Posted on Dec 25, 2018
What are courses or some advice for someone who is trying to attend a top tier university after serving in the military?
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I am only months into my contract, but it’s never too soon to look into future education. I am asking for advice on what I could do while enlisted that could help build my resume for when the time comes to attend school. Other than taking college courses online, are there other things I could do that would make me a more valuable asset to these schools after my service?
College
GI Bill
Education
Posted 6 y ago
Responses: 8
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You've established your mission objective (get into a top tier school). Now you need to define the steps to accomplish said goal.
Reverse planning is your friend.
I'd start by picking three schools you want as your primary choices. Research their admission requirements, and marry up those requirements with your current skills. This tells you where you meet standards and where you are lacking.
Think of it like promotion requirements. To get promoted to Sgt/SSgt you need to have X points, which equates to a Y PFT, Z Rifle Score, and certain other modifiers like medals and education. Use this mental model and translate it into the college application process.
As an example, I did a google search for "Harvard Requirements" and the first result was High School GPA (4.04 on a 4.0 scale). These are the kind of indicators you are looking for.
Reverse planning is your friend.
I'd start by picking three schools you want as your primary choices. Research their admission requirements, and marry up those requirements with your current skills. This tells you where you meet standards and where you are lacking.
Think of it like promotion requirements. To get promoted to Sgt/SSgt you need to have X points, which equates to a Y PFT, Z Rifle Score, and certain other modifiers like medals and education. Use this mental model and translate it into the college application process.
As an example, I did a google search for "Harvard Requirements" and the first result was High School GPA (4.04 on a 4.0 scale). These are the kind of indicators you are looking for.
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LTC Kevin B. Can give you significantly better insight.
Here is my opinion:
I guess it would depend on the particular school you plan to attend, and how you can correlate your military experience to what they care about. For instance, pertaining to military applicants, Harvard says, "High academic standards, leadership in non-academic areas, and personal qualities will form the basis for all of our admission decisions" (https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/apply/us-military-veterans). To me that translates to maintaining a high GPA (in college classes and NCO schools), becoming a leader in your organization and for distinct projects, and subjective personal qualities. Also note that Harvard won't take applicants with more than two years of schooling, so you might want to check for that with your projected school.
To facilitate "leadership in non-academic areas" you could pursue Airborne School and Ranger School, to increase your opportunity to promote to leadership ranks (CPL and above) and positions, and get an earlier start in leading. Don't just go for the expedient acquisition of the ranks, but seek to be the best fit in that rank, so that you are a benefit to the Army and your evaluations reflect as such.
You could pursue the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal (MOVSM), which requires 500 hours or 3-years worth of volunteer work. Some will say you shouldn't do the MOVSM for external reward, but I say regardless of the reasoning for pursuing the award, the time spent volunteering still provided free labor to a civilian organization that could use it. At the end of the day, it's partially a positive advertising campaign that helps military recruiting efforts. Use that to further establish leadership in non-academic areas. There are only so many leadership positions in the Army, so this can be a good way to make yourself standout, and the volunteer work translates well outside of the military.
Absolutely purchase the Cochise College credits you get for completing Advanced Individual Training (AIT); if nothing else, they will fill electives for your future degree. However, you also need to ensure you do well in your AIT courses, because your AIT course performance translates directly to the letter grade Cochise College gives you after you graduate. If you do poorly you get a lower grade, of which becomes a lower GPA. Take the time to learn your MOS, don't just focus on "barely passing," but focus on extracting as much information and experience you can from your experienced instructors and Platoon Sergeants. This is not only to get good grades, but also to be a more effective 35M/09L for the Army, which will also bleed over to higher promotion potential. The more competent and mature you are at the early ranks, the more you will stand-out to your leadership for early advancement.
Lastly, determine if it would be more beneficial to obtain an undergraduate degree using the "free" Tuition Assistance Program (https://www.goarmyed.com/public/public_tuition_assistance_policies.aspx) WHILE serving in your initial contract, and then pursue a graduate degree with your GI Bill after you ETS. Life can change very unexpectedly and very quickly, and it would be ashamed to start from scratch after multiple years of service, especially if you had the chance to chunk away at it while you were serving.
Just some things to consider.
Here is my opinion:
I guess it would depend on the particular school you plan to attend, and how you can correlate your military experience to what they care about. For instance, pertaining to military applicants, Harvard says, "High academic standards, leadership in non-academic areas, and personal qualities will form the basis for all of our admission decisions" (https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/apply/us-military-veterans). To me that translates to maintaining a high GPA (in college classes and NCO schools), becoming a leader in your organization and for distinct projects, and subjective personal qualities. Also note that Harvard won't take applicants with more than two years of schooling, so you might want to check for that with your projected school.
To facilitate "leadership in non-academic areas" you could pursue Airborne School and Ranger School, to increase your opportunity to promote to leadership ranks (CPL and above) and positions, and get an earlier start in leading. Don't just go for the expedient acquisition of the ranks, but seek to be the best fit in that rank, so that you are a benefit to the Army and your evaluations reflect as such.
You could pursue the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal (MOVSM), which requires 500 hours or 3-years worth of volunteer work. Some will say you shouldn't do the MOVSM for external reward, but I say regardless of the reasoning for pursuing the award, the time spent volunteering still provided free labor to a civilian organization that could use it. At the end of the day, it's partially a positive advertising campaign that helps military recruiting efforts. Use that to further establish leadership in non-academic areas. There are only so many leadership positions in the Army, so this can be a good way to make yourself standout, and the volunteer work translates well outside of the military.
Absolutely purchase the Cochise College credits you get for completing Advanced Individual Training (AIT); if nothing else, they will fill electives for your future degree. However, you also need to ensure you do well in your AIT courses, because your AIT course performance translates directly to the letter grade Cochise College gives you after you graduate. If you do poorly you get a lower grade, of which becomes a lower GPA. Take the time to learn your MOS, don't just focus on "barely passing," but focus on extracting as much information and experience you can from your experienced instructors and Platoon Sergeants. This is not only to get good grades, but also to be a more effective 35M/09L for the Army, which will also bleed over to higher promotion potential. The more competent and mature you are at the early ranks, the more you will stand-out to your leadership for early advancement.
Lastly, determine if it would be more beneficial to obtain an undergraduate degree using the "free" Tuition Assistance Program (https://www.goarmyed.com/public/public_tuition_assistance_policies.aspx) WHILE serving in your initial contract, and then pursue a graduate degree with your GI Bill after you ETS. Life can change very unexpectedly and very quickly, and it would be ashamed to start from scratch after multiple years of service, especially if you had the chance to chunk away at it while you were serving.
Just some things to consider.
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LTC Kevin B.
SPC (Join to see), SFC (Join to see) has given you some sound advice. So, I'll try to add to what he has said.
Aside from doing well in your military endeavors, and pursuing leadership opportunities within the military (which should flow from doing your job well), you should also look into pursuing involvement outside of the military (i.e. within your local community). That will demonstrate that you're more well-rounded and not just a military person. The military aspect will definitely help you, but you also want to play up other sides of you that add additional value. You could be active in church (especially if you're targeting a faith-based school), or work with local charities, or volunteer within healthcare settings, or assist with community groups, etc. I can think of many examples to achieve that aim, so try not to focus only on what I've listed. The bottom line is that you want to show a wider range of community involvement, aside from just within the military community.
Regarding classes while on active duty, you need to be strategic. If your goal is to attend a top-tier university, you should pursue some classes while in the military to provide evidence within your admission packet that you can succeed at the undergraduate level. I would try to target at least some classes at a brick-and-mortar school. That will help with the admission process, as online schools might carry less weight. If you go the online route, try to pick classes from a very reputable university (rather than some of the easy, run-of-the-mill schools that target the military community). Keep in mind that the top-tier schools won't look to transfer in tons of classes. Get whatever credit you can for your military background, and try to use as many of the courses to count (that you took while on active duty), but remember that the top-tier schools will want the vast majority of the courses within your eventual degree (that carries their name) to have been taken art their school. People often scoff that it's all about money, but it's really about accreditation and reputation. If your goal is to attend a more mainstream university (not necessarily a top-tier university), then the ideas I mentioned will change somewhat.
The undergrad vs. grad point of discussion is worthwhile to consider. If you are thinking down the road about attending grad school, the grad degree normally trumps the undergrad degree when pursuing jobs. So, pick an undergrad university (and academic discipline) that will set you up for acceptance in a reputable program at a really good graduate school.
Happy to discuss any of this through private messages or over the phone if you'd like.
Aside from doing well in your military endeavors, and pursuing leadership opportunities within the military (which should flow from doing your job well), you should also look into pursuing involvement outside of the military (i.e. within your local community). That will demonstrate that you're more well-rounded and not just a military person. The military aspect will definitely help you, but you also want to play up other sides of you that add additional value. You could be active in church (especially if you're targeting a faith-based school), or work with local charities, or volunteer within healthcare settings, or assist with community groups, etc. I can think of many examples to achieve that aim, so try not to focus only on what I've listed. The bottom line is that you want to show a wider range of community involvement, aside from just within the military community.
Regarding classes while on active duty, you need to be strategic. If your goal is to attend a top-tier university, you should pursue some classes while in the military to provide evidence within your admission packet that you can succeed at the undergraduate level. I would try to target at least some classes at a brick-and-mortar school. That will help with the admission process, as online schools might carry less weight. If you go the online route, try to pick classes from a very reputable university (rather than some of the easy, run-of-the-mill schools that target the military community). Keep in mind that the top-tier schools won't look to transfer in tons of classes. Get whatever credit you can for your military background, and try to use as many of the courses to count (that you took while on active duty), but remember that the top-tier schools will want the vast majority of the courses within your eventual degree (that carries their name) to have been taken art their school. People often scoff that it's all about money, but it's really about accreditation and reputation. If your goal is to attend a more mainstream university (not necessarily a top-tier university), then the ideas I mentioned will change somewhat.
The undergrad vs. grad point of discussion is worthwhile to consider. If you are thinking down the road about attending grad school, the grad degree normally trumps the undergrad degree when pursuing jobs. So, pick an undergrad university (and academic discipline) that will set you up for acceptance in a reputable program at a really good graduate school.
Happy to discuss any of this through private messages or over the phone if you'd like.
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Much like SGT (Join to see) mentioned, you want to do whatever you can to show that you're a well rounded individual. Just you being SM shows your character. You can build upon that through whatever you can do to give back to the community. You might look into a local church or any local organizations that work on projects that you're passionate about. There are always opportunities available should we take the time to seek them out. You seem to have a good head on your shoulders; follow the advice of the members on here and continue to be a high speed soldier and any university will be glad to have you. Use the military as an opportunity to develop those leadership skills as well!
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