Thanks, and to be clear - yeah, a Navy career is upwardly mobile. You aren't an O-1 forever. Still, I refuse to walk away from my current job. I've read about others here with families who relocate their entire life including spouse and children to go to OCS and pursue their dream. I have immense respect for these folks.
Everyone's situation is different. My reasons for walking away as I said are a variety of reasons. A big part of it is long-term financial items. I've been paying into a house for years (that I happen to like living in). If the market were better, and I found myself with a lot of equity in the home (perhaps even a few years younger) the end result I'm sure would've been different. Additionally I'm almost 29, and the SNA ship has sailed in my judgement. I'd need a 21Apr or May OCS class-up date to commission by age 29. I had uncertainty in life and in my judgement I was wasting time and energy worrying about hearing back from my recruiter for a board that has still, in my view, little if any likelihood of actually convening in time for my 29th birthday. Stability and certainty ultimately outweighed the stress of not knowing where I'd be in 1, 2 months from now.
Also - I had SNFO as my #2 choice, but after thinking long and hard about it, it will never compare with logging the PIC time as the aircraft commander. Not all is lost, though, and there are plenty of civilian flight training paths to take (said paths are almost identical to those you'd have to take if you found yourself as a SNFO with hopes of becoming an airline pilot, e.g. obtaining ratings on the side out of your own pocket).
Anyway, I hope everyone who is selected gets their number one choice, with said selection being based on your own merits and accomplishments, not divine intervention or some other mythical variable.