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Does my undergraduate school matter for service selection?

MIDNLank

New Member
For reference, I am a student at a T10 undergraduate school in NROTC (Yale, Northwestern, MIT) looking to select SNA. I find that my classes tend to be significantly harder than my friends who go to other universities, and balancing school and NROTC has definitely taken a toll on me. While I definitely am thankful to be receiving a world class education for basically free, sometimes I don't know if the GPA hit and the fact that much of my grade(Even tier 3s) get sub drafted every year is worth it. Am I better off staying here or transferring to a school like UCLA or Berkeley, schools I passed up in high school, if I'm just going to get the same job? Thanks all.
 

CommodoreMid

Whateva! I do what I want!
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
From what I saw, no. I went to a T20 school (see user name) and during my time there I think over 95% of the mids got their first choice. If you like your school and aren’t drowning, stay there, especially for the degree pedigree. You won’t be in the Navy forever.
 

JTS11

Well-Known Member
pilot
Contributor
Well, Ahoy polloi. If you can hold your nose, maybe consider transferring to one of those trash schools like UCLA or Berkeley. Just kidding, are you being serious?

ahoy.jpg
 

MIDNLank

New Member
Well, Ahoy polloi. If you can hold your nose, maybe consider transferring to one of those trash schools like UCLA or Berkeley. Just kidding, are you being serious?

View attachment 42468
UCLA was my dream school growing up and the only reason I didn’t go was because the navy would pay for a super expensive private school that I thought would help me later in life and with selection, but starting to regret that. I have friends there and the classes are much easier and the student life is way better. This definitely isn’t some elitist rant lol. Just wanted to hear mainly from graduates of similar NROTC schools if they thought it was worth it.
 

FormerRecruitingGuru

Making Recruiting Great Again
For reference, I am a student at a T10 undergraduate school in NROTC (Yale, Northwestern, MIT) looking to select SNA. I find that my classes tend to be significantly harder than my friends who go to other universities, and balancing school and NROTC has definitely taken a toll on me. While I definitely am thankful to be receiving a world class education for basically free, sometimes I don't know if the GPA hit and the fact that much of my grade(Even tier 3s) get sub drafted every year is worth it. Am I better off staying here or transferring to a school like UCLA or Berkeley, schools I passed up in high school, if I'm just going to get the same job? Thanks all.

Have you discussed where you stack with your aviation advisor? How about reaching out to your peers who service assigned last year or the year before?
 

MIDNJAC

is clara ship
pilot
I went to a normal state school (with a medium ranked engineering program) and was just fine. No idea if that has changed, but it hadn't for decades before my time.
 

thump

Well-Known Member
pilot
Stick with it.

I was in your shoes, perhaps exact shoes, almost 20 years ago (holy shit). Your background will be a rarity in both the Fleet and the real world, and it will absolutely open doors inside and out.

Plus, in 5 years or so, you’ll look back and laugh at what you thought was hard.
 

Swanee

Cereal Killer
pilot
None
Contributor
Don't read into it. Just do as well as you can, don't get in trouble, enjoy college, and apply to be a pilot in every service (Active Duty and Guard/Reserve) that has airplanes.
 
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