Stupid application question here. I'm hopefully just a week away from actually submitting my application (one more MEPS trip) and I'm having some internal debate on what designations to apply for. While lurking around AW for the past several months, I always see groupings of three designators, often SNA/SNFO/SWO. My own personal choices are split between INTEL/SWO-O/SWO/SNFO. So here is the question, while my recruiter has said that up to 5 designations can be placed on a single application, I have never seen mention of more than 3 being posted. Is there a reason for that, besides making it seem like I don't know what I want?
I had 5 spots, and all 5 spots were filled with something different (some people will put the same thing down multiple times, or will only be happy with Aviation so only put SNA/NFO). SNA/NFO/INTEL/IW/IP. I believe the board member’s views
should be, “This guy/gal wants to be in the US Navy and would be ‘happy’ with AT LEAST 5 different designators. His FIRST CHOICE is SNA, but he/she’s qualified for our community and I think he/she’d do well/contribute (or vice versa).” Sure, they could say, “well, if it’s not his/her first choice than he/she doesn’t really want to be in our community.”
But I don’t think that would happen if you’re qualified for the community. And, there's always the situation where they are able to be extremely selective and between two applications that are "identical" in nearly every way except for their 1st choice, they choose the applicant with their community as 1st choice. And there's always the situation where they don't want to waste a pro-rec Y on you if they think you'll get your first choice...
So basically, I don't think there's a "right way" to do this. Damned if we put multiple designators; damned if we don't (or are we?).
What you want is to be a Naval Officer and are open to multiple designators.
*I'm not a board member, so this is NOT 1st hand experience.