<p>I’m 22 and will graduate from college at 23. I’ve been looking into the air force but I have yet to really talk to a recruiter and am only really just starting to seriously consider the idea. I’d like help to pay from graduate school and would like to get an MBA at some point. What are the prospects for someone with a BA? Are there any specialized fields? Do all jobs working inside a plane require some sort of background in the hard sciences? Would I be able to get a bs from an air force academy during training? Could I defer 2 years initially in the beginning and get an MBA off the bat with 75% or so of the tuition covered? Sorry if it seems like I’m asking silly general questions but like I said, I’ve only begun to really consider.</p>
<p>Maximum age for the academy is 23, and it only offers BS degrees.
What you should look at is AFROTC or OTS
[U.S</a>. Air Force ROTC - College Scholarships and Careers](<a href=“http://www.afrotc.com/#]U.S”>U.S. Air Force ROTC)
[Welcome</a> to Officer Training School Homepage](<a href=“http://www.au.af.mil/au/holmcenter/OTS/index.asp]Welcome”>http://www.au.af.mil/au/holmcenter/OTS/index.asp)
Those are officer commissioning sources
Enlisting is an entirely different process.</p>
<p>You need to define “working inside a plane” a little better. There are huge career differences between pilots, navigators, loadmasters, flight engineers, aerial gunners, refueling boom operators, air battle managers, etc.</p>
<p>You will be too old for the AFA, I would suggest OTS. Here’s your problem, it seems you are doing this for the cost of an MBA, this is really not wise, because you will owe a time committment to the military. How are you going to feel when they send you on a 1 yr remote to Korea or Kuwait? Those are real possibilities. You can get your MBA at night on base from a choice of many universities, such as Embry Riddle and UMD. They would pick up 75% of the cost, and each time you sign up they give you a 3 yr committment, it runs concurrent, thus the 3 yrs starts with the last semester. If at that time they pcs you and you accept that pcs you have a new commitment of 3 yrs tacked on. If you accept a promotion than you have another committment tacked on.</p>
<p>Here’s a scenario
You enter and they say you owe 5 yrs back to them. Get to your first station and immediately start your Masters, you finish yr 3, but now you are stuck until yr 6. You move yr 3, accept Captain at yr 4, but now are stuck until yr 7. You move again yr 5-6, and now are stuck until yr 8 before your committment is up. </p>
<p>See how you may think this is a great idea from a financial standpoint, do a couple of yrs, get your Masters and then get out, but how quickly a couple of yrs tun into a decade.</p>
<p>Typically they do offer the MBA situation, but that is for students who have gone through the AFA, or are in ROTC at an Ivy, it is not for OTS. ROTC would not be a fit, because it really is a 3-4 yr program. Even for people who want to go to law school on the AF dime, it is HIGHLY competitive within only 40 officers accepted worldwide into the program.</p>
<p>I am a big proponent that you never join the AF for a free education or just to be a pilot. The costs are too high. You can’t live a life for yrs, hating your job and where you are living because of a free education. If you want to serve, than join the military, if it is motivated for a cost benefit reason, than don’t, because you will not be happy sitting in a tent in Kuwait for a yr. You must be realistic, and realized that that scenario could be in your cards dealt and ask yourself how do you really feel about playing in a sandbox? How will you feel if they send you to Minot ND or Cannon NM. It is great when you say, plus I could get station in Hawaii, Germany or DC, not so great when they say here are your choices, Mt Home ID, Columbus, MS or Korea. For many yrs, I would joke, and say, join the AF and see the places you would never want to visit…Mt. Home, Pope and Almogordo were all within the first 5 yrs of our marriage…look them up!</p>
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<p>What, no time on Shemya? ;)</p>
<p>No, but I think Bullet was diverted there once when he was crossing the pond from Korea to Alaska.</p>
<p>could i hold off on grad school and do a 3 year commitment and then have my tuition covered if i decided to want to go to grad school after?</p>
<p>yes you can.</p>
<p>Ahhh Shemya…land of the Cobra Ball…</p>
<p>SUCH FUN!</p>
<p>So much fun with the little arctic foxes…the constant wind, cold, rain, snow, lousy food, rooms with lousy heating…</p>
<p>And oh yeah…SHEMYA!!!</p>
<p>Sadly…it’s closed now. At least for aviators.</p>