Military Before or After College

A

alex=

Active member
Backstory... I want to a Marine. Always have. Just don't know if I should do it before or after college.

Before:

GI Bill to help pay (I'm lower middle class)

Looking to go to a school like NC State, UNC, App State, or VMI (to get a feel for tuition)

I get to experience college

After:

I can do rotc in college and be an officer upon joining, or do OCS

I don't get to experience college

Just the really limited list of pros and cons I've made so far. I want everyone to take a stance on one of the two and try and convince me (talking to my dad about it this weekend, just want to see some pros and cons)

Thanks +k to all serious answers

 
yeah you can.

but i would do it after so then you basically get free college. or you can do ROTC like i might do. (if i do im an officer automatically, gotta love military school)
 
Well here's how I look at it:

Pay for college

or

Get basically free college

Easy.

Oh, and yeah, I've always wanted to Marine, too.

I think you messed up the first sentence
 
See if you can get into ROTC. School will be free, and you actually get a salary while you're in school on top of it. When you graduate you'll be an officer and won't be the scum of the Earth. One of my close friends from high school did Navy ROTC, and he's currently living the life in San Diego with guys that he's in charge of. He gets deployed in the fall to the Persian Gulf. ROTC is DEFINITELY the way to go if you plan on both going to college and joining the military.

Like I said, free school and payment. After 4 years of college you're an officer. I think it's a no-brainer.
 
Plus after he's done with the time he's required to serve, if he decides to re-up he gets a $75k check. Straight cash homie. The military really values ROTC graduates.
 
Yup, my friend didn't have to pay a dime for school at Penn State, and the military sent him monthly checks on top of that while he was a student there.
 
yup even more if you go to naval academy or airforce, its not a lot, but you get payed 24/7 on and off duty.
 
Damn. That's awesome. I'm going to seriously consider that then. Of course you have to do PT and stuff with the ROTC program right?

Pretty soon I'm gonna be skiing in the Afghan Kush mtns! Thats a joke
 
yeah you do, i mean the dorms are dry and you have ROTC dorms. and you have to do everything they tell you, but in the end you get free college and shit.
 
Sounds fucking awesome. can you still go to parties? Or you yourself can't drink/bring it in the dorms etc
 
errrm im not totally sure, i have cousins (and my entire family except for me) going to the naval academy so its not ROTC, its way stricter.
 
Mm I think that probably depends on the school. My buddy had to room with another ROTC guy his freshman year but after that he did whatever he wanted. He was even arrested multiple times for drinking/partying related stupidity and he kept his scholarship.
 
Thanks bro I appreciate all the help. My dad's convincing me to apply to usna next as it is, even though it's waaaaay over my range
 
Don't know much about it but I think it'd be better to do military first.

You'll have way more experience and wisdom and be mature than your peers when you actually get to college. You'll be a badass with some crazy ass stories. You can enjoy college because you won't have to worry about ROTC stuff. You'll also feel good going from college to a job.

If you do college first you're not going to enjoy college as much cause you'll be stuck in the ROTC program. Then while the rest of us are looking forward to graduating and getting jobs you'll have to go into the army and then make a hard transition back to a normal job without the college buffer.

Might as well get the shitty part over with first.

Also I would not want to do the program where they can call you back whenever they want. That shit sucks, so much harder to have a career and family and life overall. It's definitely not worth the money to have to do that. Better off applying for financial aid and just taking whatever student loans you have to.

 
One of my friends is still waiting to see if he got any rotc scholarships. None first round. The amount of rotc scholarships is going down the drain due to the continual cutting of military spending. He visite VMI and said it was absolutely an awful atmosphere for school.
 
Go after or don't join at all. I'm in right now and honestly it sucks ass so hard somedays. One of my biggest regrets is not going to school first. Go to school and have fun before you can't. I never see girls anymore dude. Haven't been laid since October...
 
if you were to go to college first, can you use your gi bill after you get out to repay your student loans? if so, that'd be dope since you'd be an officer making more scratch. if not, 50k - 100k worth of debt is a lot of money to have hanging over your head. repaying student loans fucking sucks major ass dude, and takes a lot longer than 4 years to pay off, so i'd say the military option is worth it.
 
Military first. Some of my most successful college friends were guys post deployment on the GI bill. Frankly you will get more out of college and take a more grown up approach to it. And you'll be unamused and dragged down by normal college bs. You'll also have more $ to throw around during school and less debt after (if any). Good on you for joining its a big commitment that you won't regret. Do it first come back to civilian life and blow up
 
After college, I'm most likely doing that. If you join after college you are automatically a higher rank than most others who join. Means more $$$
 
I've got some personal experience to share with this thread, maybe it'll help. I did one year of college after high school, then decided to enlist. I'm currently one year into my contract with the Navy, and my cousin is in his third year of army ROTC.

If you want to go the ROTC route look into the SMP program (Simultaneous Membership Program) my cousin did that. He started doing ROTC in the fall his freshman year, then he took spring semester off to go to boot camp and AIT. He did about 6 months worth of training and got paid active duty pay, then when he went back to school they put him in a reserve status. He's getting E-5 pay for going to drill 1 weekend per month and doing 2 week of training in the summer.

Becoming an officer though, you have to keep a very high standard for yourself, they hold officers in high regard and expect a lot out of you. You need to keep your GPA up, and your fitness standards. You can go out and party, he goes down to the bars almost every weekend, but you need to stay away from trouble, no drinking and driving, absolutely no pot, and avoid fights.

I went the other route. After getting a look at just how much debt I was in after just one year of college I decided I wanted that GI bill before I got any further. Military life is pretty cool, I've been all over the US in just the last year and I'm getting enough college credits through my training for an associates in applied science. They do tuition assistance so if you want to knock out a few college classes after work you can go online or to a school near where you are stationed. You get a nice steady paycheck, learn a lot about people, and get a lot of working experience.

Right now I really have no idea if I want to make a career out of the Navy, but if I did, I'd do the STA 21 program (Seaman to Admiral). You start off as enlisted, then request it, you go back to college with full tuition assistance and E-5 pay, you have to finish off a major in 3 years, but once you're done they'll send you to OCS. you'll be higher up on the pay bracket because you already have experience, and being an 0-1 without knowing much about enlisted life can be pretty rough, it's always a struggle for respect in the workplace. I feel like STA 21 is the best option if you want to make a career out of the military.
 
Just make sure that if you go enlisted after college you get your student loan repayment forms filled out. I've seen some guys get screwed out of getting their college paid off either because of their recruiter or the lending institution. Play hardball and don't sign your contract until those forms are worked out.
 
You get rank pay plus bonuses for being spec ops

If you wanna do it start hitting the gym and swimming a lot now. I know two kids who went into the navy and wanted to become seals one had been lifting and swimming for like 2 years before he joined the other had done both but not nearly as vigorously. The first made it through and said he wouldn't know how he would have done it with out the prior training the other dropped like within the first two weeks.

 
Start talking with a recruiter and they'll get you set up with a SEAL motivator, they'll teach you the right technique and push you to get you ready for BUDS.
 
I enlisted in the Marine Corps before going to college and had the best 8 years of my life. Through the good and bad, the Marines was what has contributed most to my life. I have beautiful kids, an amazing wife, and a pretty nice career. And all of that is amazing, but the Marine Corps is what made it all possible. The skills and lessons I learned, even though most lessons were about myself and what I was capable of, have allowed me to realize my potential in every situation fathomable. If you stay focused and stay away from the party/buy new whips scene, you can complete a bachelorette degree within a 4 year enlistment. Also, if you reenlist after 4 years, there are B billets where your primary MOS is to go to college. That means that the Corps pays you to go to a college of your choice (as qualified). The only thing is you are required to give them 6 years of officer commitment after. DOPE!

Goodluck. Whatever choice you make is the right one.
 
You can do ROTC and still have a lot of fun in college. One of the biggest drinkers I knew in college was Army ROTC.
 
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