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Maybe back in the day, but now days a sub officer will hold who knows what degrees. I encountered a range of them ranging from history to engineering. I am sure the STEM has some preferences, especially now days where it seems there is an abundance of college grads trying to find an actual career.
Again, maybe back in the day, because there was no push while I was in, and they only started pushing for those advancing to E7 to have an associates (which even that got suspended because of the wars). I do not even know anyone who had college credits that the Navy knew of and got advanced, I got out as an E7 after 12 years, though I took some college course, they were not on my record for advancement purposes or anything.
This of course could have changed since the wars have been winding down, and it has become easier to get college. But from the people I know that are still active duty, college has not been a requirement for advancing.
Many accounting functions are now contractors or civil service.
A lot of people enlist with degrees because they could not pass that officer test or whatever it is, the math part gets them. Rarely did I come across a degree holder who did not attempt to be an officer before enlisting.
Supply officers [chops] are no longer accountants?
In the Army there is a branch called the Finance Corp. This should be right up your alley. Why don't you look into that and see if you can earn your degree now then enlist for OCS and get your commission as a Finance Officer. Just a thought.
Supply officers [chops] are no longer accountants?
Civil service at sea?
I did not run into a single chop that had an accounting background other than what the Navy taught them.
The accounting and acquisition system is shore based. My last command had a gs14 as the comptroller, and a series of contractors for everything else. The sea based and in general active duty base is the end user, which has minimal accounting functions.
Even at my squadron (squadron 14) the people running the money were civilians. Us Navy people were the end users. Sure, we keep track of the ship budget and supplies, but that is more simple bookkeeping than anything close to accounting. Ships do not generally make acquisitions, it is not like the USS Whatever is going to go to Lockheed to sign some contracts for F-18s, and it is not like it is going to the DOD to get some more money for its budget.
Active duty does not do a lot of things, that is why we have that large civilian DOD workforce.
He's saying...after graduating with a bachelors degree, she can get in as a second lieutenant (which is an officer), that's why she shouldn't quit college now to enlist (she would only get an enlisted rate)
He's saying...after graduating with a bachelors degree, she can get in as a second lieutenant (which is an officer), that's why she shouldn't quit college now to enlist (she would only get an enlisted rate)
Welp, I tried talking to the ROTC guys at my university today and they said that they are mainly looking for Technical/engineering/medical types of majors. Apparently they give super preference to tier 1 majors compared to tier 3 majors (Accounting) which make sense but kinda sucks for me... They're also pretty hesitant to accept me since I'm already finishing up my second year.
Based from what I've read so far, the Officer Candidate School selection process is super competitive. My non-technical major will probably decrease my chances of getting in compared to the IT dude with similar stats.
I'll try anyways. I'll graduate first then apply. Hopefully, they seriously consider me then.
Thank you guys for the advice! I don't exactly have anyone to talk to about military stuff like these, so this was a big help!
This is one reason my husband (Navy) enlisted with a bachelor's degree already in hand, vs. commissioning...technical degrees were what was being sought; his was not a technical degree (funnily enough, his rating in the Navy? IT. ) In his case, he's currently a Senior Chief (E-8), and couldn't be happier. He may or may not pursue Warrant Officer at some point.
Well, I suppose the worst case scenario for me would be to enlist after college if I don't get in as an officer. I definitely feel more secure to have at least a bachelors degree just in case things don't work out!
I read about some of the linguist positions they desperately need in the military, so I'll probably try to get those if accounting-related jobs are not available at the time. I'm already fluent in 3 languages so why not learn another one :P
In the meantime, I'll keep working out and reviewing the ASVAB to make sure that I freaking ace it when the time comes.
I did not run into a single chop that had an accounting background other than what the Navy taught them.
The accounting and acquisition system is shore based. My last command had a gs14 as the comptroller, and a series of contractors for everything else. The sea based and in general active duty base is the end user, which has minimal accounting functions.
Even at my squadron (squadron 14) the people running the money were civilians. Us Navy people were the end users. Sure, we keep track of the ship budget and supplies, but that is more simple bookkeeping than anything close to accounting. Ships do not generally make acquisitions, it is not like the USS Whatever is going to go to Lockheed to sign some contracts for F-18s, and it is not like it is going to the DOD to get some more money for its budget.
Active duty does not do a lot of things, that is why we have that large civilian DOD workforce.
I have very little experience with how the surface does things.
It seems that most things I did in my career are far different from other communities of the DOD. The interactions with the wardroom, how different gross pay is from base-pay, how common degrees are among enlisted, etc. When I finished my EE I was not impressed with the wardroom, so I never attempted to get a commission.
It certainly shows how different each community is from the other communities.
When I started, Navs were largely math or physics majors. By the 90s it seemed that Navs had mostly all became nucs. Engs as they came forward jockeying for the XO slot had to fill in as either Weps or Nav. So we no longer had career Navs.
This is one reason my husband (Navy) enlisted with a bachelor's degree already in hand, vs. commissioning...technical degrees were what was being sought; his was not a technical degree (funnily enough, his rating in the Navy? IT. ) In his case, he's currently a Senior Chief (E-8), and couldn't be happier. He may or may not pursue Warrant Officer at some point.
Within the sub community, pushing everyone to be continuously taking classes meant that the goat locker commonly had a bunch of Psych and Management B.A.s
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They're also pretty hesitant to accept me since I'm already finishing up my second year.
) In his case, he's currently a Senior Chief (E-8), and couldn't be happier. He may or may not pursue Warrant Officer at some point.
