Originally Posted by
paulcg77
I mean, I agree with rickair, but I guess it also depends on what you use the TA/paid educational billet for. I got a free MBA from a top 10 school. My wife, also active duty, got her master's in nursing and became a nurse anesthetist, which is something you can only do with a master's in nursing or a doctorate. We're both significantly more employable in the civilian world now and if I ever do get out of aviation for whatever reason (read: medical, furlough, etc), that MBA is going to be more than a "what for". And not because of the piece of paper it's on, but because of the alumni networking/job opportunities that I wouldn't otherwise have. An MBA itself is nothing special but simply having a career/jobs office that goes out of its way to connect alumni/grads with good jobs is huge. Pretty sure most civilian pilots would appreciate this opportunity to have a free degree without a mountain of debt if/when the 121 music stops, so yeah, if you're military, don't take this for granted.
Just to add on to this for any AD/SELRES on here who are JO's or maybe O4's/O5's considering either TA, VA Chapter 33 (Post 9/11 GI Bill) or a paid educational billet, here's two Top-10 business degrees that can be completed part time for free under these benefits:
University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) Executive MBA
- You do it every other weekend, in person, at campuses in either Philadelphia or San Francisco. ONLY on weekends, two weekends per month, for two years. This works extremely well if you're on a shore tour in DC (easy weekend train ride to Philly) or at Lemoore (beat the heat/smog on an easy drive up I-5 to SF for the weekend). Also do-able from Norfolk or San Diego but with obviously longer drives/commutes. For my Air Force brothers, if you're at any of the mid-Atlantic bases or at Travis AFB, this is an easy commute.
https://executivemba.wharton.upenn.e...ogram-details/
Harvard University Extension School MLA in Management
- Totally self-paced and almost entirely online so it can be done from just about anywhere. It doesn't have the prestige of Harvard Business School but all of your professors are HBS/HKS faculty, your degree says "Harvard" on it, you join the Harvard Alumni Association, and you get all of the HBS/Harvard alumni networking and job office opportunities. Extremely good deal for the price.
https://extension.harvard.edu/academ...duate-program/
So there you go. Two ivy league business/management degrees you can do with your military benefits that don't even require you to be a full time student and can be completed either anywhere or from some large bases. When you get out, having one of these and the recruiting abilities of an ivy league alumni job office is going to sound real good when the next furlough comes.