College online, 4 yr degree / joining the service after??

Hi there,





Which is the best college online?


Why would you recommend it?


Did you personally go through this college?





I have been calling around and researching online colleges. My goal is to get my four yr degree. Many colleges have told me that I can earn it in a two yr period. Is this true?





My goal is to take this degree and then to join the service as an Officer.





With this goal in mind. Which questions should I be asking these potential colleges?


Also, is there any particular online college that you would reccommend to me?





Is there anything in particular that I need to know?





I was considering AIU.


I plan to go for business.





Any advice is very welcome.


Thank you.

College online, 4 yr degree / joining the service after??
Be aware that just because you have a degree, you won't automatically be an Officer in the military.





You may want to talk with a Recruiter of the Branch of Service you want to serve. He or she can tell you the requirements for being an Officer candidate, and may have some educational recommendations that would suit you. Many schools also offer Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) that lead to an Officer rank on graduation.





Generally, you can earn a degree on-line in a two-year period with a lot of work. Check with some Colleges and Universities in your state - many of them have on-line degree programs, so you can obtain a degree from a College or University which is more recognizable. Some businesses require a degree, and don't pay attention to where it came from, but others may give more weight to a "traditional" degree for those they want to hire.





You're doing well in asking questions before making a decision. Talk to some school or college counselors, and find options that will work for you. I wish you luck!
Reply:You should speak to a military recruiter now, before you enroll, to make sure that such an online degree will be acceptable to them, and will get you where you want to go in the military. Be careful. Ask first. And then double-check anything the recruiter says, to be sure he knows what he's talking about.





Just one example - say you want Air Force, and you want pilot. An online degree in business will not get you there.





If you must attend school online - if you literally can't set foot on a decent campus - try to go to an online program that is offered by a reputable, brick and mortar university that is "regionally accredited." So rather than AIU, which I'm not really loving, look at:


- Penn State


- U Maryland


- UMass Amherst


- Ball State


- U Denver


- Iowa State


- Central Michigan U


- Oregon State


- As well as your own state's university system. You may be surprised - they may offer online degrees.





And as the other poster said, you'd want to major in something related to what you want to do for the military.





And ideally, if you can get to a campus at all, go on campus to a school with an established ROTC program instead, and do ROTC, and apply for a ROTC scholarship. You'd get your education for ***free***, and you'd enter the military as an officer. And having done your degree on a campus looks better to most civilian employers, should you end up working outside the military later in your life.
Reply:Here's what you need to know:





If you join the service with a basically gundecked business degree, what job will you be performing? How will the college prepare you for a career?





You need to specialize in what you want to do with the military for the best chance to get accepted to the academies.





How come you're not going for an ROTC scholarship?
Reply:degree does not equal military officer - that was back in the "old days" and is over.





There are plenty of enlisted people in the military with a bachelor's degree, not a small number of sergeants with a master's. I can show you one Army unit where almost everyone has a bachelor's, most of the Staff Sergeants have a master's degree and three members could be addressed as "doctor sergeant..."





Don't think you'll be able to walk in with a degree and walk out with a shiny bar - that's not how it works. ROTC, the academies, OCS for exceptional candidates is how it really works.