Enlistment Options

[DesireToServe]

Background: I have run out of money for college. My parents don't make enough to help out significantly, but make just enough that FAFSA is won't give me jack ****. I'm about to enter my sophomore year and am considering enlisting.

My question is really what might be the better route to go: reserve or active? I know the reserves won't give me a ton of money for school, but with the little they will give me and drill pay on top of it it should be just enough for me to manage school as long as I have a job as well. However active duty would give me full GI bill benefits once my contract is up. It would delay my degree by four years, but would leave me better off financially. I've also heard of the National Call to Service program and have a basic understanding of what it is: "2 year enlistment", but if anyone here is a recruiter and could give me some more in depth info than my google search could, I would appreciate it.

Also my end goal is to be an officer. With this in mind, as far as enlistment goes, the reserves would get me to that goal the fastest of any enlistment option. If I went active though I could always try for MECEP. Now I know to get selected for MECEP you have to be **** hot. But I have an ACT score of 30 and AFQT 91, so if I had good PFT and CFT scores and assuming I'll be a good Marine, would MECEP really be such a long shot for me?

Thanks in advance to all.

P.S. I'm sure that josephd will jump on this post and tell me that enlisting is not the right thing to do if I want to be an officer. I respect that opinion and for most people enlisting when you want to be an officer is probably counterproductive, but I also know that plenty of people have done it. josephd please feel free to give me advice anyway as no disrespect is intended here.

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[josephd]

MECEP is a long shot for anyone, I don't care what your ACT/SAT score is. Selection is not based solely on tangible test scores and physical fitness.

I am NOT going to tell you to not enlist, if you do enlist go active duty not reserves though. You will not get everything out of the reserves that you think you will. Working, going to school, drill/being in the reserves, and still trying to have a some sort of social life is EXTREMELY difficult. I am not saying you can't do it, I do it as do a few others I know...I am just saying it is not ideal.

[LCPL1341]

So let me get this straight; you need college money, so this is why you are enlisting? If the college money weren't an issue, I assume you'd try for the officer program right out the gate?

[DesireToServe]

Yes, and I was in contact with an OSO. Needing college money is the direct reason that enlistment has come back up as an option (almost enlisted a year ago). However, if college money was the only reason I was considering enlisting, well I would probably enlist in the national guard and get all of my tuition paid for for being, essentially, a reservist. I have other reasons I'm considering enlisting though. I always thought that because of my vision I wouldn't be able to be a pilot, so I my plan was to try to get a PLC-ground contract. However, I've found out that I'm a good candidate for corrective surgery, and now being a pilot isn't so far out of reach. I have gotten so interested in ground MOSs that after finding out that I actually could be a pilot there is still a part of me that wants experience on the ground. So in that case enlistment would give me the opportunity to get some ground experience and be a pilot later. Also, if I don't want to delay my degree then my best option for enlistment is reserves. So, obviously there are other services who would give me more money for being guard/reserve than the Marine Corps will, but I want to be a Marine, so joining another service just for college money wouldn't sit right with me.

[USMC 2571]

And by the same token, joining the Marine Corps for money might not sit right with you, either. Be careful of your motives for doing things, and also spreading yourself too thin re ideas for careers, ground, air, reserves, active, school. Somewhere down the line you won't have all these choices. You may not even have all these choices now, you don't know if you'll even be accepted for any of this, or what the future holds. Good luck with whatever you decide to do and with whatever you are ABLE to do.

[Tennessee Top]

One point wannabe's conveniently and routinely forget. The "needs of the Marine Corps" is the over-riding factor when it comes to selection for any commissioning program, education program, reserve/active duty contract, promotion, duty assignment, reenlistment - you name it. One can have all the qualifications and potential in the world, but if the USMC wants someone else, they'll pick someone else. Most of the time, it simply boils down to numbers.