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Do you have to go to a university to be in the military?

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Mitchell’s Answer

To be in the military in general, a degree is not required. With some extremely rare exceptions, to join any branch as a commissioned officer, at least a Bachelor’s degree is a prerequisite. Fortunately, joining as an enlisted person is much simpler and faster. Sometime around your junior year of high school or later is a great time to take the ASVAB (standardized military entrance test) and see which jobs you qualify for. Take your results to the nearest recruiter and see what they can do for you. There is a huge variety of jobs in every branch from maintaining engines to building IT networks, so get your list of qualifying jobs from each branch and see which seems like the best fit.

If you want to join as an officer, you will need a degree, but the military also offers several programs for enlisted service members to get college degrees, even graduate degrees. In fact, I’m in school on the Navy’s dime as we speak. But if college isn’t right for you, that’s okay. You can learn almost any trade while you’re in, and either retire from the military, or get out and use your new skills elsewhere.

Mitchell recommends the following next steps:

Study for the ASVAB. Here's one unofficial tool (there are no official study tools): https://uniontestprep.com/asvab/study-guide
Find a recuiter and schedule an ASVAB test.
Ace the test!
Bring test results to every branch, unless you have a specific one in mind (try not to)
Choose the military job that's right for you. Do what you think sounds interesting from your own research. Try to avoid relying on recruiters.
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Jason’s Answer

It depends on what you want to do. There are many exciting opportunities in the military for people who don't have a college degree. The military also has many programs to obtain a degree while in, or earn benefits to attend college following service. I started enlisted and used military benefits and opportunities to obtain a BS, MBA and PhD. Likewise, if you already have a degree, there are other programs to enter service as an Officer.
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John’s Answer

Jason starts it off right. It depends on what you want to do, what industry you want to be a part of, and what piece of the machine you are trying to make better. I joined as an Enlisted Sailor and decided this was the path for me. Even after obtaining my Associates and BS/BA-IT degree and starting my MBA, i decided that I wanted to work closer with my personnel. Understand what you want out of the military and then decide what will work best for you and your career.

*I have never paid a dime for school.
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