I know having degrees in math and science is very useful for this branch, but what about other degrees? Are degrees in Business and Liberal Arts totally useless to these branches? Lastly, if you don't have a degree in science or math, are your chances lowered?
Technical (ie. engineering) degrees are usually the most sought after in the AF, that's no secret. Are other degrees useless? No. I commissioned earlier this year through OTS and I have a Business Management (Equine Business Management actually...I worked with horses prior to the AF). So if you have a great application package (good scores, letters of recommendation, etc) and most importantly, the character and leadership attributes to back it up, you still stand a shot of selection.
In this day in age in the economy where officer accessions have been reduced, EVERYBODY, including those with technical degrees, has to have a great application. But if you lack a technical degree, yours has to be sparkling.
AirForceOTS (dot) com is all things Air Force officer accessions. I suggest registering over there.
Originally posted by Go_Blue13: Technical (ie. engineering) degrees are usually the most sought after in the AF, that's no secret. Are other degrees useless? No. I commissioned earlier this year through OTS and I have a Business Management (Equine Business Management actually...I worked with horses prior to the AF). So if you have a great application package (good scores, letters of recommendation, etc) and most importantly, the character and leadership attributes to back it up, you still stand a shot of selection.
In this day in age in the economy where officer accessions have been reduced, EVERYBODY, including those with technical degrees, has to have a great application. But if you lack a technical degree, yours has to be sparkling.
AirForceOTS (dot) com is all things Air Force officer accessions. I suggest registering over there.
+1 Yes, your degree matters. If you have a technical degree with a good GPA, you have a leg up. But, you STILL have to have a good supporting package to go along with your techie major and good GPA.
Example: why "waste" a technical degree on a personnel officer, or an accountant? If you have a "soft" degree, chances are good that you're going to be selected for one of these support jobs. Yes, there are exceptions. When I was selected for OTS (already on active duty, almost 11 years' service), I had a degree in Occupational Education. But, I also had almost 11 years' experience as a computer programmer. The career field manager of the computer systems career took only a heart-beat to tell me that if I didn't have that experience, they wouldn't even have looked at me.
So, you tell me what you think: Does your degree matter?
Take this for as you will but the Air Force is cutting engineers while my business degree got me into contracting which is a critically billeted AFSC....
What degree you have matters at exactly that moment in time that you are applying. If the Air Force is short engineers, your degree gets your kudos, if they are short that fiscal year for business dudes, your business degree gets kudos....
The only time it MIGHT, and I stress MIGHT give you a leg up all the time is when being looked at by a rated board.....
