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High School Straight to Academy or Civilian College First

Waveoff

Per Diem Mafia
None
There is no way this is true.
Little bit of subconscious bias looking back. Of our enlisted AWOs, a good amount of our 2nd and 1st classes either have or are working on their degree. Some of them joined with degrees or have gotten masters as well. Can’t speak to the downstairs MX folks or other communities.
 

DanMa1156

Is it baseball season yet?
pilot
Contributor
Little bit of subconscious bias looking back. Of our enlisted AWOs, a good amount of our 2nd and 1st classes either have or are working on their degree. Some of them joined with degrees or have gotten masters as well. Can’t speak to the downstairs MX folks or other communities.

Gotcha, I figured that was happening. My guess is that less than 1 in 10 have a Bachelors degree, maybe even less across the entire enlisted Force in the Navy.
 

taxi1

Well-Known Member
pilot
Data point. I know of two brothers, both went to USNA. But the parents had both of them go to a year of prep school (not NAP) prior to going to the USNA. They argued it will make them more successful at the USNA, and so were willing to pick up one year's tuition for each. Seems to have worked out, both are in the fleet.
 

MIDNJAC

is clara ship
pilot
Gotcha, I figured that was happening. My guess is that less than 1 in 10 have a Bachelors degree, maybe even less across the entire enlisted Force in the Navy.

Probably across the force, but in specific rates (AT/AE/IS/IT come to mind), it was pretty high, even 10-15 years ago. But yeah, boat people probably drag the numbers down a bit.
 

HuggyU2

Well-Known Member
None

Sonog

Well-Known Member
pilot
IDGAF where someone went to college if at all... In the P-8 if you can't track a submarine (NFO) or lead a cockpit of 3 aviators (pilot) then you're sent somewhere else. Plus, a good majority of the enlisted in today's Navy have college degrees across all fields of study, and a bunch are more academically qualified than I am. The goal is to get to the fleet, and a degree gets you the ticket. Irrelevant if its ROTC, OCS, or USNA. If ROTC and OCS were inferior sources, then they would not exist. I've met as many immature and unprofessional academy blowhards as I have mid 20s OCS grads who were already adults in the real world (or priors). There is a certain level of "prestige" in going to an institution like the academy I will acknowledge when talking to your non-military friends much like the civilian world with ivy leagues, etc. It's just deciding the route you want to take to get to the golden bars.

In my eyes, I wish I looked at more ROTC schools when I was applying for college. Granted I grew up next to the Academy so I was surrounded by its presence 24/7. Comically, I did not get in and ended up doing ROTC and had an amazing time, played club sports when I never would have made the USNA varsity team, and met my wife.

But Maverick pulled Rooster's application from the Academy and set him back 4 years.

It was too late then to apply for a full ROTC scholarship so Miles Teller decided to do the "normal" college experience and do a bunch of keg stands and bong rips on wednesday nights. OCS would be a shoe-in with his talents. Somehow, he graduates in 2008. Finds the E-5 in his hometown who triple hats enlisted, officer, and reserve recruiting for the area who misses a few deadlines and Miles misses his first application deadline. Before he knows it, the country is in the throes of the Great Recession. His next application is rejected because they took 3/120 SNA applicants at the next board. The next 3 boards are cancelled. Finally, after a long 3.5 years, he is pro-recced for an OCS date in the summer. He receives his commission at 26, tears up an old photo of Maverick, shakes his fist, and yells "FOUR YEARS!!!"

Moral of the story kid, take the first opportunity that presents itself!
 

willwash

Active Member
None
As a mid to late career probably terminal O-4 (still have an inside shot at CDR) I’ll admit that I was a bit of a shitbag as a JO. I’ve matured in my later career but permanent damage has been done.

Where did I learn to be a shitbag? College. Regular college. Sleeping until noon, going to class “if I felt like it”, cramming for exams and big projects at the last minute college. I acted like that and still scrsped by with mostly As and Bs (3.5 overall ugpa) because I was

A) taking barely 12 credits a semester
B) majoring in political science
C) a kissass when it was prudent to be one
D) a good test taker
E) above average intelligence


Because of an inflated GPA due to (A)-(E) above and a good ASTB due to (D) I was accepted into OCS as a NFO with flying colors. I was in good physical shape and 3 months just isn’t enough to unlearn 4 years of embedded shitbaggery. I went straight from OCS into 5 months doing Jack shit in A pool which immediately undid whatever good work OCS did accomplish in me.

The best advice I would give my younger self or a young prospective officer would be to go to the Academy. They’d have either whipped me into a disciplined team player or flushed me out. As it was, I’ll admit I kind of slipped through the cracks.

Now not everyone is like me. Some guys have the fire from a young age, some like me learn from mistakes, some never get it. This is advice for and from me.

Just real talk
 

nugget81

Well-Known Member
pilot
Go to a regular school and have fun. Apply for BDCP and only apply for the job you want in the Navy without fear of being told to do something else if you don’t get it, in which case keep applying until you get what you want. Retire earlier than your peers because the time counts towards pay, leave accrual, and retirement (academy time doesn’t).

If I had to do it all over again, the only thing I’d change is I would have done an engineering degree so I could get into BDCP earlier.

You’re welcome.
 

DangerousDan

I could tell you but I would have to kill you
Your first decision is if you want to just be a marine or navy officer or if you want to be an Academy grad. If its something you really want dont be afraid to apply again with college experience. I didnt get in right out of high school, but was accepted a year later after a NROTC scholarship.

If you have to goto a civlian college it would allow you to have context with normal college life. Second it woul provide a useful time to sharpen your practices for calculus and chemistry and agree with Gonzo you would be be pretty hard to test out. However even after having a year of both "normal college" calc and chemistry classes, I still struggled at USNA. Overall the work wasnt hard it was just that everything else you had to learn to balance. This was always one of the fights I had with my NROTC classmates.
 
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