<p>Not trying to make a point; don't be offended. I'm just wondering if I'm the only student who has a decent GPA that plans on joining the military after college.</p>
<p>My best friend’s dream ever since the third grade was going to West Point. He has a great GPA and ECs, so nope, you’re not alone :)</p>
<p>I’ve considered both the Navy and the Air Force more than once before. I’ve got a couple of friends who are committed to making officer by the time they graduate university.</p>
<p>Both my parents are/were Naval officers. If I wasn’t going to Stanford I’d probably seriously consider joining. Perhaps as an officer in the SEALs. One of my best friends from HS is going to the Naval Academy to become a fighter pilot. Some other friends went to the Air Force Academy.</p>
<p>My number one dream is the United States Air Force Academy right now. It’s one of the toughest schools to get into. Actually, ANY service academy is pretty damn tough to get into. Some would argue maybe even tougher than HYPS, it depends. But military =/= low high school performance. Well there’s the difference between simply enlisting and then training to be an officer. </p>
<p>For me, I’ve always wanted to serve, I love the idea of camaraderie, I love the idea of it all. But I’ve always been a really hard worker, and that hard work will hopefully earn me a spot in a service academy or give me an ROTC scholarship which will pay A LOT for university.</p>
<p>I heard if you have a college degree and you join the Army, you’re automatically an officer. (…I think. I could have this wrong; I kind of zoned out when someone was telling me this.)</p>
<p>@PlattsburghLoser</p>
<p>You can make officer by going to a service academy and GRADUATING, getting an ROTC scholarship to a school and then graduating, or go through the Officer Training School but you need a degree for that at least.</p>
<p>Something like that, I’m not exactly too sure either, I just know service academy and ROTC.</p>
<p>^ If I remember correctly, you enter as a Specialist (SPC), one rank above Private First Class, as a non-commissioned enlisted soldier. Commissioned officers typically begin at Second Lieutenant.</p>
<p>The thing about service academies, according to one friend, is that they don’t provide the essential college experience. At least for him, ROTC is a much more pleasant alternative.</p>
<p>I’ve actually given a good deal of thought to this. I think the JAG corps could work out really well. They’ll pay for law school and I get to serve but also get a desk job. </p>
<p>I have a somewhat strong sense of duty and would like to honor those who have served before me, but I’m not sure I agree with the role we play in the Middle East now. Being a lawyer for the military would let me serve (hopefully) without conflicting my beliefs.</p>
<p>If you earn your Mitchell Award in the Civil Air Patrol program, you can enlist and automatically jump to E-3 rank.</p>
<p>And yeah, I am having second thoughts about the service academy. It’s not bad to prefer ROTC, your schooling is paid for the most most part (plus a sweet stipend every money, from $300-500) and you’ll still be commissioned upon graduating, plus you get the traditional college experience. So its not bad to prefer ROTC plus I guess that service academy is there for people who REALLY WANT IT, generally. People who want the guidance and the CHALLENGE. Me, I’m still thinking about it. I can’t be very sure. </p>
<p>I want to know what BMan22 is planning to do though, what branch…etc…</p>
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<p>I’m planning on going into the Army as an officer. I’d like to get into West Point, but it is very difficult to get into. If West Point doesn’t happen, I plan on getting the Army ROTC scholarship. The standards for that are laughable and it pays 100% tuition (and a monthly stipend).</p>
<p>I’d like to major in Comp Sci, but the major has to be approved by the Army, so who knows.</p>
<p>The standards are laughable? Any ROTC scholarship is pretty competitive, but I’d have to admit. Army apparently has more money than the other branches and has some more scholarships to give out. </p>
<p>Still competitive though.</p>
<p>What are you? A Junior? Senior? What? I can give you some very helpful info on this stuff if you’re really interested.</p>
<p>*My number one dream is the United States Air Force Academy right now. It’s one of the toughest schools to get into. Actually, ANY service academy is pretty damn tough to get into. Some would argue maybe even tougher than HYPS, it depends. But military =/= low high school performance. Well there’s the difference between simply enlisting and then training to be an officer. </p>
<p>For me, I’ve always wanted to serve, I love the idea of camaraderie, I love the idea of it all. But I’ve always been a really hard worker, and that hard work will hopefully earn me a spot in a service academy or give me an ROTC scholarship which will pay A LOT for university. *</p>
<p>It’s certainly not harder than HYPS.</p>
<p>And to all out there: I would NEVER join the military without going to college first. Just 4 years in college and you can start as an officer instead of enlisted. If you join enlisted it could take you 10+ years to become an officer (like my mom did). Just go to college (any 4 year college), then go to OCS (Officer Candidate School) for a short time (I’m thinking 6 months), and then you’re an officer.</p>
<p>“Some would argue MAYBE even tougher than HYPS, it DEPENDS”</p>
<p>The reason why I say that is because, say you’re in a competitive area. You have to compete for a nomination from your congressman/congresswoman, two state senators, and maybe presidential or vice presidential nominations as well.</p>
<p>Anyway, what I’m saying is, the members of Congress only have ten nominations (give or take) to give out, and there may be a lot of kids competing for this nomination depending on where you’re from.</p>
<p>Also, you have to go through physical examinations as well as medical. You have to be very well rounded.</p>
<p>That’s why I say it’s harder, because of the extensive application process that you have to start sometime in the second half of your Junior year.</p>
<p>If you go ROTC (scholarship or not) or service academy, essentially you’ve “joined” but your JOB is to get an education.</p>
<p>It’s a good idea to get all your education done before enlisting. It’s always a good idea to get as much education done, whether you plan on becoming an officer or not. I think you have to get a masters on something if you want a dream of making an O-6 rank? Do not quote me on that, I’m not really sure… :P</p>
<p>Honestly the physical exams aren’t too bad at all. Anyone who wanted it could easily train for it. Medical exams also aren’t a big deal. They might tell you that you can’t go into a certain field though.</p>
<p>Well you do agree that the application is more difficult than that of HYPS and other traditional colleges? </p>
<p>I’m not saying that kids who go to service academies are smarter or better than HYPS kids nor am I saying HYPS kids are smarter or better than service academy kids. There are going to be some who’ve been accepted to service academies and not to HYPS and been accepted to HYPS and not service academies. It all depends, but the application process is extremely competitive and hard, isn’t it?</p>
<p>The actual application? Sure that’s harder, but actually getting accepted is definitely harder at HYPS. 7% acceptance rates. </p>
<p>And about the masters to be O6, the military will pay for your education. They paid for my dad to get his MBA at Duke-Fuqua.</p>
<p>So it’s true that you need to get a masters to qualify for making O6?</p>
<p>Yeah, well I could argue that the service academies have a low acceptance rate as well. Applications sent to any one, ~10k, collectively, ~50K.</p>
<p>Then it gets whittled down to those who are scholastically qualified, medically qualified, and physically qualified, WITH a nomination. When you get to that point, your chances of making it aren’t too bad.</p>
<p>But at the beginning, that’s maybe about 50K kids applying for about 5k spots. Not exact numbers, but that could give you a pretty good idea.</p>
<p>I’m just saying, service academies are hard to get into, but a lot of that depends on where you live as well, so for people who live in very non-competitive areas, it is a lot easier to get into than HYPS.</p>
<p>EDIT: Two of the academies have less than a thousand undergrads, so the numbers that I gave are really not correct. But still, Annapolis, West Point, and Air Force each have about 1k cadets/midshipmen coming in, and have had 10K people apply at the beginning.</p>