Obviously you have significantly more experience here than me, but if you look at the AW sheet for last August's board, plenty of civilian INTEL applicants got picked up. I'm not sure what % of spots are filled by ISEL/BDCP/Naval Academy, but they certainly are still taking non-ISEL civilians (looks like far more than ISEL, too, perhaps because ISEL is too stringent ATM). Also, it appears ISEL folks haven't been hearing back til after the board (ie NOT on a rolling basis).
At the end of the day, I'm not sure if it's budget constraints or poor scheduling, but the decision to turn a quarterly process into an annual one hurts applicants and probably the Navy too, especially because it has the knock-on effect of pushing back ship dates. Just my 2c.
ISEL is mainly for civilians, and USNA unless there is an odd circumstance normally does not put people in Intel, same with NROTC and those are different buckets anyway so they don't count.
More than likely spots are being filled by ISEL, the criteria are not that stringent at all, when you look historically at those selected prior to ISEL the average GPA was right about 3.5, the average OAR was about 60 and they rarely took waivers at all, for the longest time the rule for IWC (as well as Supply) was if you have a waiver you are probably going to be rejected. This mean the ISEL criteria is set so most likely a high number of people are getting accepted for ISEL which is reducing the opportunities that don't meet the ISEL criteria.
When ISEL first came out it was working as designed, people would submit and hear back in a few weeks time and get an OCS date fairly quick, it appears as more were picked up via ISEL the spots that could be filled quickly at OCS no longer existed which meant there no longer is a sense of urgency to review and move ISEL people through the process quickly.
Prior to ISEL the boards were fairly consistent, ISEL has caused a disruption in how things have worked in the past and I am sure they are evaluating how it is working, as well as how those people are doing through the pipeline so they can make adjustments if needed.
It certainly seems like the slots are getting filled one way or another. But I can say as a civilian applicant myself, the process has been significantly longer than originally anticipated. It seems to be commonplace as well, as some ENS i met on OHARP shared waiting anywhere from 1-2 years for everything. I first reached out to my recruiter April 2025. I spent about 3 months studying for the ASTB, and then to get all the medical appts done upfront and their decision took an additional two months. From there I was trying for aviation which I wasn't approved for but they agreed to do a flight physical which took an additional 3 months to get all those appts. Then, after 5 months I finally got my first call back it was to request additional documents (ones that had already been submitted twice, allegedly).
Unable to wait longer for the unknown I switched to Intel and was supposed to be eligible for ISEL. It doesn't seem like I was for whatever reason but I've seen plenty of people get kicked back, often for morale waivers (usually MJ usage). Similar to skibum, I've seen most ISEL applicants regardless or designator hearing either right before or right after a board.
It's not been 4 months since I initially submitted my ISEL Intel package so while I have some idea why it's taken so long since I'm now on the regular board, it's definitely frustrating and difficult to be in limbo this long
That is a highly irregular delay timeline that Ensign talked about, if a person has a recruiter that is engaged and the applicant is submitting what is request in a timely basis things often move fast.
I rarely had anyone study for the ASTB, most were coming right out of or still in college, nearly all of them scored 7's or higher taking it cold.
Medical reviews can vary greatly depending on the issue and the MEPS, sometimes it unfortunately is again the recruiter or the MEPS personnel not doing their job. A civilian getting a flight physically is highly unusual as well.
Yes, it appears MJ is the most common if not the main reason ISEL people are kicked to the regular board, given that there is no sense of urgency to ship people out right not due to the how good ISEL and ISPP has worked you very well me still be ISEL, just no urgency to send out the notification until the other results are being pushed out.
