How to find success in a new environment
Choosing the right school can be daunting for anyone, especially for those leaving the military. Why does it matter what you study and where you do it? Just get a degree and move out into the world, right? The military, in the enlisted ranks, tends to view education as a check-the-block activity for promotion. Often told that a “degree is a degree,” the average service member tends to see traditional four-year liberal arts schools as somewhere to be avoided.
Compounding the problem are cultural differences between the college campus and the military base. Seventy miles separate Fort Bragg and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, for example, yet they seem worlds apart. Veterans face many unique challenges, more so than the traditional college student, but that should not deter you. Veterans should avoid diploma mills and strive for success at America’s elite institutions by finding success in the same manner they did in the service.
By being open-minded, hardworking, and humble, you will find success wherever you go, while also doing your part to bridge the so-called civilian-military divide.
Not all college degrees are created equal, and the term liberal arts is not a bad word. Avoid diploma mills and for-profit, online schools. For the student veteran, college helps reintegration into society and becoming whole again. It did for me. Even if you start at a community college, and there is nothing wrong with that, transfer to the best university you can, as soon as possible.
If you need help, reach out to the many organizations willing to help veterans gain admission to the nation’s top schools. The Warrior-Scholar Project, Service to School, and the Posse Foundation are but three non-profits that exist to help you, the veteran, achieve academic success at the highest levels. They’re free and have fantastic track records of success, including placing enlisted grunts at Ivy League institutions. Don’t be afraid to try.
The liberal arts are a broad education designed to “develop general intellectual capabilities,” according to Merriam-Webster. The liberal arts are essential to understanding what it means to be human, and therefore, what it means to be a good citizen. Just ask Cicero of Ancient Rome. When studying the liberal arts, you will learn to think critically, write coherently, and solve complex problems consistently. In fact, as Vedika Khemani writes, “nothing could be more practical than the humanities.” The liberal arts are an essential foundation for any future success. So pursue whatever piques your interest, and do it well.
A work ethic is vital to your success. Throwing your heart and soul into whatever you’re doing makes it both fun and more manageable. You may think “C’s get degrees,” which is true, but excelling shows employers that you didn’t phone it in once you left the service. Instead, you will demonstrate the above-average work ethic that makes us veterans unique and employable.
Treat school like a job, because it is your job. The Department of Veterans Affairs is paying you through the G.I. Bill to go to school. How cool is that! The American taxpayer’s investment in you makes it a national imperative that you succeed. Pay it forward by using your experience and benefits to earn an education and make your community a better place. Your becoming a productive member of society after school is the nation’s return on that investment.
The final element of this trinity is humility. A positive, humble attitude is crucial to finding success. By serving the country, you’re different from the traditional student. However, you aren’t better, and the tendency to put veterans on a pedestal may be one factor in readjustment issues. Try to blend in and resist insulating yourself from the traditional student. Reach out to someone you wouldn’t otherwise. It can be challenging to fit in, but you’re not alone, and it’s not impossible. It’s vital that you do. Maintaining a positive attitude and reaching out to “traditional” students go a long way toward bridging that divide.
Whether in your small hometown or at the national level, what you do after your service is perhaps more important than the four to twenty years you spent in uniform. Only thirteen percent of Post 9/11 veterans use education benefits, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, which means those that do should set an example for others. This excellent benefit opens an entire world of possibility. Nothing else has provided better economic mobility in the United States, and it is essential to closing the civilian-military divide.
Use your benefits, be successful, and change your world.
