Getting a Masters Degree while in the Military

[studentcj]

I was wondering if it is possible to get a master's degree while in the Air Force or Army(Haven't decided which one I want to join). The reason I ask is because after I graduate college in about a year and a half I would like to enlist in the military. However, I would also like to get a Master's Degree. I was just wondering if it is a common thing or something that is hard to do because of time restraints. Also if it is possible, does this occur through a public college or university that is off base, or is it through some type of miltary schooling.

[EX_529]

Yes, with on line Universites, it is quite common. Check out DeVry, GGU, or University of Phoenix. Try to stay away from anything associated with Kaplan.

Good luck.

[studentcj]

What I mean by that is, do employers put online master degree right next to a masters that was received at a college or universities. Is it respectable.

[ngcsubutterbar]

Hell freaking NOOOO. That is straight from a horses mouth. My dad is still having trouble finding work in his field after he retired, USA Signal Corps, and he got a dsegree from the 'military' branch of those universities. If you want to get a 'respectable' degree, do it in a real school, in front of the professors like everyone else.


Question is, are you planning on commishining? If you are, are you branched yet? If you aren't try to get a 'professional' branch, docter/law/etc. That is the only way they will 'give' you time off to go to school. If you're in another branch, You'll only be able to attend night classes somewhere. Again, those online universities will not help you.

[EX_529]

What I mean by that is, do employers put online master degree right next to a masters that was received at a college or universities. Is it respectable.

Rule 1 about on-line Universities: Only go to a U or College that has an actual accredited brick and motar building that teaches. Places like that include DeVry, UoP, National, GGU, and SUNY. As far as the actual classes look on line, I have found that DeVry and UoP are the best as they have been doing it for a while. Your degree will not say if you got it on line so it does not matter and I have found that most employers don't care (unless of course you went to UCB, Stanford, Cornell, etc - then they look impressed. If you went to UoP or Chico State, they could care less)

I know a colleague who got his BS from DeVry while he was an enlisted and then went on to OCS and was commissioned. That was 8 years ago and I beleive he is still in the Navy.

[ngcsubutterbar]

They'll know.

Ok it says here you graduated from The University of Maryland; how long were you up there?

Um, never It was a distance learning course.

Ohh, ok. Well thank you sir, We'll be in touch.

[studentcj]

I want to thank those for their input. I really didn't want to get my Master's online anyway. I'd rather be sitting in the class. It's just that I want to hopefully get my masters while in the military after I graduate college.

[cecilVA]

I wouldn't sweat it about an online Masters. As long as the school is accrediated. In fact I know Boston University as an online Masters in CJ program. Online/distance degrees are so common now, especially in the military, that you shouldn't have any problems with it being accepted. My roommate, a Lt in the Air Force, just completed his MBA through a distance program with Auburn. He's already getting job offers for when he leaves the military and nobody cares about the fact that his degree was completed in North Carolina and Virginia as opposed to Alabama.

[EX_529]

I agree. Lets put it in perspective. I went to a brick and motar school myself. In some classes there were 250 students and a TA was doing most of the teaching. (this was at at a top University). That is very common. What are you going to learn? You are going to learn only what you want to.

In an on-line class, you are forced to do your own work and own research. Like the brick and motar, you have the same access (or non-access) to the professors (who are just as accredited as the University professors, sometimes better). You use your real world experience to accomplish your school goals (compare an MBA with no experience out of school compared to the MBA who had a few years of real business experience, I will take the real world MBA over any Yale grad with no experience).

As the Internet gets better, you will see more and more schools go on line. Right now they are a cash cow. Even Princeton has an on-line MBA. Most of their students are execs and middle managers whose companies pay the bill. The Universities are forced to be as good as the typical Universities. And the good part, unless you tell your potential employer that it is an on-line U, then they don't know (it is not noted on your degree or on your transcripts)

Just be sure to make sure the place is accredited, not a degree mill, and has an actual known brick and motar campus. The purely on-line degree colleges are typically degree mills (and employers know this)

Good luck!