Is having a Masters Degree a qualifing point to get to O2?
I think someone asked that question during the info session on the interview day. No, Masters (or PhD) does not get you an O2 within DCO. If RUMINT is true, I'd be mildly curious what designator that person was selected for and what prompted them to evaluate O1 vs O2 as the starting paygrade. As mentioned above, it's usually the doctors, lawyers, chaplans, and other service officers that get to come in at anything above O1. Also, when I first reached out to my OR last year, one of his first questions were "do you have a masters, what major, and what gpa". He said you need to have one in the right thing with good gpa to being even remotely competetive just for selection alone, not even mentioning anything above O1 as a start.
Also, would coming into the reserves as O2 vs O1 mess up any of the timings with the required PQS and other stuff? On the active side it probably could due to the expected tours you need to have as you are progressing from O1 to O3. If you are missing some expected things that you did not do, then it puts your package at a disadvantage compared to other O3's during your O4 selection board. You would also be looked at for O4 promotion 2 years early, which could present issues for prior service people who need to make sure they are in the sanctuary if they 2xFOS for O4. Me personally, I would not bother investing efforts into trying to come in as O2, and if they offered it to me, I would seek feedback before accepting it over plain O1. The bar is already high enough to get selected at all and I'd be perfectly ok if I made it to that point.
