Hi, my advice would be to look at joining the University Officer Training Corps (UOTC) - all universities will be affiliated with one. The beauty of the UOTC is that everything is geared around term time and study time whereas the Local Reserves Unit won't be (ie they will have a 2 week training camp during term time). At the UOTC there are so many opportunities to look at different parts of the army. For example, the ROyal Signals do a UOTC competition wknd where you go and compete with lots of other unis but also find out about the Signals too. A lot of Corps do this too (the Royal Engineers do a big competition too). Whilst you're at uni you can't be a Regular Officer - this is a full time job like any normal job. Whilst you are at uni you could do your Reserve Commission course (8wks at Sandhurst or several weekend modules) but you will still need to go through the Regular Commissioning Course (44 wks at Sandhurst) for the Regulars. There are ways to transfer from the Reserves to the Regulars but you need to have done a decent amount of time serving in a Reserve Unit and still, there is no guarentee of a transfer. My advice is, join the UOTC - it's also a great way of earning money whilst at uni and having loads of different experiences (you might also decide through UOTC that the army isn't for you and that doesn't matter at all), and go through the officer process (Regular) whilst at uni so when you finish you know you've pretty much got a job!

22 December, 2025 09:10