When to take military service when applying for graduate school?
I come from a country with compulsory service, and I saw a few cases like this when serving. The recruitment officers would try to match your skills with your service -- so if you had a higher engineering degree you would be set to tutor army engineering officer students etc. Without a degree, you would more likely serve as an infantryman or sailor. I would say it depends on what you want out of your service. If you want the experience of a common soldier, enter now, if you want to do something more relevant to your education, enter after you graduate. You will likely be able to use your skills, and it will not be a wasted gap of two years, especially if you work with your recruitment officers to find a suitable service. If you decide to enter now, you might also benefit from extra credit when applying for a university program later.