I'm looking to join the reserves as an officer once I finish my bachelor's in December. Can anyone offer any advice?

Well, first you do need to speak with a recruiter and do your research on what you want before you let them influence you. Yes, recruiters most certainly do lie if they're under pressure, (told me I could be Navy SEAL in the Army, but I knew that was nonsense from the get go) but if you know what you want, they'll level with you.

If you want Army reserve component, you have the Reserves (Federal Componant) and National Guard (Federal and State with Combat Arms).

If you can ensure a federal OCS slot at the school, then you can knock it out in 12 weeks after 10 weeks of BCT.

If you go National Guard, you have federal, traditional, and accelerated OCS. If you don't get federal, you will have to do traditional one weekend a month for 18 months before commission. If you're approaching 42, you'll get a better chance at attending accelerated 8 weeks, but they attrition rate is high.

Either way you will come in as an E4 through basic training, then go to OCS. If you don't pass you'll stay enlisted. If you do graduate, you'll be on an Order of Merit (class ranking) list which determines who gets first pick for a branch. Sadly, your branch will not be completely up to you, but if you're lucky like I was, I got first pick.

Hope this helps in as much detail I can give. Anything else, just ask.

Best of Luck

What is your degree in ? I came in as a 1LT direct commission with a Bachelor’s in Nursing. The timeline from start of packet, commissioning and receiving orders took about 9months. As a Reservist, you will have to attend DCC (direct commission course) and BOLC which is 2 months worth of training away from home, but done separately. Also plan to have one month off to coordinate your Battle Assembly (drill schedule). Best of luck!

Well, first off, you don't join as an Officer with a BA or BS unless you have been in ROTC or a select few Medical specialties. You would have to go enlisted then apply for OCS.

Good Luck in your future Army career Ms. Olson.

Just be to sure to always get whatever you want in writing on the contract (Bonuses, Direct to OCS Candidate, whatever MOS you want, etc.) before you sign.

Get someone with military (preferably Army) experience to help you review any offers or contracts from the military.

Just one officer's opinion (who was prior enlisted as well)...

It depends on your degree and where your heart leads you!

Having an E-5 give you advice on officer accessions is a terrible Idea. Of course you can go straight to OCS, that’s how the majority of all of the officers enter the service across all branches. This is just a garbage comment.

Jacquelyn, after looking at your long list of comments it looks like you have the info you need, but if you need more details I am an ARNG OCS instructor and can give you the details of how it all works.

Late to the party but make sure you talk to an Officer Accessions recruiter which is almost always an officer. There are different hoops on the OFF vs. ENL side. Officer Candidate School is the likely path. The direct commissioning programs are pretty much reserved for doctors, nurses, and lawyers. Even then there's a knife/fork school component. Highly recommend you don't become a victim through the bait and switch thing: become and ENL and then apply for OCS. Criminal Justice degree in itself is rather narrow, hence doesn't have much applicability in most designators. Take a look at the various career paths for all the Services online as well. You can Google Reserve officer recruiters by service in your area. I used to be an interviewer supporting the officer recruiters for my designator. It was a good opportunity to snag great people while pushing away the lookie-lous. Good luck.

What do you want to do in the Reserves? If you want to be in combat arms then you need to go National Guard. If you don’t mind being or want to be in a support role, then you can go either Reserves or Bational Guard. You can do a 09S package.
It is a way for non-prior enlisted or ROTC folks to join and get a commission. You first have to go to Basic Training and the you go to OCS.

OCS for National Guard can either be traditional route (2 years drilling one weekend a month with phase one and three being two weeks in the summer) or accelerated (8 weeks in the summer or winter straight through). Accelerated requires you to go before a board once you graduate Basic Training and being selected (they don’t usually select non-prior service due to how demanding it is).

I don’t know what the OCS process is for Reserves.

Alternatively, if you have a professional degree (Law, Nursing, Medicine, or Seminary School) you can get a direct commission. You will have to do a six week direct commission course (cake walk) and then go to your basic branch course. I hope this helps.

Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.

Jacquelyn Olson I would read as much as you can before talking to a recruiter. Good luck.

https://work.chron.com/officer-training-army-reserves-involve-23356.html