An evaluation of Marine Corps Educational credentials.

Abstract

The Marine Corps classifies civilian educational credentials into 16 categories. These categories are further divided into two groups--high school graduates and non-high school graduates. This two-tier system is the structure currently used by Marine recruiters to determine an applicant's basic eligibility for enlistment. Applicants who are high school graduates are preferred over those who are non-high school graduates for a variety of reasons. Difficulties arising from the two-tier system stem from the increasing types of educational credentials now available to prospective applicants and the varying definitions and treatment of educational credentials from Military Service to Service. This thesis analyzes various personal and performance variables from a data base consisting of male, nonprior service recruits who entered the Marine Corps between October 1978 and April 1983. A recommendation is made for reclassifying the credentials that comprise the two-tier system. In addition, a three-tier system for categorizing educational credentials based on in-service performance variables is proposed. The proposal and recommendation made in this thesis are "exploratory" in nature, and further research is encouraged.