The Air Force commissions thousands of new officers each year, assigning each a career field. But what determines these assignments? This report summarizes an analysis of the Air Force's programs and processes for matching officers with career field assignments, focusing primarily on line officers being assigned to nonrated career fields, and offers suggestions for improvement.

"RR-1099-AF"--Cover page 4. "RAND Project AIR FORCE" "Prepared for the United States Air Force."

1. Introduction -- 2. The line officer accession process -- 3. An overarching education requirement philosophy is needed -- 4. Classification results should be assessed and reported to meet career field needs more effectively -- 5. Career fields lack evidence-based methods for determining education requirements -- 6. Career fields lack an effective framework for documenting education requirements -- 7. AFROTC Scholarship production is not aimed at meeting academic degree requirements -- Appendixes : A. Model formulation -- Determing aggregate education requirements by academic degree type -- B. AFROTC scholarship data requested and received.