Just doing some probing actions to explore my actions. Presently, my two primary considerations are: (1) I am not sure of my eligibility for traditional schools. I graduated with a 2.95 GPA (I wasted my first two years) and a GRE common score of 1150 (630/530) and written score of 6. (2) My active duty service obligation is only three years. Based on those facts, but not knowing what education benefits are available to me presently, my assessment is that I should complete a graduate program as soon as possible. Of course, active duty limits my options in which programs I can participate.
I'm very much ashamed of my situation because I was not initially selected for active duty during ascensions. Briefly for those not familiar with ROTC: two major components of your rating are your APFT (spring/fall semesters, and LDAC for a total of 15%, of which the LDAC APFT constitutes 75%) and your GPA (40%) which is measured after the fall semester of junior year. Military performance in ROTC is the remaining 45%. All of this is computed in some magical number crunching machine and each cadet is rated nationally. The AD cut-off is relative to the number of cadets in the class that year and available AD slots. I hit just under center mass because of my low LDAC APFT score and my GPA at the time of ascensions. And yes, if you're curious, I know the obvious "lessons learned" of my ascensions experience and I've resolved not to make those mistakes again (BOLC2 and BOLC3 are my next opportunities, FYI). But because of my "referral" to reserve status, I was able to select MI as my basic branch, which I hope to augment with further education (including learning Arabic, Farsi, and/or Russian; currently doing Arabic). So I'm playing catch-up because I did not work as hard I should have earlier, and must now work hard later. I hope to actually catch up by solidly completing a masters program and hitting out of the ball park during my time on AD.
I'm entering AD now through a (new?) program designed (specifically?) for new 2LTs not originally selected for it. After three years, I'll (likely) return to the NG to complete the remainder of my contract. My education assessment is based on the assumption that I will return and remain with the NG and will thus be in the need of some kind of employment. It's also as much a pride thing as it is a practical thing.
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