The_Space_Cowboy

Just got an acceptance for a M.S. Geography from Michigan State!

Wow. Lots of hate here for Mount Pleasent. I'm on my phone, so I'll be brief but I can elaborate more if anybody wants it. Spent 4 years in MP. For context, I grew up in Traverse City and have lived in Kentucky, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Georgia, California, Colorado, Iraq and South Korea. Mount Pleasent is what you make of it. There is plenty to do if you look and the Student Activity Center is great. Get involved in local organizations. Go 'Up North' for the weekend and find ski hills an hour away. Enjoy the nature preserve 15 minutes north in Clare. Get Cabin Sticks at the Cabin (great pizza) or a microbrew downtown. Head to a football game and get in for free with your student ID. Rent camping gear from the RPL department or hit up the high ropes course or climbing wall in Finch. As long as you don't expect to be catered to, you can find things to do. I enjoyed all four of my years there.

stick it

I emailed the Kroc DGS for the M.A. Peace Studies program and got the following response back:

Is anybody else applying for the M.A. for F2015? There doesn't seem to be too much mention of it on here from what I've found.

The 'butt hurt' comment is part of the military vernacular and language that you claim to understand.

Where are you getting this impression? Just as I wouldn't presume to be an expert in LGBT culture when discussing the issue with a gay or lesbian person, I wouldn't expect somebody who has never served to be able to relate better than a veteran or Active Duty member when discussing the military culture and values systems. I've found that, in my experience, some folks can seem to have an unjustified inferiority complex when dealing with servicemembers. I've heard that this is somewhat of a byproduct of America's "hero worship" (though I hate that term). I, for one, respect everybody's individual career paths and professions and recognize the importance of the varied professions as part a well-functioning society. Not everybody can be a Soldier, nor should everybody be, and nobody should feel guilty for a chosen career. What is frustrating is seeing members of society adopt an ever-increasing sense of entitlement, something that is the antithesis of military service. My impression is that the ivory tower harbors and fosters some of these feelings with the mixture of liberal idealism and economic privilege from a good number of the attendees. I think danielewrites was cracking a joke that some of these members could benefit from some "good 'ol fashioned military hardship and discipline" while also making a casual statement about struggling to adjust to a culture that doesn't emphasize deference to persons of authority. tl;dr: Relax and don't be offended so easily.

I was there from 2007 to 2011, minus a stint to the sandbox. 3rd Brigade, 82nd. I ended up living in Southern Pines for the last year I was there and it was GREAT! I'm hoping to go back at some point.

25th ID? I'm also a currently serving Army Officer and am just now getting decisions back from my applications this year. I went from Armor to Space Operations a few years ago and got picked up for ACS. The catch was that the degree had to be a space-related degree, and my undergrad was in IR. Also, my GPA was 2.82 and GRE scores were 162V/158Q/4.0W, not great for a STEM focus. Not thinking I had a snowball's chance in hell, I applied to a Space Engineering program (at one of the top programs in the country) and was somehow accepted. It seems that some colleges will heavily value real-world experience (and external funding, lol). That all said, what kind of COIN experience do you have? I assume you're an 11A, probably with several deployments. I would emphasize your practical experience in your personal statements and tie that into how you want to use your degree in the future. As an example, I also applied to a Geography program with an intent to concentrate on geospatial analysis and intelligence. In my statement, I discussed how valuable applications like TIGRNET, FBCB2, and CIDNE were downrange to conducting successful operations and mitigating risk. I discussed my desire to participate in the development of these systems and combine my space experience to locate and combat new threats in the EM spectrum.

My acceptances thus far....

Dirty Thirty! 8 years out of my undergrad.

Got into Western Michigan! Now waiting for the rest...

Central Michigan???

You too? I about jumped out of bed this morning (I'm a few timezones ahead) until I saw it was from the Undergraduate Admissions committee telling me how to apply for FAFSA.

Having obviously not partaken in graduate studies at this point, I feel that most of these initial dismassals of military ethics/attributes being valuable torwards the academic paradigm is really based on a skin-deep understanding of what the military is and the values they embrace. While you're correct that the military values and promotes outwardly confident leaders and discourages the outwards insubordination (or disagreement) of orders given, there is a distinct emphasis on establishing and displaying competence in one's job or career field. As an institution, I would argue that the military has done more with less than the general lot of academia in educating/training individuals to preform a job. Universities are able to establish their own admissions standards and be more selective with whom they choose to allow into their institutions than then the Army. As such, the Army has learned to train to the lowest common denominator, while simultaneously recognizing and promoting those more quickly that are able to establish competence and the ability to teach those skills to others. The ability to learn one's career AND the ability to develop others to learn it is HIGHLY prized in the military profession. I would argue that this emphasis would be hard to find in most undergraduate institutions. As an Officer, professional development for myself and others within the organization that I lead is actually evaluated. Once I graduate with my Bachelors degree (with a minor in Military Science), it is acknowledged that I have now met the bare minimum for commisioning. I'm then sent for another 4-12 months of schooling prior to actually executing my first assignment, and am expected to attend another 6-12 months of school for (almost) each subsequent promotion. In the mean time, I am expected to study the art of war and leadership and to teach these ethics to my subordinates. Additionally, I am expected to continue my civilian education in pursuit of a Masters Degree (a verifiable discriminator for promotions to the rank of Major and beyond). Most units have "book clubs" or reading programs that require the reading of a common book, an essay on some thoughts about the report, and a discussion of the applications to our profession. As a young Lieutenant, my Squadron Commander arranged for a Cambridge professor to come lead a week-long seminar on the ethics and implications of counter-insurgency warfare. I've listened to David Kilcullen preach and have written 30-page monographs during my military education courses. Presently, I've been selected for a program where the military fully-funds my attendance to earn a Masters Degree at a civilian education program while I retain all pay and benefits. I'm essentially being paid to earn a free graduate degree. This is all said to prove the point that while the formalities associated with the military may be not be appropiate in a civilian academic setting, the paradigm of military experience may very well be a great fit.