Masters? JPME? Online courses? Anything?

[Pags]

I was on duty and I was bored, so I figured "why not?". I probably won't touch it again until I'm sitting around answering phones again in a few weeks.

Don't waste your time with BS classes on NKO. If you're that bored, study something useful. Or surf the internet. Just don't waste your time with self make work.

As one of the older guys here, allow me to say this:
Never again in your career in the military will you have the opportunity to sit around doing pretty much nothing and getting paid for it.
You're in a town with a fairly low cost of living with a spectacular beach and a lot of spare time.
Enjoy it!!!
Once you start flying, you'll be studying and working to earn your wings. Once you get winged you go to the RAG, lots more studying. Then you get to the fleet; lots of studying and lots of time away from home.
Then you get to shore duty (6-8 years from now) and you finally get to catch your breath.

As others have said, you can't start JPME until your an O-3. Beside you need to learn how to be a Naval Officer before you start learning about the joint world.
If you really want to make some good use of your time, allow me to recommend:
1) Buy an aerodynics book and start learning your professions. I've seen a more folks get tripped up on aero than anything else.
2) Improve your handicap. Golf is a social activity enjoyed by many Naval Officers and some of the places you'll pull into have outstanding golf courses.
3) Get certified to dive. Some port calls offer some of the best diving in the world.
4) Volenteer for some type of organization and make a positive impact on your community.

Most importantly, have fun!!!!! You'll never have another opportunity to do pretty much nothing during your military carreer until you put in for terminal leave. Enjoy it.

Sage advice. You just spent four years working your tail off to get your bars. Enjoy some downtime and your paycheck. There are worse things than being stuck in Annapolis for a summer. Go to DC and meet some girls. Come to Pax and do all of our shitty collaterals for us. Don't do more school for fun.

For the record, I'm in Annapolis until November, but thanks for the responses so far... helohumpy, I assume you were referencing Pensacola...

You can still golf. Lumpy's advice about golf is spot on. Take some of that new paycheck and put it towards some lessons (money better spent than on clubs).

 

[SynixMan]

http://www.ancc.org/Club/Scripts/Home/home.asp

And I believe the rates are prorated based on rank. So for a newly minted O-1, reasonable.

 

[phrogpilot73]

http://www.ancc.org/Club/Scripts/Home/home.asp

+1. I joined the Army/Navy Country Club when I was an O-1. No waiting list, no initiation fee, and reduced fees if you're in the first year of your commissioning. I ended up quitting only because I got stationed in the south and realized I never wanted to come back north of Virginia again...

 

[Steve Wilkins]

Tread carefully towards the NWC CD-ROM JPME I course. It effing sucks. I sent it back two months after I started. Doing an online masters program through a civilian institution. PM me if you're interested in details.

When I was doing it, I didn't even get the damn CD-ROM. All they sent me were books.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

you really don't want an online grad degree at all, really

Why not?

 

[P3 F0]

Based on what I've heard over the years, the stigma of the online degree still exists. I would suggest that if you're serious about the content (that's a general "you," not aimed at you, Steve), then brick & mortar is the way to go; if you just want a check in the box for, say, advancement, then online may be the way to go. Aside from that, the program I took was entirely the adult-education model of teaching, and I got a whole lot out of that as compared to the one class we took that was mostly online, message-board based. I'm not sure what other teaching mediums are used for online courses.

Now, I have no idea how the civilian world views the online degree. I've never heard any stories of people walking out of job interviews after discussing their online degree, and haven't heard or looked for corporate hiring views of it, so I freely admit that what I'm saying could be bias and not reality.

 

[SynixMan]

Now, I have no idea how the civilian world views the online degree. I've never heard any stories of people walking out of job interviews after discussing their online degree, and haven't heard or looked for corporate hiring views of it, so I freely admit that what I'm saying could be bias and not reality.

Based on what I saw at my former employer, for internal advancement, online degrees were somewhat normal. I.e. you needed the check in the box to move up, so you did University of Phoenix and got it. If you were serious, you went to brick and mortar schools in the area. We had partnerships with the local universities for their Executive MBA programs. The pecking order in terms of prestige was in place. University of Wisconsin Milwaukee << Marquette University << Northwestern's Kellogg School of Business. Just what I saw...

 

[smittyrunr]

Do volunteer work if you want to feel useful. If you really want to learn something, look into community college classes which are fairly inexpensive. Take a class in something to further a hobby (cooking, photography, welding, etc) or look at learning a foreign language. Not much you do right now is going to get you that edge for a promotion or job later on, so might as well learn more about something you already enjoy.

 

[mmx1]

Online degrees in the news: credits for working at Wal-Mart
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/03/AR2010060302488.html

There are solid online programs that are offshoots of brick and mortar schools, but they are the exception, rather than the rule.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

Online degrees in the news: credits for working at Wal-Mart
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/03/AR2010060302488.html

How is that different than receiving credits for military service?

There are solid online programs that are offshoots of brick and mortar schools, but they are the exception, rather than the rule.

Not really. It's pretty much the rule now. Brick and mortar schools are having to provided full and partial online degrees to stay competitive. As for APUS that was referenced in the article, they've got some pretty good programs. I can't speak for the quality of their bachelors programs, but their masters are pretty good.

 

[mmx1]

How is that different than receiving credits for military service?

It's not; they're both sketchy. OJT is good training, but it's not an academic experience. It's a disservice to the students to get that check in the box and take the shortcut to the degree.

Not really. It's pretty much the rule now. Brick and mortar schools are having to provided full and partial online degrees to stay competitive. As for APUS that was referenced in the article, they've got some pretty good programs. I can't speak for the quality of their bachelors programs, but their masters are pretty good.

I'm an AMU master's student. It works for my schedule, but most of the good faculty (most of their faculty, I think) are full-time at other institutions, at least in my field. The interaction of having a physical department to bounce ideas off of can't be underestimated for the faculty, even if that interaction has to be via distance for the students. Distance education fills a niche, but it really needs a physical academic community piggyback on.

 

[phrogdriver]

It's not; they're both sketchy. OJT is good training, but it's not an academic experience. It's a disservice to the students to get that check in the box and take the shortcut to the degree.
.

Depends on the service and the degree. If you are getting a degree in phys ed, I think the typical Marine probably rates a few credits in "Abusing Teenagers 101." Same for some of the more "trade-school-y" associate's and bachelor's programs out there. Getting English credit for taking the MCI on "Spelling for Marines," not so much.

I got my master's at the Boston University extension at Camp Lejuene. I'm thinking about getting another at my next duty station, but since (1) I'm not sure how long I'll be there and (2) the university I'm looking at using the Yellow-ribbon Program for is far away, I'm thinking about going the online route.

I'm not sure how well the degree will be regarded, but I think it will be the same standard most employers use for bachelor's. Either you got a degree at a top college or known leader in the field, which does count for something extra, or you got it anywhere else, which means you got a check in the box. Unless your prospective employer is an alumnus, those are the two categories degrees fall under.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

It's not; they're both sketchy. OJT is good training, but it's not an academic experience. It's a disservice to the students to get that check in the box and take the shortcut to the degree.

I would have to respectfully disagree. I'm pretty sure that my nuke training was fairly rigorous academically. However I did not ask for nor did I receive any college credit for that training. That was a personal choice.

 

[DanMa1156]

I really appreciate the advice everyone. Thanks for the replies.