The GoArmy website says that if you already have a 4 year degree you can do 2 years of ROTC while pursuing a graduate degree and commission upon graduation. Does A&M offer this option considering ROTC cadets must also be in the Corps? My girlfriend is trying to decide whether to get her Masters and commission or go to OCS first and apply for the law program.

Try this site. On the left side look for "Office of the Commandant Headquarters (Trigon)" Call the phone number given. That would be the first place I would call. They would be able to steer you in the right direction. Good Luck!

http://corps.tamu.edu/contact-us

My brother did that a&m.

He frogged in, did two years of school and ROTC/corps stuff and was commissioned when he graduated.

There was a marine major there, I can't remember his name but he was very instrumental in helping my Brother.

quote:

---

My brother did that a&m.

He frogged in, did two years of school and ROTC/corps stuff and was commissioned when he graduated.

There was a marine major there, I can't remember his name but he was very instrumental in helping my Brother.

---

Possibly Emerson? He is a LtCol now.

As I recall some veterans were able to do it without joining the corps. That was circa 2001 when I was there. They were marines and were on scholarship but lived as non regs. I would definitely go that route if I am her. The corps was great but it was also a big chunk of time that a grad student probably doesn't have to waste on "corps games", especially as a frog. If she wanted to join the corps tell her to go V-1, which is a unit of veterans or at least it used to be.
On a side note what degree does she want? If she goes OCS and competes for the FLEP there is no guarantee. If she wants to be a JAG I would think it easier for her to get her law degree on her own, pass the bar, and get a direct commission.

We had a grad student frog into Squadron 18. There were some special concessions we had to make to accommodate his academics, but we made sure he was able to participate in all mandatory Corps training. It is completely doable.

Selection rate for JAG is around 5% in all branches.

She is getting her BS in Criminal Justice with a minor in Homeland Security from Penn State. Some stuff from the A&M law school recently came in the mail and we are waiting on info from the Bush School. We are looking at the Master of Public Service. If she goes the OCS route, she wants to go Intel. She aims high haha.

Useful information to put in your algorithm:

When branch assignments are given to commissioning lieutenants, OCS gets the last pick. USMA gets first pick of the available allocations. The 6 senior military colleges get 2nd pick. The rest of the 270 ROTC programs get next pick. OCS gets whatever allocations are left over.

What does that mean to your friend? Last year the Army commissioned 6195 new 2LTs (from all commissioning sources). Of those, about 250 were assigned to the military intelligence branch (because the Army honestly doesn't need very many MI officers). Only one allocation was not filled by USMA and ROTC - that's right, only one allocation for MI was available to all OCS commissions.

As the Army contracts and changes the BCT shape, the number of LTs will obviously decline as well. Next year, with an end strength of 490,000, the appropriation is for about 5800 2LTs. FY17's 420,000 end strength is expected to need about 4900 LTs. The USMA and ROTC classes are already locked in for those FYs, so where do you think the cuts to commissioning rates will come from? That's right, OCS. And, as the BCT shuffle completes, the number of MI LTs will decrease.

What all of this means is that if your girlfriend wants to be an intel dork, there is an infinitesimally small chance she will get that by going through OCS, especially if she does not have prior enlisted experience as an intel analyst (with a TS/SCI clearance done).

Her two realistic options are to take the 2-year ROTC scholarship or pursue an Army Reserve direct commission (extremely small chance with no gov't intel background). There are 2-year ROTC scholarships for grad students. If she has not completed basic training and AIT she will be required to go to the cadet basic summer camp at Fort Knox before signing her contract. It's a 3-week "this is what the Army smells like" camp for late ROTC joiners that's stupid easy.

As for the FLEP program (Fully-funded Legal education Program), that is also getting smaller. I was talking with the CG of the US Army Recruiting Command (doing data analysis for him) and we've all come to the conclusion that it is cheaper and more realistic for the Army to pursue direct-commission lawyers whenever possible.

Instead of giving someone a scholarship and hoping they make it through law school, we offer student loan payback to already-graduated lawyers and make them captains. This is now the preferred route to achieve recruiting goals for attorneys. The FLEP scholarship numbers are becoming increasingly rare, and are typically reserved for high-achieving/high-potential paralegal NCOs or officers in other specialties.

For the national law school Class of '13, the Army had 800+ applicants for Army JAG. They took 100.

Don't know about the other services, but can attest with certainty about the Army, since my kid was one of the 100.

quote:

---

As for the FLEP program (Fully-funded Legal education Program), that is also getting smaller. I was talking with the CG of the US Army Recruiting Command (doing data analysis for him) and we've all come to the conclusion that it is cheaper and more realistic for the Army to pursue direct-commission lawyers whenever possible.

Instead of giving someone a scholarship and hoping they make it through law school, we offer student loan payback to already-graduated lawyers and make them captains. This is now the preferred route to achieve recruiting goals for attorneys. The FLEP scholarship numbers are becoming increasingly rare, and are typically reserved for high-achieving/high-potential paralegal NCOs or officers in other specialties.

---

FLEP is limited to officers. Also FLEP has always been more expensive than direct commission. Full pay and allowances + full tuition != cheap. However it is here to stay permanently. JAG needs experienced officers from all branches.

quote:

---

For the national law school Class of '13, the Army had 800+ applicants for Army JAG. They took 100.

Don't know about the other services, but can attest with certainty about the Army, since my kid was one of the 100.

---

Congrats! That's a hell of a gig. It looks like the selection rate is going up slightly as the legal market slowly recovers. Army JAG's been hovering around 7%, AF 6%, and Navy 4% the last few years.

Thanks Tango. I let her read your posts and she's adjusting her plans accordingly

good luck to her/you. if she has any other questions I'm here through May