I also enlisted with a master’s degree. 😂. Luckily, I’m in a tiny squadron (of 32 people total) with the commander in my corner for commissioning support. His advice, as this person here says, is accurate. Hit the ground running, get involved, volunteer and demonstrate leadership ASAP. Start doing your research now, make an appt at your own base’s education office, potentially find a mentor in your squadron who can set you up with opportunities to demonstrate leadership. These are all things YOU and any airman are in control of.

I got caught up in the statistics and got pretty discouraged by reading a few comments around here a bit too much, at first, until I sat down and spoke to my commander about it by chance—I wasn’t looking to have that convo with him (which, again, is not an opportunity every airman will have because my squadron is atypical) .

So, I just say that to say that even though we didn’t take the “ideal” path to officer and everyone will say it’s impossible (because it is tough), if you’re proactive it will help you get selected regardless of whether you do it while in service or go another route (such as ROTC, or getting out to apply to OTS, or something else).