need some straight answers

[lotsoquestions]

Hey all, I'm new to the site but I've been reading some old posts and I have some questions I was hoping anyone could answers. I'm currently a college senior (at one of the top 10 liberal arts schools in the country), I have a decent GPA (3.3 overall, 3.5 in major), I'm an Econ and Gov double major, and was a four year letterman at free-safety on our college football team. I was an investment banking summer analyst this past summer and hated it, and I'm thinking about becoming a pilot. I've had several job offers that I've turned down, and I'm still interviewing, but I think that flying in the Navy is what I really want to do. My dad was a pilot and my uncle is the former CO of a carrier. I'm trying to gather as much info as possible before making a decision.

Specifically I was hoping that someone could clarify on the rumor that SNA slots are closed until '05? Also, what is the time frame from initial application, to acceptance into SNA program, to receiving an OCS date, and how is that slowed down by the fact that I need a PRK waiver?

Any and all info you could provide is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
T

PS-The bio info I gave isn't intended to make me look good or whatever, I just figured that it would help people know where I'm coming from. Don't want to sound like a jackass.

 

[GSKiker]

There are SNA slots open.

Hey Man,

Just so you know, some guy at the recruiting office also told me that there would be no SNA slots until 05. Three months later, I got one. It just goes to show you how full of crap some of these people are. The Navy needs a continuous flow of pilots, NFOs, etc...some leaving, some coming...if there was a large gap where there was no recuriting in a certain field, then it would cause manning problems. So what I say to you is......get you tail down to the recruiting office ASAP...tell them what you want to do....ask all your questions.....and wait for an answer! Good Luck!

 

[lotsoquestions]

GSKiker,

When you talked to your recruiter, did he tell you there were no SNA slots left, or did you just hear that as a rumor, like I've been? When do you report to OCS? The reason I haven't seriously talked to a recruiter is because I go to school in southern CA but I'm from Seattle, so if the process is going to take a long time, I was thinking that it would be better to just talk to a recruiter up in the Northwest. However, if transfering between recruiters is easy, it would make starting the process down here easier. Nonetheless, thanks for the info and advice, and good luck at OCS!

-T

 

[ben]

GSKiker,

When you talked to your recruiter, did he tell you there were no SNA slots left, or did you just hear that as a rumor, like I've been? When do you report to OCS? The reason I haven't seriously talked to a recruiter is because I go to school in southern CA but I'm from Seattle, so if the process is going to take a long time, I was thinking that it would be better to just talk to a recruiter up in the Northwest. However, if transfering between recruiters is easy, it would make starting the process down here easier. Nonetheless, thanks for the info and advice, and good luck at OCS!

-T

In my opinion, there is no reason to have to use a recruiter from your hometown if there is a recruiting office where you go to school. I used the recruiter who is in my school's town and things have gone just fine.

As far as slots being availabe, it is true that sometimes they hold off applications for a short period of time. It happened to me. I started getting information from recruiters about this time last year. When I decided that the Navy was the way to go, (I had been looking into AF too) CNRC had temporarily stopped taking applications. My recruiter said something about CNRC didn't know how many new pilots were needed for the next fiscal year, so they weren't accepting applicants until they knew how many new pilots they had room for. Does that make sense? So I took the ASTB just to see how I fared, and since I did well they told me to go ahead and start getting my application ready. It's a long process to actually get all of your application completed and ready to turn in, and they actually started accepting applications again before I was completely finished with mine. So when I got all of my stuff together my recruiter sent it in immediately. About two months later I was recommended, and I was finally selected after about four months total (two more months after the recommendation.)

As a sidenote, I was applying to BDCP and not a direct spot into OCS. According to my recruiter, direct accession spots generally take less time from application to acceptance/denial. Supposedly they have a better feel for how many slots are available because the direct spots are only a few months away.

Let me know if there's any more questions I can answer for you.