Details on Earning Degree on Active Duty

[kreliav]

"This one a long time have I watched. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph. Adventure. Heh! Excitement. Heh! A Jedi craves not these things."
-Master Yoda

I believe this advice, or anyway something like it, has been echoed here in the posts in which DEP people are told not to worry about about making chief quite just yet, and instead to worry about getting through boot camp for now. It's good advice. And I hear it.

On the other hand, my ship date isn't for another month, and I've got little else to do except play World of Warcrack and plan out, oh, the next 12 years or so of my life in all of its minute details.

Anyway, since I'll be a nuke, I thought about working on an engineering degree in the very little spare time I expect to have. There's plenty on this topic in this forum, but I'm interested in some details.

I've read here that working on a degree is much easier to do while stationed on a submarine. Why is this? What is it about serving on a carrier that makes it difficult to work on a degree?

And exactly how does one manage to be a student while serving on active duty? How easy is it to schedule classes around your regularly scheduled on-duty hours? Is it easy to avoid conflict there? And if I sign up for a class, is it possible that I will unexpectedly find myself in say, the Persian Gulf, on the date of the midterm? Has anything like this ever happened to anyone here?

And if you have to live on the boat with no more personal space than your own bunk, are there other places to study?

Also, if there is anyone here who has worked on a degree while serving on active duty, roughly how many credits per semester were you able to manage?

And yes, I've read that it's easy to do this as a prototype instructor, but I was just interested in exploring some possibilities before I reach that point.

This is a great forum. I've found it very helpful. Thanks to all the regulars who maintain it.

[Rad Sponge]

"This one a long time have I watched. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph. Adventure. Heh! Excitement. Heh! A Jedi craves not these things."
-Master Yoda

I believe this advice, or anyway something like it, has been echoed here in the posts in which DEP people are told not to worry about about making chief quite just yet, and instead to worry about getting through boot camp for now. It's good advice. And I hear it.

On the other hand, my ship date isn't for another month, and I've got little else to do except play World of Warcrack and plan out, oh, the next 12 years or so of my life in all of its minute details.

Anyway, since I'll be a nuke, I thought about working on an engineering degree in the very little spare time I expect to have. There's plenty on this topic in this forum, but I'm interested in some details.

I've read here that working on a degree is much easier to do while stationed on a submarine. Why is this? What is it about serving on a carrier that makes it difficult to work on a degree?

And exactly how does one manage to be a student while serving on active duty? How easy is it to schedule classes around your regularly scheduled on-duty hours? Is it easy to avoid conflict there? And if I sign up for a class, is it possible that I will unexpectedly find myself in say, the Persian Gulf, on the date of the midterm? Has anything like this ever happened to anyone here?

And if you have to live on the boat with no more personal space than your own bunk, are there other places to study?

Also, if there is anyone here who has worked on a degree while serving on active duty, roughly how many credits per semester were you able to manage?

And yes, I've read that it's easy to do this as a prototype instructor, but I was just interested in exploring some possibilities before I reach that point.

This is a great forum. I've found it very helpful. Thanks to all the regulars who maintain it.

1. Thanks for joining
2. Don't worry about college until you qualify in the fleet or unless you decide to pursue an officer program while in the pipeline
3. Most bases have a college representative/college center to answer all your questions
5. Search this forum.

R/ JMK

[Roll Tide]

Thanks for your service.
Yes, I did get a BS while on Active Duty stationed aboard a sub. This was probably around the time you were going through advanced potty training, so my experience is dated (but I do try to keep up with current information).

The "engineering degree" is a broad category. Consider what you want to do, and work towards a degree that meets that goal. For example, if you want to go operate a commercial power plant, a technical degree is as good as an engineering degree.

The degree you want will determine which school is right for you. Thomas Edison (TESC.edu) has a program that my friends have used; I went the Excelsior (excelsior.edu) route (back when it was the University of the State of New York). Those 2 offer a good number of credits from NNPS, A-school, and your rank / rate. Excelsior will even give you credit as an E-5 for PNA on the MM2 exam.

The "Navy Campus" office at the former Charleston Naval Station evaluated my credits. Then they scheduled and administered my CLEP and GRE exams. We discussed which classes I could take during an off-crew (I was on a SSBN) and which I could take a challenge exam and which were mail-in. Today the additional choice of electronic delivery should be there, but I am unaware of the details. After I met every requirement for the BS, Navy Campus notarized copies of the necessary pages from my service record and other credit sources, and submitted it to the college.

I have benefitted many times since due to having a degree. It helped in the Navy on Evals, it has given me job opportunities that I would not have had otherwise, and it has given me the edge in selection. Today the GI Bill would even pay the portion of the tuition for classes not paid by the Navy.

Hope this is what you were looking for.

RT

P.S. When you are in Boot Camp, you will break the Warcrack addiction. You don't want to start back until you are fully qualified and have a degree!

[Roll Tide]

UPDATE: we have an advertiser for just the situation I described



http://www.nukeworker.com/adserver/adclick.php?bannerid=120&zoneid=2&source=NukeWorker+Banner&dest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.epceonline.org%2Fnw

[jgpwest]

First, thank you for your service.

Second, it is good that you are looking at options for college early, but you will find very little time until you are fully qualified to pursue a degree.

The next point I am going to make will be a little harder to swallow.  It doesn't make it any easier whether you are on a sub or surface to get a degree if you are a nuke.  If you want an engineering degree that makes it much more difficult as most of the classes offered through the navy are not geared towards this.  Plus, there is no current way to get a true "engineering" degree through any type of correspondence or distance learning program.  I think the State of New York is trying to set one up for some of the SUNY schools, but I don't think they are there yet.

But all is not lost if you want to get a real engineering degree, but it will require you to stay in for longer than 6 years.  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in NY has a program specifically set up for staff stationed at the prototype in NY.  It takes almost 3 yrs to complete, and is very challenging and expensive.  This is the route that I took.  They set up a schedule that works around the rotating shift work for a few sections there.

Here is a link:

http://www.rpi.edu/dept/mane/deptweb/index.html

This is your best bet if you want a true engineering degree from one of the best engineering schools in the country in my mind.

Good luck on your service, and I hope this helps.

[Bighouz107501]

fgp

Little advice...if you are a mechanic, I would quit the wow instantly....after bootcamp dont even go back to it...all the other mechanics and I love to give them a hard time...good luck to you though.

[kreliav]

Thanks for the responses.

Yeah, I've got a somewhat worthless B.A. in history&political science. It may serve me well if I opt for law school in ten years. For the moment, it just allows me to check the yes box next to the question that asks if I have a four-year degree. The enlistment bonus wasn't bad either.

But I was thinking of maybe earning a degree in electrical engineering or computer engineering or something like that. I want this and not something else like an engineering technology degree primarily because I already have a degree, and if I went to the trouble of earning another one, it would be because I'm seeking a specific career. When I search the ads on monster.com, it doesn't appear to me that engineering technology degrees are in high demand. They want engineering degrees.

Anyway, this would be roughly a 95-credit run for me rather than the usual 125 or so, since I've already got the non-technical/general education requirements taken care of. I was thinking of maybe asking for East Coast, which I imagined would land me in Norfolk, and I could perhaps take 6-9 credits/semester at ODU while serving.

From the responses, I'm hearing that this isn't very realistic. I know people who have done this, and that's why I was curious about the possibility. But none of them were nukes. And it seems the nukes who earned a degree on active duty went for an engineering technology degree -- or otherwise something besides a standard engineering degree -- through a variety of correspondence courses, distance learning, and other methods that aren't feasible for lab-heavy engineering classes. 

So from what I understand, for whatever reason (ending up in the Persian Gulf on midterm day, the general lack of spare time, whatever), getting an engineering degree as a nuke on active duty isn't realistic unless you STAR reenlist, get picked up for prototype, and enroll at RPI.

This, of course, isn't what I was hoping to hear, but it's good to know all the same. I will adjust my plans and expectations accordingly. Thanks again to everyone for their responses.

If my reasoning outlined above is missing anything, feel free to add to it or correct it.

[jgpwest]

If you look up Buffalo University, they along with Binghamton and Stony Brook now offer a BS in EE online.  The only one of its type in the world right now.  It isn't ABET accredited yet since they haven't graduated anyone from the program yet, but it will be coming soon.

here's a link

http://le.suny.edu/bee/

[Cycoticpenguin]

Welcome shipmate - suprised no one mentioned it yet -

Thomas Edison University works with nukes in particular. With no college and just passing power school/ prototype they practically give you a BS.

As for the Warcraft bologne, its up to you to determine how much you can handle. This guys say no, I say yes if its what you enjoy doing. Just remember School is your Number 1 priority. Make sure you place it where it needs to be.

[Roll Tide]

Thanks for the responses.

Yeah, I've got a somewhat worthless B.A. in history&political science. It may serve me well if I opt for law school in ten years. For the moment, it just allows me to check the yes box next to the question that asks if I have a four-year degree. The enlistment bonus wasn't bad either.
my reasoning outlined above is missing anything, feel free to add to it or correct it.

This was crucial information you left out. You are going the wrong direction. Look into Master's degree programs.
Why? Because you can get a M.S. in a challenging field that is in demand faster than the engineering degree you are considering. UT (Tennessee, not Texas) even offers an external M.S. in Nuclear Engineering!

GI Bill does not pay for another undergraduate degree, but will pay for a graduate program (including any pre-reqs for a graduate program).

[cincinnatinuke]

Roll Tide is absolutley right in that regard.  There is a guy here at work with a BA in Business but working on a MS in Health Physics.  Sure he could have gone back and gotten a BS in Engineering, but didnt and found something else.  In the end his resume will read that he has a masters in Nuc Eng. with emphasis in health physics.

Secondly, dont knock the Eng. Technology degrees.  Many of the correspondence courses I took at local universities had labs and real classrooms but I dont believe this in any way made me smarter.  I can find plenty of jobs which will take an ABET accredited degree.  Dont be fooled into thinking that having a particular school's name (or minus the words technology after engineering) on that piece of paper gets you too much farther.  It really only gets you a foot in the door.  So going back to Roll Tide's comment, use what you have (current degree) and get a Master's.  Then you will have a bigger foot in the door and make it harder for a company to say no.  And your path to success will likely be much shorter than starting over.

[neitzezc]

I started working on mine when I was in but it became too big of a hassle to handle really.  It all depends on your situation.  I started off my time on the submarine in shipyard, so i was spending upwards of 16 hours a day actively working so that left little time for studying (did'nt even try in fact).  once we went down to San Diego after SY though I had time (did 3 courses at a time).  Deployment isa the perfect time to do it too.

I think part of the reason people say its easier done on a submarine is that on times like deployment, there really isn't much else to do when you are not on watch ifyou are fully qualified.  you can watch movies and stuff on crews mess depending on the time of day, if drills are going on etc.  on carriers, your off time is way more wide open and there is just strait up more to do.  its kind of a focus thing.  with less distractions of fun things to do (cards, movies, video games etc) on a sub its easier to get the school stuff done.

and noone lives on the sub unless they go to captains mast BTW   you only live on there underway.  when you are in port you either ilve in the barracks (e-4 or below with <4 years in the navy) or out in town (everyone else)