Officer Candidates School Blog
Q&A

Candidate Q: Commissioning Timing After PLC and OCC

Candidate Question

I am very new to the website and so far it looks pretty good to me. I was sent here from futurejarheads about my path to become an officer in the Marines and I am kind of confused about the commissioning part of becoming an officer. I read you can either do PLC or OCC. Do you get commissioned to 2nd Lt after you graduate PLC or OCC  or after you go to TBS after completing one of the two programs?

My concern is which one should I apply for while I am attending college or after I graduate? I feel like it would better suit me if I did something while in college like in my junior year for example, but is that what NROTC program is for? Thanks for the time.

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Answer

Thanks for the note. First, you go through PLC or OCC as a civilian. If you graduate PLC, you can commission after you graduate college (then head to TBS as a 2nd Lt). If you have your degree and then attend OCC, you will commission the same day you graduate from OCS. Is that clear?

You are highly recommended to get into OCS as soon as possible. It is common to have to reapply several times for PLC and you don’t want to limit your chances!

These pages should help answer your questions. Let us know if you have any other questions after reading here:

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Becoming An Officer is one of our pages to help direct the thinking and research of young Americans looking to serve their country. If you are thinking about the military in general, have you thought through all the questions on BecomingAnOfficer.com yet?
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