Engineering Student join Marines?

[jeffw]

Hi, I am currently a high school senior. A few days ago, I received some college decisions and got accepted to UCLA, and still waiting for Berkeley and several others. My primary major is Aerospace engineering, and may get double major with Electrical Engineering too. (Since Aerospace is much similar to Mechanical, so I might got that too, not sure how it works to get three majors. )

Ok, so here is the Marine part. I always want to join the military, especially marine, seeing it as an experience as a chance to improve myself as well as a compensation for what this country did for me. I am thinking about joining the Marine or other military as an officer after bachelor or master.

I am not good at sports, but not too bad either; and I am willing to exercise during college to get in shape.
Also, I am a really quite person, and maybe lack of leadership, which are the main reasons I want to join the Marine; besides, I think I might be a little "soft" as a man. I think the experience can train me to be a better person, and can be stronger, spiritually.

I am clear I want to ultimately have my own engineer business, and the leadership learned as an officer will help me accomplish the goal.

Therefore, my ideal route is attending college for 4 or 6 years(BA or Master), severing in the military for 4 or 5 years, then work in civilian world and have my own business.

Now, the concern is how do I utilize my skills in the military. I want to do engineering related jobs(mechanical or electrical or telecommunication), but preferably not combat engineer which is architectural. And also, I want to work in the combat instead of doing paperworks if that is possible. Maintenance jobs seems like technicians, instead of solider, which I am not interested in.

Please know that I am trying to be picky, those I said above are the ideals, and I understand I have to make some compromises.

The reason I want to be a Marine is Marines seems to have higher standard in the military. I consider myself to be ambitious, so I want to be the best. Besides, I feel other branches rely heavily on machines, and I want the skills I learned to be on myself instead of how to drive a tank.

So can anyone give me some advice on my career in Marine or other branches. Again, I understand I have to make compromises, so please don't feel I am trying to be picky.

I appreciate all your comments in advance

And two more question, for those who have served, do you think you have learned leaderships in an officer position and can use it in civilian world specifically in business(I read detailed research about people with military experience are more likely to have their own business especially officers)? And do you think Marine train this quality better than other branches?

Thanks

Jeff

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[Lisa 23]

Thread closed until you have a complete profile....site rules, which can be found in the poolee and Ask A Marine forums. When profile is complete, PM any Squad Leader from the Squad Leaders sticky in the Ask A Marine forum and thread will be re-opened.
And also a site rule.....Marine is always capitalized on this site.

[Lisa 23]

Profile complete....thread re-opened.

[Tennessee Top]

Just based on your initial post, my opinion is you are better suited to be a naval officer. The USN offers more engineering opportunities (nuclear, electrical, mechanical, etc.) and you can still learn leadership skills.

I recommend, once you are enrolled at a university (not sure about Berkley), contact the area OSO (Officer Selection Officer) and talk about Marine officer opportunities. You can find their contact info at the local USMC recruiting office.

[jeffw]

Hi, thanks for your reply. Navy was actually my initial choice, but I always have a feeling about those jobs that stuck in my mind. I feel Navy are more like technicians, so do as those mechanics in Marines or any other branches.
I don't know whether it is right or wrong: do Navy and mechanics in other branches train a lot less harder than Marines especially infantry?
For me, it is not that important to do mechanic jobs, rather I think it is more important to learn the spirit from the military. And I feel military is probably important for a man; he has to learn honesty, strength, leadership, citizenship etc. So do you Marines think Marine is kind of same on this compare to Navy and Army? And is combat jobs do the same on this compare to others?

[Tennessee Top]

A naval officer would not be a mechanic. I have never been in the Navy so cannot say if they train any harder. This is a Marine site; our attitudes are going to be biased in a positive way towards the Marine Corps. As an officer, you will learn leadership skills in the other services. Obviously, combat in the Navy would be totallly different compared to the Army and Marine Corps as it would take place entirely at sea (unless you were a pilot of course).

I still recommend you talk to an OSO or recruiter. They are trained to answer all your questions.