Graduate Program Accelerates Midshipmen’s Careers

While most universities in the country have options for follow-on graduate programs, they are often costly and unassociated with a specific career goal. USNA’s Voluntary Graduate Education Program (VGEP) provides an opportunity for twenty Midshipmen in the top 10 percent of the graduating class get an accelerated master’s degree before they get to the fleet.

After graduating with a bachelor’s of science degree in four years, select midshipmen in the VGEP program will receive their master's degree just seven months after graduation. The program provides $11,000 for in-state tuition, which comes from Navy-appropriated and private scholarship funding. During this time after graduation, they also receive full pay and benefits as an ensign or first lieutenant in the Marine Corps.

“Being an active duty officer, they have the advantage of getting full pay and benefits, whereas a civilian counterpart in graduate school may not even have employment,” said William Eschbach, program manager for VGEP.

The four approved voluntary graduate universities are Georgetown, George Mason, John Hopkins and the University of Maryland. The program allows 12 approved fields of study: operations, information and undersea warfare, joint C4 (command, control, communications, and computers), national security, six fields of engineering, and financial management.

Although the midshipmen may not have the post-graduation stresses of high-interest student loans, unemployment and the inability to pay for graduate school, the requirements for this program are demanding. Their grade point average must be 3.2 or higher; they must have grades of B or better in professional and conduct aptitude; and they must complete all undergraduate requirements such as military training and athletic standards throughout their four years at the academy.

“Our students who participate in this program usually have grade point averages above 3.5. They are well equipped academically and are highly competitive against their civilian counterparts,” said Eschbach.

Midshipmen are able to attain the graduate degree more quickly than their civilian counterparts by completing four courses of three credit hours each during the spring semester of their first-class year, followed by two in the summer after graduation, and another four in the fall to complete 30 graduate credit hours by the January after they graduate. They will then report to their respective warfare schools or duty stations.

Under the guidance of counselors, midshipmen can decide if they want to compete for the 20 spots as early as their fourth-class year.

Eschbach (USNA 1980), who served more than 20 years as a naval flight officer, said that VGEP is beneficial because junior officers who complete the program bring new ideas from civilian programs to the Navy .