Question regarding application and other branches

[MGB001]

Hello. This seems to be a very well-informed community so I thought I'd pose a quick question here. I hope I have this in the right forum. I am currently an applicant for a position as a Naval officer. The Navy is undoubtedly the branch that I would most like to go into. However, the designator that I have applied for is extremely competitive. Of course there is a very real chance that I will not be selected. If that were to happen I'd like to have have a 'backup plan' so to speak. I was looking into different branches of military service, specifically the Marine Corps. Before I waste a recruiters valuable time, I was wondering if anyone on here could shed some light on whether or not it is possible to apply for two different officer programs at the same time? I doubt it but I suppose it can't hurt to ask

Thank you very much for your help. I greatly appreciate it.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Hello. This seems to be a very well-informed community so I thought I'd pose a quick question here. I hope I have this in the right forum. I am currently an applicant for a position as a Naval officer. The Navy is undoubtedly the branch that I would most like to go into. However, the designator that I have applied for is extremely competitive. Of course there is a very real chance that I will not be selected. If that were to happen I'd like to have have a 'backup plan' so to speak. I was looking into different branches of military service, specifically the Marine Corps. Before I waste a recruiters valuable time, I was wondering if anyone on here could shed some light on whether or not it is possible to apply for two different officer programs at the same time? I doubt it but I suppose it can't hurt to ask

Thank you very much for your help. I greatly appreciate it.

I have had many that applied for several branches at once, some recruiter will get pissy about it.

What are you applying for, what do you want to do, what are your stats?

also, every branch has different ways of going about things, for instance in the USMC the PFT is very important.

 

[MGB001]

I want to be an intel officer more than anything. I know the IDC boards are extremely selective with the Navy. If I do get turned down I was hoping to hope for the best with the Marine officer boards and then work hard cross my fingers that I will manage to get assigned to an intel job during TBS.

Here are my stats:

24/M/Non-prior
MA in International Relations (3.75 GPA)
BA in International Relations (3.54 GPA)
Internship with NATO in which I had original research published
48 OAR (studying to retake it and improve my score, the difficulty of the test caught me off guard originally)
95 AFQT
6 letters of recommendation including professors, past employers, and Navy vets
Various leadership positions / extracurriculars / honor societies

Currently I can score a 285 Marine PFT. The run is the only event where I lose points.

 

[offinthecorner]

I was recently selected for Marine Corps OCS on an SNA contract. The application took several months and I definitely got the feeling that the Marines only want applicants who are wholeheartedly seeking a commission in the Marines and nowhere else. For instance, I went USMC because I felt as if the Marines were oddly completing a part of my soul that the other branches could not. If you do use the Marines as a "backup plan" I would suggest not mentioning that you are seeking employment elsewhere because the recruiter's impression of you weighs heavily on your chances of selection.

 

[ryan1234]

. Of course there is a very real chance that I will not be selected. If that were to happen I'd like to have have a 'backup plan' so to speak. I was looking into different branches of military service, specifically the Marine Corps. Before I waste a recruiters valuable time, I was wondering if anyone on here could shed some light on whether or not it is possible to apply for two different officer programs at the same time?

Ultimately it's your future no matter what your recruiter says. You're working in a finite time frame of the accession climate. If your priorities are serving your country and then serving through a specific job, then service preference may be less important. Bottom line, it's your career.

 

[wink]

If you do use the Marines as a "backup plan" I would suggest not mentioning that you are seeking employment elsewhere because the recruiter's impression of you weighs heavily on your chances of selection.

Don't lie if asked. Most places the Marine Officer Selection Officer is familiar with the Navy Officer Recruiters. Sometimes in the same building. I used to ask all my applicants if they were applying for any other service. I didn't really care unless they didn't tell me what I wanted to hear when I asked the follow up question. "Which is your first choice?" In that case I didn't mind a little white lie. I saw it more as a litmus test of common sense. You are asking me for a job. It will take a considerable amount of my time. Tell me what you know I want to hear. These days I am an Admission Liaison Officer (Blue and Gold Officer) for the USNA. We flat out tell our candidates to apply for every military academy they have the slightest interest in. Better one of the other services get a quality candidate if he non-selects for USNA then have him end up at Purdue or Stanford. Officer recruiting should be the same way. The Marines can just be a little full of themselves.

 

[offinthecorner]

Don't lie if asked. Most places the Marine Officer Selection Officer is familiar with the Navy Officer Recruiters. Sometimes in the same building. I used to ask all my applicants if they were applying for any other service. I didn't really care unless they didn't tell me what I wanted to hear when I asked the follow up question. "Which is your first choice?" In that case I didn't mind a little white lie. I saw it more as a litmus test of common sense. You are asking me for a job. It will take a considerable amount of my time. Tell me what you know I want to hear. These days I am an Admission Liaison Officer (Blue and Gold Officer) for the USNA. We flat out tell our candidates to apply for every military academy they have the slightest interest in. Better one of the other services get a quality candidate if he non-selects for USNA then have him end up at Purdue or Stanford. Officer recruiting should be the same way. The Marines can just be a little full of themselves.

I should have mentioned not lying if asked. Beginning your career with an integrity violation is not a good way to start.

 

[swerdna]

Hello. This seems to be a very well-informed community so I thought I'd pose a quick question here. I hope I have this in the right forum. I am currently an applicant for a position as a Naval officer. The Navy is undoubtedly the branch that I would most like to go into. However, the designator that I have applied for is extremely competitive. Of course there is a very real chance that I will not be selected. If that were to happen I'd like to have have a 'backup plan' so to speak. I was looking into different branches of military service, specifically the Marine Corps. Before I waste a recruiters valuable time, I was wondering if anyone on here could shed some light on whether or not it is possible to apply for two different officer programs at the same time? I doubt it but I suppose it can't hurt to ask

Thank you very much for your help. I greatly appreciate it.

You might want to consider the fact that applying for two programs would be wasting someone's time. Why not just wait until you get word back on your first application, then apply for the other one?

 

[exNavyOffRec]

You might want to consider the fact that applying for two programs would be wasting someone's time. Why not just wait until you get word back on your first application, then apply for the other one?

If going for a civilian job does a person apply for one, then wait to see if they get it before applying for another? no difference here, not everyone will be picked and I have seen several age out because they tried to get in to just one service for several years.

 

[swerdna]

If going for a civilian job does a person apply for one, then wait to see if they get it before applying for another? no difference here, not everyone will be picked and I have seen several age out because they tried to get in to just one service for several years.

I think that my message came off wrong, I was actually wondering why OP doesn't just wait until he finds out first? If it's a time issue, like you mentioned, then that makes sense. But if it's just anxiety it might be better to wait, that way when asked he/she could genuinely say no to any potential questions about applying for more than one program and avoid any "issues" with the recruiter.

When I applied for OCS, I was thinking the same thing as OP and the response I got from the Army was, "This isn't Burger King, you can't have it your way."

 

[exNavyOffRec]

I think that my message came off wrong, I was actually wondering why OP doesn't just wait until he finds out first? If it's a time issue, like you mentioned, then that makes sense. But if it's just anxiety it might be better to wait, that way when asked he/she could genuinely say no to any potential questions about applying for more than one program and avoid any "issues" with the recruiter.

When I applied for OCS, I was thinking the same thing as OP and the response I got from the Army was, "This isn't Burger King, you can't have it your way."

It is because the time frame, many services such as USMC and USAF only have boards twice a year, for the USAF for a while it was once per year for certain jobs, so if they wait for each one a no from one service could result in years to get in.

The Army recruiter was just wrong, as an applicant you do get it your way (once you are in OCS it is our way though), you get to apply for the service you want and what you want as long as you meet the requirements, what he said is the mindset of enlisted recruiting, I dealt with a few of those during my time and generally they ended up not doing well, you can't push around a college kid while civilian employers are making them feel like they are the only one, they often pushed them to another service or away from the service all together.

 

[RiseR 25]

Don't lie if asked. Most places the Marine Officer Selection Officer is familiar with the Navy Officer Recruiters. Sometimes in the same building. I used to ask all my applicants if they were applying for any other service. I didn't really care unless they didn't tell me what I wanted to hear when I asked the follow up question. "Which is your first choice?" In that case I didn't mind a little white lie. I saw it more as a litmus test of common sense. You are asking me for a job. It will take a considerable amount of my time. Tell me what you know I want to hear. These days I am an Admission Liaison Officer (Blue and Gold Officer) for the USNA. We flat out tell our candidates to apply for every military academy they have the slightest interest in. Better one of the other services get a quality candidate if he non-selects for USNA then have him end up at Purdue or Stanford. Officer recruiting should be the same way. The Marines can just be a little full of themselves.

What wink said ^^^^^