Expert: Aaron Shifferly - 7/13/2009

Question
Hello Captain I am a 28 year old with a  BA and a Master's Degree.  The opportunity for officers school seems the right route however, the process right now is extremely competitive and there is no guarantee for job positioning after OCS.  My question is would it be better for me to go enlisted, get the job I want, then ask my CO when I got to my posting that I have a master's degree and would he/she start filling out my OCS candidate papers. Any input would be appreciated.

Answer
If you got whatever job you wanted as an enlisted and then went to OCS you're still not guaranteed to go back to that branch. All OCS officer slottings are 'needs of the Army'. Example would be that if you were an intelligence collector as an enlisted Soldier you could very well graduate OCS and become an Infantry officer; it all depends on what the Army needs at that point in time. Your best bet if you want to be an officer is to just go for the OCS option and if you dont like whatever branch you get try to do a branch transfer after about 2-3 years. Going enlisted first gives other people a say in your career and leaves a lot to chance.