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NROTC Essay, Final Try (Hopefully)

anonymousgoat

New Member
Posted below is another rewrite of my NROTC Essay. I hope that I am not annoying anyone with these essay threads. Please realize that I have spent a large amount of effort on these essays, and I am just trying to make them as good as possible. I sincerely want to do NROTC at a college or enroll at the Naval Academy. That being said, please feel free to say anything and everything that you think is good or bad about this essay. That's why I'm posting it here, for honest feedback from those associated with the Navy. Thanks in advance.

Discuss your reasons for wanting to become a Naval Officer.


"My dad is in the Navy," my high-pitched, six-year-old voice would proudly proclaim when asked what my father's profession was. Other children's dads were managers, lawyers, and doctors, which was fine with me, but my dad was a Naval Officer. He sailed on gigantic aircraft carriers for a living. Now that was cool.

My family is undoubtedly the thing that sparked my desire to become a Naval Officer: my dad was a Naval Academy graduate, my uncle a Navy doctor, and my grandfather a Naval Flight Officer. For me to join the Navy and become a Naval Officer is a continuance of a tradition generations old. I would consider it a great honor to be able to follow in their footsteps, but there's more to my decision than that. I am not blindly pursuing a career as a Naval Officer, I have done endless hours of research on this career choice, and the more research I do about the Navy and Naval Officers, the surer I am that this is what I want to become.

Because Naval Officers have played such a large part in my family life, I know what type of person it takes to be one, and what type of extraordinary people they are. You can recognize them by the pride with which they hold themselves and the confidence with which they speak. They are the people who command battleships, fly jets, and dive submarines, things that most people can only imagine doing. They are willing not only to give up their life for their country, but also to lead likeminded men and women who are willing to do the same. They have to make split second decisions that test who they are and will vastly impact the lives of those under their command. This is the type of person I want to be; I want to be a Naval Officer.

I realize that becoming a Naval Officer isn't going to be easy, that officers have to go through rigorous mental and physical training before they can receive their commissions. I look forward to the challenge; I know that the intensive training I will undergo on the path to becoming a Naval Officer will make me better physically, mentally, and morally. I know that becoming a Naval Officer will push me to my limits and that the trials I face will result in me becoming the best that I can be. I hope that one day in the future I will have earned the right to call myself a United States Naval Officer.
 

OUSOONER

Crusty Shellback
pilot
Okay..this one is a little better, but JESUS CHRIST, stop making it sound like a Choose Your Own Adventure: I Wanna Be A Navy Pilot book.

That first para needs to be destroyed. Not revised, not deleted, destroyed. You aren't telling a story, so stop trying. Oh, and we don't have any battleships anymore to command.
 

CUPike11

Still avoiding work as much as possible....
None
Contributor
This one is way better, but your first two opening sentences/paragraph made me cringe.

Get rid of it as Sooner said, sorry I mean, Destroy it as Sooner said.

Seriously start the essay with the second paragraph. You're going to be in college and if you want to be taken seriously as such, you need to start writing like it.

For the record, not trying to be a douche but passing on some warning: do not EVER start another paper, essay, statement of purpose, etc. as you have done previously. You will fail, get laughed out of class, or inevitably be denied by whatever you're applying towards.

Unless you are writing a "choose your own adventure" book/story, and if so, then go for it! :thumbup_1
 

nzachman

Yeah, well. The Dude abides.
^^^ To piggyback, when writing a statement explaining why you should get the job, you should always make your first paragraph your strongest or it will just go to the paper shredder like everyone else. Your first paragraph is obviously your weakest. Fix it.
 

Immy

New Member
I wrote this particular essay as well not too long ago.

Seriously, listen to what everyone is (and has told you in the other thread) saying and don't try to write/start it off as a story. It's not going to earn you any "unique" points.
 

Pistol719

Will Over Skill
pilot
Contributor
Okay..this one is a little better, but JESUS CHRIST, stop making it sound like a Choose Your Own Adventure: I Wanna Be A Navy Pilot book.

To be a Aviator turn to page :45
To be a SWO Turn to page: 123

Those books kicked so much ass
 

MIDNJAC

is clara ship
pilot
I can't really imagine that there is a whole lot of variation between these things among applicants. State who you are, why you want to join (no need for dramatic prose here), and how you can add to our team. You don't need to stand out as unique here, just qualified and motivated; most of your peers applying will have similar stats to yours, so you are not going to blow the board away with your family history or stories of what you percieve flying a jet to be like.
 

Jynx

*Placeholder*
Contributor
"My dad is in the Navy," my high-pitched, six-year-old voice would proudly proclaim when asked what my father's profession was. Other children's dads were managers, lawyers, and doctors, which was fine with me, but my dad was a Naval Officer. He sailed on gigantic aircraft carriers for a living. Now that was cool.
I'm not saying that this is gay, but it's at the very least dangerously homosexical. Delete this, burn it, and just go with the second paragraph

I know that becoming a Naval Officer will push me to my limits and that the trials I face will result in me becoming the best that I can be.
Didn't the army lose that recruiting slogan like 10 years ago?

This essay really needs to be redirected. Tell them exactly what you bring that no one else can to Big Navy. Then delete whatever your first paragraph is in that essay and hand it in.
 

gotta_fly

Well-Known Member
pilot
To be a Aviator turn to page :45
To be a SWO Turn to page: 123

Those books kicked so much ass

Choose your own adventure books are way less fun when they're bound on the top and printed on yellow pages :D:

If fire persists...
If fire extinguishes...
If no indications of fire...
 

fc2spyguy

loving my warm and comfy 214 blanket
pilot
Contributor
To be a Aviator turn to page :45
To be a SWO Turn to page: 123

Those books kicked so much ass

Turned to page 123, as you walk down the path, you are stabbed in the back by a fellow SWO. You have died.
 

Md540il

New Member
Goat, don't take these replies too personally. If you become an officer, you'll quickley learn that service members often compensate for their shortcomings by dealing sharply and unprofessionally with others. As a former composition and AP Gov teacher, I can tell you that AW is not the place to post this essay. Have a teacher review it for tone, style, and general comp., and speak personally with a credible officer to discuss the message. Good luck and PM me if you need help.
 

magnetfreezer

Well-Known Member
Goat, don't take these replies too personally. If you become an officer, you'll quickley learn that service members often compensate for their shortcomings by dealing sharply and unprofessionally with others. As a former composition and AP Gov teacher, I can tell you that AW is not the place to post this essay. Have a teacher review it for tone, style, and general comp., and speak personally with a credible officer to discuss the message. Good luck and PM me if you need help.

That would be great if he was trying to get into composition/AP Gov grad school. However, many of the officers trying to help him here have (obviously) gotten into a commissioning source and have more experience with the mindset/workings of the fleet (more than a "SNA waiting to start at PNS"). They may even be prior recruiters or have sat on boards themselves, so it would behoove Goat to take their advice on content - tone reflects attitude and that is definitely something a board can pick up on.

If "service members often compensate for their shortcomings by dealing sharply and unprofessionally with others" in this thread, watch out for the VT's.
 

MasterBates

Well-Known Member
Yeah.. Don't ask for review by the people who have written such essays and been accepted.

Don't ask for review by those WHO READ THE MOTHERFUCKING ESSAYS AT BOARDS..

Yeah, ask an english teacher who thinks Top Gun was a documentary.

We may not be pleasant, but we are right.
 

OUSOONER

Crusty Shellback
pilot
English Teacher: I thought the Air Force has the planes and you drive the ships? Well by golly, you learn something new everyday!
 
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