Newbie with some random questions

[EverettChance]

Hi, I'm new. I've looked over the site for the past hour, and I find a lot of things to be extremely helpful. It's also encouraging to hear from other people in the application process.

I just got my Masters degree in English Lit from NYU. I graduated with honors from both undergrad and graduate school. Being an officer the US Armed Forces is something I've wanted for a while. Back in college, I was in Army ROTC. I had the scholarship going in as a freshman and completed two years and was extremely motivated about being commissioned, but at the start of junior year, my mom got diagnosed with cancer and I dropped out of ROTC and school to help my family out (she died a year and half later). I had to take additional time off after her death to emotionally recuperate, and afterwards, I just went back to school, got my degree, went on to grad school, and have been working as an Adjunct professor at a state university in Cali. But, aspiration-wise, I've returned to where I was back in college before my mom died: I want to be an officer in the armed forces.

I just took the ASTB, but the problem was that I called the recruiter and he scheduled me to take the test three days later. I knew next to nothing about what was going to be on the test, figuring that it would be similar to the tests I've seen for the Army. I did great on the math/verbal section, but because I have no background whatsoever in mechanics and aviation/nautical science I got eaten alive; my score on those sections are horrendously bad. So I have to take it again, and I have to do much much better just to be competitive.

My random questions are:

1. Is it kosher to apply for an officer's commission with several different branches. I mean, simultaneously. I'm currently talking to an Air Force and Army officer recruiter. I'm not going about this haphazardly; I want to work in intelligence, and I'm really interested in the Navy, because, well, Navy Intel is top notch, especially if you want to work in cryptology. I'm considering Army Intelligence for the possibility of working in Human Intelligence. But is it okay to do this, simultaneously submit OCS applications for different branches? None of the recruiters know I'm talking to other branches, and I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do.

2. I'm also concerned about prof recs. I mean, I'm extremely close to a number of my old professors, but every single one of them leans very very far to the political left. I mean, they're all outspokenly anti-military, as most academics in the humanities are. So I feel unsure of how to go about asking them for a rec, seeing that no amount of dialogue could get them to understand why I want to do this. Does/did anyone else have this problem?

3. I'm 27 years old, which isn't exactly young, though not exactly old either. But aside to intelligence, I'm interested in the possibility of pursuing Special Operations (for the Navy). I know Seal billets for OCS applicants are hard to get, and for good reason. Making it though BUDs doesn't seem far fetched. I was an All-American long distance swimmer all four years of high school, and an all-state water polo as well. But the real challenge, it seems, is just getting accepted as an Officer Candidate with Special Operations as your occupation of choice. I know that good grades, which I have, is a given, as well as a high ASTB score (which I don't have . . . yet). What other things are they looking for? What other things would make you very competitive as an OCS/Seal candidate?

4. Also, let's just say that I take my test again, and I don't do too much better the second time around. I mean, let's say my score is competitive, but not extremely competitive. I noticed that on the application you can put down scores of other standardized tests (GRE, LSAT, GMAT, etc). I have extremely high scores for the GRE (90th percentile) and LSAT (95th percentile). Could these scores possibly balance out the "not as good" score on my ASTB? I mean, would they consider these other scores when they decide to take me on as a sworn-in officer candidate?

Thanks to anyone who read all this, and even more thanks to anyone who can offer any answers to my questions.

 

[Natedog100]

I would do the practice tests to get used to the questions covering mechanical and such. That's all I did to review/ learn for the test and it seemed to help. There only seems to be a few types of problems on the test and once you figure out how to do them all you are set.

 

[binary_choice]

For the ASTB, make sure you study the stuff from this site. Also go to a library and check out the books for the ASTB... I thought you had to wait like 30 days between tests though.
Make sure you study the stuff before you go back in there...

If you had really good scores on other tests like the GRE, etc, I'd put them on there, they can only help you if they're good. I didn't do that well on the GRE so I didn't put it on there

I had to ask my advisor for a recommendation and I hate asking for rec's but he was very supportive of my goals and what I wanted to do even though he is more left as well... and I believe he wrote me a greate rec...

Also, you might find out about the age requirements for SEAL, but I think you have to be 26.5 years old when you finish OCS for SEAL... I think it has the youngest requirement...

 

[pineapplehead]

I also wouldn't worry too much about your aviation/nautical scores on the ASTB if your looking at Intel/Crypto. I made only 3's and 4's on those sections (just enough to pass) and still got accepted Crypto.

 

[KsLairsey]

pineapplehead,

what was your OAR score, just out of curiosity. I am looking at intel/crypto and scored 53. I think with my whole package that is enough to get accepted but just curious what you got accepted with.

Thanks.

 

[hobbz]

This website has some great books for studying for the ASTB. They're in PDF format and completely viewable on the site. The two books to look at are "Officer Candidate Tests" and "Military Flight Aptitude Tests"

http://www.petersons.com/navy/books.html

 

[crysmc]

EverettChance~

First off, I'm very sorry to hear about your mother. My best friend lost her mother to breast cancer when we were in high school and that was a tremendously difficult thing for her to work past. I commend you for taking care of her like that; that took a lot of 'guts' so to speak on your part, considering where you were in your education and I'm impressed by your compassion.

As far as applying to more than one force at once: I decided to apply to both the Navy and the Marines for Aviation. Both were fine with me applying for both, but appreciated knowing what was going on in each application process. If you're most seriously interested in applying to the Navy though, I would aim for that and let the naval recruiter know especially how interested you are.

As far as the ASTB goes...I was in a similar situation as you; the recruiter called and said "Ok, I've scheduled you to take this test in two days." So I found the gouge on this site and studied as much as I could in those two days. The ASTB is much easier when you have all of the proper gouge. For the gouge, go to http://www.airwarriors.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5804&highlight=ASTB and look at entry #2. Math and verbal was very, very easy for me... Mechanics were a little harder since I don't have much of a background there. The things I didn't know before the test were spatial apperception and aviation factoids/history. However, I studied the gouge... really studied it... and I blew the test out of the water. So... if you study the spatial apperception gouge to the point where you truly understand it, that should bring up your test score dramatically. You sound like you have an excellent academic record and that is truly important in the application process.

As far as professional recommendations go; I was also in a similar situation. One of my recs was very liberal and opposed to the military. I was ALSO nervous about asking... however, what I found is that when I asked, they quickly said yes. They may have opinions or judgments about the military, but the bottom line is that MOST of the time, they will not let their judgments interefere with YOUR career choice. This is YOUR choice, not theirs, and all you're doing is asking them to testify to your academics/morals/ethics/etc. They should recommend you based on who you are and not what your desire to become is. The best recommendation I got was from the professor that was so liberal. He didn't agree with my choice... but he agreed that I was qualified and attested thoroughly to that.

I hope this was helpful. Best of luck!

~Crystal

 

[pineapplehead]

I got a 59 on the OAR - the math/verbal was pretty easy, but the mechanical stuff was hard for me because I've only had one physics class and that was in high school.

 

[vinny]

There is nothing wrong with applying to more than one service. Heck, you can even swear in with more than one service and then make a choice prior to commissioning, but I would advise that you make that choice as soon as possible and before going to OCS. Its a volunteer service, so don't let your recruiter stongarm you. As long as your not getting paid, there is NO commitment. There is nothing wrong with weighing options, especially if you are proud enough to serve your country. I applied to AF and NAVY pilot programs, was accepted into both, swore in for both (its a formality, but it matures your pay for once your in OCS), then chose the NAVY. I just called my AF recruiter, told him I lost motivation to join the AF and told him I was going NAVY, he wasn't happy, but he isn't serving, you are.