I scored a 97 on the ASVAB AFQT. What are my chances of being an officer.?

Question

I have no military experience once so ever. I have a bachelors in anthropology+Linguistics and I'm fluent in Arabic.
I would really like to bypass enlistment

Answer 1

I am a former enlisted (E-5) with a AFQT=99 that became a commissioned officer (O-1 to O-4) after selection for a full ROTC scholarship. ASVAB/AFQT are enlisted training indicators only and have no place whatever in an application for a commission. I disagree that enlisted service necessarily makes for a better officer afterwards; sometimes yes but sometimes no. I knew too many prior enlisted officers who forgot where they came from.

Anthropology/Linguistics are non-technical fields that don't always translate well into the training pipelines of most commissioned officers - particularly USAF or USN. Enlisting first doesn't necessarily improve your chances at gaining admission to a commissioning program in any of the services, no matter what your recruiter might tell you. (Yeah, I briefly did stints in recruiting a few times also.)

Arab fluency is obviously in high demand these days, but not necessarily as an officer. Intel is the only field among the commissioned specialties that particularly values language skill, but in comparison to the total percentage of commissioned officers it is quite a small community. (I am very familiar with the field.)

If you want to be an officer, visit an officer recruiter from each branch and complete the paperwork. Maybe you'll pass the physical standards, security background checks, and evaluation of your academic and personal history screenings and maybe you won't. If not, you may earn big financial bonuses if you enlist with such a high demand language proficiency. Enlisted life as a linguist is a pretty good deal sometimes.

I wish you the best of luck. Whatever you choose, I want to thank you for your interest in serving your country.

Answer 2

The bachelors degree is really more helpful in becoming an officer. That being said, the real answer is it depends. The Marine Corps will want you to be in top physical condition regardles of your intelligence before sending you to OCS. I hear that the Air Force requires eingeneering degrees for all officers going to OCS. Not sure about the Army and Navy. One word of caution though - in becoming an officer, you will make a commitment for a specified period of time, just like with enlisting. What I've seen a lot of people do is go into the reserves as enlisted personnel to see if the military is soemthing you really want to do before making a 24/7/365 committment for several years.

Answer 3

Your degree qualifies you to APPLY for Officer Training School. Your ability to speak Arabic is the only thing that MIGHT help you get accepted.

The Air Force has been cutting its size for some time, they are most interested in bringing Officer Training Candidates from their enlisted ranks, much more so than civilians. You will be competing with ROTC graduates, enlisted personnel and a host of others like your self. Good luck.

And by the way, even if you are accepted you will go to basic training, as an 'E-5' rather than a basic airman, but you will not be treated any different.

Answer 4

All right, as I am writing this I am sitting in Iraq, where your Arabic language would be of a great advantage to you. So, you want to be an officer. Well, what can I tell you? The one thing that I have learned over the years of serving in the military and working with our sister services is, that the best officers I have ever met or had the honor to work with or for, were Prior Enlisted. Now let me explain why, when you enlist first and then cross over to the dark side (as the AF enlisted troops call it) you learn to see the perspective coming form an E1 up to an E5 where you would want to be prior to crossing over. These ranks are the sole work force in whichever branch you decide to join. These are the soldiers, airmen, sailors, and so on that you are going to be responsible for as you further your officer career. It would be to your advantage to understand what their need are and what they go though to earn the respect that your rank, as an officer, comes with. The best thing you can do is talk to more people within the service that you wish to join. Don’t limit yourself to just the officer core, if you want an true answer about life in that service ask the , airman basic, private, Seaman. They tend to be more honest of what really goes on, and not sugar coat or put on a dog and pony show to impress people. So there you go. Good luck with you decision.

Answer 5

You should have no problem getting accepted into OCS. Scoring a 97 out of 99 is OUTSTANDING, and you can get whatever job the military has to offer.

Answer 6

My suggestion is go enlisted for 4 years and then do officer. We respect the rank, but when it comes to war or life and death.... That 4 years as enlisted will help you and understand both sides and beleave me when the guys arn't behind you then it gets way harder for you....
Good luck with what ever way you want to go...
"sniper check sir" j/k

Answer 7

Your ASVAB score has NOTHING to do with becoming an officer. You will need to talk to an Officer Recruiter and take the OAR exam to see if you can pass that and then maybe be selected for OCS.

Answer 8

which Branch?

One, most O's do NOT use language on a daily basis, so your degree is of no interest to them.

Army is accepting about 98% of qualified applicants and offering them a Commission. the other Branches, significantly less, as low as 25%.

Answer 9

why
you may get a little more respect going enlisted and then officer
but I think its a direct commission
both are equally hard
good luck with you're career
talk to a recruiter

Answer 10

Wow..um..if you meet physical qualifications then your gonna be a freaking general guy...geez..with that score you could get what ever you want in your contract.