Competitiveness of selection

[mid1510]

All,

I am in NROTC and will be putting in for my service assignment this upcoming semester, and intend to put NFO first. I have heard differing opinions on the overall competitiveness of selection for NFO through NROTC.

Will I be competing against all other midshipman who put pilot first and NFO second or will I just be competing against those who put NFO first? I ask this because most mids that want aviation tend to put pilot first and NFO second, which would enlarge the selection pool for NFO.

I have also heard that if you are qualified and put NFO first, chances are you got it, because they would rather give the slot to somebody who wants it rather than someone's second choice.

Also, does anyone know roughly how many NFO slots they give each year? Does NROTC get allotted a certain amount of slots or do we get Academy leftovers?

Thank you in advance and I hope I did not break any rules with these questions. I searched and asked around my unit but could not find these answers.

 

[Wudgles]

1) Thank you for searching first.

2) It's my understanding that for Service Assignment (read: "how it was explained to me years ago"), you're ranked against all of your peers in your NROTC year. They'll go to the first guy (AKA "the smartest nrotc dude for 201X"), see what he wants, and that's what he gets (MAJOR CAVEAT TO THAT: the really smart guys will have a higher chance of getting snagged by SUBS; also, certain people are DQ'd from different communities along the way).

They go down the list until they get to you. They look at your first choice. If it's available and you're qualified, you get it. If not, they go to your second choice. If that's taken, it's your third choice. So on and so forth. I know they apply this particular formula to the "SWO Draft" (when the Order of Merit comes out and everyone picks their first tour ship), and I've heard that it's how they do Service Assignment. It definitely would make sense.

So, to be blunt, the goal is to make yourself as competitive as possible. That way, you're ranked higher and have a better chance of getting your first choice. You also want to be low enough that you aren't told you're going subs if you pass your interview (happened to several people I knew through my NROTC years). That's how Service Assignment was explained to me.

3) I don't think anyone knows how many SNA/SNFO slots they give out every year except for the weather guessers who do it.

4) They split up the slots for designators between the boat school and NROTC. NROTC doesn't get "Academy scraps."

Good luck, hope it answered your question. If anyone has a better/more correct explanation of how Service Assignment works, I'm confident they'll weigh in post-haste.

 

[leo20307]

I am commissioning this spring from NROTC as an SNFO-It was my understanding that they look at your #1 choice first and foremost for the initial selection process. That is, someone with pilot as their first will be evaluated in that regard, while NFO as #1 will put you in another group. They don't say "Here's someone who is not quite pilot material, let's bump him to NFO in place of the guy who wants to be an NFO" type stuff.

The depth perception dots gave me fits, so I didn't even bother putting pilot down in my top three. I went into service selection basically saying "Give me NFO or give me death". I actually put SWO as my #2 because some people had told me it shows that you really want your top choice if SWO is that high on your list. Just something I heard, take it or leave it. Also, I didn't want to have subs too high and get "voluntold" to go interview at Naval Reactors.

Best of luck in the service selection.