For the Army, does it matter what academic discipline your degree is in?

My husband had a BS/MS in History. Mine was in Psychology. We both went into logistics (different fields). Some career fields require a degree in that area: Engineering for one, but oftentimes it doesn't matter.

I attend a dinner with commissioning cadets and midshipmen/Marine Corps options every year and the Army degrees are all over the place, but a lot of them are going National Guard. The others on the other-hand are getting hard core STEM type degrees, nuclear physics, etc. They are active duty and getting branched as the pilots and nuclear subs and of course other things. So while it doesn't matter specifically, a tougher degree may spark more opportunities.

LTC Meloni Beauchamp

The degree doesn't matter. I branched my first choice, Infantry, after getting my degree in bacteriology. I used to joke when asked how that degree helped me as an infantryman, and I would say because it taught me to look closely at the small things that make a big difference. But the real value of the college education is usually how it develops your analytical skills, your problem solving skills and your communication skills. These directly apply to an officers responsibilities. That's why the particular degree is not as important as the education you get in the process.

My advice would be to get a degree in a subject area that interests you and you could see yourself possibly working in after the Army. If you enjoy the field, you are more likely to do well in it, and doing well is important for competing in precommissioning programs. Also, should you end up staying in and becoming a field grade officer (major) you will need to compete to go to grad school.

But the most important reason, IMO, to get a degree in something you like is that while you may be "certain" now that you want to become an officer and make the Army a career, you never know what the future holds. You may decide to get out. Or one bad exit on a parachute jump may damage a knee and you will have to leave. (If you're going Infantry, get your ass to Airborne School). ;) So you just never know what twists and turns will happen and if you have to fall back on your degree area as a career, it's best to have it in something you enjoy.

Good luck.

We had a medical platoon leader with a degree in music of some sort. It truly does not matter.

OK, I heard...indulge me on a point, if you would, most when they're in your boat, and send in questions, never do a really detailed, thorough biographical sketch, at least not in the fashion I've seem that'd seriously help get them the answers they seek, for the most part, I've found. Hobbies, reading, interests, sports, !martial arts, all that gives a flavor to a personality, in terms of knowing detail. To my way of thinking, of course what major you'd do would matter. However, Iitd greatly help to kmow what major you'd picked thus far, your interests, ambitions, which svcs you'd looked at, I gather you want Army, I got that youre going. I also saw you'd sent that into the ROTCmand Green to Gold areas here, as well as enlisted to officer, I'd seen. What college have you had thus far? Assoc? Bach? Masters? PhD? Do you want flight? What commissioned branch would you want? Would you want to try for Army commissioned or warrant? Would you want to try going interservice at all? If so, which services? Do you have any clinical interests? Technical interests, along STEM lines? Comp sci? IT? He Army direct commission cyber program? Direct commission in other svcs? The Army high school to flight school program for rotary wing flight at Ft Rucker? Be really, really detailed, list your actual science courses, economics politcap science, history, etc, with GPAs if you think it'd be OK...also, when in high school, did you do any AP coursework at all? Did you do any vocational high school training at all? Elaborate, as I'd said, OK? Remember, the more you give in here the more concrete feedback and/or suggestions you can be given, OK? I'd be most eager to hear more, anytime, by all means, OK?

About half the ROTC class at my college were History majors. Officially I think the policy is almost any degree from an accredited college but Theology (they look for an approved Seminary for that). But if you are enlisted and looking for OCS later (and I have served on a few OCS Boards) and you are an Engineer or something very technical or medical you will most likely be higher on their list to go.

This is a Marine officer perspective, so you can discount it totally if you wish. Clearly, every military officer has to have the aptitude to learn to lead and manage both people and things. The first person you need to manage is yourself and learning to organize, budget time, and set priorities is usually reflected in your college performance. That's a foundation. However, that said, there is a reason that the oldest college of engineering in the US is West Point. Technical, mathematical ability and reasoning is so involved in so much of what military officers do that a STEM background is helpful. Is it essential? Depends on you. If you have studiously avoided math past plane geometry in high school because it confused the daylights out of you it may be a hinderance. While much of the hands-on technical stuff has been taken over by tables, charts, and technology, having some foggy notion of what the answer should be (hey LT! Was that 10 pounds of C4 or 10,000?). Might help you find out that your finger slipped on the table or you forgot the decimal point of the calculator.

Unless you’re a Physician, Nurse, Attornet, or chaplain, it probably doesn’t matter what your degree is.

As someone approaching their final retirement and in their 60s, I can confidently tell you that your degree will not matter in the military or in business or in most any occupation. You have a degree? Excellent what is your level of experience? Who do you know? What have you accomplished?

PFC (Join to see) as long as it is from an accredited school with a recognized degree (ask the ROTC folks for the list, and it's long) you are good. Heck once you get a Master's Degree in the Army you are good for promotion on the officer side of the house regardless if it was underwater basket weaving or rocket science. While a degree might help you in a certain branch you may not be selected for that branch, but once you are in a branch remember even if you are an Engineer and get an Engineering degree the "Big Army" does not care about that on most promotion boards as there is probably only one Engineer on the promotion board. The rest of the people just care that you have a degree and potential. The type of degree might help you get a type of job though, but not always.