<p>After graduation, are midshipmen allowed to go to graduate school (at a civilian school) or must they wait until after the 5 years of service? </p>
<p>Also, is the service 2 years of active duty and then 3 years on reserve? </p>
<p>Thank you all for answering all of my questions!!!!!</p>
<p>Midshipmen are allowed to go to graduate school straight out of Annapolis if they are qualified or receive a scholarship for masters degree or med school. But remember, the more schooling you receive on the government's dime, the more years will be tacked on to your overall commitment.</p>
<p>The service is 5 years of active duty. A Service Academy education costs taxpayers something like a quarter million dollars. Two years of active duty would not be worth that cost. I think at least some of the service academies require several years in the Reserves after the 5 years of active duty, too.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure they all require 5 years active, 3 years reserve - a total of 8 years.
And like AZcadet said, going to grad school would add a few (or a lot) more years to that number.</p>
<p>Don't get too wrapped up in attending grad school immediately after graduation. The reason there are so few opportunities is that the Navy would rather have you out in the fleet. It will also be more career enhancing for you over the long run. You will be subject to fitness reports immediately upon reporting to your first duty station. The Captain could care less that you can split an Arabic infinitive. He wants to see how you can handle his ship. If you take a year off for school, your contemporaries will have an additional year's experience and will rise to the top. Even a VGEP 6 mo delay for a flight school entrance, with weather delay backupss, can put that officer a year behind his squadron mates, something to possibly haunt him throughout his entire career. Get to the fleet, prove yourself, and worry about a grad degree later.</p>
<p>While you may feel as though moving from an undergrad program right into a graduate degree may make sense, in my opinion you will get much more out of your graduate work (in most cases/and with most subjects) with some years of experience in the real world under your belt. I really beleive it helps to have a frame of refernce from which to consider your gradaute education and nothing can give you a better perspective than being out in the fleet in whatever job you may have selected. </p>
<p>I'm sure there are others that can advise you with more recent and relevant experience than mine, and can speak to the additional commitment a graduate program will add to your existing commitment coming out of the Acadmey, from what I can recall it was a minimum of 2 years for each year of graduate work. Still a great deal when you consider you were being paid to go back to school along with having the cost of your education picked up. </p>
<p>good luck!</p>
<p>perhaps the best time to worry about graduate school is after you gain an appointment, after you complete plebe summer, after you complete plebe year, and after you complete the final 3 years by the bay. Life has a way of thowing in some crazy twists and turns along the way-</p>
<p>Pima speaking...to be promoted to 0-5 you need a masters (it is masked prior to that) I do not know of anyone who is an 0-5 without a masters. DH (Bullet) got his as an 0-3, with tuition assistance from the military (they pd 75%) as he was on active duty he went to night school on base. Everytime he registered he was required to extend his committment for 3 more yrs.</p>
<p>Navy2010 is correct, 1st graduate than think about grad school. They do offer it, but you need to be at the top of the class, you will incur another committment which may run concurrent (not sure) if it is like Pilot training your committment begins the day after you pin on your wings. (8 yrs active duty for pilot, which means you will be close to 32 when you are done = grad. at 22, 1 yr for pilot traing + 8 for commit., plus any PCS committments, roughly at 32)</p>
<p>In the end enjoy this ride for the moment and don't start planning out your life. One thing I will say is that my DH's career took many twists and turns (jumping out of perfectly good airplanss when he was commissioned was not in his plan, but by doing so he got the chance to go to a sister school for PME)</p>
<p>I am not sure that you need a Master's Degree to get promoted to O-5. However, there are various ways to get a Master's Degree as part of your active duty assignment. You can attend the Naval Postgraduate School as well as attending various "War Colleges." There are also the Olmstead Scholar programs, as well as others. But, it is best to finish your first tour as an O-1/O-2 before you consider gradaute studies. I received my Master's as an O-4 from the Naval Postgraduate School. It was a two year and a half year assignment in Monterey, CA. Not bad duty if you can get it.</p>
<p>Not a whole lot of people get a Master's righ tout of here. Actually the percentage is really low. It's like being a dr. Don't come here if you want that first. You'll probably get it eventually.</p>
<p>Let me re-state my O-5 comment, it is masked for promotion boards, and I do not know of any 0-5 without a masters, do not confuse that with you can't get promoted, I never meant to imply that, what I meant to imply is your chances for promotion to O-5 decreases significantly if you do not have a grad degree, the same is true for PME. Find me an O-7 without PME in residence, than I will say they are the luckiest person in the world and should go to Vegas :)</p>
<p>Sorry, B&P, what do you mean, "it is masked before that?" Do you mean a Masters has no impact on earlier promotions?</p>
<p>Also, what is PME?</p>
<p>Masked means the board, just like academy boards cannot see whether or not they have a Masters</p>
<p>PME is Professional Military Education...this happens at the O-3/4/5/6 markers. Some officers go in residence and some do it by correspondence. Obviously in residence is more prestigious than by correspondence and is beneficial to your career. The schools are located around the world. Anywhere from Kansas to Alabama to Penn to Italy to Australia, on a personal note that was the best year of our military career</p>
<p>Unfortunately my inofrmation might be dated, but the last Navy selection board I sat on in 1997 did not mask any educational accomplishments</p>
<p>btw... whats this talk about 5 and 3? I think this changed when we started getting active comissions, but there is no 3 year reserve stint that myself or my friends are aware of... that being said, I'm not going anywhere in the near future. Right now I'm still waiting on an 8 year commitment to start</p>
<p>My grandfather made 0-5 with a highschool diploma.... Really puts into context how much things have changed in a few decades</p>