Stay Navy or start law school

[alexrodriguez]

I'm about to get off active duty in about a month through the Early Career Transition Program. I'd be 80% eligible for the GI bill. If I stay in the military and decide to cancel this transition I'd have to stay for another 3 years. Should I do it? Is 100% eligibility and the yellow ribbon program worth another 3 years? Or should I get out now and consider it a steal?

[twenty]

If you're down with going to a state T14 (invariably UVA) rather than a school you'd need YRP for, would probably bail.

[ket310]

I would say go to Virginia, Michigan, or Berkeley through ED (or RD, if you don't have clear cut first choice). You will get 80% of their in-state tuition fee which will be around 38,000 ish. You'll end up paying less than $15K a year, which is not bad at all for T14. Actually, verify this with VA prior to exit.

If you really want to be near debt free at other private T14 (ex. Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, NYU...), maybe you want to stay in, but I don't see it worth another three years unless you really want HS for clerkship or academia purposes. Just go to either one of those three.

[Ramius]

If you consider leaving the service before your commitment is up "a steal," both you and the navy would be better off if you left. People quite often join for the benefits, but if you can't stick it out for your initial enlistment proudly, you probably don't belong in this navy.

To the poster above me, every service is eligible for GI Bill after three years of service, so long as they are not already obligated due to other education paid for by the military (ROTC, service academy, etc.) and they leave the military in good standing.

[TheSpanishMain]

I'd consider staying in. You said in another thread that you were hitting way below your target LSAT on your practice tests. No point getting out to attend a T14 if you aren't going to be admitted. Might as well give yourself extra time to study.

Second, in my limited experience, the "military boost" thing is most pronounced when you've actually done some noteworthy stuff in the military: combat deployments, leadership positions, legitimately tough courses, etc. Stay and really try to distinguish yourself beyond just "Yeah, I was in the Navy for two years. Got out early as an E4." It's honorable service and all, but it's really not that impressive, relatively speaking. You've talked about the Navy a lot on TLS, so I assume your applications are going to have a particularly military slant. If that's going to work, you're going to need to actually have some interesting, impressive stuff under your belt. Simply having been in for two years is cool and all, but...yeah. I'm not saying you need to go be a Navy SEAL Ninja Assassin or whatever, but simply graduating from your MOS school and then hanging out for eighteen months isn't going to really make you stand out.

You may end up like a guy I know who got out early because he was sick of his current boss and ended up feeling like he cheated himself out of a lot of cool life experiences.

If you consider leaving the service before your commitment is up "a steal," both you and the navy would be better off if you left. People quite often join for the benefits, but if you can't stick it out for your initial enlistment proudly, you probably don't belong in this navy.

I think he meant the GI Bill is still a steal, even at less than 100% eligibility, not that getting out of the Navy early is a "steal."

[alexrodriguez]

If you consider leaving the service before your commitment is up "a steal," both you and the navy would be better off if you left. People quite often join for the benefits, but if you can't stick it out for your initial enlistment proudly, you probably don't belong in this navy.

To the poster above me, every service is eligible for GI Bill after three years of service, so long as they are not already obligated due to other education paid for by the military (ROTC, service academy, etc.) and they leave the military in good standing.

Definitely not this.

I meant "steal" as in 2 years for 80%. Like a good trade off or bargain.

I wouldn't mind coming back later on as a JAG, but we'll see.

[ket310]

[quote="louierodriguez"
I wouldn't mind coming back later on as a JAG, but we'll see.[/quote]

If you come back as JAG, I believe JAG will pay 60K of your student loan (20K/yr) which makes my plan perfect. Even if not, 45K debt out of Virginia, Michigan, Berekely is not a bad choice at all.

[TheSpanishMain]

If you come back as JAG, I believe JAG will pay 60K of your student loan (20K/yr) which makes my plan perfect. Even if not, 45K debt out of Virginia, Michigan, Berekely is not a bad choice at all.

First you have to get in to Virginia, Michigan, or Berkeley. If I remember correctly, Louie's GPA is like a 3.1 or something, well below all of those schools' 25%. He needs a truly awesome LSAT to compensate, even for a chance, and it doesn't sound like he's hitting it yet.

[ket310]

If you come back as JAG, I believe JAG will pay 60K of your student loan (20K/yr) which makes my plan perfect. Even if not, 45K debt out of Virginia, Michigan, Berekely is not a bad choice at all.

First you have to get in to Virginia, Michigan, or Berkeley. If I remember correctly, Louie's GPA is like a 3.1 or something, well below all of those schools' 25%. He needs a truly awesome LSAT to compensate, even for a chance, and it doesn't sound like he's hitting it yet.

Oh... I didn't know that. Good luck on your LSAT. If that's the case, you might want to stay in and raise your LSAT over the next two years. I thought since you said you get out next month you had decent number already. I've been studying LSAT for 1 year now (10-15hrs/week, sometimes none due to training schedule) and beginning to see raise. My initial cold was 149, now I'm doing pretty good. I'm planning to take mine either this Jun or Oct.

[Ramius]

If you consider leaving the service before your commitment is up "a steal," both you and the navy would be better off if you left. People quite often join for the benefits, but if you can't stick it out for your initial enlistment proudly, you probably don't belong in this navy.

To the poster above me, every service is eligible for GI Bill after three years of service, so long as they are not already obligated due to other education paid for by the military (ROTC, service academy, etc.) and they leave the military in good standing.

Definitely not this.

I meant "steal" as in 2 years for 80%. Like a good trade off or bargain.

I wouldn't mind coming back later on as a JAG, but we'll see.

Sorry for misinterpreting what you said. I guess my question would be, why not just finish your commitment, get full GI Bill, get more experience and give yourself time to get the LSAT you need for a desirable outcome? There is no need to rush into this, you have plenty of time and law school isn't going anywhere.

If your LSAT isn't what you need it to be, stay in and work on the LSAT. It would suck worse to get out, lose that guaranteed paycheck, have to pick up some menial job to make ends meet and add to your stress while still working on the LSAT. Only get out if you're ready for the transition, which I'm gathering you aren't.

Only you can do the cost-benefit of more service vs. getting out now because no one here knows all of your circumstances. Just don't rush into any decision because you're itching to get out of the navy or because you think you have to start law school RIGHT NOW.

[NYstate]

Louie- this is a big decision. Post in the military thread to ask. I don't know what you need to do to get a military boost. My feeling is that you don't have to win a medal. I'm not sure the information you are getting is correct. I agree there is no rush. Law school will still be here and in a couple of years applications will be even lower, in my opinion.

Just note that JAG is a competitive job and not something you can count on.

Good luck and keep studying. You are doing a great job. You've learned a lot from your first post here at TLS.

[ScottRiqui]

Is the Early Career Transition Program even an option? It was suspended back in March 13 (NAVADMIN 063/13), and as of 03 JAN 14, that NAVADMIN was still listed as remaining in effect.

[TigerDude]

outside of the "if you're not committed to the Navy then get out now" sentiment (which is BS, there's a reason they don'y let you quit), you should look at the opportunity cost of sticking in the Navy - lost wages, etc for 3 years.

Also, will your quality of life in law school be better or worse than your quality of life in the Navy.

[TheSpanishMain]

Louie- this is a big decision. Post in the military thread to ask. I don't know what you need to do to get a military boost. My feeling is that you don't have to win a medal.

No, you don't need to "win" a particular medal. My point is that the military boost is not binary. There are degrees of boost. A guy who served in a leadership role in Afghanistan has much better fodder for a compelling personal statement than a guy who stood fire watch in Norfolk for eighteen months.

Louie, please understand I'm not disparaging your service. I'm just saying that if you choose to make your military service a highlight of your application, you should try to make that service as unique, compelling, and interesting as possible.

[NYstate]

Louie- this is a big decision. Post in the military thread to ask. I don't know what you need to do to get a military boost. My feeling is that you don't have to win a medal.

No, you don't need to "win" a particular medal. My point is that the military boost is not binary. There are degrees of boost. A guy who served in a leadership role in Afghanistan has much better fodder for a compelling personal statement than a guy who stood fire watch in Norfolk for eighteen months.

Louie, please understand I'm not disparaging your service. I'm just saying that if you choose to make your military service a highlight of your application, you should try to make that service as unique, compelling, and interesting as possible.

Sorry. "Win" was wrong and not what I should have said. You are giving great advice. I just remember Louie from his first post and wanted to be supportive. I obviously know less than nothing about the military other than JAG isn't simple to get. So I will shut up. Thanks for your points.

[TheSpanishMain]

Sorry. "Win" was wrong and not what I should have said. You are giving great advice. I just remember Louie from his first post and wanted to be supportive. I obviously know less than nothing about the military other than JAG isn't simple to get. So I will shut up. Thanks for your points.

Sorry, hope I didn't sound douchey. "Win" medals is just one of those that immediately sounds off when you've been in the military, but if you haven't there is no reason you'd know that. I think your basic point is right: you don't need to be some kind of comic book superhero to see a boost from military service. I'm just saying if you're hoping your military service will put you over the hump at schools where you have borderline numbers, you should try to make sure you're giving yourself the biggest boost possible.

[cron1834]

Dude, you can sail the seven seas in the Navy. Ftw.

[ArcticDeckie]

I'd wait until you know what your LSAT score is before taking any action. Of course there is the possibility that you land a 170 and find yourself out of the Navy early and ready to go to school full time, but you don't want to rely on that. The other side of that situation is you end up with an undesirable LSAT score regretting having left a job with a decent paycheck and potential for valuable work experience. Yet another option is that you may get a very good LSAT score and feel like you are stagnating by staying in the Navy unnecessarily long, but it's the least risky option, and would at least give you 100% GI Bill eligibility.