College Life

Private Schools That Are Well Known for This Major

• University of Notre Dame
• Midway College
• Columbia College
• Central Baptist College
• Norwich University

State Schools That Are Well Known for This Major

• U.S. Military Academy at West Point
• U.S. Air Force Academy
• Missouri State University
• Thomas Edison State College
• Alcorn State University

Classes in the Major

History. Ever hear the saying, "He who forgets the past is doomed to repeat it"? It was probably a history teacher who said it, most likely to convince you to do your homework. But still. With the military, history has a pretty concrete application. For one thing, there's every recorded battle that humanity has ever fought, so you start to get an idea of what works. For example, if Hitler had remembered his history, he would have known that invading Russia has never worked since the Mongols did it in the 1200s. Actually, it's probably a good thing Hitler forgot his history. So as long as you're not Hitler, history is good.

Calculus. What? Calculus? What on earth would the armed services need with calculus? As it turns out, a lot. Warfare throughout the ages often comes down to simple math. It's true. Take the Civil War for example. Once Grant realized the Confederacy could never match the Union's manpower, the war turned and never looked back. Calculus is the mathematical study of change, and there's nothing more mutable than a war zone. So taking the usefulness of math from time immemorial and adding it to the modern advanced technology makes perfect sense.

Civilization. It's what you're fighting for, so you might want to learn a bit about it. Civilization will include components of both history and sociology. On one side, you have the how's and why's of civilization development and on the other, the outcome. How does it work? What's going on? Who are all of you and why are you in our room? All are important questions for the disciplined mind.

Physics. The study of energy and motion is probably one of the more obvious links to the armed forces. Bullets move, but so do vehicles, people, and really everything else the military has at its disposal. Proper planning of operations requires you to know how everything is going to get there. Hence, physics. Also, you have the coolest excuses for experiments, so it would be a shame not to do it.

British and American Literature. You could call literature the glue that holds a culture together. Literal glue, if you will, although not literal glue. You'll get that in a second. We'll wait.

American culture originally came from Britain and now thankfully includes nearly every other culture under the sun. It's pretty great, even if all you're looking at is the food. To understand the men and women under your command, it's good to know what sorts of things they read and what references have cache—the common culture that unites us.