Advice on Nuke or CTN??

[exNavyOffRec]

Retired Master Chief cryppie here. I retired as a CT with 18 years service, not the CTN rating, as Al Gore had not yet invented in Internet when I retired. A fantastic career with a magnificent, financially and professional, post-Navy career, no regrets. My thought is why you would chose CTN as opposed to a T-bird, or CTT (Technical). After all these years I believe T-birds are still around. I would point you to a remarkably accurate book; Blind Man’s Bluff by Sontag/Drew. Wonderful read. Their focus was on the submarine side of the CT rating; my time was better spent on the aviation side (C-121M - A3 (B-66) and a short period the newer EP-3 Mighty Orion)

A lot of good information on this thread, esp the guidance from The Machine. As enlisted you will always be riding in the back of the bus, never getting to drive it. What has not yet been mentioned is the "Needs of the Navy" which would drive your assignment to be a striker in a rating after you complete Boot Camp. What I mean is that you may be promised "A" CT school in Pensacola but end up assigned striking for Hull Technician as that is where the need might be. Back in the day assignment to a rating was a crap shoot, maybe as well today.

Wishing you the best of luck. Make a wise choice.

Pretty rare for a person to DEP in without a guaranteed school now, none of the stations I have visited recently had anyone that didn't have a school.

When it comes to enlistment contracts there is no "needs of the Navy" after boot camp (or at least there hasn't for 20+ years), if it says "X school" that is where you go, unless you jack it up.

This guy has a real good degree, but bad GPA, however the classes that he took should give him a step up at whatever he does.

Called a zone sup (old terminology) friend of mine, he has seen one person get a CT job in 2 months.

 

[ravioli]

Very good information everyone. The more I have on both ratings, the better, so keep it coming.
To NavyOffRec, the Math degree I have is more theoretical, so I guess that's where I lean, but I don't really have a preference.
To The Chief I didn't read up on CTT until just now. It does seem interesting, I'll keep that in mind as a possible rating. I do, however, think I would like CTN more.
So how do I go about looking into doing CTN, if I so chose that rating. Do I need to talk to a classifier? If so, does my recruiter give me the contact information or do I find it some other way? Do I tell my recruiter and than he finds me a classifier? Is it just completely random and if a spot opens up they'll contact me? Or do you only get in based on who you know? How does it exactly work? I'm afraid I'm ignorant to that process, I never even heard of a classifier until now.

Thanks again everyone

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Very good information everyone. The more I have on both ratings, the better, so keep it coming.
To NavyOffRec, the Math degree I have is more theoretical, so I guess that's where I lean, but I don't really have a preference.
To The Chief I didn't read up on CTT until just now. It does seem interesting, I'll keep that in mind as a possible rating. I do, however, think I would like CTN more.
So how do I go about looking into doing CTN, if I so chose that rating. Do I need to talk to a classifier? If so, does my recruiter give me the contact information or do I find it some other way? Do I tell my recruiter and than he finds me a classifier? Is it just completely random and if a spot opens up they'll contact me? Or do you only get in based on who you know? How does it exactly work? I'm afraid I'm ignorant to that process, I never even heard of a classifier until now.

Thanks again everyone

The classifier is who you see after your MEPS physical, this is how the process goes, normally in one long day, but some take the ASVAB before.
1) ASVAB
2) Physical
3) Classifier
4) Swear in

It is random, if a spot opens up when you are there you can get it, if not it isn't, but like my buddy said CT jobs are rare right now, or at least from what he has seen. This is why with the exception of Nuke/SEAL/SWCC enlisted recruiters only talk about the Navy, not a specific job, because the availability of the jobs is random.

 

[ravioli]

Oh, it all makes sense now. So it's just a luck of the draw, that's unfortunate. What are the possibilities of me being an enlisted Nuke and than going IWO in a couple years? In case there are no CTN jobs when I visit the classifier that's another option I would be ok with doing? Unless I decide that I like Nuke than of course I would just stay.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Oh, it all makes sense now. So it's just a luck of the draw, that's unfortunate. What are the possibilities of me being an enlisted Nuke and than going IWO in a couple years? In case there are no CTN jobs when I visit the classifier that's another option I would be ok with doing? Unless I decide that I like Nuke than of course I would just stay.

to be quite blunt your GPA is currently barely above the minimum for IW, they take few each year and there are many with GPA's a full point or higher that are getting turned down. What was you first full year of calculus and physics grades like?

 

[ravioli]

I already knew that, the minimum gpa for IWO is 2.2. I saw a kid on here actually with a 3.8 or something from Yale that got turned down, so I knew I had no chance.
Those grades were about average. I prefer not to talk about those "grades" because they are an incredibly poor judgement of my actual intelligence. I basically did a full review of Calculus 1 and Calculus 2 myself last summer with a little bit of guidance from my Academic Adviser (this was after I had already graduated) and it was easy. I, also, got a 97 on my Calc 3 final and a B in Differential Equations which uses Calculus. I also started to go through my Physics 1 and 2 book again and that was easy. I know saying that doesn't mean diddly squat, but that's why I'm ready to prove it in Nuke School if that's what I chose. That's why I'm enlisting first...to erase that horrible GPA. I can't imagine, if I excel in the Nuke Program, getting turned down for IW if I decide I want to become an IWO, than again you know way more about the Navy than I do, so maybe I'm wrong.

 

[BackOrdered]

I can't imagine, if I excel in the Nuke Program, getting turned down for IW if I decide I want to become an IWO, than again you know way more about the Navy than I do, so maybe I'm wrong.

What does being a Nuke enlisted have to do with being an IWO? Just curious.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

I already knew that, the minimum gpa for IWO is 2.2. I saw a kid on here actually with a 3.8 or something from Yale that got turned down, so I knew I had no chance.
Those grades were about average. I prefer not to talk about those "grades" because they are an incredibly poor judgement of my actual intelligence. I basically did a full review of Calculus 1 and Calculus 2 myself last summer with a little bit of guidance from my Academic Adviser (this was after I had already graduated) and it was easy. I, also, got a 97 on my Calc 3 final and a B in Differential Equations which uses Calculus. I also started to go through my Physics 1 and 2 book again and that was easy. I know saying that doesn't mean diddly squat, but that's why I'm ready to prove it in Nuke School if that's what I chose. That's why I'm enlisting first...to erase that horrible GPA. I can't imagine, if I excel in the Nuke Program, getting turned down for IW if I decide I want to become an IWO, than again you know way more about the Navy than I do, so maybe I'm wrong.

Unfortunately those grades are what we have to use, and the board for IW does look at specific classes.

Going enlisted nuke will not erase the GPA, it is still the primary method of choosing candidates, look at how many enlisted sailors on this board applied hoping for that, and it doesn't happen. The GPA you have is the GPA you are stuck with. Some boards being enlisted might be a tie breaker, but not much more, in general the odds of being picked up officer go down when you go enlisted, not up.

 

[ravioli]

tiz84, just that going Nuke is the enlisted program I'm looking at doing and IWO is the officer program that I'd like to do. I was hoping that would be my progression a couple years down the road. I Figured if I can do Nuke it might balance out my lower GPA a little bit, I thought that maybe the IWO board might see that it wouldn't be a waste of time to put me through OCS and Pensacola, etc. Since my degree has less to do with IW than the Nuclear program, with which it has a lot to do because there's so much Math. Although as NavyOffRec has just informed me it'll be harder than I thought.
I shouldn't have said "erase" that's the wrong word. What I meant was that I want to show that it's not really an accurate account of my skill and ability for learning and that despite the GPA I can still do the Math required of me. I had hoped that would go over well if I decided that I wanted to do IWO and that it might persuade the board to look past the lower GPA. I'm gonna continue hoping until they deny me, what else can I do? Just surrender to the low GPA? I say, "NO!". I may even look into going Nuke Officer. This officer stuff is still years down the road, a lot can happen in that time, no point discussing it now. These are just my hopes, because you really feel crappy when no career jobs, with which you can use your expensive degree, want you because of a low gpa. I have things to prove to myself when it comes to Math, as well.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

tiz84, just that going Nuke is the enlisted program I'm looking at doing and IWO is the officer program that I'd like to do. I was hoping that would be my progression a couple years down the road. I Figured if I can do Nuke it might balance out my lower GPA a little bit, I thought that maybe the IWO board might see that it wouldn't be a waste of time to put me through OCS and Pensacola, etc. Since my degree has less to do with IW than the Nuclear program, with which it has a lot to do because there's so much Math. Although as NavyOffRec has just informed me it'll be harder than I thought.
I shouldn't have said "erase" that's the wrong word. What I meant was that I want to show that it's not really an accurate account of my skill and ability for learning and that despite the GPA I can still do the Math required of me. I had hoped that would go over well if I decided that I wanted to do IWO and that it might persuade the board to look past the lower GPA. I'm gonna continue hoping until they deny me, what else can I do? Just surrender to the low GPA? I say, "NO!". I may even look into going Nuke Officer. This officer stuff is still years down the road, a lot can happen in that time, no point discussing it now. These are just my hopes, because you really feel crappy when no career jobs, with which you can use your expensive degree, want you because of a low gpa. I have things to prove to myself when it comes to Math, as well.

Unfortunately they are looking at raising the minimum GPA's to a standard level across the board, in the meantimes NRC wants to go with only allowing those who meet the competitive profile to go to board, this will affect many. IW is one of those jobs that they never have had a problem getting people into, even when the economy was great, a good friend of mine did officer recruiting during that time and said even though it was easier to get people into jobs like SWO, he had people falling over each other for what was then called "Crypto, IP, and Intel"

Nuke officer is very stringent, if you have retaken more than 2 technical classes you cannot go to interview, if you have more than 2 technical classes with grades below C- you cannot go to interview, if you have multiple technical classes with C's odds are very low, if the overall GPA is less than 2.8 the will not waive any retakes, or C- grades. This doesn't apply if you want to apply for LDO when you would be eligible. These requirements have been this way for quite a while.

If you decide to go enlisted whatever job, go in with no expectations of becoming an officer, because that is never a guarantee.

 

[Spekkio]

The nuke officer program screens solely based on college technical course gpa. Enlisting as a nuke won't raise your college grades, so you'll be no more eligible for that commissioning program than you are today.

Don't go nuke because you think it looks good on an OCS app. It's a community that doesn't like to let people go. Also, your lackluster performance in college could mean that power school and prototype will be a tough time for you, regardless of asvab scores.

Additionally, being a nuke has little to do with your college degree -- if it did, math degrees would be required to enlist. Past training, you will do very little math as a nuke. Maybe calculate an ecp or chem add, but a 5th grader could do that.

Enlist in a job that you think you'd enjoy, not one that you think will look good on a commissioning app. At the end of the day, shit-hot evals look good, and you're more likely to get them if you like what you do.

 

[Spekkio]

Also, note that enlisting won't erase an ineligible gpa for any designator ( meaning less than the min allowed per instruction), and you can't apply to sta21 if you already have a degree. Just keep that in mind if you are planning to enlist to pad your app for OCS.