Letters of Reference

[CLAM97to99]

I noticed on this forum that it seems most people have quite a few LOR’s. My recruiter told me that two was enough. Was two really enough or should I have tried to get more?
Another question I have is mentioning that my father was a senior naval officer and a pilot going to help me or have no real effect on the board’s decision. Really these questions are kind pointless now since my paper work is in, and I am just waiting to hear back. I just wanted to know what others think.

 

[jca320]

I am going to bump this topic up. I have similar questions. One of my priests offered to give me a letter of rec focused on my leadership and his belief that I would do well as an officer. He was an Capt in the Army.

When I choose those to write my LORs I want them to write about certain skills that have witnessed me pocessing. I imagine they are leadership, responsibility, what else?

Regarding parents in the military, my recuiter asked me if I had anyone in my family that had been in the military. So it must be something you need to get in there somewhere. My guess is motivational statement as there is no other place in the application to mention it.

To highlight the kind of family I was in, My Uncle Elmo was fond of asking, "What branch are you going to join?" That and my father, both grandfathers all of my father's uncles and several of his cousins served. it is more family tradition now.

John

 

[NeoCortex]

I just put in my app for OCS so it might be alittle different but this is how it went for me...

I had 6 LoRs 4 are required for OCS. Of mine 5 were character and 1 was work. Of the 5, 2 were from military officers. My father and grandfather are/were in the Navy. I put that in my motivational statement. Also my recuiter put that in his statement about me. For the actual LoRs I neve saw then, the recuiter sent them to the poeple, but my understanding is that they are a question and answer with a rating system (like 1-5) and an essay type section at the end.

The family in the military, I think that it shows that you already know what military life is like.

 

[NuSnake]

I had 4, I got accepted with no problems, make sure you have a good overall package

 

[NeoCortex]

Journey Rocks!!!

 

[jca320]

I think my package is well rounded and overall good.

As mentioned elsewhere on the Forum

OAR 65
GPA 3.1 CS at UCSD.
Eagle Scout.
Physical Training:
Cycling, running, Yoga
Training:
Class B Commerical Driver's License
Tech-No Code Ham radio License
A+ Certified Computer Repair Technician
Padi Certified Scuba Diver
Extra-circicular:
Boy Scouts, Student Union Governing Board, Marksmanship club, Conservative Union Chair, Episcopal Student Association Lead.


Then there are the letters of Rec. I think this is pretty good. Hope it helps.

John

 

[Thisguy]

Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world...

John, 3.1 in Computer Science (?) looks pretty good to me, no need to frown.

 

[jca320]

Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world...

John, 3.1 in Computer Science (?) looks pretty good to me, no need to frown.

Yes computer science. UCSD is known for sucking the souls of students...ahh yes the love of UCSD.

Seriously, I look at some of these guys on the forum with High GPA's in Poli Sci or History, 3.8s and the like, and wonder, "Does the Navy look at the difference in the degree itself." I would imagine so but it is still hard to conceptualize the offset given to engineering B.S. over liberal arts B.A.


John
Just a city boy
Born and raised in South Detroit
He took the midnight train going anywhere
-Journey Really isn't that bad after all.

 

[Thisguy]

I feel your pain, I graduated from Penn State with a BS in Mechanical Engineering with a 3.1 GPA. My measuring stick was that I was golden with the bulk of employers (3.0 and up), whereas some of my business major roommates were gettin' pissed because alot of companies were looking for 3.5 and up. Just a thought.

 

[matt6599]

I have a 3.3 in aerospace engineering is that GPA good enough to get in? By the way I'm applying SNA, NFO, Nuke

 

[gnorman911]

You should be fine, I had a 3.3 in Mechanical Engineering and I got SNA. I am not sure where I heard it and I could be wrong, but I heard that the navy gives a bump to technical major.

 

[josejimmenez]

For those of you guys who had ,more than the required 2 letters, are you getting people to write formal LORs or are you using the form the navy recruiter gave you?

 

[wink]

Navy does look at the difficulty of the major and the school. Years ago (don't use this as a current metric) I had a EE major from MIT get in with a 2.0 when everyone else was up around 3.0. Also, does make a difference if you are prior military or come from a military family, especially Navy. That experience tells the board that you know what you are getting into and are far less likely to have trouble, let alone DOR. Good Luck all.

 

[ben]

For those of you guys who had ,more than the required 2 letters, are you getting people to write formal LORs or are you using the form the navy recruiter gave you?

I sent in 5 LORs and used the Navy forms for all of them. My recruiter mailed the people the forms and they filled them out. One person added a real letter and sent me a copy. Other than that, I think everyone just filled out the forms. I don't know for sure though, because I only saw what that one person sent me.

 

[zuggerat]

i have 4, mainly because there were only 4 slots for references to be filled in, otherwise i guess i would have had more.