Do I seem like "The Whole Applicant"? (While I still have time to change it)

[IceOwl1]

Hey Guys,
I'm brand new here, but I have seen some guys get chirped (sorry hockey lingo) for posting long messages or not using the search bar. I've searched for the answers to my questions, to no avail so I figured I'd just put it out there.

A little background...
I was going to Enlist right out of high school, then i got my 1760 SAT score back and decided to at least give college a try. My parents said go for a year, and if you want, Enlist.

I'm now a Sophomore, but my dream to serve in the U.S Navy hasn't decreased a bit, except I decided to stay for all 4 years. So I chose to strive toward OCS and wanted to know if I was headed in the right direction for Acceptance.

My GPA is below par, but is slowly but surely on the rise. (2.6)

As far as leadership, here in my 3rd semester at Southern Connecticut State University I am......

A Student Government Representative-at-Large, (Main representative for Club Sports) currently being trained to become next semester's Board Chair of Student Advocacy after only one semester as a RAL (One of, if not THE youngest ever)

I am the President of the Ice Hockey Club,and and next in line to take up the mantle of On-ice Captain, pending our current captain's graduation at the end of the season.

I have been sought out personally by the Office of Student Life to become an Orientation Ambassador, and a member of the Leadership Commission (the Leaders of our Student Leaders)

I also serve on the Executive board of our Lacrosse team.

As far a Physical Fitness,
As stated earlier, I am on the Hockey team (Goaltender) and Lacrosse (Midfielder).
I am also an aspiring Triathlete.

My current major is Athletic Training, however, if I am not selected as on of 15 acceptances, I will need an appropriate Major to be an effective Naval Officer.

SO FOR ANYONE WHO HAS BEEN THROUGH OR ACCEPTED TO OCS....

What else can I possibly do to fit the descrption of "Whole Applicant"

 

[BackOrdered]

Well, you are only a sophomore. You have plenty of time to increase your GPA. Let’s not forget however your ASTB. A high score would do wonders here and it appears that you are a good test taker. Your extracurriculars are respectable, but I would poorly interpret them with a low GPA. You may want to adjust your priorities slightly.

Whether or not you should change your major is a personal choice, but the Navy is looking favorably upon STEM majors.

 

[AllYourBass]

My package is submitted and I'm waiting to hear back on it. Here are my thoughts based on many, many months of poring over these posts. Others may be able to provide you more useful information, but here's a starter.

• STEM degrees are helpful, but for certain designators, they aren't as important (e.g., Pilot/NFO/SWO). For others, they're a requirement (e.g., SWO options, nuclear stuff, IDC).
• Your ASTB score will be a big factor, and it's emphasized more than GPA for certain designators (e.g., Pilot). However, I can't comment on how a package with an amazing ASTB and a sub-3.0 GPA fares. NavyOffRec may be able to shed some more light on this for you.
• To that point, do everything you can to get your GPA as high as possible from where you are now. It's the only limiting factor I see in your list, because your extracurricular leadership and athletics experience seem commendable.
• Good letters of recommendation will be helpful, but based on what you listed above, I doubt you'll have trouble securing those.
• Most importantly, the OCS boards change requirements all the time. Like, seriously, all the time. One day they'll be cool with ASTBs above 5/5/5/50 and then the next day they'll require 7s. Or maybe they suddenly implement a GPA requirement for certain (or all) designators. And then they rescind a requirement suddenly. The best thing you can do to weather the storm of uncertainty is to submit the strongest package possible, and the only weak point that jumps out at me is your GPA. Study, study, study to boost it, and kick your ASTB in the balls, and I think you'll probably have a pretty good shot (provided you don't want to go IDC or something).

 

[exNavyOffRec]

lots of words

What would you like to do in the USN? that kind of affects the answer, but I have seen more people with good GPA's that did nothing but go to college get accepted than I have people with low GPA's that did everything in college.

 

[LFCFan]

Since you are still a sophomore in college, have you considered ROTC?

 

[Renegade One]

Since you are still a sophomore in college, have you considered ROTC?

^^^ That, and if you could roll the clock back several years, I'm guessing your Lacrosse and Hockey skills would have been highly prized by the Naval Academy...and your SAT scores seem to rock.

 

[IceOwl1]

Thank you for all your responses!
I would consider ROTC but we have USAF only and I REALLY hate chairs...
I would have gone to the Naval Academy, but at my peak when I was a national contender (before I stopped growing) and considering D.1 programs, they don't have one.
I am a good test taker, very correct.
I would also consider a STEM major, but my lack of mathematical skill is the reason my GPA is so low.

As far as what i want to do?
I would probably try to be a pilot because, well fuck it, why not give it a shot.
But i just want to lead sailors, serve in the most well oiled machine the world has ever known, and bring pride to my country.
I dont care what i do.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Thank you for all your responses!
I would consider ROTC but we have USAF only and I REALLY hate chairs...
I would have gone to the Naval Academy, but at my peak when I was a national contender (before I stopped growing) and considering D.1 programs, they don't have one.
I am a good test taker, very correct.
I would also consider a STEM major, but my lack of mathematical skill is the reason my GPA is so low.

As far as what i want to do?
I would probably try to be a pilot because, well fuck it, why not give it a shot.
But i just want to lead sailors, serve in the most well oiled machine the world has ever known, and bring pride to my country.
I dont care what i do.

If you want to be a Pilot then you need to do 2 things, get your grades up to a 3.0 or better by graduation and do good on the ASTB, the new rules that they have partially enacted but will be fully enacted at the next board break people into "quality" and "not quality", a GPA less then 3.0 is considered "not quality"

You probably need to back off your extra curricular activities because a slowly increasing GPA isn't going to cut it, you need to do something to rapidly bring it up if you aren't averaging a 3.4 or above per term from here out you should be

 

[BackOrdered]

You turned down the USNA because of a lack of Division one hockey...realize that OCS selection rates aren't a day at the beach these days. I don't know your high school GPA, but if it was decent a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

 

[LFCFan]

• Most importantly, the OCS boards change requirements all the time. Like, seriously, all the time. One day they'll be cool with ASTBs above 5/5/5/50 and then the next day they'll require 7s. Or maybe they suddenly implement a GPA requirement for certain (or all) designators. And then they rescind a requirement suddenly. The best thing you can do to weather the storm of uncertainty is to submit the strongest package possible, and the only weak point that jumps out at me is your GPA. Study, study, study to boost it, and kick your ASTB in the balls, and I think you'll probably have a pretty good shot (provided you don't want to go IDC or something).

I'll add something to this. When he says "all the time" this means both long and short term. For example, when I took my ASTB last month, I was told "You need at least a 50 and all 7s or we won't submit" by my OR. I got a 6/7/6, and mid 50s. I thought "crap." Over the following weeks it went from "we can't submit" to NavyOffRec telling everyone that if you have 6s and 50+ with a 3.0 you get put in the "quality" stack of applications. So it went from "non starter" to my OR saying "Well, looking at your whole package, we'd be surprised if you didn't get in" in a matter of weeks.

Thank you for all your responses!
I would consider ROTC but we have USAF only and I REALLY hate chairs...

You can do ROTC at another nearby college, if I recall correctly.

I would suggest that you look at all your options here and not rule out any particular branch. I was an Air Force brat, and heard all sorts of stuff like "navy pilots are even gayer than the volleyball scene in top gun"** as well as serious things like "You really don't want to be away from your family that much" when I was growing up. However, my real dream was to be a pilot in the military, not the air force. So I kept and open mind, and guess what? Navy recruiter sends me to MEPS before my AF one does, and it turns out that AF has higher color vision standards than the anyone else (USN, USMC, USCG, FAA civilian standards), and that I probably couldn't fly for them. You could find yourself in a situation where you are cut off from Navy. Budget cuts could mean fewer OCS slots in the future, you may not do so hot one branch's test relative to another (I did MUCH better on the AFOQT than the ASTB), and so on. There have been years where the AF cancelled ALL of their OTS boards, you never know, Navy might do the same down the road. Look at ROTC, look at other branches. Navy OCS is a very, very specific goal.

**EDIT: In my experience growing up, the interservice rivalry was more good natured than it might seem at times on a message board that lacks context. YMMV.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

I'll add something to this. When he says "all the time" this means both long and short term. For example, when I took my ASTB last month, I was told "You need at least a 50 and all 7s or we won't submit" by my OR. I got a 6/7/6, and mid 50s. I thought "crap." Over the following weeks it went from "we can't submit" to NavyOffRec telling everyone that if you have 6s and 50+ with a 3.0 you get put in the "quality" stack of applications. So it went from "non starter" to my OR saying "Well, looking at your whole package, we'd be surprised if you didn't get in" in a matter of weeks.

In the most recent case what happened is they decided there wasn't enough time to enact the new rules.

They do look at the whole package but that isn't what they select Pilots off of , ASTB and GPA, I have had several applicants who if you took out their ASTB looked like they walked on water but they had a 5 or a 6 for PFAR and that just didn't stack up to those others at the board, then I have had several who did nothing in college but go to school, no community service, no sports, but they had great ASTB scores.

 

[LFCFan]

In the most recent case what happened is they decided there wasn't enough time to enact the new rules.

They do look at the whole package but that isn't what they select Pilots off of , ASTB and GPA, I have had several applicants who if you took out their ASTB looked like they walked on water but they had a 5 or a 6 for PFAR and that just didn't stack up to those others at the board, then I have had several who did nothing in college but go to school, no community service, no sports, but they had great ASTB scores.

He may have meant my GPA (3.9) by "whole package" if that's the only other thing that really matters. Regardless, if I'm not selected I'm going to be better prepared for my ASTB retake.

By "enact the new rules" do you mean that there were plans to need 7s across the board and a 50+ and that is what he was referring to originally?

 

[exNavyOffRec]

He may have meant my GPA (3.9) by "whole package" if that's the only other thing that really matters. Regardless, if I'm not selected I'm going to be better prepared for my ASTB retake.

By "enact the new rules" do you mean that there were plans to need 7s across the board and a 50+ and that is what he was referring to originally?

yes, it was via email they passed on them for this board because of confusion and not enough time to be fair, the next boards will have the "quality" and "not quality" come into play, a person will still be able to apply with less than 7's and 50 but it will just be labeled differently.

 

[LFCFan]

yes, it was via email they passed on them for this board because of confusion and not enough time to be fair, the next boards will have the "quality" and "not quality" come into play, a person will still be able to apply with less than 7's and 50 but it will just be labeled differently.

Thanks. So what sort of things might cause a "quality" applicant to be passed over and a "not quality" applicant be selected if the rest of the package isn't that important?

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Thanks. So what sort of things might cause a "quality" applicant to be passed over and a "not quality" applicant be selected if the rest of the package isn't that important?

That is what will be known after the first time they do this, but you have a great GPA so hopefully that and your ASTB will mean you won't have to worry about that.