education
March 2016 Naval Postgraduate School Executive MBA NAVADMIN
I completed this degree and can answer any questions related to it. In brief, you go to class at a remote site 1 day per week for 2 years. It is free except for the cost of books, and takes about 10-20 hours/week of work in addition to class time. You have to go to the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA for the first week, but that is the only required on-site time. In order to apply, you have to have 2 years of time on station left from the day you start the program. In addition, your CO has to sign a letter that indicates he/she is willing to give you the time to complete the program and that you are unlikely to deploy during those 2 years. Because of all of these stipulations, essentially you have to apply after arriving at a new duty station or just after getting retoured. If you are in a specialty with frequent deployments, you should have recently deployed. The commitment if you sign up is 3 additional years from the time you quit or complete the program. This commitment has no effect on your medical special pays. The NAVADMIN for the next class is here:
UNCLASSIFIED ROUTINE R 171519Z AUG 15 FM CNO WASHINGTON DC TO NAVADMIN INFO CNO WASHINGTON DC BT UNCLAS
NAVADMIN 195/15 MSGID/GENADMIN/CNO WASHINGTON DC/N1/AUG//
SUBJ/EXECUTIVE MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION DISTANCE LEARNING DEGREE PROGRAM FOR MARCH 2016//
REF/A/MSG/CNO WASHINGTON DC/N1/061710ZAUG07// AMPN/REF A IS NAVADMIN 195/07, OFFICER GRADUATE EDUCATION SERVICE OBLIGATION.//
RMKS/1. This NAVADMIN announces application procedures for the March 2016 distance learning Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) program. The program will be taught in the fleet concentration areas (Norfolk, Washington, DC, and San Diego) and other eligible sites.
2. The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) defense-focused EMBA is a 24-month, fully-funded, part-time graduate program focused on resource management. The program prepares middle to senior grade active-duty officers, lieutenant commander (select) and above, whose career paths do not support in-resident graduate education.
3. The program begins with a one-week temporary additional duty (TAD) resident program at the NPS campus in Monterey, CA. Official travel orders and funding for TAD travel will be provided by the student's parent command. If command funding is not available, students may fund their own travel and utilize no-cost TAD orders from their command. During resident week, students will take a two-credit hour course in managing teams. Additionally, students will interact with the faculty who will be teaching throughout the program and master the skills required to learn via distance learning methods. The NPS program is scheduled for the week of 22-26 February 2016. A block of rooms have been reserved at Navy Lodge, Monterey, CA for attendees. Optionally, the NPS bachelor officer quarters on campus may be utilized on a space available basis. Transportation by bus will be provided to and from the Navy Lodge for daily classes on the NPS campus to minimize TAD costs.
4. NPS faculty use video teleconferencing (VTC), internet, and other distance learning modes to teach the follow-on courses. Students meet in VTC- capable classrooms once a week during normal duty hours for six to seven hours of instruction, taking two classes per quarter for eight quarters. Students enter the EMBA program as a cohort and will take all courses together as a learning team (minimum five personnel). All students must recognize that attending classes with their respective cohort is mandatory to complete the degree requirements. VTC instruction will begin during the week of 28 March 2016.
5. Eligibility requirements include an undergraduate degree from a regionally accredited 4-year college or university, academic profile code of 245 (2.6 grade point average or higher on a 4 point scale) and 2 precalculus courses with a grade average of B or better. A commanding officer endorsement letter is required to participate in the program. Department head or similar mid-level management experience and strong potential for promotion are preferred. Participants must have a projected rotation date no earlier than March 2018. The Graduate Management Admission Test is not required.
6. Graduates will be awarded an EMBA degree from NPS and the Navy subspecialty code 3100P, Financial Management Defense Focus. Per reference (a), officers participating in this program must agree to remain on active duty following completion of graduate studies for a period of three years. This obligation is discharged concurrently with any other service obligation already incurred. This agreement does not obligate the Navy to retain the officer on active duty.
7. Officers interested in the EMBA program can visit the NPS EMBA home page for detailed eligibility and application process information. Deadline for the application process is no later than 18 December 2015. The EMBA program homepage can be found at www.nps.edu/emba.
8. Point of contact is the NPS EMBA program office and they can be reached at (831) 656-2562/DSN 756, or fax at (831) 656-3630/DSN 756, or via e-mail at emba(at)nps.edu.
9. This message will remain in effect until superseded or 30 June 2016, whichever occurs first.
10. Released by Vice Admiral W. F. Moran, N1.//
BT #0001 NNNN UNCLASSIFIED//
FY16 Courses, Updated Promo Prep, and MC Career Roadmap
Here are 3 documents of interest to MC officers:
- From BUMED – FY16 Navy Medicine Leadership Course Information
- From BUMED – Medical Corps Career Roadmap
- Updated promo prep document that contains #1 above, Joel Schofer’s Promo Prep Guidance – 18 AUG 2015
FY16 Navy Medicine Professional Development Center Training Calendar Released
Here is the FY16 Navy Medicine Professional Development Center course calendar. The most popular course for physicians on this list is the Advanced Medical Department Officer Course (AMDOC), which is great not only because it is a service school and therefore buffs your Officer Summary Record (OSR) for promotion boards, but because it teaches you a ton of useful information. (Disclaimer: I’m teaching at AMDOC this Tuesday.) The Tricare Financial Management Executive Program is another worthwhile course for senior-ish officers. It is a 3 day peek into the world of how Navy Medicine and Tricare are financed and I learned a lot of things when I attended it.
NMPDC Course Offerings for FY16
The POC for any questions about these courses is found in Appendix VI of my promotion prep document, updated yesterday and found in the tab at the top of this page and here:
Joel Schofer’s Promo Prep Guidance – 30 JUL 2015
Need Your Opinion on the Blog/Website
The blog/website has been live for about 2 months now, and I’d love some direction on how things are going. Do you like written posts or do you prefer audio/video? Do you prefer pure audio or video podcasts? Do you like shorter podcasts or are longer ones okay? Are written comments essential or are audio/video podcasts alone sufficient? Please send any comments you have to me with the “Contact Me” tab or by commenting on this post. Please also take this poll:
O5/O6 Opportunities – USUHS Brigade Commander and SECDEF Corporate Fellowship
Here are two opportunities for senior physicians. If you are interested in one, contact your Detailer:
O6 Only – Brigade Commander Position at USUHS
O5/O6 – SECDEF Corporate Fellowship NAVADMIN*
*NOTE: The first two programs mentioned in this NAVADMIN are for line officers and physicians are not eligible. The last program, the SECDEF Corporate Fellowship, is the one physicians are eligible for.
Could a Master’s Degree Get You Promoted?
When discussing why they failed to promote, one of the more common reasons that officers give is that they were unable to get a leadership position. When I ask them how they prepared themselves for these positions and what they did to improve their chances of getting one, they often don’t have much to say. Frankly, they didn’t do anything “extra” or above and beyond their normal duties to prepare for and get a leadership position.
Don’t be one of those officers.
The recipe for promotion is fairly simple. Superior performance in leadership positions leads to early promote (EP) fitreps, which leads to promotion. As promotion gets more difficult, the competition for leadership positions is likely to increase, and officers need to find a way to differentiate themselves from the crowd, increasing the chance they’ll get leadership positions. Obtaining a master’s degree can be one of the things that will distinguish you from other physicians and can dramatically increase the chances that you are competitive for career advancing positions.
What Kind of Degree Should You Consider Getting?
This depends on your career goals. If you want to become a leader in research or global health engagement, an area of increased focus in the Navy, you probably want to get a Master in Public Health (MPH) or similar degree. If you want to become a residency or fellowship director, a master’s degree in adult or medical education would fit the bill. If you want to become an operational leader, attending a war college would make sense. And if you want to become a clinical administrator or pursue executive medicine, obtaining a management degree, such as a Master in Business Administration (MBA), Master in Medical Management (MMM), or Master in Healthcare Administration (MHA), would make sense to me.
How Can You Get a Master’s Degree While on Active Duty?
There are many ways you can do this, but the most common include:
- Complete a fellowship that includes a master’s degree. Some fellowships either include or have the option of obtaining a MPH, such as the Global Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response Fellowship. I also know of multiple officers who asked the Graduate Medical Education Selection Board for an additional year of fellowship to obtain a degree or simply for permission to obtain a degree alone. What are the chances this will be granted? Well I’m sure the chances change from year to year, but they are zero if you don’t ask.
- Complete the distance learning Executive MBA from the Naval Postgraduate School. This is how I got my MBA for the cost of books alone, and I think the program is excellent. You have to go to Monterey for 1 week at the beginning of the 2-year program, but after that all classes are held in person at remote sites via video conferencing. You have to have 2 years of time-on-station left at your current command, so you have to apply to start right after you get to a command or get a new set of orders. In addition, your CO has to sign a letter stating that you’ll get the time to attend classes once per week for 8-9 hours and that you are not slated to deploy. You can deploy once you start the program, but you can’t be on the hook when you apply.
- Use Navy Tuition Assistance (https://www.navycollege.navy.mil/ta_info.aspx#eligibility) to pay for a degree. The tuition rates they pay will not completely cover more expensive degrees, but every little bit helps.
- Apply for the Navy Career Intermission Program and take time off to get a degree.
- Attend a war college. Intermediate colleges are for officers who are O4 or below, while senior college is for O5 and above. If you’re interested, contact your detailer.
- Pay for it yourself and do it in your free time on-line or in person. One program to look into is offered by the American Association for Physician Leadership (http://www.physicianleaders.org/education/programs/masters). By taking some CME you can then enroll in various patient safety and management degrees that are all physician focused. The on-line University of Massachusetts healthcare focused MBA that they offer is the most reasonably priced MBA that I could find that is accredited by the top business school accreditation body. If you want a fast MBA (but pricey), look into the University of Tennessee Physician Executive MBA program (http://pemba.utk.edu).
While committing to a master’s degree program will take major time and effort, that is the point. It is a well-recognized way to demonstrate to the Navy that you’ve made a serious commitment to your professional development and could go a long way toward giving your next interview for a leadership position.
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