<p>I was wondering if after you serve in the army for a while and decide that you would like to get out and start a family, how is a West Point grad seen on the job market. Do they have the ablity to compete with a grad who went to an elite civilian college for a high paying job, or do they have to go back and get their masters degree in order to be competitive.</p>
<p>Any information would help,</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>Paul</p>
<p>I know of companies who require MBA's from top tier business schools for certain jobs. The exception is the Junior Military Officer (JMO) who is leaving the service. The combination of their education and leadership experience opens doors to these companies. In addition there are job fairs in several cities just for JMO's. The list of companies that recruit at these fairs is highly impressive and the background is considered quite valuable.</p>
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I was wondering if after you serve in the army for a while and decide that you would like to get out and start a family,
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<p>Keep in mind you can always stay in the Army and start a family. If you stay until retirement you will only be in your early 40's (I know that sounds really OLD to you youngun's) - plenty of time to start a new career.</p>
<p>There is a placement agency in our area, run by WP grads, who do nothing but place WP grads who are leaving the service for civilian jobs....</p>
<p>According to admissions, for those WP grads who stay in the Army, 90% go on to earn higher degrees.</p>
<p>To quote an admissions officer: if you do go to WP and graduate you will have many opportunities available to you - all of them will involve being an officer in the US Army for 5 years (plus, 3 years reserves). Longer if you opt for the ADSO program to get the branch of your choice or grad school option. WP is telling candidates to expect at least 1 deployment during the reserve time.</p>
<p>So I heard someone say that if you graduate from West Point you can "Write your own ticket" What does this mean?</p>
<p>I have talked to two '07 USMA grads, they showed me their graduation rings, and told me that you recieve a book of other WP grads and they could call one up wherever they lived and ask for a job with a starting salary of 6 figures. (Not a direct quote)</p>
<p>wow, you can't do that at any other school. what if you don't graduate in the top of your class. will people look and see that someone graduated west point with a 2.0 and just not care because it was west point or will they want someone with a 3.5?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Q. What to they call the guy who graduates last in his class from medical school?</p>
<p>A. Doctor</p>
<p>Please, do not go to West Point for the "Alumni Benefits" - wrong reason to go. Go because you first and foremost want to become an officer in the United States Army. You will be about 30 before your minimum committment is completed. A lot of civilians are making 6 figures at the age of 30 (not me though - haha!) - it all depends upon what you want out of life.</p>
<p>you do not recieve any kind of book with lists of other graduates. the association of graduates does have the placement program whose sole job is to find jobs for graduates who decide they want to get out of the Army, and many headhunting agencies set up job fairs for officers getting out of the service, so yes, there are many opportunities to gain great jobs if you want to get out. However, almost every single instructor I had at USMA said that all of their peers that chose to leave after five years ended up regreting it and missed the Army.</p>
<p>I've hit on this a lot in the 'transferring out of USMA' thread, so I'm not going to repost my thoughts, but if you're thinking about going to the Academy just because of what it does for you after your commitment is up, you do not belong there. The one and only reason you should go to USMA is because you want to lead soldiers in the United States Army, plain and simple.</p>
<p>I agree totally, you shouldnt attend West Point if you just want the alumni benefits. To make it clear, my intentions were to remain an officer after graduation for more than just the minimum.</p>
<p>Dont get me wrong, you dont have to want to be in the Army forever to go to USMA, but your driving factor should be a desire to lead troops in contact with the enemy, because you are going to do that. You just shouldnt go to the academy thinking about what life will be like when you get out, because that is not fair to our soldiers.</p>
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<p>Excellent.</p>
<p>THAT should be the first sentence on Application Part I.</p>
<p>ScreamingEagle,</p>
<p>I sure hope you're helping Admissions one of these days.</p>
<p>don't get me wrong, i want to be an officer. i was just wondering if i would be able to put food on the table for my family if i were to decide that i needed to make a change.</p>