Continuing Education Aboard Ship?

[Ventus]

Prior Service Marine Corps Meteorologist on track to apply for a Naval Aviator spot. I earned my degree before I enlisted. Long story.

My bachelors is not in a hard science field, however I am looking to either get a second bachelors or get a masters degree in something like Space/Physics, or Atmospheric Science.

Are there any opportunities for distance learning offered aboard ship while deployed? I understand you'll be pretty busy anyway with operations, however if I can take a few more physics courses or primer material, I'd be interested in pursuing that. Does anyone here have any experience with this?

 

[taxi1]

Get an MS over a second BS.

Lots of universities now offer distance learning degrees. For example, Penn State has its world campus with lots of choices.

Master's Degrees Online - Penn State World Campus

Earn a respected, accredited master's degree online through Penn State World Campus to advance your career. Find one that fits your goals.

www.worldcampus.psu.edu

Do you have the GI Bill to use?

 

[AllAmerican75]

I'll second the MS option (It will be far more advantageous professionally), especially if the Navy/USMC will pay for it. You should have access to tuition assistance but will need to figure out connectivity problems and scheduling over different time zones. I know that there are a number of universities (Purdue has a great one, Johns Hopkins is another) who will bend over backwards to help so they get that sweet, sweet GI Bill money. The military options at sea are geared more towards helping Sailors get their general education requirements knocked out so they won't do much good for you.

Be advised that as a junior officer, you're going to want to be 100% focused on getting your qualifications knocked out. Aviators still have to get qualified aircraft commander (HAC?) and mission commander, as well as some tactical stuff. It is bad juju to return from a cruise without those qualifications finished. I personally know some guys who did not and they are now on civvie street. The actual airdales can fill you in on the actual process for those quals but I know that they're a big deal and should be your prime focus.

 

[Pags]

As AA75 said, it would be challenging to do an MS while underway as an unqualified nugget. You could MAYBE do it once qualified with a small course load during your first tour. Gets easier during your shore tour which is when most guys do it. Depending on the vagaries of the flight school log jam you might be able to chip away at one during the times you're waiting in the pipeline.

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

Prior Service Marine Corps Meteorologist on track to apply for a Naval Aviator spot. I earned my degree before I enlisted. Long story.

My bachelors is not in a hard science field, however I am looking to either get a second bachelors or get a masters degree in something like Space/Physics, or Atmospheric Science.

Are there any opportunities for distance learning offered aboard ship while deployed? I understand you'll be pretty busy anyway with operations, however if I can take a few more physics courses or primer material, I'd be interested in pursuing that. Does anyone here have any experience with this?

If you are adamant about getting a second BS or MS... why not get it now and apply for aviation later? As folks stated here, it's going to be a while until you're in a good position to start taking classes.

 

[pilot_man]

Do you want to go to TPS? That is really the only reason I can think of where having the advanced degree, now, would be useful. There will be opportunities later down the road if that is not the case.

 

[Ventus]

Do you want to go to TPS? That is really the only reason I can think of where having the advanced degree, now, would be useful. There will be opportunities later down the road if that is not the case.

That's the dream. Everything i've ever heard says that you need the "TPS Stink" on you if you want to be considered for anything space related. Either that or apply to a comparable program in another service like the U-2 program.

 

[azguy]

All ships I've deployed on (to include the carrier) have professors from NPACE(sp?) that teach college courses. It's A.A./B.A. level coursework but who knows, maybe you could apply the credits towards a Masters. Keep in mind bandwidth on ships generally sucks and isn't near enough to support online coursework. Good for you for having this ambition, I'd look for slower, and shore-based windows in your career to pursue it though (maint phase, etc).