Undecided2015

Just logged back on. There's some good advice on here. I appreciate the feedback. I wish more people were on here that would post about the jobs they got after graduaion instead of just how to get to graduation. I know there is a jobs forums on here but it is pretty sparse. I will most likely apply for fall 2015. Worse case I defer admission or decline.

I pretty much posted the exact same topic a few threads down entitled "What would you do"? Strange coincidence.

Rugger, I am 100% eligible for the Post 9/11. Since I was non-scholarship in ROTC I only had to do 3 years to get 100%. So fortunately I have that going for me. The commitment for the FAO program is quite extensive somewhere around 10 years. What I mean by 3 years is that I won't be eligible to apply for the program for at least another 3 years and it's not even for sure if I'd be accepted.

Good Afternoon, Before I pose my question and seek your responses here's some background information on me: I am currently working as an Army Officer and am stationed in California. I have been in the Army for about 4 years now and have lived in Germany, Afghanistan, and now California. I have also briefly traveled to an additional 13 countries since I have been in (mostly hopping around the European continent). My obligation is up and I am seriously considering attending graduate school in the fall of 2015. I want to study IR and work for either the governement or maybe an NGO. I plan on applying to the following four schools: Georgetown (SSP) Tufts (Fletcher) Princeton (WWS) UT-Austin (LBJ) My dilemma is that there is also an option within the Army to work in IR as what is called a Foreign Area Officer. In this program you learn a language, attend graduate school, and work in the region that is assigned to you. The catch with this is I wouldn't be eligible to apply for atleast another three years and I wouldn't get to choose my region so I could very well end up in Sub-Saharan Africa for the next 10 years. I make pretty good income right now in the Army and if I stay in and attempt to take this route I wouldn't have to worry about much but I could end up disappointed in three years and I will be back in the grad school shoot with three years wasted at the age of 29 instead of 26. My question is what you do in this situation? Also, just some stats: 3.82 GPA from a state school Plan to take GRE in April 5 years of solid government work experience 2 years of Arabic study in college Thanks for your time.