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Hey SF. I am a junior in high school and I want to join the military (specifically Air Force) very soon after I finish high school. Is it better to go to college before I join the Air Force? I've been told you join with a better ranking when you have a degree, but I'm not positive. It's been on my mind a lot lately and I'm having trouble making the decision. My parents are stressing more toward college first. Thanks for any help or support!

All of my friends that went into the AF went straight from High School. That's not to say that is the better choice. This obviously requires some digging on google! I'll look around and get back to you.

EDIT:

Copy + Paste from Google search:
I'm currently enrolled in my second year of AFROTC, and I can tell you straight up the that you are gonna want to get your degree in what the Air Force calls a "Technical Degree". The reason I say this is, because they are moving more towards selecting people with these degrees. The technical degrees I am talking about are as follows:

* Aeronautical Engineering - 4AYY
* Aerospace Engineering - 4BYY
* Architectural Engineering - 4DYY
* Architecture - 2CAY
* Astronautical Engineering - 4EYY
* Chemistry - 8CYY
* Civil Engineering - 4HYY
* Computer Engineering - 4WYY
* Computer Science - 0CYY
* Electrical Engineering - 4IYY
* Environmental Engineering - 4HEY
* Mathematics - 6YYY
* Mechanical Engineering - 4MYY
* Meteorology/Atmospheric Sciences - 8FYY
* Operations Research - 0YEY
* Physics - 8HYY

So if you see any degree in here that you like, I would suggest you going for it. I'll warn you though that these degrees are challenging, so be prepared to work for it. I am currently pursuing a Mechanical Engineer degree, and I'm not gonna lie its tough. Also, make sure you like the degree, because you will most likely be stuck with it. It is very hard to change majors from a tech to a non tech later on in the program! Don't be afraid to pick another major though. I am just saying that you will have a BETTER chance with one of these degrees. No bias here!!
Source(s):
I got the info about the degrees from:

http://www.afrotc.com/scholarships/high-...nd-majors/

(02-06-2012, 04:07 PM)Listen Wrote: [ -> ]All of my friends that went into the AF went straight from High School. That's not to say that is the better choice. This obviously requires some digging on google! I'll look around and get back to you.

EDIT:

Copy + Paste from Google search:
I'm currently enrolled in my second year of AFROTC, and I can tell you straight up the that you are gonna want to get your degree in what the Air Force calls a "Technical Degree". The reason I say this is, because they are moving more towards selecting people with these degrees. The technical degrees I am talking about are as follows:

* Aeronautical Engineering - 4AYY
* Aerospace Engineering - 4BYY
* Architectural Engineering - 4DYY
* Architecture - 2CAY
* Astronautical Engineering - 4EYY
* Chemistry - 8CYY
* Civil Engineering - 4HYY
* Computer Engineering - 4WYY
* Computer Science - 0CYY
* Electrical Engineering - 4IYY
* Environmental Engineering - 4HEY
* Mathematics - 6YYY
* Mechanical Engineering - 4MYY
* Meteorology/Atmospheric Sciences - 8FYY
* Operations Research - 0YEY
* Physics - 8HYY

So if you see any degree in here that you like, I would suggest you going for it. I'll warn you though that these degrees are challenging, so be prepared to work for it. I am currently pursuing a Mechanical Engineer degree, and I'm not gonna lie its tough. Also, make sure you like the degree, because you will most likely be stuck with it. It is very hard to change majors from a tech to a non tech later on in the program! Don't be afraid to pick another major though. I am just saying that you will have a BETTER chance with one of these degrees. No bias here!!
Source(s):
I got the info about the degrees from:

http://www.afrotc.com/scholarships/high-...nd-majors/

Thanks for the reply, I think it helped immensely. I'm currently attending a high school where I can receivable college credits for "program areas" and I'm taking the IT courses there. I'll most likely go for an electrical engineering degree right out of high school then go for the Air Force. I love technology and, with the high schools courses, I'll easily sink in well with that course. I'm also looking at the computer science degree too, as I've also got experience with that. I took my ASVAB at school not too long ago, and should be waiting on the scores from that. Again, thanks a ton for helping me out! I'll keep looking into it as time passes.

Hey no problem man! I'm currently in college right now studying Mechanical Engineering. So if you ever need any help with engineering/math/physics/writing or anything for that matter, just let me know

^ Doing those Officer Training Corps things are always good in my opinion. You get to go to college to satisfy your parents and start with a higher rank (which I find slightly dishonorable but still a good perk I guess)

It's a good idea to go to a military university, you can learn a lot of useful things, and become a military technician or engineer. My friend is going to a military university, and plans on becoming an artillery 'commander', or something like that (forgot the name).

Learning to be a pilot or having experience helps with being accepted.

I am not that knowledgeable about the military, sorry if I wasn't helpful