So, I am seriously considering joining the Air Force Reserves right now, and one of the things I was wondering about was Officer Training School. The Air Force recruiter told me that one of the things OTS looks at is your grades in school, and at the moment my GPA at the one major university I’ve gone to is a somewhat lackluster 1.5 (at the various community colleges I took summer classes in, my grades were more around the 3.0 neighborhood).
Currently I have 81-87 hours (depends on if you count the pilot’s class I took in a community college in Dallas, which my major university doesn’t), if I transfer to another school and markedly improve on my academic performance (since, if I don’t, I wouldn’t graduate anyways, and a Bachelor’s Degree is required for OTS in any case, it’s not worth discussing my chances otherwise), what are the chances of my being accepted into OTS after the required one year of service (also assuming I do a reasonably good job at whatever my job may be in the AFR)?
Preferably I’d like responses from people who deal with this sort of thing, or have personal experience in this sort of thing (ie: if you have gone through OTS and have a good idea on what kind of grades your fellow trainees may have had). If this needs to be in IMHO rather than GQ, then the Mods can feel free to move it.
And-a-one, and-a-two, and-a-bump
Were I you I would go to the local ROTC chapter and see what they can do for you. Since they deal with students aiming at the officer corps all the time I would imagine that they would have some idea of what the deal is.
ROTC Grad here: I would second Airman Doors’ suggestion. Check out ROTC. If you’ve gone to a major university or college, chances are they’ve either got a Detachment, or are in a “crosstown agreement” with one nearby. IIRC, OTS is a twelve-week course. You can go through the ROTC courses while you complete your degree.
Tripler
B.S. EE & Beer Drinkin’–Embry Riddle, AZ
I was going to recommend ROTC as well. The fact that two other knowledgable people beat me to it should clue you in ^____^
Air Force ROTC used to be split into the GMC(General MIlitary Course) for the first two years of undergraduate work, and the PMC(Professional Officer’s Course) for the last two years of work. Successful completion of PMC is what earns you the actual commission, and you can work through just the PMC for the commission. But typically, people go through some sort of training camp, and for PMC to be an option, you must have two more undergraduate years to go.
It isn’t clear to me that OTC will be a well-known thing to ROTC personnel, any more than USAFA would be to ROTC personnel.
USAFA(Competitive Entry, US Airforce Academy) -> Four-year college -> Regular Commission
OTC -> Post-bachelor Program -> 12 weeks(?) -> Reserve Commission*
ROTC -> Two-year(POC) or four-year(GMC+POC) -> Reserve Commission*
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- In some cases, there are a limited number of slots for Regular Commissions for outstanding people from ROTC. Regular commissions are preferred to Reserve Commissions, at least for career officer purposes.
Also, there is an Air National Guard (ANG) option, which works by:
either popping in via commision from the Air Force; or
OTC for ANG.
I’m not suggesting that in his case ROTC is the way to go, but they would probably have a better idea than anybody except perhaps a recruiter.
Well, I can check with whatever schools there are where I am going to, but the last time I checked, you pretty much had to be an Engineering student to get an Air Force commission through ROTC (though that might just be for getting a scholarship for it, which is what I had for the one semester that I was in ROTC originally, now I am a History Major). A big problem I’m having, at least here in my pre-planning stage, is my somewhat lack-luster academic performance, which while it has left me conveniently with at least 2 years of college left, has also left me with a rather low GPA, and I’m not sure how that will effect my hopes of getting into the POC, or a good university for that matter.