After you graduate OCS, guess what? YOU AREN'T DONE!! Every single Marine officer goes to TBS, even those that went to the service academies. We aren't like the other branches, we don't go straight from OCS to our MOS school. We get to do a six-month long Basic Officer Course, which is heavily centered around infantry and platoon tactical operations.
I struggled at OCS with physical fitness, but I had a gap in between OCS and TBS so I "fixed myself" and corrected the problems I had at OCS. If it hadn't been for some personal issues at TBS, I would have had a LOT of fun. TBS was amazing.
I wrote this guide to TBS before I wrote the one for OCS, because I really didn't see much stuff online about TBS. Once again, I stick to the spirit to integrity while still trying to help people.
Depending on your commissioning source, you may or may not go to TBS right after OCS, but if you are sent to OCS, you already know what the deal is. For those who are stumbling on this page randomly, here is a little rundown:
If you graduate OCS and already have a degree, you either immediately check into TBS or you go back to your OSO and do PTAD (temporary duty) before going to TBS. If you check into TBS right away, you may either pick up with a company right away, or you may be rolled to a future one. This is what most of my classmates did.
If you graduate OCS and don't have a degree, you go and finish your degree, then commission, and then head to TBS! This is what my best friend at OCS did. She was a prior SSgt and she went back to finish college.
In the off-chance you get injured at OCS right near graduation, you still graduate, but you don't commission until you heal from your injury. You get sent home without pay and you learn how to navigate life until you are cleared to go to TBS. This is what happened to me. So if you're in this position, please reach out to me if you are feeling frustrated. Another student in my platoon also got injured right before graduation too. She was prior service, but was a reservist, so I believe she also had a bit of a complicated situation as mine. We both made it back to TBS though. I went to Charlie company of the next year, 2020 (my OCS class went to the Charlie Company right after, 2019), and the other lady in my platoon was the next company after mine, Delta 2020. Don't be discouraged!