Navy Subspecialty Codes and Education Plans
Those enrolled in graduate study must pursue a degree which can fulfill a Navy Subspecialty Code. Subspecialty Codes fall into the broader categories of National Security Studies, Resource Management Analysis, Applied Disciplines, Engineering and Technology, and Operations. To prove that his or her graduate program will meet the requirements of a desired subspecialty code, each officer must prepare an Education Plan (EP). The EP outlines specific intended coursework which fulfills the Educational Skill Requirements necessary to gain a subspecialty code. Midshipmen interested in pursuing graduate education should review Subspecialty Codes early on and apply only to programs which can fulfill a code.
Subspecialty Codes
- Go here for all information and policy regarding Navy subspecialty codes. Read carefully.
Education Plans (EPs)
- Read the guidance at the above link.
- READ THIS: ** Education Plans: Top 7 Things for Navy Scholarship Officers to Know **
- Officer Scholarship Program only; not for VGEP
- Paperwork
- Request for review of EP (Officer Scholarship Program) [Make sure to sign it!]
- Request for review of EP (VGEP)
- Enclosure 1: EP form (fillable .pdf form)[Make sure to sign Block 12!]
- Leave Blocks 24 and 25 blank at this stage, unless you already have a graduate or thesis advisor, in which case put that name in Block 24, leaving 25 blank, as the signature is not required for this preliminary endorsement
- If you haven't been accepted into a graduate program by deadline for this form, submit to NPS anyway, applying for the SSC that you think you would apply for should you be admitted.
- Put the entire package -- cover letter and enclosures -- into one .pdf file and then send it to NPS at subspecialty_validation@nps.edu ; cc the Graduate Education Director and the appropriate OSP, VGEP, Bowman Coordinator. Note that the person at the end of that email address is a LT or equivalent, so you should adhere to standard Navy protocol in the formatting of your email, e.g. the following: Dear Sir/Ma'am...content... Very respectfully, etc....
- Remember, this is only a preliminary endorsement from NPS that your proposal will fulfill SSC requirements. You will be required to resubmit once your courses are fixed. For now, this is our way of ensuring that NPS is giving your application a "thumbs up" in terms of your course of study meeting the SSC that they must assign for you to be allowed to go to funded grad school.
- Some samples from the recent past (but remember to use the updated cover letter template listed above):
