That's interesting. Our unit has been VERY thin on upperclass Marine Options the last couple years. We're sending down our biggest group in years this summer (about 12). As such we haven't had a very good measuring stick for success at OCS. What would you say are the keys in differentiating a good ROTC unit from a crappy ROTC unit (in regards to OCS prep)?
I can't personally make a distinction between good and bad units, but I can distinguish their products.
The bad ones put out guys that are NOT:
physically prepared. The body is one thing that
everybody knows needs to be wired tight to get through OCS.
able to drill. Remember, for those former
drill instructors,
drill was
life. Although it isn't hugely stressed at OCS, if you can't drill, the sergeant instructors are going to ride your ass because that's their programming and when that happens THE WHEELS BEGIN TO COME OFF.
I know that assessment is highly distilled, but those are some of the very first things that get assessed, and this is just my experience. It was the drill rocks and PT rocks that had everybody thinking, "His unit didn't prepare him. I'll bet the rest of his skills are nasty and the rest of the candidates he came with are nasty, too. I can't believe that unit sent their guys down here in this state." Further evidence piled on before you knew it, these guys were on platoon and company probation. Some buckled down and pulled through while others couldn't handle the pressure that they had to deal because they were on a 3rd grade level while the rest of us were on a college level. Conversely, if people can drill and are physically fit, they made it past the stigma of being unprepared, but that didn't necessarily mean they came from good places, or that they were going to graduate.