ASTB Advice to a college senior looking for a Navy career?

[lelouche]

I'm a senior at one of the top 3 liberal arts universities, and just took my ASTB couple days ago. Before I get into my score, let me give a little background about myself.

I'm Asian, and most Asians, I originally planned to get a science degree and be a doctor. However, my GPA (3.2) is fairly low to apply and have a decent chance of getting into any schools, and my major (neuroscience) doesn't really allow me to find a good job right after graduation. I've actually been applying since January, and have only gotten a couple interviews without any follow-up. Around mid-March, I still didn't have anything lined up for after graduation, and felt bad about myself, so I started looking into the military. Anyway, after doing some research and studying up on the ASTB, I finally took it couple days ago, and got 63 on OAR, 8 on AQR, 7 on PFAR, and 8 on FOFAR. My parents aren't US citizens, so I can't get a top secret clearance, so I'm thinking about applying for civil engineering, pilot, and surface warfare. At this point, I'm partial to becoming a pilot, so I thought I would list pilot as 1st pick. The thing is, I hear pilot slots very competitive, so I may get deferred me to my 2nd pick, but I also hear that CEC review board doesn't look at applicants who list them as 2nd or 3rd choice. Being a SWO would be ok, but I'm not exactly itching to be one.

At this point, I'm sure I would want to join the Navy as an officer, so do you guys have any advice for how I should proceed?

 

[robav8r]

Honestly, you sound a little "Luke Warm" about becoming an Officer, almost as if it's a consolation prize for not doing as well in college as you wanted. Are you sure this is a career path you really want ???

 

[lelouche]

Honestly, you sound a little "Luke Warm" about becoming an Officer, almost as if it's a consolation prize for not doing as well in college as you wanted. Are you sure this is a career path you really want ???

Yea I should clarify this part. Even though I pursued a neuroscience major, I wasn't really happy doing it. I felt like I had to do well to please my parents, but now that medical school is out of the question, I'm finally thinking about what I want. I've always been interested in electronics and space flight, but liberal arts school don't exactly offer those courses. The Navy does have a lot of programs in those fields, but because I can't get a top secret clearance, I would be perfectly happy being able to fly planes.

 

[armada1651]

The Navy does have a lot of programs in those fields, but because I can't get a top secret clearance, I would be perfectly happy being able to fly planes.

I can't speak intelligently to whether or not it's true that you CAN'T get a TS clearance - it would certainly present some hurdles, but it may be doable. However, depending on your community, pilots do get TS clearances and higher. My understanding is that many helicopter pilots don't get higher than secret (at least in the HSC world), but in the jet community, it's a different story. Additionally, as F-35s come into the fleet, the clearance requirements will go up substantially, and that may affect other platforms as well for integration reasons.

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

I'm a senior at one of the top 3 liberal arts universities, and just took my ASTB couple days ago. Before I get into my score, let me give a little background about myself.

I'm Asian, and most Asians, I originally planned to get a science degree and be a doctor. However, my GPA (3.2) is fairly low to apply and have a decent chance of getting into any schools, and my major (neuroscience) doesn't really allow me to find a good job right after graduation. I've actually been applying since January, and have only gotten a couple interviews without any follow-up. Around mid-March, I still didn't have anything lined up for after graduation, and felt bad about myself, so I started looking into the military. Anyway, after doing some research and studying up on the ASTB, I finally took it couple days ago, and got 63 on OAR, 8 on AQR, 7 on PFAR, and 8 on FOFAR. My parents aren't US citizens, so I can't get a top secret clearance, so I'm thinking about applying for civil engineering, pilot, and surface warfare. At this point, I'm partial to becoming a pilot, so I thought I would list pilot as 1st pick. The thing is, I hear pilot slots very competitive, so I may get deferred me to my 2nd pick, but I also hear that CEC review board doesn't look at applicants who list them as 2nd or 3rd choice. Being a SWO would be ok, but I'm not exactly itching to be one.

At this point, I'm sure I would want to join the Navy as an officer, so do you guys have any advice for how I should proceed?

What did your recruiter suggest?

 

[lelouche]

So with only a Secret clearance, will I be flying just helicopters, or are propeller planes still available?

My recruiter said to either put down civil engineering first or not at all, and pick the others based on the order I like them.

 

[Picaroon]

Who told you no TS with foreign parents?

 

[lelouche]

Who told you no TS with foreign parents?

My recruiter told me all my immediate family had to be US citizens in order to get TS clearance. My dad is in the process of getting his, but my mom is still a foreign national.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Who told you no TS with foreign parents?

not sure if they changed it, but for several designators when it came to security is said "immediate family members must be US citizens", it also might be different for those that are already serving.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

So with only a Secret clearance, will I be flying just helicopters, or are propeller planes still available?

My recruiter said to either put down civil engineering first or not at all, and pick the others based on the order I like them.

CEC with neuroscience degree? are you taking the EIT exam? If not that will be a big down check, and a 3.2 is not really going to stand out with them, CEC is very competitive. Aviation is probably the least competitive (this is after those that are not PQ are removed)

If you don't put SWO 1 or 2 pretty much forget it.

 

[BigRed389]

I'm a senior at one of the top 3 liberal arts universities, and just took my ASTB couple days ago. Before I get into my score, let me give a little background about myself.

I'm Asian, and most Asians, I originally planned to get a science degree and be a doctor. However, my GPA (3.2) is fairly low to apply and have a decent chance of getting into any schools, and my major (neuroscience) doesn't really allow me to find a good job right after graduation. I've actually been applying since January, and have only gotten a couple interviews without any follow-up. Around mid-March, I still didn't have anything lined up for after graduation, and felt bad about myself, so I started looking into the military. Anyway, after doing some research and studying up on the ASTB, I finally took it couple days ago, and got 63 on OAR, 8 on AQR, 7 on PFAR, and 8 on FOFAR. My parents aren't US citizens, so I can't get a top secret clearance, so I'm thinking about applying for civil engineering, pilot, and surface warfare. At this point, I'm partial to becoming a pilot, so I thought I would list pilot as 1st pick. The thing is, I hear pilot slots very competitive, so I may get deferred me to my 2nd pick, but I also hear that CEC review board doesn't look at applicants who list them as 2nd or 3rd choice. Being a SWO would be ok, but I'm not exactly itching to be one.

At this point, I'm sure I would want to join the Navy as an officer, so do you guys have any advice for how I should proceed?

Parents not being US citizens doesn't mean you can't get a TS, it just makes it a bit more iffy. More specifically, it'll take longer than everybody else's because investigators will have to do more work, and the probability of success is definitely lower, but it's not impossible.

Factors would be where your parents are from (PRC is a bit different from say...Japan, the PI, etc), how often you communicate with them or other relatives, what kind of ties you still have with their country of birth, etc.

I'd speculate the reason they don't want applicants who have possible issues with their clearance for programs like Nuke/Intel/IW are because those jobs actually require you to have a TS from very early on, so having any hangups getting the right clearance would make you dead weight for a while...and if you get denied altogether, you provide no value to the Navy whatsoever.

That said, being able to obtain a TS at some point is a limit for both pilot and SWO. You can't realistically make a career of the Navy as an office doing a warfare job like SWO or aviation if you won't be able to get a TS at some point as your career options will be rather limited compared to your peers, and it only gets worse the higher up you go.

 

[lelouche]

CEC with neuroscience degree? are you taking the EIT exam? If not that will be a big down check, and a 3.2 is not really going to stand out with them, CEC is very competitive. Aviation is probably the least competitive (this is after those that are not PQ are removed)

If you don't put SWO 1 or 2 pretty much forget it.

Hm, I'll definitely look more into SWO, but thanks for your input!

 

[haimehhh]

I'm Asian, and like most Asians, I originally planned to get a science degree and be a doctor

(FIFY) am i the only one who thought this was hilarious?

if you're interested in engineering, it's possible to go SWO, pursue related graduate education, then pursue the EDO specialty-career path.

becoming a SWO offers a lot of diversity WRT the work you will be performing. and gives you opportunities to continue your education in a variety of ways after your initial sea tours.

i would love to fly, don't get me wrong, but i would be the best SWO I could be if i don't have the opportunity to fly, or best IWO if i can't be a SWO, or whatever I am able to earn.

that is another aspect of applying to become an officer– if you can't do exactly what you want to do every day, would you still be content? not everyone who picks pilot flies jets, and not everyone who picks SWO goes to a sleek, weapon-bristling boat.

i'm sure there are plenty of Pilots who didn't apply for anything other than SNA, but they probably didn't have 3.2 GPAs. or maybe they did. a lot of different aspects of your life are considered by the boards, and your motivational statement is a great opportunity to convince you why you are a great candidate in spite of a 3.2 (or 3.35 ). neuroscience isn't easy, obviously, and you have a good ASTB-E score, so i'm sure there is more to you than just an average GPA! good luck with whatever you decide

James

 

[lelouche]

Thank you James for your thoughtful input and for catching my sentence mistake.

Personally, I don't feel the need to fly in a decked out gunship or command a futuristic looking littoral combat ship. If I can be a pilot, I'll fly what I'm comfortable in and proficient at flying, whether it's C-130 or SH-60. As for being an officer, I'm still trying to read up on the roles and responsibilities of each kind of officer to get an idea of what I can expect.

 

[haimehhh]

@lelouche i didn't mean it like that, i just meant it was funny that you were self-stereotyping! and yea definitely explore all the different avenues cause you never know what you may find! best of luck, again.