Hi. I graduated from hs in may and my overall gpa was pretty low. In the summer of my junior year, i became interested in college and tried to increase my grades to improve my chances at admission. However, I am quite poor and can’t pay for college so I am contemplating joining a branch of the military for a couple years to save up money. I was thinking about trying to become a programmer in the army since i wanted to major in computer science. My question is how do college determine admission when you leave the military? How much will my hs gpa, test scores, and extracurriculars matter if i want to apply to a nice college? Also, will i get credit in college for some of the training i do in the army? Thank you very much for any answers.
I very nearly did this a couple decades ago.
You’ll want to do some investigation at the websites of the Army and Air Force (and possibly Navy) and talk to a recruiter, but bear in mind the recruiters may not always be the most accurate.
My experience was Air Force and is out of date, but here goes.
In my experience the USAF was very supportive of having enlisted people further their education. I just googled the education offices of Kirkland (Albuquerque) and Wright Patt (Dayton OH). KAFB offers lunchtime classes from Lewis University, U of New Haven, Wayland Baptist, and Embry Riddle. WPAFB also hosts an Embry Riddle campus plus Central Michigan, U Dayton, Park University (Gene Cernan “Failure is Not an Option” author is an alum, I think) etc.
Redstone Arsenal (Army) shows they host Athens State, Florida Inst Tech, Columbia College, Embry Riddle etc.
The point being that opportunities exist while on active duty. It will take discipline, especially those times when most of your peers are out partying, but it can be done - I’ve known several to start and/or complete a degree while on active duty.
I would expect that a really top-notch ASVAB (study guides are available) would be the first step to getting a desk job - desk jobs tend to be more stable, more stable assignments are easier to schedule assignments and tests around etc.
The person coming off 3-4 years of active duty is fundamentally different from a fresh high school grad. I can’t imagine extracurriculars would matter as much as a clean DD214 and a couple semesters worth of course work.
If you do earn college credits while in service, then you will be a transfer when you get out. If you are a transfer then high school doesn’t matter, only your college gpa will matter.
Military veterans commonly do the route of starting at a community college and then transferring to a state university. GI Bill benefits and yellow ribbon programs can help significantly in paying for college.
Note that this is also the route taken by non veterans whose high school records were not good enough to go to a university out of high school. (Not including the veterans benefits, of course.)
Some enlisted military service members apply to the service academies and are admitted.
Thanks to everyone who responded. It is appreciated.
I’m in the Marine Corps and just graduated from Park University which has a great relationship with the military. They maximize credits for military experience. I have just been accepted into the Masters program at Western Carolina University for business. All 4 branches give the same educational benefits. So ultimately choose the branch that fits your personality best. I’m in the Marines, but I can say that if your focus is educational benefits, shoot for the air force or navy. The benefits are the same, but Marines tend to be more focused on the mission at hand. I’m an aviation mechanic in the Marine Corps, and have very long work hours. As a Gunnery Sergeant I tend to have much more say in my working hoira, but as the new guy, your focus is getting those bombs to drop and jets in the air. The other services have just so many people, your individual contributions aren’t as vital day to day and you have more time to get school done. Take advantage of tuition assistance while in, because the courses are free, and don’t touch your GI Bill. So once you do get out, you still have it to use to finish your bachelors or work towards your masters for free. If you didn’t do great with grades in high school, think about this, what is going to change in college to get the grades you need? You need more self discipline to be honest. 85% of kids are college bound after High school, but nation wide only 38% have a 4 year degree by age 30. Perception and reality are 2 different things. Another thing to conside if joining. Most employers don’t know how to translate your military experience into real world experience. Everyone thinks being in the Marines, all I do is shoot guns and get shot lol. I work on jets bro! Employers have no concept of leadership experience or skill experience even if you are a programmer. Pick a job that you will enjoy doing, so that you excel while in, that IS something they can translate, is performance. If your interested in service to your fellow brothers in arms and don’t get scared by combat oriented mission focuses, go Marines or Army. If your looking for a desk job or a corporate mentality in the service you perform to your nation, for the purpose of benefits, go air force or navy. Nothing against any service, talk to each services recruiters to see what suits YOU best. You will actually tend to find, while there are exceptions, most won’t BS you very much. They know u can fact check most the stuff you tell them, and the recruiter schools they go to now are more based on consultative selling as opposed to aggressive tactics. I’d know, I was one for 3 years. Army tends to be the most aggresive, being the largest force they need more guys and are more prone to making promises. Many times they can actually deliver on some of them, but there is a lot of BS in there too and talk down other services as a sales tactic. All of them do depending on recruiters im sure to some extent, I’m tryinger not to be bias. Navy can be as well and PUSH the nuclear programs. Marines are very laid back, you either want to be a Marine or get the eff out lol. And the air force won’t lie to you mostly at all, because they are safe and have people waiting on appointments to go that route so have no reason to lie. Take everything they say and fact check and do your research. Good luck!