Most military schools in the United States are educational institutions that place a high emphasis on military preparation, academic rigor, and physical fitness. Most military schools are private and have high tuition, with financial aid available.

Service academies

Senior colleges

State-supported, maritime colleges

Students at these academies are organized as cadets, and graduate with appropriate licenses from the U.S. Coast Guard and/or the U.S. Merchant Marine. While not immediately offered a commission as an officer within a service, cadets do have the opportunity to participate in commissioning programs like the Strategic Sealift Officer Program (Navy) and Maritime Academy Graduate (Coast Guard).

Service graduate schools

Joint

Army

Marine Corps

Navy

Air Force

Space Force

Junior colleges

Four institutions are considered military junior colleges. These four schools participate in the Army's two-year Early Commissioning Program (ECP), an Army ROTC program in which qualified students can earn a commission as a Second Lieutenant after only two years of college. The four Military Junior Colleges are:

Public, secondary schools

These military academies are part of the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) program and are partly funded by the United States Department of Defense. Chicago with six academies has more than any other city, a third of all in the country.

Private, secondary schools