Is it possible to become an SWO as a marketing major?

[Shelly97]

Hello all,

Hope you all are well and staying safe.
I’m a 22 year old college athlete and I’m a marketing major in my junior year. I’ve been in leadership roles for athletics several times. I’m a good student with a 3.97 GPA. I’m in good shape and I have a great work ethic.
I’ve been interested in the military for years. I think it’s a great opportunity and I’m a team player so I believe I’d fit in well.
I’m interested in Navy OCS and I have been looking into the SWO route.
Is it possible for me to pursue being an SWO despite my major?
Thank you.

 

[HSMPBR]

Your major implies that you know how to persuade and work with your fellow humans. That is far more important than knowing how to do science or engineering in 99% of military career tracks.

If you’re medically qualified, why do you choose to pursue SWO over aviation?

 

[Shelly97]

Thanks for your response.
I’ve done a fair amount of research on NFO as well as SWO. SWO appears to me management and leading while NFO seems flying and technical skills. I’m more of an ocean guy which is why I’m considering the navy.
what are your thoughts on aviation in the navy? And on SWO?

 

[sasebobeast]

Hello all,

Hope you all are well and staying safe.
I’m a 22 year old college athlete and I’m a marketing major in my junior year. I’ve been in leadership roles for athletics several times. I’m a good student with a 3.97 GPA. I’m in good shape and I have a great work ethic.
I’ve been interested in the military for years. I think it’s a great opportunity and I’m a team player so I believe I’d fit in well.
I’m interested in Navy OCS and I have been looking into the SWO route.
Is it possible for me to pursue being an SWO despite my major?
Thank you.

Score the minimum 40 OAR and you will get in, especially with that very high GPA! From my experience looking at everyone stats who had a 3.90-4.00 GPA their package almost always got selected for SWO. Both designators SWO or Aviation don’t care about what you majored in by the way, only like supply, intel, iwc, oceanography, and others do! But yes only thing that affects your chance with your really good GPA would be the possible waivers, legal issues, or medicals.

 

[sasebobeast]

Thanks for your response.
I’ve done a fair amount of research on NFO as well as SWO. SWO appears to me management and leading while NFO seems flying and technical skills. I’m more of an ocean guy which is why I’m considering the navy.
what are your thoughts on aviation in the navy? And on SWO?

If you are a year out or close to graduation (12 months), I would seek a recruiter to start your application. You could get selected and ship out right to OCS like right after graduation if you time it right! If your eyes are good and you have a passion for flying I would pick aviation (SNA/NFO) over SWO. SWO has a harder life they have said. Only bright side to SWO is you have a better chance to pick your homeport or location/ type of ship you get to be on especially at 6th week in OCS. SWO has possible retention bonus of like $105k for department head later on (as they have hard time keeping people in). But if you do stay and embrace the suck/manage the hard life, I heard you have a very good chance making department head or senior officer rank (0-4 to 0-6)!

 

[Shelly97]

Score the minimum 40 OAR and you will get in, especially with that very high GPA! From my experience looking at everyone stats who had a 3.90-4.00 GPA their package almost always got selected for SWO. Both designators SWO or Aviation don’t care what you majored in by the way. But yes only thing affects this is waivers, legal issues, or medicals.

Thank you!

 

[AllAmerican75]

Is it possible for me to pursue being an SWO despite my major?
Thank you.

Yes.

If you are a year out or close to graduation (12 months), I would seek a recruiter to start your application. You could get selected and ship out right to OCS like right after graduation if you time it right! If your eyes are good and you have a passion for flying I would pick aviation (SNA/NFO) over SWO. SWO has a harder life they have said. Only bright side to SWO is you have a better chance to pick your homeport or location/ type of ship you get to be on especially at 6th week in OCS. SWO has possible retention bonus of like $105k for department head later on (as they have hard time keeping people in). But if you do stay and embrace the suck/manage the hard life, I heard you have a very good chance making department head or senior officer rank (0-4 to 0-6)!

If you're in it for the rank, you're going to have a bad time. If you don't know why you want to be a SWO, you're going to have a bad time. If you want to be a SWO for the money, then you're going to have a bad time. Aviation has its own hardships and sacrifices so the grass isn't always greener. Being a SWO has its upsides and downsides just like any other community within the Navy.

Homeport and ship selection is the least of your worries right now. If you want to join the Navy, find an officer recruiter and start the process. You need to focus on actually getting in before you can worry about where you'll be stationed. If you have any questions, do some searching, read through the SWO subforum (https://www.airwarriors.com/community/forums/surface-warfare-officer-swo.23/), and then feel free to ask specific questions about the community. Myself and many of the other former and current SWOs on AW are more than happy to answer specific questions you may have.

 

[Shelly97]

Yes.



If you're in it for the rank, you're going to have a bad time. If you don't know why you want to be a SWO, you're going to have a bad time. If you want to be a SWO for the money, then you're going to have a bad time. Aviation has its own hardships and sacrifices so the grass isn't always greener. Being a SWO has its upsides and downsides just like any other community within the Navy.

Homeport and ship selection is the least of your worries right now. If you want to join the Navy, find an officer recruiter and start the process. You need to focus on actually getting in before you can worry about where you'll be stationed. If you have any questions, do some searching, read through the SWO subforum (https://www.airwarriors.com/community/forums/surface-warfare-officer-swo.23/), and then feel free to ask specific questions about the community. Myself and many of the other former and current SWOs on AW are more than happy to answer specific questions you may have.

Will do, thank you for your response.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Hello all,

Hope you all are well and staying safe.
I’m a 22 year old college athlete and I’m a marketing major in my junior year. I’ve been in leadership roles for athletics several times. I’m a good student with a 3.97 GPA. I’m in good shape and I have a great work ethic.
I’ve been interested in the military for years. I think it’s a great opportunity and I’m a team player so I believe I’d fit in well.
I’m interested in Navy OCS and I have been looking into the SWO route.
Is it possible for me to pursue being an SWO despite my major?
Thank you.

I rarely say this, but your GPA is high enough that you could apply for anything (except those that require engineering degrees) and your GPA would get their attention, not saying you would get picked up for everything but you should have a decent shot at anything.

 

[Shelly97]

I rarely say this, but your GPA is high enough that you could apply for anything (except those that require engineering degrees) and your GPA would get their attention, not saying you would get picked up for everything but you should have a decent shot at anything.

Thank you. I wasn’t sure whether my business major would have an effect on my options.

 

[egiv]

If you're in it for the rank, you're going to have a bad time. If you don't know why you want to be a SWO, you're going to have a bad time. If you want to be a SWO for the money, then you're going to have a bad time.

This.

To the OP - ship life can be miserable. It can also be rewarding and exciting. As long as you’re comfortable with that and can stay positive and motivated when things get tough, go for it.

 

[SeaWarrior]

Thank you. I wasn’t sure whether my business major would have an effect on my options.

I was selected for SWO and I have a degree in Finance. I think there were multiple Finance or Econ majors that got selected on the August board when I did.

 

[Shelly97]

This.

To the OP - ship life can be miserable. It can also be rewarding and exciting. As long as you’re comfortable with that and can stay positive and motivated when things get tough, go for it.

I’ll keep that mind. Thank you.

 

[Shelly97]

I was selected for SWO and I have a degree in Finance. I think there were multiple Finance or Econ majors that got selected on the August board when I did.

That’s reassuring, thank you.

 

[Smknight87]

That’s reassuring, thank you.

Same for me I’m a business marketing major, I was selected during the aug2020 board. Definitely get with a officer recruiter the process at times can be long or communication can be silent or unresponsive at times so you want to get an early start. Mini tip: try to score high as possible on the OAR and fishing’s strong in school (gpa). Good luck and utilize these forums