frustrated with recuiters

[slitsoul]

I used to be interested in the academy, but i have not done very well in HS. I have only achieved a 3.3 gpa for lack of effort and only scored a 1000 on my SAT. Im about to graduate High School and have decided go to junior college and try to maintain a 4.0 and possibly get a 2 year rotc scholarship.

I really want to know what courses i should take to prepare me to be competitive when applying. I went to the marine recuiters and they did not know how to answer any of my questions. I said, "ok, well can you give me the number to someone who can please..." I was very polite, but they just kept telling me about enlisting after i said i wasnt interested. I called the navy office today and they said a guy would call me back who could answer my questions. The guy who called me back was from their same office and started talking about the bad aspects of being an officer and then contradicted himself by saying most officers come from the enlisted ranks so i should enlist. Im getting very frustrated because all i want is some useful information and they just keep trying to enlist me. I realize they are only doing their job, but it's very irritating when they encourage me to enlist after every officer related question I ask. They even lied to me and said the only way to go nrotc was to get a scholarship. I said, "what about the college program," they said, "the navy doesn't offer it." Either these guys just don't know what they are talking about or they are lying to get me to enlist. Either way im a confident person and was not influenced by what they said about enlisting.

Besides that, could anyone tell me if i need to take a year of physics or calc. to qualify for a 2 year school. Since the guys on a 4 year must do this by the end of their sophmore year, will I also have to to catch up with them. What classes do i need? i dont want to major in engineering or even take physics or calc, but if i have to i will. Do you guys know of any1 i could get in touch with to answer my questions, thanks for the help i would greatly appreciate it.

 

[NozeMan]

You can always go to the college/university of your choice and join their NROTC unit as a college programmer. If you perform well in the unit and get good grades, this increases your chances of picking up a scholarship while in the unit. You can also get advanced standing, meaning you can graduate from NROTC without ever having recieved a scholarship. Call the unit of your choice and talk to their recruiter. They will give you useful info. What units are you interested in?

 

[KBayDog]

First off, remember that RECRUITERS are in the business of enlisting RECRUITS. Their jobs are highly competitive and highly stressful, so don't be surprised that they are putting the hard sell on you to enlist. To get the scoop on becoming an officer, since that is what you seem to want, you need to get in contact with an officer selection officer (the Marines call them OSOs - I'm not sure what the Navy calls them.) You should be able to find them easily enough in the blue section of your yellow pages, or a simple Google search.

Now for a little constructive criticism. Please don't think I am being harsh; I am just out to help you a little. Also, to the others on this forum who are going to jump on me for being a pain in the rear for correcting him, please bear with me:

I realize that this is an online message board, but keep your audience in mind. Some of us are not in the military, but most of us are (most are career professionals, many of whom have "been there, done that.") We are more than willing to help. That said, it is kind of hard to take somebody seriously when their posts resemble the colloquial jargon one might find in an IM or e-mail. Nobody expects perfection (ESPECIALLY on an online forum), but a little effort in the form of capitalization, using complete words, using complete sentences, separating paragraphs, etc. would go a long way in raising your credibility. You sound like an intelligent individual, but it might be hard for some to realize that when your posts look like you are IMing a friend. Like I said, I am not trying to be a pain - just trying to help you out as you investigate your possible career.

Alright, Professor KBay has gone on long enough. Best of luck, and please keep us informed of your progress.

 

[slitsoul]

To be honest i am not sure. I have just started my research and am nowhere near making an educated choice. I live in Nor-CA and would like to go down to So-cal for college, but i am already on my way to a jr. college in a few months. Do you have any idea what classes i should take? The recuiter told me that they only talk to people with a SAT over 1290, but there is a new SAT out now, so nobody really knows what score is a good one now. I'm just trying to get an idea of where i need to be in 2 years / how to create a competitive application. Is a 2 year the same requirments as a 4 year? I only ask this because it is really easy to transfer from a jc to a UC in California. For example, i could transfer from my JC to UCLA easily with a 3.5 gpa and no SAt test to take. At least that's what my high school counselor told me, should I trust his advice? I also want to be in rotc, not just a big school. I'm getting worried that I will never get honest advice and whatever person I talk to will try to conform me to whatever he/she sees fit for the military.

 

[slitsoul]

Ok, I'm sorry, but I am new here. I am not used to using proper english on the internet. I will from now on and I understand your point of view.

 

[flynsail]

As was mentioned earlier, try contacting a NROTC Unit. https://www.nrotc.navy.mil/

They will have a Naval Science Instructor (NSI) you can talk to and find out about the Navy side of things. For the Marine side, you can talk to the Marine Officer Instructor (MOI). They will probably be able to offer you better advice than most of us on here. Just make sure you have some questions written down ahead of time before you call.

 

[slitsoul]

ok great thank you

 

[bigspy007]

Look at junior military colleges that have academy prep. The courses that you take in academy prep are the courses that the different services have told the schools that they want people to take before coming to the academy. I would say that those courses apply to NROTC also, some of the schools are New Mexico Military Institute, Hargrave Militarty Academy, and Mariom Military Institute. ( I would say you need cal and physics, in NROTC those classes are requirded)

 

[slitsoul]

firefriendly,
Your post brought back memories, from 2 days ago, lol. My recuiter treated me the same way and I feel sorry for anyone who buys into their insults and believes them. Honestly, my recuiter didn't take me seriously at all when I said I wanted to be an officer. I am also 5'8 and weight close to 180 pounds from weight-lifting for the past 2 years, along with 12 years of soccer I have very little bf. I just said my stats because I felt I deserved more respect from the recuiter especialy since I only wanted information. I guess I don't deserve anything until I earn it, but I can understand their point because how many young teens go into their offices and say, "I want to be an officer, where do I start..." It sucks they dont know who is serious and who is just going through a phase. How do they get away with lying like this?

 

[nugget81]

Keep in mind that you don't have to do NROTC to become an officer in the Navy. There are other avenues available and the fact that you are asking questions now shows some real intiative on your part. When I graduated high school I had a 3.3 GPA and a SAT score that was nothing to be proud of. I didn't even attend college for a couple of years afterward. Once I started college, I worked my butt off and became very involved with various clubs and organizations. I even managed to get accepted into the BDCP program.
The point of my story is as follows - work hard in college (no matter which one you attend), get involved and network with people, and keep your options open.
Search the site around here. Take a look at NROTC, BDCP, and direction accession. Right now time is your greatest asset - use it to your advantage and see what program will work best for you. Best of luck!

 

[slitsoul]

One of the reasons I am interested in NROTC is because it will allow me to go to a big college for free because I am not rich and would only afford to go to a state school other-wise. I will be going into the military anyways, why not get free tuition and have a great experience in the mean-time. My dream is to fly, I don't know what kind of helo or fixed wing yet, but does ROTC give you any edge to get into flight school or is every new officer given an equal chance to get in no matter where they come from? What will better ones' chances to get into flight school, experience as an officer, grades, a certain major, or just luck? Will ROTC give me the chance to excel / show the teachers I am a perfect candadite for flight school? I have no idea how that works.

 

[Birdog8585]

Ok when I read your post I honestly had to double check the name because that was me when I was coming out of high school 3.3 1090 and seriously thinking about the Marines. I didn’t know what the officer programs had to offer or what an officer even was. I had bites taken out of me by the recruiting sharks but I kept my head above water and went off to college to play football. To make a long story short I transferred out of there and into to Embry-Riddle because they had a NROTC program and I really wanted to be in either the Marines or Navy and I knew that I might have a shot. I busted my butt and put forth 110% and earned a PNS scholarship (Professor of Naval Science) this is the one that the CO has the ability to appoint.

If you are going to stay at the JC that’s no problem at all just start taking calc and if you can, try to get up through calc 2 and calculus based Physics (sometimes called engineering Physics or Physics for engineers). This will help your scholarship eligibility because as a scholarship student you must fulfill those requirements. But like snail said, your best intel is going to come from an LT at a NROTC unit. He will be able to tell you exactly what you need to do in order to prepare to come into the unit full steam ready to conquer the world. There are also other routes to a commission and you can look around for them on this forum.

Keep you head up and don’t get discouraged. On that note I’ll ramble for just a little more and tell a little story. When I was on my way to go to Riddle I wanted to find a job over the summer that was somewhat aviation related. So naturally I start at our local municipal airport. I walk into this hanger where all of these cool stunt planes are and engines all over the place and I start poking around asking questions. I strike up a conversation with this one guy who was at the time a mechanic in the hanger and I was telling him what my aspirations were (wanted to be a Navy Pilot). He has the audacity to tell me that all of the pilots for the Navy and Marine Corps all come from the academy and by going to Embry Riddle I would never fly for either. Now this is after I have done my research and knew better than what he was telling me. But I didn’t say anything and just walked out and never looked back. I told myself the next time that I set foot in that hanger I will be wearing those gold wings you see displayed so beautifully at the top of this page. So the long winded moral of the story is don’t let things like that knock you down. They might seem like impossible goals or aspirations but they are all obtainable, because the only concrete things in life are: well…concrete(ha), Death, taxes and gravity (on earth). Just be relentless and do your best and you’ll be fine

Best of luck to you and don’t hesitate to PM me for more info.