1 Get clear on what you want to study
2 Take or retake the ACT or SAT test
3 Establish residency in the state you intend to go to college
4 Explore options of studying abroad
5 Consider joining the National Guard
6 Apply for a ROTC Scholarship and use your GI Bill
7 Consider joining the NG SMP
8 Consider going to Officer Candidate School
9 Plan for a delay in GI bill payments
10 Begin building a civilian resume
11 Plan ahead to get internships or apprenticeships
12 Find a mentor
13 Study and get good grades
14 Have fun – Do amazing things!
1 Get clear on what you want to study
As a retired Army veteran and college graduate, this article provides my top recommended 14 must do items before leaving the military for college. If you are on active duty and plan to go to college after your enlistment is over I sincerely hope the information gleaned from my experience will help you.
You have worked very hard for your GI bill and college is expensive. As a result, determining the career you want early and avoiding changing majors will save you considerable time and money.
While on active duty I recommend you explore and get as much information on the career areas that interest you as possible. Ideally the career you choose should align with your goals and play to your strengths. Two good books to help you with this are “What Color Is Your Parachute” and “Strength Finders”.
Once you have an idea of the career you are interested in, then explore the websites of the companies that interest you and search for job openings in that career. For DoD contracting jobs use the key word associate engineer, associate analyst, etc. Most entry level DoD jobs have associate in the title. Look at the skills they are looking for, see how many job openings they have, assess the education required, certifications they are asking for and years of experience. The careers section of DCHQ is a great place to start.
After you have narrowed down your search to a few career fields, reach out and contact a few of the companies Human Resources departments or Veterans coordinators. Your objective should be to see if you can meet people in their organization doing the job you want. If you can coordinate to shadow someone doing the job you want for half a day that would be best.
This will help you network and give you real insight into what working at the job you want is really like. If this seems to daunting to you, create a list of questions for the job you want and find someone on Linked In who has that job and email them your questions to help network.
2 Take or retake the ACT or SAT test
Most American universities require you to take the ACT or SAT test and achieve a certain minimum score as a prerequisite to admission. If you took the ACT or SAT test in high school and your scores were not as high as needed to get into the university of your choice then I recommend taking a prep course and re-taking the test to improve your score. Likewise, if you never took the test then you will need to study and take the test. Visit your local education center to see what assistance they provide. Lastly, check with the university you plan to attend to see if they prefer one test over the other.
3 Establish residency in the state you intend to go to college
If you intend to go to college in a different state than where you are a resident, consider establishing residency in that state as soon as possible. This will enable you to pay in-state tuition costs versus out of state tuition costs when you begin college.
For example, at my al ma mater CU Boulder, in state tuition for 2018/19 is projected to cost ~$34k and out of state tuition is ~$58k which is a difference of $24K. Establishing residency before you start can save you thousands of dollars!
Early in your enlistment or as soon as you can change your state of legal residence to the state where you want to go to college. Establishing residency involves paying state taxes, getting a driver license, registering to vote, and registering your vehicle. See residency details for the school you want to attend and also visit your local Legal Assistance Office for any legal questions.
4 Explore options of studying abroad
Most GI benefits will transfer abroad to cover full time coursework at a foreign university, pending the VA’s approval of the degree program. Contact the VA for list of Foreign University’s and degree programs they approve of. Research country, language, cost of living and cost of education. Many foreign universities offer free or low cost tuition compared to the US. For example, Germany, Norway, and Luxembourg offer free tuition and Austria, France, Spain have low cost tuition.
5 Consider joining the National Guard
When I left active duty one of the stops on my out processing list was the In Service recruiter’s office. I thought I was done with the military and only went to get it checked off my out-processing list. The military on the other hand had invested a lot of money in me and wanted to continue the relationship.
In my case the In Service recruiter asked me what I planned to do after I got off active duty. I told him I was planning to go to college at CU Boulder. He told me to wait a second, and he turned his chair pulled out a file from his filing cabinet (this was pre internet) and proceeded to advise me of what he could do for me if I elected to stay with the military in a reserve capacity.
For starters he said he could give me a $5K signing bonus for agreeing to join the Colorado Army National Guard (COANG) for a six year enlistment. Back in the mid 80s five thousand dollars was a lot of money and would be approximately $10,000 dollars today. The recruiter then went on to say the COANG has a special program for service members where they are eligible for 50% off of in-state tuition costs. Likewise, he said if I incurred any student loans the COANG had a student loan repayment program where they would pay off my debts for me in return for extending my enlistment with them.
All this information made my head spin as I had never considered staying in the military. He also went on to tell me by joining the COANG I would receive drill pay which is more than my average daily pay for a weekend of work. He explained that the military does this as an incentive for people to join the reserves. Likewise, he said I would be eligible for military dental and health insurance and I could continue to keep my $400k service member’s life insurance.
After thinking about all this, I rationalized I would be in college for four years anyway so how hard could an extra two years in the COANG be after college. In my case the benefits outweighed the drawbacks and I took him up on his offer. Six years turned into 28 years and an incredible 30 year military career journey, but that is a story for another day.
I encourage you to visit your in service recruiter and find out what the Guard or Reserves can do for you as you pursue your college education.
6 Apply for a ROTC Scholarship and use your GI Bill
Another option to joining the National Guard or Reserves is to apply for an ROTC scholarship while on active duty. This will enable you to become a reserve officer after college and depending on your preference you can go back on active duty or remain in the reserves as an officer. Also, you should be able to use your GI bill to pay for tuition and the ROTC scholarship to pay dorm charges.
7 Consider joining the National Guard SMP
If joining the National Guard and Joining ROTC interests you there is also a program called the Simultaneous Membership Program (SMP) you should check out. The SMP allows for people to be a part of both the National Guard and your college’s ROTC program. The immediate benefits are being able to use the tuition assistance of the GI Bill after a year of service in the Guard or Reserves. Qualifying for up to 100 percent tuition with the Guaranteed Reserve Forces Duty (GRFD) scholarship is the major financial benefit you receive from this program. Stew Smith, a fellow veteran, wrote an excellent article on the SMP for the Balance Careers website.
8 Consider going to Officer Candidate School
During my career journey I always wanted to be a leader which led me to consider options for being an officer. While I was in college I did two semesters of ROTC as a non-scholarship member. Having come off active duty I found that the ROTC program did not fit with me, but I still wanted to be an officer. As a result I applied for and attended the COANG Officer Candidate School (OCS) Program. The program I attended allowed for me to attend OCS School in lieu of attending normal monthly drills over the course of two years to include two OCS summer camps. Each state has their own OCS program so check with the state you are interested in about their OCS requirements.
Likewise for those that are interested in the Army you can apply for and attend the Federal OCS program at Ft. Benning GA. Their program is typically 90 days long and National Guard slots are very competitive.
Whether you elect to be enlisted or become an officer the benefits in training, camaraderie and continuing to be part of one of the finest militaries in the world cannot be overstated as you transition from active duty to the civilian world.
9 Plan for a delay in GI bill payments
One of the things I did not properly plan for when I left active duty and began college was that the University wanted their tuition payment up front and would not wait for my GI bill payments to kick in. As a result I had to borrow some money right away to cover my initial school costs.
This may be different now, but I would advise calling the school you plan on attending and determining exactly what your financial obligations will be when you start and as you wait for your GI bill payments to begin.
10 Begin building a civilian resume
Building a good resume is foundational to both military and civilian career success. Hopefully as you have performed at each of your military positions you have increased your responsibilities and contributions to your unit.
As you know, annually all military members performance is evaluated in a Non-Commissioned Officer Evaluation Report (NCOER) or Officer Evaluation Report (OER). I realize these are Army terms but the equivalent reports exist for the other services. These reports provide the military a record of your performance and assist in your consideration for promotions, awards and assignments. For civilian companies, most employees will have a similar annual performance review and write up.
These evaluations should form the basis for your resume, but the format of your resume will differ for a military resume versus a civilian resume. The goal of your resume is to highlight your experiences and accomplishments and to help you get a job or advance your career.
With this goal in mind, creating and updating a resume during your time on active duty and after you leave the military is a crucial tool to help you get the job of your dreams.
Creating a stellar civilian resume takes time and effort, but fortunately there are multiple resources out there to help veterans with their resumes. One of the best ones I have found is the Hire Heroes USA organization. They have an excellent resume writing presentation and resume template to get you started. To learn more you can visit the Hire Hero’s USA website.
Your performance at every job you have while in the military will contribute to your overall military and civilian resume. Also, understand there are a lot of items the military values that do not translate directly to the civilian world. As a result, learning how to translate your military experience into a civilian resume is a skill you should learn as soon as you can.
Both military and civilian employer’s value saving money or time as related to work activities. So as you approach your military job always be looking to showcase areas where you saved time or money. Likewise, military and civilian employers also value process improvements and standardization that contributes to organizational success and producing quality products or services consistently. Additionally, demonstrated leadership actions that yield positive results are also desired.
The trick is to craft and package your military experience in a manner that aligns to a civilian employers needs and job opening versus your military job. In the cases where your military career field aligns to the civilian career field you want, updating your resume is usually more a matter of learning the civilian jargon for the same military activity.
In the instances where your military job does not match the civilian job you want you need to align your experience as close as possible. Likewise you may have to start at a very entry level position and work your way back up the ladder.
In all cases, showing up to work on time, having a positive attitude, being proactive, and doing more than asked, are traits that will get you a long way in life regardless of the career field you choose.
11 Plan ahead to get internships or apprenticeships
When I was in college I joined the COANG and during my summer breaks I went to Annual Training and then I did a series of military schools and short tours. While this helped my military career, it did nothing for my civilian career.
Had I known better I would have researched companies who I wanted to work for after college and would have applied for internships and apprenticeships as soon as possible. Besides getting good grades in college, having real world experience in the career of your choice is the next most important thing you can do to help you get a job after you graduate.
I recommend researching companies that have internships and apprenticeships you are interested in before your first semester ends and apply early. Getting experience or determining if a career field is right for you is critical to your overall career success after you graduate. You can use the DoD Contractors area of DCHQ to learn more about apprenticeships.
12 Find a mentor
For many veterans we are often the first generation of our family going to college. College can be lonely and disorienting if you have never gone before. I would highly suggest you seek out a mentor to help assist you and be there to bounce ideas off of as you work toward your goal of a college degree. Organizations like Veterati, Hire Our Heroes, American Corporate Partners and eMentor offer great mentoring services.
13 Study and get good grades
One of the most important things in helping you land your dream job/career beside real world experience is getting good grades. Employers want to be competitive in today’s business market and to do so they want job candidates that demonstrate they took their school work seriously, applied themselves and distinguished themselves against their peers. One measure of this is your GPA. Take care to study hard and endeavor to make the best grades possible while you are in school. Students with high GPAs are most often recruited while they are finishing their senior year.
If you had a bad semester or two, or started in a degree program that was not a fit for you and your GPA suffered, don’t despair. If you don’t have a stellar GPA, it does not mean you cannot find a great job after college, it just means you will have to work harder at it. I myself fell into this category as I started out pursuing a career in electrical engineering and it was not a fit for me. Once I changed majors to Business Information Systems my grades went from average and below average (read Cs and Ds) to above average (Bs and As) and I even made the dean’s list a few times.
As mentioned, due to my grades and lack of civilian experience in computer programming it was harder for me to find my first job, but eventually I did. The benefit of my college education and use of my GI Bill has paid returns to me 100 times over and has allowed me to have job and career I never imagined when I was just starting out.
14 Have fun – Do amazing things!
You worked very hard for your GI Bill and to go to college so while you are there make sure you take time for yourself and have fun. Join clubs, go to sporting events, listen to hosted speakers, and take classes just because the topic interests you.
Summary
In conclusion, these are my 14 must do items before leaving the military for college. I hope one or more of the items I mentioned in this article benefits you. If you are already a college graduate and there is something you wish you knew before you went to college and after being in the military, let me know and I will gladly share your experience. Cheers Ben