College before the military?

[0699]

Not much to add to the really good posts already made but here is something to think about. Right now you have pretty much zero responsibilities outside of yourself. You can do anything. You enlist, you start a life. You may find that life may get in the way of what you want to do later. You may meet someone, get married, have kids, decide to get out....are you still going to go to college? You can always enlist after you graduate from college. You may not be able to easily go back to college after you get out of the Army (assuming that you do not make it a career). Graduating from college first gives you more flexibility for your future and keeps the maximum amount of doors open for you.

I didn't start college till I was 34 (finished when I was 41; a lot of people go to college for seven years... ) and did it while I was married, two young kids, working, coaching youth sports, and deploying. It would definately have been easier to get done without any of those responsibilities. I will say I think I took it more seriously than I would have at 18, and I probably got more out of it, but it wasn't easy.

 

[Marauder06]

Thanks for all the advice, guys. While my decision isn't set in stone, I've decided that I'll go to college and get my Bachelor's degree before enlisting. While part of me is itching to enlist straight out of High School, I realize it would better for me in the long run if I have a degree.

Good plan. I think it's a good call, and it will probably make your parents happy ;)

So now, the question is "what school, and what major?"

 

[Hillclimb]

Good plan. I think it's a good call, and it will probably make your parents happy ;)

So now, the question is "what school, and what major?"

Cosmetology all the way.

 

[Totentanz]

Thanks for all the advice, guys. While my decision isn't set in stone, I've decided that I'll go to college and get my Bachelor's degree before enlisting. While part of me is itching to enlist straight out of High School, I realize it would better for me in the long run if I have a degree.

It will also give you more time to figure out what you want to do in the military. When I left for college, I had an inkling, but honestly no solid plan as to which service I might even want to serve in. By paying attention to the traffic on this site (and others), I had at least an idea of what options were on the table by the time I graduated. You've gotten good advice here and developed (IMO) a pretty good plan. Now use your time and resources wisely.

 

[asewland]

Good plan. I think it's a good call, and it will probably make your parents happy ;)

So now, the question is "what school, and what major?"

School: I'd like to go out of state but financially it would make more sense to go to a school in-state (btw I live in Maryland)
Major: Right now, I'm focusing on a degree in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields considering I have both interest and skill in them.

 

[goon175]

Not much to add to the really good posts already made but here is something to think about. Right now you have pretty much zero responsibilities outside of yourself. You can do anything. You enlist, you start a life. You may find that life may get in the way of what you want to do later. You may meet someone, get married, have kids, decide to get out....are you still going to go to college? You can always enlist after you graduate from college. You may not be able to easily go back to college after you get out of the Army (assuming that you do not make it a career). Graduating from college first gives you more flexibility for your future and keeps the maximum amount of doors open for you.

I'm going to play a little devils advocate here. It is an easy assumption to make that you can always do the military. But I would say that you CAN"T always do the military, but you can always do college. I can tell you that I turn away more college grads than I take, for the simple reason that in that 4 years a lot of stuff seems to happen. I'll give a few examples of things I have personally seen as a recruiter:

• I recieved a UPM (unlawful possesion of marijuana- only a traffic ticket in NY) while at a party where people were smoking. The cops gave everyone present a UPM. RESULT: Cannot enlist, Army will not accept any drug charges.
• I busted my knee playing rugby, had to get some screws put in, but I'm good to go now. RESULT: Cannot get medically cleared for screws in knee joint.
• I have some financial issues from college, defaulted on some personal loans I took out for living expenses, and had a credit card charged off. RESULT: Can join, but not for any job that requires a clearance (all SOF jobs).

Now, if you get hurt in the military, you can still go to college. The reverse is not true. If you get in legal or financial trouble, you can still go to college, not the military. So, that is something to take into consideration. Another thing is that if you cannot get enough scholarships to cover school, you will have significant debt to deal with starting in your early 20's. If you go to college while in the military (i.e. green to gold or using your T.A.) you don't have to worry about any college debt.

One last thing. When I was facing this same exact decision my Jr. year of H.S., what tipped the scales in favor of me enlisting right out of H.S. was the fact that I did not want to miss the war. Now, obviously I could have gone to college and still gone in time to do my part, but I didn't know that at the time, and the way things are going you may or may not have the same opportunities to participate in the current happenings in the world. I don't know if that is a motivation for you or not, but it was mine back then and is the reason that I will be re-enlisting again in the hopes of returning to the fight.

Again, just giving an alternate view on things. I think ultimately any decision you make will be the right one. As I said before, both sides have pro's/con's.

 

[AWP]

To further muddy the waters, there's Option C: Both. Sort of.

The reality is that some of us entering college right out of HS did not do that well. Lack of motivation/ goals/ degree and/ or immaturity is a nice recipe for failure.

It was for me at least and I doubt I'm alone.

For me, after a year of college I had something very sad, like 9 or 12 credits to my name and I was a fulltime student. After Basic, AIT, and Airborne I had the fire to attend college, but no clue what I wanted to do. I was lucky and caught a 6 month deployment to Guatemala (I was a Guard guy). To be candid, that's when I grew up, that's when the lightbulb turned on.

I'm not saying to go into school and half-ass it, but the reality is if you're head isn't into school then spending time and money for F's and other funny letters on your transcripts is probably an "indicator."

The hardest thing about Plan C is knowing when to fish and when to cut bait.

 

[0699]

To further muddy the waters, there's Option C: Both. Sort of.

The reality is that some of us entering college right out of HS did not do that well. Lack of motivation/ goals/ degree and/ or immaturity is a nice recipe for failure.

It was for me at least and I doubt I'm alone.

For me, after a year of college I had something very sad, like 9 or 12 credits to my name and I was a fulltime student. After Basic, AIT, and Airborne I had the fire to attend college, but no clue what I wanted to do. I was lucky and caught a 6 month deployment to Guatemala (I was a Guard guy). To be candid, that's when I grew up, that's when the lightbulb turned on.

I'm not saying to go into school and half-ass it, but the reality is if you're head isn't into school then spending time and money for F's and other funny letters on your transcripts is probably an "indicator."

The hardest thing about Plan C is knowing when to fish and when to cut bait.

And I hesitate to say this, but if you enlist first, money for college is not the monster it can be otherwise. I finished my BA on AD; it cost me about $1,000 out of pocket for books & fees and TA picked up the rest. I still have my entire GI Bill available for graduate school whenever I get off my ass and start...

 

[Grey]

I believe that joining up first would be the best option for me. My parents refuse to see it

This is something that I dealt with, actually that I am still dealing with. Although I had a huge interest in the military since I was 8 years old, it somehow came as a surprise when I told my mother I wanted to be a Ranger when I was a junior in highschool. Do not let your parents pressure you into giving up something you want, not when it's your future. Although I love my mother dearly, the past couple of years has been a struggle to say the least. When she asked what a Ranger was the only word she had to hear was "Army" and "Infantry". She went off about how the only people who do that either had no other choice or are crazy. So I simply told her that must be me then. (But even after all that I enlisted in the Air Force:-") If you feel you should choose one thing over another because it will make them happier with you then you have made the wrong choice.

Great stuff in this thread though! Listen to these guys they know everything. This is a pretty common question and with all the perspectives we have here this thread should be a reference to those who have the same decision to make.

 

[asewland]

This is something that I dealt with, actually that I am still dealing with. Although I had a huge interest in the military since I was 8 years old, it somehow came as a surprise when I told my mother I wanted to be a Ranger when I was a junior in highschool. Do not let your parents pressure you into giving up something you want, not when it's your future. Although I love my mother dearly, the past couple of years has been a struggle to say the least. When she asked what a Ranger was the only word she had to hear was "Army" and "Infantry". She went off about how the only people who do that either had no other choice or are crazy. So I simply told her that must be me then. (But even after all that I enlisted in the Air Force:-") If you feel you should choose one thing over another because it will make them happier with you then you have made the wrong choice.

Great stuff in this thread though! Listen to these guys they know everything. This is a pretty common question and with all the perspectives we have here this thread should be a reference to those who have the same decision to make.

My mom's okay with me joining the Army. However she wants me to get my degree first and go in as an officer. I see why she'd want me to go in with a degree but I've already told her that I'm going in as enlisted. She still won't accept it.

 

[SkrewzLoose]

If I had it to do all over again, I would have enlisted straight out of HS and let XYZ branch pay for all my school along the way or after I got out.
I didn't have the level of focus required for (all) college classes when I was 18. Some of my lower level classes were a breeze, but after my 5th semester my GPA had dipped below a 2.0 because I was not applying myself. Did I have the ability to do well, absolutely. Do I now (10 years later) have the ability to do well coupled with the maturity and good study habits I lacked previously, no doubt. I was not a big partier or anything like that, I just did not apply myself when it came to school work.
YMMV

 

[Ves]

I'd like to dogpile onto Free and Skrewz sentiment. I attended college all of about 2 weeks, largely due to lack of direction, and saw very quickly that that wasn't the life I wanted. Looking back at who I was at that point in my life all I would've done is wasted a large amount of money and based on the first two weeks wouldn't have done very well. I know I would've been someone to constantly ditch out assignments, attend class as little as possible, and do the bare minimum to pass.

The Air Force gave me a few years to grow up, to embrace doing things correctly and well for their own sake.

 

[JustAnotherJ]

I'm glad I was a stupid college kid for 2 years before going military. I got an AA out of it:/ but now I've got 3 associates degrees and 1 class from my bachelors. The AF paid for all of it,while I had fun.

 

[Deadpool]

I'm actually going through the same exact process as you at the moment OP, that being choosing as to whether I'll go to College or Enlist. But instead of going the Army SOF route, I'm looking at becoming a SEAL and (not trying to violate OPSEC or be a little prick and I apologize if I'm coming off as one) hopefully one day be able to 'operate'. In a nutshell, I don't know if my family can really afford to pay for a 4 year degree - it basically seems that either going the Service Academy route (provided I make it in) or getting an ROTC scholarship (again provided I get one) is the only way I could really do it at the moment. And I have no problem being an Officer, obviously it's very honorable - but I'm not really doing it for the title. My concern is how my time will be limited as an Officer, from what I hear (from Officers mind you) is that you can operate up to the O-5 Level whereas all you hear from SOF enlisted men is that your time is cut drastically short when it comes to being a SEAL/SF Soldier/Ranger/Operator. If anyone could help out I'd appreciate it. Thank you.

 

[BrianP]

School: I'd like to go out of state but financially it would make more sense to go to a school in-state (btw I live in Maryland)
Major: Right now, I'm focusing on a degree in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields considering I have both interest and skill in them.

I also live in MD, IF you wanted to kinda go for both worlds you could go for the MD ARNG. You could knock out OSUT (Infantry would be the best route to move up to SF obv.) and that will pay for your college, and while your in it while you can decide if the military is good for you. Deployments are dying down for the 2014 drawdown and the only ones leaving out of Maryland are the MP's and we (Infantry) just got back from a 12 month deployment. From there 20th SFG is right in MD when your done with college. As soon as you want in you talk to them directly. They will handle everything else from what I'm told.

Thats pretty much the route I took, Enlisted 4 days after I turned 18 and went down to Benning for OSUT and a month and a half after OSUT I deployed for 12 months. Now I'm in college and probably about to re-enlist (not even 21 yet lol).. I'll be honest tho, I wish I went active. The motivation to PT with college going on is non-existent for me, idk how it will be for you. After a college degree I hope to go active duty and put in for the 75th, But from what I hear the odds of a NG infantrymen getting approved for active AND the RR are pretty damn low.

Just some more to consider

 

[DA SWO]

Tell you what I told my son.

Do a year in college, then ask yourself if you want to go back.

He did a year didn't like it so he enlisted. He's seeing the world (one inflight emergency at a time) and having a blast.
He also knows that someday the ANG career will be over and has talked about re-entering college.
You can always do your 4,or 6 years; then find a college with ROTC and get your commission the easy way.

 

[yankfan]

Great thread, I was in the same boat this past fall. I had one year of college community college under my belt and was really debating on whether or not to enlist or transfer somewhere. My parents were 100% against me enlisting before college. They think that if I go to college that I will want to be an officer afterwards. Well as of right now, in my second year of college attending University of Louisville, I still plan on enlisting after. They grunt and groan about it but its ultimately my decision, and they know that as well. Trust me I still get that itch to enlist, as it is my dream to be a Marine, but I know now that I have made the right decision with regards to my life right now, and now I have two and a half more years to prepare myself mentally, physically, all the while gaining knowledge day by day! So just stay motivated and work your ass off in whatever path you take

 

[BrianP]

Your dream is to be a marine? That's some low aspirations lol. The officer route is much easier on the body and a lot better financially, but you loose the thrill of the army in my opinion. Sure you can go to ranger school and all that, but there is just wayy to much paper work followed buy dealing with all the shenanigans the enlisted solider did when they were actually having fun lol. The way I see it there are two paths, enjoy yourself with low pay (enlisted), or have a more boring path with high pay (officer)

 

[Marauder06]

Being an officer is "boring?" You've been an officer for a long time, then?

 

[BrianP]

just spent alot of time with my LT at the outpost when I was deployed, seemed like a whole lotta shit for a whole lotta nothing. constantly in the TOC doing paper work and trying to impress higher rank officers. I'm probably not as knowledgeable on the duty of officers as many of you are, but from what I've witnessed, yeah it's not exactly fun.