SUBPARs Guide to which Engineering Management Masters you should do on shore tour
Shore tour is what you make it. We recommend making it very fun. However, if you feel inclined, shore tour is also a good opportunity to work on a degree. Getting a degree on shore tour is not mandatory and if this isn’t for you we totally understand. But if you want a degree with none of the effort normally required to get a degree, one these two options might be for you.
Old Dominion
Pros:
It’s the Harvard of online engineering masters degrees in the greater Hampton Roads area.
Very cheap. Like insultingly cheap.
Can be completed with less effort than you put into your audit and surveillance programs.
Completely asynchronous. Pound a case of your favorite energy drink and do the whole thing in one week, just like studying for PNEO interviews. Or spread it out like a reasonable human being, you are on shore tour after all.
The professors know you’re a JO on shore tour and you’re not trying that hard and grade accordingly.
Only six classes for NPS-O graduates (yes…you can do this even if you failed prototype or PNEO!)
Cons:
No one respects this degree.
Telling an engineering firm you have your masters from ODU is like telling the ORSE board you went to NNPTC.
The classes are incredibly boring.
Duke
Pros:
You get to tell people you went to Duke.
More people respect this degree more than ODU.
You get to party with your civilian classmates at a cowboy-themed bar called Shooters IITM during the 3 week-long residencies. Ride the bull.
The course work (while not as minimal as ODU) is still incredibly manageable on shore tour.
You can take a pretty picture in front of the Duke Chapel when you get your diploma.
Cons:
You have to tell people you went to Duke.
All your friends will hate you because you went to Duke.
Significantly more expensive than ODU for the same boring classes.
Must travel to Duke campus in the summer where the air feels like ERUL when all of the R-114s are broken and you’re stuck pier side in Guam.
Sorry, no basketball tickets.
Overall, you cannot go wrong with either of these degrees. What matters most is what you are trying to get out of your degree. The most important thing to note is that both of these courses will leave you with plenty of time to sleep, exercise, drink, travel, sleep, relax, date, socialize, talk to your family, sleep and whatever other normal things you missed out on during your JO tour.
Study hard (or don’t) and have fun(or don’t),
SPG