To all,
This is most competitive program I've ever seen in my life, period! This was my 4th application and I was a non-select. 10+ years of defense/intel community experience, 10+ years of leadership roles, industry certifications, bachelors, masters in information systems, finishing 2nd masters in cyber-security policy and mgmt, no military experience, had all recommendations from 0-5's and up, and a 0-9 recommendation from joint services. What am I doing wrong? I may give it one more shot, but I'm not sure, because I can't get concrete answers as to why I haven't gotten selected....
Hey MTRIO - I'm not sure what you are doing wrong. You sound like someone I would have selected, but I was a non-select. From what I can tell, grades count a lot. I was prior service navy intel, combat tour, bronze star, left in 2011. Finished a law degree, passed the bar, got great LOR's too, my resume in flawless, my references impeccable, my board scores were very good and have little to no room for improvement. I have served in leadership roles in combat at the O-4 level. That's how I was awarded a bronze star. Just got lucky and fell into a role in war zone that was way above my pay grade, I ran with it and excelled.
So there doesn't seem to be much I can change. My records is basically set. My undergrad was state college 2.99, 3.01 if I do the math my way. My law school was 2.65. Seems to me these boards focus on metrics. They want to know your GPA, where you went to school. They want hard facts. Now, I'm going for Intel 1835 - you might be trying for something else. That other stuff seems more selective to me. My GPA can't change. If that is the first or second thing they look at to rack and stack candidates, that is why I'm out.
I had served directly with the O-6 who was at my interview. He reached out to me directly by e-mail and offered to help me in any way he could. I know I got the recommendations. He helped rewrite my resume. That can be tricky. BY the time it got to the board, it was incredible. So for me, I'm guessing grades has to be the issue. You might have really great grades, I don't know. Maybe its the non-prior service thing, but I will tell you that I'v met a lot fewer prior service ensigns than this blog would lead you to believe. Prior Service helps, but I suspect it pushes someone over the edge if they are looking at two candidates that meet other metrics like GPA.
Officer and Enlisted are different classes. Officers look to select what they believe will be a certain caliber of person and the way they do that is a bit old fashioned. In all fairness to the board members, with kids just out of school, grades are all that you have to look at. For guys like you and me, it's small piece of the puzzle, ancient history, and too late to do much about it this late in the game. But people have blinders on with selections boards like this and metrics sometime.
That is my guess man. If I am right, and I think I am, it sucks for me because I really can't improve on much. I went to college working full time, with two kids, I was in the reserve, divorced, finished college went to grad school. I just kept scraping by, but being top student was not in the cards for me. But neither was food service so I did what I could and ended up okay. When I get the chance to go all in, I'm a top performer too, but I can balance a lot too and move forward. But for this, they want to see Officer pedigree. Very good grades with a fancy school too if they can. Just my take.
Getting enlisted experience isn't that hard to do, but frankly, you are way over qualified for enlisted service. I was over qualified for enlisted service when I was enlisted and I might still re-enlist anyway. It's a tough call. I love the Navy. But there are parts of it like this that really aren't fair. Good luck man!