25JAN21 PILOT/NFO BOARD

[NobleJ]

no

@angeblas
My recruiter tells me the opposite is true. I've read many anecdotes from folks whom the board has asked to resubmitted with a more thoughtful motivational statement. If it isn't engaging, I am guessing that is when it isn't read completely or thoroughly. The folks on the board are professionals and Naval Officers. All the Naval Aviators I worked with during my time in the Navy honored thier duties. If their duty is to read our package and evaluate us, that's what their going to do-- otherwise, they wouldn't have made it as Naval Aviators and Naval Flight Officers.

 

[angeblas]

@angeblas
My recruiter tells me the opposite is true. I've read many anecdotes from folks whom the board has asked to resubmitted with a more thoughtful motivational statement. If it isn't engaging, I am guessing that is when it isn't read completely or thoroughly. The folks on the board are professionals and Naval Officers. All the Naval Aviators I worked with during my time in the Navy honored thier duties. If their duty is to read our package and evaluate us, that's what their going to do-- otherwise, they wouldn't have made it as Naval Aviators and Naval Flight Officers.

My theory is that the board skips reading statements from applicants that are auto-selected (high ASTB) and only read statements from applicants that they haven't fully decided on, i.e. applicants with lower scores or waivers. Nevertheless, I hope they get to read mine because I put a lot of work into it and I like how it turned out.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

@angeblas
My recruiter tells me the opposite is true. I've read many anecdotes from folks whom the board has asked to resubmitted with a more thoughtful motivational statement. If it isn't engaging, I am guessing that is when it isn't read completely or thoroughly. The folks on the board are professionals and Naval Officers. All the Naval Aviators I worked with during my time in the Navy honored thier duties. If their duty is to read our package and evaluate us, that's what their going to do-- otherwise, they wouldn't have made it as Naval Aviators and Naval Flight Officers.

Sorry, but that isn't correct, the board takes a mere few minutes at most, they scan, they still pick up lots of applicants with one paragraph motivational statements.

You can believe what you want but it has been the same for 20 plus years.

1 day, 300 application, how long do you think they take per application, how long would it take to read an entire application and then give feedback. The boards just don't do that, they don't do that for officer promotion boards, CPO boards, or advancement boards.

And they don't read every application, it is well known they have at times decided to make sweeping cuts such as everyone with GPA less than 3.0 is auto pro N, anyone with waiver other than age is pro N, anyone with PFAR less than X is pro N, and ones I am sure they have done. They do not do these type of cuts every board but they have happened over the years, often it is when there are a large number of applicants and they need to save time.

These boards are brutal they don't care how many times you have applied, if you are prior enlisted, if you saved a busload of kids from going off a cliff, they only care about the ability to get through the schools, for aviation that is the ASTB.

 

[angeblas]

Ok, I may just be overthinking this and babbling but here is what I think happens:

There is a rolling board that auto-selects applicants before the convene date. Auto-select applicants have a stellar package with a score over 7/7/7(?).

There were 243 applicants in the August board. And looking at the spreadsheet data, about 44 percent had auto-select scores. Lets say that 44% of those 243 applicant were given an automatic pro-rec, that leaves 136 applicants for the pilot board to evaluate on the day they convene. On an 8-hour work day, excluding an hour for lunch, they would've spent about 3 minutes on every application. Which I believe is enough time to read each one of those applicants' motivational statements, assuming they kept it within a reasonable word count (under 700). So I do feel like motivational statements can make it or break it for some of us.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Ok, I may just be overthinking this and babbling but here is what I think happens:

There is a rolling board that auto-selects applicants before the convene date. Auto-select applicants have a stellar package with a score over 7/7/7(?).

There were 243 applicants in the August board. And looking at the spreadsheet data, about 44 percent had auto-select scores. Lets say that 44% of those 243 applicant were given an automatic pro-rec, that leaves 136 applicants for the pilot board to evaluate on the day they convene. On an 8-hour work day, excluding an hour for lunch, they would've spent about 3 minutes on every application. Which I believe is enough time to read each one of those applicants' motivational statements, assuming they kept it within a reasonable word count (under 700). So I do feel like motivational statements can make it or break it for some of us.

auto selects went away years ago, rolling boards went away even longer, and really what rolling boards were where they basically they waited until they hit X number of applications then a board was held, it ended up being very much like the boards are now.

 

[angeblas]

auto selects went away years ago, rolling boards went away even longer, and really what rolling boards were where they basically they waited until they hit X number of applications then a board was held, it ended up being very much like the boards are now.

Oh whoops. I didn't know that. Its strange that it still says theres an "aviation immediate select pro board" on the FY21 board schedule though..

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Oh whoops. I didn't know that. Its strange that it still says theres an "aviation immediate select pro board" on the FY21 board schedule though..

they will keep many items on there that aren't used, BDCP is still on the books but no longer used.

 

[Ghost SWO]

Sorry, but that isn't correct, the board takes a mere few minutes at most, they scan, they still pick up lots of applicants with one paragraph motivational statements.

You can believe what you want but it has been the same for 20 plus years.

1 day, 300 application, how long do you think they take per application, how long would it take to read an entire application and then give feedback. The boards just don't do that, they don't do that for officer promotion boards, CPO boards, or advancement boards.

And they don't read every application, it is well known they have at times decided to make sweeping cuts such as everyone with GPA less than 3.0 is auto pro N, anyone with waiver other than age is pro N, anyone with PFAR less than X is pro N, and ones I am sure they have done. They do not do these type of cuts every board but they have happened over the years, often it is when there are a large number of applicants and they need to save time.

These boards are brutal they don't care how many times you have applied, if you are prior enlisted, if you saved a busload of kids from going off a cliff, they only care about the ability to get through the schools, for aviation that is the ASTB.

I'm curious if you have heard if the board splits the workload? Like three Commanders take 100 applicant's each?

I did a little math and you're absolutely correct... If they split the 300 applicants and each take 100, they would get 4m12s per applicant assuming a one hour lunch making it into a 7 hour work day.

But, If they don't split the load and look at applicants together, the time drops to 1m24s per applicant, which is fast when you're thinking about a short review and discussion of each applicant.

Looking back at previous boards this year I haven't seen sweeping cuts thank goodness! For people like myself with a good ASTB, low GPA, and high age, that's a good thing lol.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

I'm curious if you have heard if the board splits the workload? Like three Commanders take 100 applicant's each?

I did a little math and you're absolutely correct... If they split the 300 applicants and each take 100, they would get 4m12s per applicant assuming a one hour lunch making it into a 7 hour work day.

But, If they don't split the load and look at applicants together, the time drops to 1m24s per applicant, which is fast when you're thinking about a short review and discussion of each applicant.

Looking back at previous boards this year I haven't seen sweeping cuts thank goodness! For people like myself with a good ASTB, low GPA, and high age, that's a good thing lol.

The board is comprised of a CAPT or CDR, and then they have 2 others senior LT's or LCDR

Often the sweeping cuts will just take out a small portion, and the people will rarely know, often if a person has a personal relationship with a PM then they could hear something. A good example is I was talking to one of the PM's I knew and he made a comment the board had him pull those with legal waivers so they could easily be identified so the board could catalog the names and just give them a pro N.

 

[Poop]

Good luck to everyone applying to this board, I was a No for the August board so I'm gonna be restudying and taking the astb again. I'll make sure to add my scores to the spreadsheet once I do. I read on here interviews hold more weight than regular LORs so my recruiter is trying to get me one. Trying to do everything I can to improve my package, especially with my astb scores. If my recruiter isn't able to get me an interview for me, does anyone know how a civilian can obtain an interview to add to their package? I was literally just gonna call some NAS's to tell my situation and ask if there was anyone I could talk to about it.

 

[terraformer]

Hello everyone. I have been lurking around AW a long time. Happy to finally be applying. Here are my stats:

Applying: SNA
Age: 21
ASTB: 61 7/7/7
GPA: 3.72 - Colorado Mesa University. Graduating December 2020
Major: Biology (minimally applicable, I know...)
No waivers or MEPS issues

To comment on the above conversation: I find it best to avoid worrying about the specifics of how the board will operate. Procedures aren't published, probably because each board has slightly different parameters and officers with their own tactics and opinions. There seems to be no way to know EXACTLY what any boards' filters and sorting will be.

The uncertainty is quite unsettling, of course, but any speculation is pointless conjecture. All I think we can do is put forth our BEST package. What they choose to look at (or, more likely, not) is up to them.

Happy to be a part of this group. Let's get it.

 

[NobleJ]

For all the other prior service folks applying, I made the below spreadsheet for us. It is a data trend analysis of the past three boards (and beginning to track November's) for prior service individuals like ourselves who received ProRec Y.

PS SNA/SNFO Board Data Results

Sheet1 02NOV20 Board # Applied,# Prorec Y, GPA Min, GPA Average, OAR Min, Oar Average, ASTB Min, ASTB Average 16,2.74,3.48,45,54.4,5//6//5,6.4//7.1//6.7 03AUG20 Board Results Data # Applied,# Prorec Y,Y GPA Min,Y GPA Average,Y OAR Min,Y Oar Average,Y ASTB Min,Y ASTB Average 17,15 // 88%,2.7,3.5,44

docs.google.com

 

[Deegy15]

Hello everyone. I am currently Active Duty and an E-5 (AME2) and wrapping up my package and hopefully I can submit for this board. I will try to submit it around November, because I will be PCSing around Feb21. I know it says it, that I cannot submit the package within 3 months prior PCSing, so with that being said, I will do my best to turn it in around Nov20.


Applying: SNFO
Age: 29
ASTB: Taking the test Nov 9 (studying hard)
GPA: 3.69 - Embry-Riddle (May2020)
Major: Aeronautics
Medical: Final medical will be next week (with all being done, Anthro/Opto)
LOR: O-3, and O-4
Flight hours: No experience. Practicing on SIM to get a high score for ASTB part.

Based on above spreadsheet, seems like close to minimum on ASTB can still get picked up. Not rooting for minimum, at least I can hope for good grades after my test.

-Dexter Arceo

 

[Mike74]

Hello everyone, following this thread. Added myself to the excel sheet. Hoping for a shot come the Jan21 board! Good luck to all!

-Mike

 

[jono]

Hey Guys,

Huge fan of this site and all that it helps with.

Looking forward to getting my application in to pursue the dream!

I'm headed to MEPS soon. I've been looking around various threads but if anybody with some recent experience has tips/advice that would be greatly appreciated?

Applying for SNA
Graduating May 2021
OAR: 54
ASTB: 8/9/7
GPA: 3.8
Degree: Computer Science
Age: 23
Civilian Ratings: Private Pilot License

Good luck to everyone in this incredible endeavor!