How can you get a Ph.D. while serving as a U.S. Naval Officer without delaying your career (read details)?

Question

I know that this is way too far into the future, but ever since I've began taking glider pilot lessons and gotten my student pilot certification, I've loved everything about aviation. Next summer, I plan on getting a private pilot certification and begin taking powered flight lessons, then getting an add-on rating in powered flight to my private pilot certification, but I digress. My current goal is to attend the U.S. Naval Academy in three years, major in Aerospace Engineering, and serving as a Naval Aviator. Would it be possible for me to earn a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering while serving as a Naval Aviator without delaying career progression? Also, if I do eventually get a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, would I be able to go back to teach at the U.S. Naval Academy? If I do so, would that be a terminal position, or would I be able to return to the fleet after a tour as an Academy professor? My main goal is to earn a Ph.D. while serving, but still be able to advance high into senior Navy leadership.

Answer 1

To get a commission you have to have a bachelors degree. So no problem there. However then you need a masters degree. There is a problem there. There are a ton of master degrees you can get while on active duty that you get on your own time. But most of those are garbage degrees that do not qualify you for anything. Example....one college offers a degree called "Management and Human Relations." You get 12 credits in Management, 12 credits in Communications and 12 credits in people skills and teaching. No masters thesis required. Great garbage degree. It shows on your military record that you got a masters degree which helps you get promoted to Lt Col but it is not the kind of degree that will make you eligible for a PhD program. Dead end.



On the other hand, if you are a sharp troop, they might just send you to a masters program in something they need. You go to school full time, they pay you and you keep up on the promotion list. You just might get promoted while you are in school. Then depending upon your grades and what you do with your masters, they just might send you to get your PhD. I know of one Lt. Col that they sent to get a PhD. He did but then he did not get promoted to Colonel. Kind of sucked but he did get the PhD.



A PhD is not needed to be a general. Good leadership skills are. Also being an academy grad helps. Over half of the Flag officers in each branch of the services are graduates from their respective academies. (Good old boy system is alive and well.) If you really want to be a top dog, start by going to a service academy.

Answer 2

99% of the time you spend is doing your doctorate thesis. There are very few classes.



FYI, you would not earn a PhD in Aerospace Engineering, You'd earn a DS, Doctorate of Science.



3 yrs to get your master's 2-3 yrs for a doctorate.



For these specific questions, you need to talk to the Navy, not ask the question on Y!A

Answer 3

You are thinking way ahead but there is nothing wrong with that. The only way you will be granted time to get an advanced degree is if the Navy decides you need one. One of the shining examples of needing that degree is to be qualified to teach at the academy. If the Navy picks you to teach AE at the academy then they will send you back to school on their dime to get a degree that will allow you to teach. That is how we do it in the Army.

Answer 4

It is possible. I know first hand because my husband has done a very similar thing but in the Army... basically it works like this:

There is a little down time at the end of your O3 time- your work out to get your Masters during this time then you go teach at USNA for 2 years. While you are getting your Masters you bust your butt and do extra course work so you leave grad school with everything but your dissertation complete. You spend the next several years working on your dissertation during any down time you have and then you go defend it. At the end of your career, you go back to USNA to teach again and ride it out til the end.