EverettChance
Registered User
Hi, I'm new. I've looked over the site for the past hour, and I find a lot of things to be extremely helpful. It's also encouraging to hear from other people in the application process.
I just got my Masters degree in English Lit from NYU. I graduated with honors from both undergrad and graduate school. Being an officer the US Armed Forces is something I've wanted for a while. Back in college, I was in Army ROTC. I had the scholarship going in as a freshman and completed two years and was extremely motivated about being commissioned, but at the start of junior year, my mom got diagnosed with cancer and I dropped out of ROTC and school to help my family out (she died a year and half later). I had to take additional time off after her death to emotionally recuperate, and afterwards, I just went back to school, got my degree, went on to grad school, and have been working as an Adjunct professor at a state university in Cali. But, aspiration-wise, I've returned to where I was back in college before my mom died: I want to be an officer in the armed forces.
I just took the ASTB, but the problem was that I called the recruiter and he scheduled me to take the test three days later. I knew next to nothing about what was going to be on the test, figuring that it would be similar to the tests I've seen for the Army. I did great on the math/verbal section, but because I have no background whatsoever in mechanics and aviation/nautical science I got eaten alive; my score on those sections are horrendously bad. So I have to take it again, and I have to do much much better just to be competitive.
My random questions are:
1. Is it kosher to apply for an officer's commission with several different branches. I mean, simultaneously. I'm currently talking to an Air Force and Army officer recruiter. I'm not going about this haphazardly; I want to work in intelligence, and I'm really interested in the Navy, because, well, Navy Intel is top notch, especially if you want to work in cryptology. I'm considering Army Intelligence for the possibility of working in Human Intelligence. But is it okay to do this, simultaneously submit OCS applications for different branches? None of the recruiters know I'm talking to other branches, and I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do.
2. I'm also concerned about prof recs. I mean, I'm extremely close to a number of my old professors, but every single one of them leans very very far to the political left. I mean, they're all outspokenly anti-military, as most academics in the humanities are. So I feel unsure of how to go about asking them for a rec, seeing that no amount of dialogue could get them to understand why I want to do this. Does/did anyone else have this problem?
3. I'm 27 years old, which isn't exactly young, though not exactly old either. But aside to intelligence, I'm interested in the possibility of pursuing Special Operations (for the Navy). I know Seal billets for OCS applicants are hard to get, and for good reason. Making it though BUDs doesn't seem far fetched. I was an All-American long distance swimmer all four years of high school, and an all-state water polo as well. But the real challenge, it seems, is just getting accepted as an Officer Candidate with Special Operations as your occupation of choice. I know that good grades, which I have, is a given, as well as a high ASTB score (which I don't have . . . yet). What other things are they looking for? What other things would make you very competitive as an OCS/Seal candidate?
4. Also, let's just say that I take my test again, and I don't do too much better the second time around. I mean, let's say my score is competitive, but not extremely competitive. I noticed that on the application you can put down scores of other standardized tests (GRE, LSAT, GMAT, etc). I have extremely high scores for the GRE (90th percentile) and LSAT (95th percentile). Could these scores possibly balance out the "not as good" score on my ASTB? I mean, would they consider these other scores when they decide to take me on as a sworn-in officer candidate?
Thanks to anyone who read all this, and even more thanks to anyone who can offer any answers to my questions.
I just got my Masters degree in English Lit from NYU. I graduated with honors from both undergrad and graduate school. Being an officer the US Armed Forces is something I've wanted for a while. Back in college, I was in Army ROTC. I had the scholarship going in as a freshman and completed two years and was extremely motivated about being commissioned, but at the start of junior year, my mom got diagnosed with cancer and I dropped out of ROTC and school to help my family out (she died a year and half later). I had to take additional time off after her death to emotionally recuperate, and afterwards, I just went back to school, got my degree, went on to grad school, and have been working as an Adjunct professor at a state university in Cali. But, aspiration-wise, I've returned to where I was back in college before my mom died: I want to be an officer in the armed forces.
I just took the ASTB, but the problem was that I called the recruiter and he scheduled me to take the test three days later. I knew next to nothing about what was going to be on the test, figuring that it would be similar to the tests I've seen for the Army. I did great on the math/verbal section, but because I have no background whatsoever in mechanics and aviation/nautical science I got eaten alive; my score on those sections are horrendously bad. So I have to take it again, and I have to do much much better just to be competitive.
My random questions are:
1. Is it kosher to apply for an officer's commission with several different branches. I mean, simultaneously. I'm currently talking to an Air Force and Army officer recruiter. I'm not going about this haphazardly; I want to work in intelligence, and I'm really interested in the Navy, because, well, Navy Intel is top notch, especially if you want to work in cryptology. I'm considering Army Intelligence for the possibility of working in Human Intelligence. But is it okay to do this, simultaneously submit OCS applications for different branches? None of the recruiters know I'm talking to other branches, and I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do.
2. I'm also concerned about prof recs. I mean, I'm extremely close to a number of my old professors, but every single one of them leans very very far to the political left. I mean, they're all outspokenly anti-military, as most academics in the humanities are. So I feel unsure of how to go about asking them for a rec, seeing that no amount of dialogue could get them to understand why I want to do this. Does/did anyone else have this problem?
3. I'm 27 years old, which isn't exactly young, though not exactly old either. But aside to intelligence, I'm interested in the possibility of pursuing Special Operations (for the Navy). I know Seal billets for OCS applicants are hard to get, and for good reason. Making it though BUDs doesn't seem far fetched. I was an All-American long distance swimmer all four years of high school, and an all-state water polo as well. But the real challenge, it seems, is just getting accepted as an Officer Candidate with Special Operations as your occupation of choice. I know that good grades, which I have, is a given, as well as a high ASTB score (which I don't have . . . yet). What other things are they looking for? What other things would make you very competitive as an OCS/Seal candidate?
4. Also, let's just say that I take my test again, and I don't do too much better the second time around. I mean, let's say my score is competitive, but not extremely competitive. I noticed that on the application you can put down scores of other standardized tests (GRE, LSAT, GMAT, etc). I have extremely high scores for the GRE (90th percentile) and LSAT (95th percentile). Could these scores possibly balance out the "not as good" score on my ASTB? I mean, would they consider these other scores when they decide to take me on as a sworn-in officer candidate?
Thanks to anyone who read all this, and even more thanks to anyone who can offer any answers to my questions.