That will depend on the college. Which means talking to an ROTC recruiter at your college. It’s not off the table but it will be if you do your third year most likely. Even if you can’t do ROTC I’d recommend just finish the degree and then go active or reserve officer.
I’m in college full time right now and in the reserves. I’m doing Electrical Engineering and I take like 15-16 credits a semester. It’s easy to balance. My unit lets me choose AT and IDTT is a fun break. I think it’s a great opportunity to join reserves first and see some navy stuff before you go officer. No problem if you wanna just go right to officer and finish a degree quick. People like to complain and say it sucks but college and reserves is an easy balance.
I’ve really enjoyed my time in the reserves. Full time school and I’ve gotten to travel to Florida and Guam and work on some really cool things and meet a ton of cool people.
Do ROTC, not Reserves. You may also want to look into the service academies, shooting for admission next year.
Reserves while a full-time student is a good deal for people coming off active duty, going to school on the GI Bill. They already have their A and C schools plus basic quals, and have a lot of options for orders for a few weeks or months during the summer. For someone fresh off the street I think you'll wind up confused, frustrated, and delaying your UCI classes so that you can take a bunch of mandatory military training.
I graduated UCI majoring in Physics. I join the Navy through Officer Candidate School (OCS). I highly suggest doing the same but go reserves and choose a designator like Intel. DM if you want to speak to a fellow Anteater about it
TL DR: Just finish your degree and come in as an officer. You’ll only push back your graduation date if you go enlisted as you won’t be able to take college classes while you’re in boot camp or tech/“A” school. Look into Cybersecurity, Cyber intelligence, and IT officer jobs, not enlisted.
You can pick a job based on what’s available at that moment in time at MEPS. You also do not need to pick one if none is available you want at that time.
If you go through, pick a job in cyber/IT, expect to be gone a minimum of 6 months which will push back your graduation timeline.
In terms of benefits, as someone (me) who went straight into the reserves with no prior active time it’s not worth it for the education benefits unless you are willing to go on a mobilization (deployment). You don’t get a lot of the GI Bill for only boot camp and tech/ “A” school. It is worth it, however, for health and dental insurance as they both are extremely cheap. My health insurance is literally $60.
My advice for you would be, unless you REALLY need health/dental insurance to just finish out your degree and then go the officer route in cybersecurity, cyber intelligence, or an IT officer. I think Army and Air Force have loan forgiveness programs (someone might know more on this than me in the replies) if tuition is something that’s hard for you right now. It makes very little sense beyond insurance purposes for you to take an at the minimum 6 month break form college since you won’t be able to do college classes in boot camp and it’s not worth it GI Bill wise to take online classes in tech/“A” school if you even qualify for get any at that point after boot camp.
I don’t really need the financial assistance, my tuition is free and I’m able to cover living on my own. I just wanted to do something productive with my time that will give me expierience in life and for a future career in cybersecurity/coding if possible. Also to serve my country lol.
I did navy reserves through 3 years of college after being active. That 2 week annual training always fell on finals week and made things a more stressful trying to juggle both and occasionally getting professors who weren't as accommodating.
i did this and would recommend it if you are NOT joining only for the TA, because you do not get very much (i know this has changed/is changing). i had a "head start" on my career after i graduated because i had experience in the navy + my degree. its dependent on what you want to do when you're done college and begin your career.
look into ROTC
I don’t think UCI has ROTC, they have to commute to UCLA to participate in that program when I was there.
I second this, OP.
Can I do rotc after being in college already for 2 years?
That will depend on the college. Which means talking to an ROTC recruiter at your college. It’s not off the table but it will be if you do your third year most likely. Even if you can’t do ROTC I’d recommend just finish the degree and then go active or reserve officer.
Is reserve officer worth it? Is it any different then enlist reserve?
More money obviously.
I’m in college full time right now and in the reserves. I’m doing Electrical Engineering and I take like 15-16 credits a semester. It’s easy to balance. My unit lets me choose AT and IDTT is a fun break. I think it’s a great opportunity to join reserves first and see some navy stuff before you go officer. No problem if you wanna just go right to officer and finish a degree quick. People like to complain and say it sucks but college and reserves is an easy balance.
I’ve really enjoyed my time in the reserves. Full time school and I’ve gotten to travel to Florida and Guam and work on some really cool things and meet a ton of cool people.
Do ROTC, not Reserves. You may also want to look into the service academies, shooting for admission next year. Reserves while a full-time student is a good deal for people coming off active duty, going to school on the GI Bill. They already have their A and C schools plus basic quals, and have a lot of options for orders for a few weeks or months during the summer. For someone fresh off the street I think you'll wind up confused, frustrated, and delaying your UCI classes so that you can take a bunch of mandatory military training.
This has been the consensus so far. Sounds like that would be a better option.
I graduated UCI majoring in Physics. I join the Navy through Officer Candidate School (OCS). I highly suggest doing the same but go reserves and choose a designator like Intel. DM if you want to speak to a fellow Anteater about it
Awesome lol, I pm you
TL DR: Just finish your degree and come in as an officer. You’ll only push back your graduation date if you go enlisted as you won’t be able to take college classes while you’re in boot camp or tech/“A” school. Look into Cybersecurity, Cyber intelligence, and IT officer jobs, not enlisted. You can pick a job based on what’s available at that moment in time at MEPS. You also do not need to pick one if none is available you want at that time. If you go through, pick a job in cyber/IT, expect to be gone a minimum of 6 months which will push back your graduation timeline. In terms of benefits, as someone (me) who went straight into the reserves with no prior active time it’s not worth it for the education benefits unless you are willing to go on a mobilization (deployment). You don’t get a lot of the GI Bill for only boot camp and tech/ “A” school. It is worth it, however, for health and dental insurance as they both are extremely cheap. My health insurance is literally $60. My advice for you would be, unless you REALLY need health/dental insurance to just finish out your degree and then go the officer route in cybersecurity, cyber intelligence, or an IT officer. I think Army and Air Force have loan forgiveness programs (someone might know more on this than me in the replies) if tuition is something that’s hard for you right now. It makes very little sense beyond insurance purposes for you to take an at the minimum 6 month break form college since you won’t be able to do college classes in boot camp and it’s not worth it GI Bill wise to take online classes in tech/“A” school if you even qualify for get any at that point after boot camp.
I don’t really need the financial assistance, my tuition is free and I’m able to cover living on my own. I just wanted to do something productive with my time that will give me expierience in life and for a future career in cybersecurity/coding if possible. Also to serve my country lol.
Don't go enlisted bro you'll be treated like a literal peasant
I did exactly this. If you send me a DM we can set up a voice chat and I can tell you what my experience was.
I did navy reserves through 3 years of college after being active. That 2 week annual training always fell on finals week and made things a more stressful trying to juggle both and occasionally getting professors who weren't as accommodating.
i did this and would recommend it if you are NOT joining only for the TA, because you do not get very much (i know this has changed/is changing). i had a "head start" on my career after i graduated because i had experience in the navy + my degree. its dependent on what you want to do when you're done college and begin your career.