Officer or Enlisted

[baseball24]

Hello, I am 22 years old with a college degree GPA 3.4 and former collegiate athlete. Since high school I have wanted to enlist infantry and I still want to. I have talked to both enlisted and officer recruiters and the officer route makes more sense with my qualifications but the process looks hard and lengthy to be selected. I have an elbow surgery that I know will hold me back and take even longer to get selected. However I am in good shape and able to complete the 20 pull-ups.

I know I want to enlist, I have been thinking about it for about 5 years now, but the officer route definitely has my attention for obvious reasons.


1. How often do college grads go enlisted?

2. Is the enlisted route definitely faster than officer?

3. If I do want to become an officer in the future after I enlist, will it be more or less difficult?


Thanks

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[USMC 2571]

We will definitely throw in our two cents here, but let me tell you, there are a LOT of threads about this to look at. More than nearly any other topic, this has come up the most often, I would say. Look down at the end of your initial post and see "Similar Threads". There are 5 right there! And many many more. Take a look at all of those....One of the most common fallacies, I will call them, is when folks say, well, I gotta be enlisted first in order to LEAD those enlisted people. Forgetting and ignoring that OCS and The Basic School teach you the ins and outs of all that. True, leadership cannot be taught, as such, and it is part of you now or it is not. You don't assimilate it in OCS or The Basic School (TBS)-----but they take someone who already has the traits of a leader or potential leader, and train him or her.......I have read countless times here where the person says Oh, to lead, you have to have the experiences of those whom you are leading, i.e. go enlisted first......In my humble opinion that is not true---but anyway, please take a look at those threads, this is a very interesting subject, to me at least.

[USMC 2571]

Specifically, for now:

1. College grads freuently go enlisted, for the reason I gave above, and for many other reasons.

2. Boot camp is shorter than going to OCS then TBS.

3.As far as I know, becoming an officer later, once you are enlisted, is a lot more difficult than it would be to go to OCS/TBS to begin with. There is also Platoon Leaders Class for folks who are still in college, they go in the summer, one or two sessions of PLC.

If I were you, I would sit down with a recruiter and then with an Officer Selection Officer (OSO) right away, and get the two viewpoints and sets of info, keeping in mind, naturally, that each will try to sway you towards one or the other--------you need to gather info, which is what you are doing here, but we can only offer advice and opinions....those things plus a dollar and a half or three bucks or whatever it is these days, will buy you a cup of coffee.

You need to get the straight scoop from both recruiter and OSO as to the two different worlds.

[USMC 2571]

(disregard that part about PLC, as you are no longer a student)----and, I know you said you already did sit down with both recruiters, but go back and get more detailed information, perhaps.

[baseball24]

Thank you for your post. Does anyone have an idea of the quantity of recruits that go enlisted with a degree or is it a rare occurrence. The reason I want enlisted more is because I know exactly what MOS I want and want to secure that position

[USMC 2571]

Only the USMC knows how many recruits enlist with degrees. But it is often. Very often. Certainly not a rare occurrence. Very common.

[Zulu 36]

These days many more people with degrees enlist than in the past. My boot camp platoon had one (in 1971) and he was a rare thing (but was a reservist too). Now I would guess if a platoon didn't have at least one, that would be the rare thing.

I know there was at least one guy on the site here several years ago looking to enlist and he had a master's degree. Wanted nothing to do with being an officer.

As far as giving you an exact number, none of us here could do that. An enlisted recruiter MAY be able to get the stats through his chain of command. Don't expect an OSO to want to learn that for you, however.

If you do decide to enlist, a little warning: your elbow surgery will require a medical waiver from MEPS or even possibly BUMED. If all is back to 100%, you shouldn't have any trouble, you'll just spend some time sitting on your hands waiting for the waiver to come back. If you're serious about the Corps, enlisted or officer, start getting the medical records together now as MEPS will want to see them.

[USMC 2571]

baseball24----Got your PM----when faced with choices, do a list of pros and cons, even on a sheet of paper, gather ALL relevant information, and make your decision, being sure it is for the right reasons and it is an informed decision, not "fly by seat of the pants" BS that folks sometimes do, and generally you will be all right. Your gut will tell you, oftentimes, what you should do. Good luck and keep us posted right here please.

[USMC 2571]

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT--what Zulu said about medical aspects of this

[baseball24]

My enlisted recruiter sent down my medical stuff to meps for my surgery a couple of weeks ago. We are still waiting to hear back from them. My gut says enlist but my brain says officer. I also don't like knowing that I might not get selected when enlisted I know I can sign a contract and be in.

[Tennessee Top]

1. Never enlist, with the "goal", or "hope" of becoming a commissioned or limited duty officer eventually. The chances of that happening are so rare, it's nothing to plan on. During my 22.6 year career, I saw it happen to two enlisted Marines (through the MCECP program which you will not be eligible for). I know of several who became Warrant Officers through the Warrant Officer Program which you would be eligible for after you become a Sergeant. WO's are considered technical experts in their occupational fields and never hold command billets like a commissioned officer can.

2. If you do decide to become a commissioned officer, only do it the old fashioned way - through OCS and TBS by working with your OSO.

3. Knowing what enlisted MOS you want, and actually securing that MOS, are two different animals. Don't know what your recruiter is telling you, but infantry contracts are the first to disappear (because so many want one but there are only so many to go around). Understand, your recruiter may be able to offer you a reserve infantry contract, but not an active duty one (that happens frequently too). It will boil down to the needs of the Marine Corps at that time. You can take what's offered, or wait around for something better to open up later (which may-or-may not ever happen).

Good luck.

[TolzerVman]

Go officer first; if you fail, you can then enlist. Two different career paths. I met two Marines that washed out of some officer training. They both talked 'weird' and I asked them where they learned to talk like that, and that was when they told me they washed out of officer training.
Back when I was in my first enlistment, I meet two officer candidates who were out on a Saturday. They told me that they had weekends off, unlike Boot Camp when you don't get days off. The funny part was that one of them started asking me if I "rated the right to wear a belt buckle with a Marine Corps Emblem".

[USMC 2571]

Great advice from both Top and Tolzer, as always-----here's the thing, OP, we don't know what's in your head as far as what you REALLY want to do. It sounds to me like you're still sorting all that out. So make a list of pros and cons for officer and one sheet of paper for enlisted, list both columns, think about it, and decide. But no one can possibly know exactly what's in your heart, only you know that.

My personal advice is (also) to go officer, just because you can. If it doesn't work out, as Tolzer said, you can go enlisted. Top is entirely right in that none of this stuff is a given, it all depends on several factors, and you might not get the MOS you want anyway, plus your medical things might not allow you to go in, on top of all this-------------so while we can tell you what WE would do, we're not you.

[baseball24]

Thanks everyone. I am beginning the process to be selected for OCS. I think the only thing that was holding me back was the weird idea (to me atleast) that you can lead marines without being a marine first. As many explained to me how the officer path works and my experience with leadership, I am confident I will make a decent officer in the Marine Corps

[03GyRene]

MANY years ago, I had an alternate appointment to Annapolis and was on track to get a full-ride NROTC scholarship…my goal was to be a Marine officer. I got this hair-brained idea that I should enlist first, then become an officer later.Well, I enlisted (I have no regrets and would do it again in a heart beat), but becoming an officer later just never happened, and I think it is rare. Good luck, I hope you get selected for OCS, it’s a good way to go. Just make sure that if you do get commissioned…..make sure you become a GOOD officer. Best of luck.