I am currently a college senior and am interested in what else, but a pilot slot with the Marines. I was always intrigued with Marine Corp aviation but living in Phoenix, Arizona, which is Air Force central, I was able to meet an F-16 pilot who swayed me towards his side. In the mean time I have researched the Air Force thoroughly and know exactly what I need to do to get a slot. My question is...what is the application process for an aviation slot in the Marines consist of. I want to know everything that is involved including tests, letters of recommendation, interviews, flight time, GPA, all of it. From reading the posts on this site I was able to piece together some of it but I want to make sure I haven't missed anything. Take me from start to finish. Thanks in advance.
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Application Process
- Thread starter woodman
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I'd encourage you to call 1-800-Marines and get in touch with an OSO or stop an Officer Selection Office. They will have you fill out a lot of paperwork and make sure you're physically qualified with an initial visit to MEPS. Have you take the ASTB. Have you get letters of recommendation. Run a PFT. Write a 100 word statement. You'll eventually agree that if you get an aviation guarantee that you will stay @ Officer Candidate School for 7 of the 10 weeks (who drops after 7 weeks, I don't know). . .and then assuming you'd have your degree next May, you'd get commissioned after your 10 week OCS course and on your way. Flight time doesn't seem to go in the pkg anywhere for Marines. GPA min is like 2.5. It's really a screening process to make sure you have the potential to be a Marine Officer and then OCS sort of weeds from there. It seems as though the aviation guarantee (a few years ago anyways) was more based on physical attributes and ASTB scores. I know they only do so many per region, but it also seems as though they are limiting ground officers more these days than aviation.
So, then you'll wait for your basic school slot (six months provisional rifle platoon commander course and how to be a beginning officer) and then wait for your API slot.
So that's an overview. I'm sure the candidates that have recently put packages together can shed some more light on current gossip/trends.
So, then you'll wait for your basic school slot (six months provisional rifle platoon commander course and how to be a beginning officer) and then wait for your API slot.
So that's an overview. I'm sure the candidates that have recently put packages together can shed some more light on current gossip/trends.
The PFT consists of pull-ups, 2 min. timed sit-ups and a 3-mile run. The mins for applying are 10, 80, and 24 min, respectively. The max you can get is 20, 100, and 18 min, also respectively. It sounded a lot worse to me before i started training. It's not too bad if you put the time into it.
The Marines are backed-up. They aren't taking any ground officers for quite a while and the SNA and NFO slots are difficult to get into. I haven't heard anything about scores garunteed to get someone in. The Marines look at a lot more than simply test scores, and my OSO said they only look at whether or not you passed the ASTB, not by how much you passed. I believe that passing standards are close to those of the Navy but someone may want to correct me on this. As for the PFT, you need 200 out of 300 to apply but I seriously doubt that you would get accepted with a 200 score.
I've basically been told that there's no point in applying if your run isn't below 24 minutes (22-23 is better), you're doing less than 10 pullups, or less than 80 crunches. Also, if your total PFT score is below 225, you're in bad shape. I'm not sending in my package until I'm beating every one of those numbers.
As for numbers, 4/6/6 used to be required on the ATSB, now it's just 4/6/anything I believe. This is for both NFO and NA.
No score will ever get you a commission on its strength alone. Get excellent recommendations from people who have known you a long time, get good grades, and a good SAT score helps. Getting to know your OSO and showing him that you are dedicated will help, too, but I guess that's obvious.
Just FYI, no time-in-cockpit is required.
As for numbers, 4/6/6 used to be required on the ATSB, now it's just 4/6/anything I believe. This is for both NFO and NA.
No score will ever get you a commission on its strength alone. Get excellent recommendations from people who have known you a long time, get good grades, and a good SAT score helps. Getting to know your OSO and showing him that you are dedicated will help, too, but I guess that's obvious.
Just FYI, no time-in-cockpit is required.
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