July 2013 SWO Board Questions

[ABM22]

I tried asking my OR these questions but the office is incredibly understaffed at the moment (he is essentially the only OR for my whole state) and he didn't have the time to answer any of them. Hopefully some of you may be able to provide a bit of help. First and foremost, what has the numbers game been historically for SWO Boards? I know for example IDC boards tend to have a ton of applicants and very few slots and consequentially select a very small percentage, but what about SWO? I have an application for SWO in the upcoming July board and for all the SWO options in the October IDC and feel as if I have a decent shot, but I don't want to get my hopes up if the numbers are plainly against me.

My stats are as follows:

Male, 22 years old
B.A. in History, Minor in Philosophy. 3.9 GPA
48 OAR (I have never studied mechanics/physics in my life)
4 LOR's (Three from professors, one from employer)
Member and Vice-President of my University's chapter of the History Honors Society, Phi Alpha Theta
Member of the National Honors Society, Phi Kappa Phi
Recipient of my University's highest scholarship
Studied abroad in Germany for a semester. Strong conversational German.
Was in JROTC all through High School (Unfortunately my university didn't have a program).
Employed as a tutor at my university for 3 years.
Graduated from my university's Honors College.

Secondly, how long does one typically wait between being Pro Rec'ed and actually attending OCS? I know it will be at least a few months, but I have heard of some waiting much longer.

Side Note: I do not know if this influences anything, but I did dual-process with SECF being on my enlisted contract. I am going to be in the Navy one way or another if I have anything to say about it!

 

[VFRonly]

Just by looking through your stats, OAR, and GPA (which are pretty impressive I might add) I think you really have a good shot. You possess a fair amount that makes you stand out in my opinion. I have been on this board for over a year watching people get selected for SWO and other designators with much lower GPAs and ASTB scores in the range of yours. Good luck!

 

[Tiffany Murphy]

I am going for the July SWO board as well. I think your packet looks solid. Good luck!

 

[mtaylor]

I tried asking my OR these questions but the office is incredibly understaffed at the moment (he is essentially the only OR for my whole state) and he didn't have the time to answer any of them. Hopefully some of you may be able to provide a bit of help. First and foremost, what has the numbers game been historically for SWO Boards? I know for example IDC boards tend to have a ton of applicants and very few slots and consequentially select a very small percentage, but what about SWO? I have an application for SWO in the upcoming July board and for all the SWO options in the October IDC and feel as if I have a decent shot, but I don't want to get my hopes up if the numbers are plainly against me.

My stats are as follows:

Male, 22 years old
B.A. in History, Minor in Philosophy. 3.9 GPA
48 OAR (I have never studied mechanics/physics in my life)
4 LOR's (Three from professors, one from employer)
Member and Vice-President of my University's chapter of the History Honors Society, Phi Alpha Theta
Member of the National Honors Society, Phi Kappa Phi
Recipient of my University's highest scholarship
Studied abroad in Germany for a semester. Strong conversational German.
Was in JROTC all through High School (Unfortunately my university didn't have a program).
Employed as a tutor at my university for 3 years.
Graduated from my university's Honors College.

Secondly, how long does one typically wait between being Pro Rec'ed and actually attending OCS? I know it will be at least a few months, but I have heard of some waiting much longer.

Side Note: I do not know if this influences anything, but I did dual-process with SECF being on my enlisted contract. I am going to be in the Navy one way or another if I have anything to say about it!

Great stats! I think you'll be just fine. Its my understanding that many people have been selected with far less.

I have an application in for the July SWO board as well. Its also my understanding that you'll get an OCS date that is roughly 2 months away on average.
My recruiter has me operating under this assumption of a timeline: Board on July 15th, find out if I was selected ~2 weeks later at end of July, then get an OCS date for ~2 months out (late September, early October OCS class date).

Of course, you can always get an OCS class date at the end of August, which doesn't leave much time to quit your job, get your things in order, and get squared away. But it can be done.

 

[ABM22]

Great stats! I think you'll be just fine. Its my understanding that many people have been selected with far less.

I have an application in for the July SWO board as well. Its also my understanding that you'll get an OCS date that is roughly 2 months away on average.
My recruiter has me operating under this assumption of a timeline: Board on July 15th, find out if I was selected ~2 weeks later at end of July, then get an OCS date for ~2 months out (late September, early October OCS class date).

Of course, you can always get an OCS class date at the end of August, which doesn't leave much time to quit your job, get your things in order, and get squared away. But it can be done.

Thanks for the information. I have everything squared away (MEPs physical, etc.) and put my date of of availability on my package as "ASAP" so here is hoping for an August class date.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

I tried asking my OR these questions but the office is incredibly understaffed at the moment (he is essentially the only OR for my whole state) and he didn't have the time to answer any of them. Hopefully some of you may be able to provide a bit of help. First and foremost, what has the numbers game been historically for SWO Boards? I know for example IDC boards tend to have a ton of applicants and very few slots and consequentially select a very small percentage, but what about SWO? I have an application for SWO in the upcoming July board and for all the SWO options in the October IDC and feel as if I have a decent shot, but I don't want to get my hopes up if the numbers are plainly against me.

My stats are as follows:

Male, 22 years old
B.A. in History, Minor in Philosophy. 3.9 GPA
48 OAR (I have never studied mechanics/physics in my life)
4 LOR's (Three from professors, one from employer)
Member and Vice-President of my University's chapter of the History Honors Society, Phi Alpha Theta
Member of the National Honors Society, Phi Kappa Phi
Recipient of my University's highest scholarship
Studied abroad in Germany for a semester. Strong conversational German.
Was in JROTC all through High School (Unfortunately my university didn't have a program).
Employed as a tutor at my university for 3 years.
Graduated from my university's Honors College.

Secondly, how long does one typically wait between being Pro Rec'ed and actually attending OCS? I know it will be at least a few months, but I have heard of some waiting much longer.

Side Note: I do not know if this influences anything, but I did dual-process with SECF being on my enlisted contract. I am going to be in the Navy one way or another if I have anything to say about it!

If I was your OR I would feel very confident about you being picked up SWO, SWO options you really don't have what they are looking for, and from last report when they moved the IDC board they also closed it.

 

[ABM22]

If I was your OR I would feel very confident about you being picked up SWO, SWO options you really don't have what they are looking for, and from last report when they moved the IDC board they also closed it.

Yeah, my OR put me up for the SWO options as a Hail Mary, just in case.

 

[Garrett S.]

My motivational statement had obvious implications that I would be applying for Aviation in addition to SWO. I was told that the SWO board knows fully that folks often apply to them in addition to a particular preference and that it wouldn't effect their decision any. Any thoughts on this?

 

[ABM22]

My motivational statement had obvious implications that I would be applying for Aviation in addition to SWO. I was told that the SWO board knows fully that folks often apply to them in addition to a particular preference and that it wouldn't effect their decision any. Any thoughts on this?

From what I understand (and I am no expert) it does not effect anything. They Pro Y or Pro N you for each designator you applied to and if you are Pro Y'd for more than one you have to choose which you'd rather have.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

My motivational statement had obvious implications that I would be applying for Aviation in addition to SWO. I was told that the SWO board knows fully that folks often apply to them in addition to a particular preference and that it wouldn't effect their decision any. Any thoughts on this?

The only negative I could see if you ONLY talked about being a pilot in your statement, if you talked about each different community and also said you would just be happy to serve shouldn't be any issue at all.

 

[Mr Spenz]

The only negative I could see if you ONLY talked about being a pilot in your statement, if you talked about each different community and also said you would just be happy to serve shouldn't be any issue at all.

What about not talking about any communities rather just being an Officer?

 

[exNavyOffRec]

What about not talking about any communities rather just being an Officer?

That works as well, sometimes though the motivational statement needs to be tailored to the community, such as CEC

 

[Mr Spenz]

That works as well, sometimes though the motivational statement needs to be tailored to the community, such as CEC

Oh my gut just said the overall goal outweighed the specific goal when it came to my motivational statement.

 

[Garrett S.]

The only negative I could see if you ONLY talked about being a pilot in your statement, if you talked about each different community and also said you would just be happy to serve shouldn't be any issue at all.

Thanks! It was fairly broad, it didn't mention any other branch like I did Aviation but I did weigh heavier on my desire to serve again. I just mentioned that I wanted to go back to Aviation, especially since I loved it so much while in the Army.

Another thanks in general to NavyOffRec, I've been following these forums for months without actually registering. Your info has been much appreciated several times over!

 

[DoubleOswo7]

Oh my gut just said the overall goal outweighed the specific goal when it came to my motivational statement.

I went officer overall. I mean let's face it above a job or whats cool or fun we all want to be a United States Navy Officer. The rest of the packet should support whether you have the skills etc to meet the job you applied for.

Just a thought. Seems like nobody has the cheat sheet/playbook to all this so it's just best foot forward!