OCS 02Nov20 SNA/SNFO (Pilot/NFO) Board

[Triumph_MAC]

My OR mentioned February as a rough timeframe for going to OCS. Some people in the August board thread were getting March dates though. I don't want to wait around forever but it might be nice to avoid some of the winter weather in Rhode Island.

From what I understand, big Navy will push candidates who are close to age cutoffs or have waivers sooner than later in order to adhere to the PA guidelines. I wouldn't mind going to Newport in the winter. I was stationed in Groton for a few years and the Nee England area is beautiful after a good snow.

 

[Ghost SWO]

It is more about the higher number of selections than what they used to have, aviation used to be an average of 50% selection, sometimes down to 25% the higher number of selections allows for those with lower scores to get picked up

Oh I mean the Prior guys have a higher selection rate than the overall average on the excel sheet, just an observation of a discrepancy. Small pool to pull from but still interesting.

also those who are AD or prior are less likely to have a waiver for legal and moral reasons which increases selection chances.
The other thing is that the info for AD to apply has become much better, several years ago it was AFU, so much so it would make 2020 look like a bouquet or roses LOL

LOL right, good point.

 

[Ghost SWO]

From what I understand, big Navy will push candidates who are close to age cutoffs or have waivers sooner than later in order to adhere to the PA guidelines. I wouldn't mind going to Newport in the winter. I was stationed in Groton for a few years and the Nee England area is beautiful after a good snow.

That's good to hear and what I was hoping they would do.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Oh I mean the Prior guys have a higher selection rate than the overall average on the excel sheet, just an observation of a discrepancy. Small pool to pull from but still interesting.

LOL right, good point.

When we pulled the info years ago, and it was A LOT of info those that were prior service as in had left AD and either stayed in the reserves or just out completely had just as good of chance of being selected as civilians, those that were on AD currently had a very low selection rate. The low selection rate we felt was more about sailors being told inaccurate info about applying, such as a person with a History degree applying for CEC because the officer helping sailors at that command apply was telling them if they are AD degree doesn't matter. I feel the info is better now which is helping deter those who have no chance, and helping those who are good candidates get selected.

 

[Ghost SWO]

When we pulled the info years ago, and it was A LOT of info those that were prior service as in had left AD and either stayed in the reserves or just out completely had just as good of chance of being selected as civilians, those that were on AD currently had a very low selection rate. The low selection rate we felt was more about sailors being told inaccurate info about applying, such as a person with a History degree applying for CEC because the officer helping sailors at that command apply was telling them if they are AD degree doesn't matter. I feel the info is better now which is helping deter those who have no chance, and helping those who are good candidates get selected.

That's a little more in line with what I'm thinking, the actual average for AD and prior selectees is on par with the board average. What we're seeing on this forum are above average candidates throwing off numbers and making selection seem better than it actually is, for both prior and civilians applying the averages are skewed.

Before I got out, I had people tell me that I would have a better shot if I got out and reapplied than applying from inside while AD and here I am lol. I believe in the USAF the AD applicants are competing against themselves. So they said you'd have a better shot getting out and applying with 230 others on an equal playing field than to apply with 200 AD people for 30 slots against higher ranks and people with numerous mid to high level decorations. As lower enlisted, it would be nearly impossible to get a slot over an NCO or SNCO with more time in service (TIS).

We saw this with the USAF selecting the first enlisted RPA pilots, they restricted the application to E5 and higher. So even if you had a degree and pilot licenses, they didn't care. 30 pilots were selected from 200 applicants. The commissioning path was similar, I didn't want to stay in a career field I didn't like for who knows how many years for a 15% chance at getting picked up to be a pilot.

I'd take 25-50% selection rate on 230 applicants any day over that measly 15% while being active USAF.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

That's a little more in line with what I'm thinking, the actual average for AD and prior selectees is on par with the board average. What we're seeing on this forum are above average candidates throwing off numbers and making selection seem better than it actually is, for both prior and civilians applying the averages are skewed.

Before I got out, I had people tell me that I would have a better shot if I got out and reapplied than applying from inside while AD and here I am lol. I believe in the USAF the AD applicants are competing against themselves. So they said you'd have a better shot getting out and applying with 230 others on an equal playing field than to apply with 200 AD people for 30 slots against higher ranks and people with numerous mid to high level decorations. As lower enlisted, it would be nearly impossible to get a slot over an NCO or SNCO with more time in service (TIS).

We saw this with the USAF selecting the first enlisted RPA pilots, they restricted the application to E5 and higher. So even if you had a degree and pilot licenses, they didn't care. 30 pilots were selected from 200 applicants. The commissioning path was similar, I didn't want to stay in a career field I didn't like for who knows how many years for a 15% chance at getting picked up to be a pilot.

I'd take 25-50% selection rate on 230 applicants any day over that measly 15% while being active USAF.

The USN goes for best qualified so AD, reserve and civilian compete against each other. The USAF has a different view, for years the USAF OTS recruiter would send people that wanted to be pilots to the USN as he had almost no openings. He would always say the spots go to USAFA first, then AFROTC, and OTS would get what was left over.

 

[Ghost SWO]

The USN goes for best qualified so AD, reserve and civilian compete against each other. The USAF has a different view, for years the USAF OTS recruiter would send people that wanted to be pilots to the USN as he had almost no openings. He would always say the spots go to USAFA first, then AFROTC, and OTS would get what was left over.

Yep, that's exactly how it works for the USAF.

Does the USN do something similar with pilot slots with a trickle down through the USNA, NROTC and then OCS?

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Yep, that's exactly how it works for the USAF.

Does the USN do something similar with pilot slots with a trickle down through the USNA, NROTC and then OCS?

nope, it pretty much works out to 1/3 USNA, 1/3 NROTC, and 1/3 OCS or course OCS can go up or down depending on need, but the movement is minimal.

 

[BDavis11]

That's a little more in line with what I'm thinking, the actual average for AD and prior selectees is on par with the board average. What we're seeing on this forum are above average candidates throwing off numbers and making selection seem better than it actually is, for both prior and civilians applying the averages are skewed.

Before I got out, I had people tell me that I would have a better shot if I got out and reapplied than applying from inside while AD and here I am lol. I believe in the USAF the AD applicants are competing against themselves. So they said you'd have a better shot getting out and applying with 230 others on an equal playing field than to apply with 200 AD people for 30 slots against higher ranks and people with numerous mid to high level decorations. As lower enlisted, it would be nearly impossible to get a slot over an NCO or SNCO with more time in service (TIS).

We saw this with the USAF selecting the first enlisted RPA pilots, they restricted the application to E5 and higher. So even if you had a degree and pilot licenses, they didn't care. 30 pilots were selected from 200 applicants. The commissioning path was similar, I didn't want to stay in a career field I didn't like for who knows how many years for a 15% chance at getting picked up to be a pilot.

I'd take 25-50% selection rate on 230 applicants any day over that measly 15% while being active USAF.

My Division Officer just tried to tell me the same thing. He said I had a better chance getting out then applying. I just said okay and figured his information was outdated. I'll let big Navy tell me no. I have another 4 years before I can get out at which point I would be ineligible for pilot due to age anyways.

 

[Ghost SWO]

My Division Officer just tried to tell me the same thing. He said I had a better chance getting out then applying. I just said okay and figured his information was outdated. I'll let big Navy tell me no. I have another 4 years before I can get out at which point I would be ineligible for pilot due to age anyways.

Yeah absolutely make them tell you no.

It's a little bit perplexing, maybe for some of the reasons exNavyOffRec stated that the old data showed they were putting people through to the boards that shouldn't have put an application in in the first place. It sounds like now there shouldn't be a discrepancy but the old idea of discrepancy remains.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Yeah absolutely make them tell you no.

It's a little bit perplexing, maybe for some of the reasons exNavyOffRec stated that the old data showed they were putting people through to the boards that shouldn't have put an application in in the first place. It sounds like now there shouldn't be a discrepancy but the old idea of discrepancy remains.

There are a few others besides what I mentioned before, for instance some CO's wanted a person to have their warfare device before they would endorse their officer application, another one I saw was where the CO interviewed several people who wanted to submit for OCS and then he would only endorse the top 3 I believe it was, another CO would only endorse sailors who had qualified all their required watches, another instance is where a sailor was applying for Supply and rec'd bad interview marks because he did not know the structure of the supply organization when it isn't relevant for a person to know that info who is applying for OCS, there are others I have seen but you get the idea.

To often CO's decide to "add" requirements that do not matter.

This is why it is often said it is easier to apply when a person is out of the USN than when they are in the USN.

 

[Triumph_MAC]

There are a few others besides what I mentioned before, for instance some CO's wanted a person to have their warfare device before they would endorse their officer application, another one I saw was where the CO interviewed several people who wanted to submit for OCS and then he would only endorse the top 3 I believe it was, another CO would only endorse sailors who had qualified all their required watches, another instance is where a sailor was applying for Supply and rec'd bad interview marks because he did not know the structure of the supply organization when it isn't relevant for a person to know that info who is applying for OCS, there are others I have seen but you get the idea.

To often CO's decide to "add" requirements that do not matter.

This is why it is often said it is easier to apply when a person is out of the USN than when they are in the USN.

That's pretty wild but I can see the idea of not endorsing if you haven't gotten your quals. When I've been on sea duty, I couldn't utilize tuition assistance until I got my quals/re-quals. It made me knock out the quals sooner so I could apply.
I'm on the medical side of things so applying to OCS was foreign to most of my chain since it wasn't MECP so everything was pretty much done on my end until I routed it. That made things a little easier for the submission side, it made getting interviews interesting.
It's interesting to hear that there are certain conditions that have to be met outside of the OCS package that hold up individuals kits though.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

That's pretty wild but I can see the idea of not endorsing if you haven't gotten your quals. When I've been on sea duty, I couldn't utilize tuition assistance until I got my quals/re-quals. It made me knock out the quals sooner so I could apply.
I'm on the medical side of things so applying to OCS was foreign to most of my chain since it wasn't MECP so everything was pretty much done on my end until I routed it. That made things a little easier for the submission side, it made getting interviews interesting.
It's interesting to hear that there are certain conditions that have to be met outside of the OCS package that hold up individuals kits though.

Some rates have it easier due to fewer qualifications such as a CS, but then there are others who will take longer such as a nuke ET that could take up to 2 years to qualify all their watches, so when enlisted recruiters tell people to join and and submit an application when they get to their first command they really don't know what they are talking about.

 

[Ghost SWO]

That's pretty wild

You ain't lying. I just sat in my chair for a minute after reading that, holy crap... I jumped through a bunch of hoops too without realizing it at the time because I thought it must be like this everywhere, and it never got me anywhere in the end. I did so much extra work to check boxes that shouldn't have existed in the first place.

Now I can make a mental note of, "How to NOT treat my enlisted personnel".

Lot's of good perspective discussed here.

 

[Triumph_MAC]

Some rates have it easier due to fewer qualifications such as a CS, but then there are others who will take longer such as a nuke ET that could take up to 2 years to qualify all their watches, so when enlisted recruiters tell people to join and and submit an application when they get to their first command they really don't know what they are talking about.

That would be rough and very discouraging.