

P.S. still crossing fingers for scholarship.
Click to expand...

Me too! It would be valuable to both DS and the Marine Corps, but he figures he'll get enough time overseas, and the 6 semesters of Arabic will take care of the rest... and I'm sure it will get him some time in an Arabic speaking country if nothing else will. He actually wanted to learn Farsi but SC doesn't offer it. But the military can teach him that. They taught my niece and then called her back to active duty within 7 days of 9/11, so I know it can be done!

When he comes home for Christmas I think Ill ask him how to say 'alcohol' in Arabic. :biggrin:
 
kinnem said:
When he comes home for Christmas I think Ill ask him how to say 'alcohol' in Arabic. :biggrin:
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It is very tempting to riff on the vocabulary of "haram" items, but after dressing down Matas I'll cool it for the evening.
 
kinnem,

The only thing that would concern me is if Chinese is considered a critical manning field for the Navy. The reason why is if they are like the AF, if the cadet/mid wants to fly, this option would be pulled off the table. They would go into a career field that utilizes their academic education as a priority.

If they do, than I think tiffw needs to also place that into the equation. If they don't, than maybe Navy is a better option to get both academic desires along with their career field.

For some, like our DS, he did not even try for NROTC, because even though he was a lifeguard, (no water aversion) he didn't want to live the Navy lifestyle. He takes after his Dad, as a pilot he wants 2 things:
1. Returning after a 3 hrs mission to a runway where he left it at when they took off. :shake:
2. No desire to land on the size of a postage stamp on a football field. :wink::wink:
 
Pima said:
kinnem,

The only thing that would concern me is if Chinese is considered a critical manning field for the Navy. The reason why is if they are like the AF, if the cadet/mid wants to fly, this option would be pulled off the table. They would go into a career field that utilizes their academic education as a priority.

If they do, than I think tiffw needs to also place that into the equation. If they don't, than maybe Navy is a better option to get both academic desires along with their career field.

For some, like our DS, he did not even try for NROTC, because even though he was a lifeguard, (no water aversion) he didn't want to live the Navy lifestyle. He takes after his Dad, as a pilot he wants 2 things:
1. Returning after a 3 hrs mission to a runway where he left it at when they took off. :shake:
2. No desire to land on the size of a postage stamp on a football field. :wink::wink:
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Oh I agree with all that Pima. Just wanted to point out options since the language thing seemed to be a big interest. To be honest with you I'm surprised Chinese is listed as a language/culture they are interested in. I would have thought there would be enough officers who went to Chinese School on Saturday to meet their needs.
 
kinnem said:
Oh I agree with all that Pima. Just wanted to point out options since the language thing seemed to be a big interest. To be honest with you I'm surprised Chinese is listed as a language/culture they are interested in. I would have thought there would be enough officers who went to Chinese School on Saturday to meet their needs.
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It will be a long time before there are enough:

-The one place on the planet where the US military footprint is increasing is the South China Sea. Chinese is the Lingua Franca of the entire region. Remember getting thrown out of Clark Airbase, Subic Bay, Cam Ranh Bay. Well, the welcome mat is out.
-The Marines are building a base in Australia and it's not to defend against cannibals from New Guinea.
-Chinese industrial and cyber espionage are huge.
-If you smoked weed or were not born in the US, good luck getting a high level security clearance, regardless of your language skills. Fifteen years after Al Qaeda emerged as a threat and we still don't have enough Arabic linguists.
-Don't expect CIA, NSA, FBI, DIA etc. to be any less hungry for Chinese speakers who are clean and native born Americans.

Just sayin'
 
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