What oppurtunities are avaliable to someone after they join the U.S Marine Corps?

Getting into Annapolis (Naval Acadamy) is though - best of luck to you! You need to get an endorsement from your US state's Senator, I believe (either that or a congressman/woman) and the application process is rigorous.

If you can't do that immediately, there are also special military prep schools you can go to, to do what's called a PG, or post-graduate, year and then reapply where your chances of admission are higher.

But to be in the Marines Corps you don't have to go to a military college; there are plenty of opportunities to fulfill training requirements after graduation and after you get your bachelor's degree.

After the military, with an engineering degree you'll have a vast network of contacts to seek employment. I wouldn't worry about not having a diverse array of options.

The opportunity in the Marine Corps is very wide. You can choose from a bunch of MOS's (job specialties) ranging from logistics, aviation, electrician, infantry, etc. Figure out what you are most interested in and look at that path. One thing that is important to consider in my opinion...Life in the Marine Corps is more than just boot camp even though that is typically what recruiters will discuss the most. Boot Camp or OCS is only a few months of your career. The most important piece is determining a career path that is of interest so I would say start there.

In regards to the Naval Academy, top notch grades are the key to get in along with some other requirements. You can become an officer in The Marine Corps even if you go to another college and there a couple different programs to make it happen, some info is available here.
http://www.marines.com/becoming-a-marine/officer-candidates-school

I hope this helps!

Another idea: check out the University Page for the US Naval Academy on LinkedIn to get a view of what all alumni are up to. From there, you can hone on on 'alumni who work in engineering' to learn about who they are, as well as where they live and work (e.g., you can see that Lockheed Martin and Northrup Grumman are the top employers outside of the US Navy for people in these roles).

You'll need to have a LinkedIn account, but here's a link to the page where you can explore this information:
https://www.linkedin.com/edu/alumni?companyCount=3&id=19940&functionCount=3&unadopted=false&facets=CN%2E8&trk=edu-cp-com-CN-2

Hope this helps!
Monica

Matthew,

I can answer your question from two different perspectives as a former Marine doors opened up for me everywhere I went if for no other reason than the structure and reliability a person learns in the Marine Corps. I was able to learn a technology I would not have been able to afford otherwise.

Now as a person who hires others I can tell you I look for the traits in qualities in a person that is Marine has. That's not to say it is easy but being a marine will definitely open doors for you.