Senior in college interested in Navy

[SpacePirate]

Howdy,

I'm currently finishing my senior year in Aerospace Engineering and I'm interested in becoming a pilot. Right now I'm considering both the Navy and the Air Force but I'm leaning more towards the Navy.

Heres a little info about me
-21 years old
-3.68 in Aerospace Engineering
-vision is -4.25/-4.0 and I am planning on getting PRK November 16.

Here are some questions I had that I am hoping ya'll might be able to answer.


1) Navy vs Air Force. Im leaning more towards the Navy, because carriers are awsome, but the air force has some very cool airplanes. Is it true that the Navy has a higher ratio of jets/total airplanes than the Air Force? What are your biased opinions as to why Naval aviation is better than Air Force aviation?

2) The Navy officer recruiter I talked to said I would have to wait 6 months after the PRK procedure to send my application and the Air Force recruiter said one year. I read somewhere that getting PRK done outside the military might be diqualifying but the navy recruiter said getting it done privately would be fine. Is this correct and am i just worrying about nothing?

3) Is it possible to pursue a masters/phd while in the military or would it be better to get a masters before applying to the Navy? What kind of options are their in the Navy for higher education? Does the navy have any research labs and would it possible to go work at one after completing the required 8 years of service?

Thanks for taking the time to read through my post. Im especially interested in ya'lls answers to my first question.

 

[navywareagle]

Go Navy, all the way. I'm in NROTC and a senior in Industrial Engineering. I had PRK done by a civilian and got a waiver to fly with outt any problems. I say go Navy because I am a little biased, but also because it is so much easier to get selected as an aviator in the Navy than in the airforce. I've got a buddy in AirForce ROTC, an aerospace engineering major with a ~3.1 gpa and he did pretty good on the airforce military aviation aplitude test and his application to by a pilot was denied. I also have a buddy, ( an ENS in flight school), that was in Navy ROTC, had a 2.6 gpa in math, and made 6/6/6 on the ASTB (just a little better than average), that got picked up to fly. hope this helps.

 

[wink]

See an officer recruiter TODAY!! The process takes weeks. There is no obligation in applying. Do not waste any time, especially if you are a senior. You can continue to research your options and communicate with people on AW while you apply. Your recruiter will be able to answer most your questions as well. Do not waste time. There are just 30 open pilot slots left nationwide. Start the process now!! There is no time to dither or over analyze.

 

[badger16]

i'd agree with war eagle on this one...I talked to both the Navy and Air Force officer recruiters and the Air Force guy wouldn't even give me the time of day because I was not a technical degree, where as the Navy dude told me so long as I did well on the ASTB i'd have a pretty good shot. So i'd say Navy, but talk to both recruiters first.

 

[rdolin]

Where'd you get that number from wink? 30, is that for the rest of the year, for a few months, for an entire year, or what???

 

[wink]

Where'd you get that number from wink? 30, is that for the rest of the year, for a few months, for an entire year, or what???

30 left for the rest of '07!!

Where did I get it? Lets see, Commander working in a Recruiting District HQ (read the bio, it is useful to know who you are talking too). It isn't hard for me to find out how many quotas there are for any program, and more. Or maybe you doubt the reliablity of my gouge?

 

[rdolin]

I wasn't doubting you wink. I'm sorry if I offended you. When I asked where you got the information from, I was hoping you could tell me where, so I could access it myself. As for you bio, I am still young to Airwarriors and didn't think about reading yours. Now looking back I understand the where. But for the rest of the year, man does that stink for us future applicants. I already applied once and was rejected for SNA and SNFO in the late september board. My recruiter said I needed to wait six months before I could re-apply. But by that time, 30 may be down to 10, 5, none,.....

 

[wink]

I wasn't doubting you wink. I'm sorry if I offended you. When I asked where you got the information from, I was hoping you could tell me where, so I could access it myself. As for you bio, I am still young to Airwarriors and didn't think about reading yours. Now looking back I understand the where. But for the rest of the year, man does that stink for us future applicants. I already applied once and was rejected for SNA and SNFO in the late september board. My recruiter said I needed to wait six months before I could re-apply. But by that time, 30 may be down to 10, 5, none,.....

No worries. You can't access the source I used. Your recruiter should be able to though. You do need to wait 6 months to resubmit, but you can request a reconsideration sooner. Now I don't know what your complete package looks like. Maybe your recruiter thinks waiting the 6 months is best for you. Still, you might want to ask him about a reconsideration sooner then a resubmittal. If you have to wait the 6 months, that will be close to the time the 08 numbers open up, so it might not be as bad as you think. You would just get a later OCS date (the 08 OCS quotas go to OCS sometime in June 07). Remember, generally the board wants to see something different, an improvement over the last app. That means new grades, better test scores, improved prt, etc. Good luck.

 

[navywareagle]

30 left for the rest of '07!!

Where did I get it? Lets see, Commander working in a Recruiting District HQ (read the bio, it is useful to know who you are talking too). It isn't hard for me to find out how many quotas there are for any program, and more. Or maybe you doubt the reliablity of my gouge?

now is that the OCS quota or navy-wide quota? im in rotc and that # scares me because my service selection package was submitted yesterday.

 

[wink]

now is that the OCS quota or navy-wide quota? im in rotc and that # scares me because my service selection package was submitted yesterday.

Original thread was about an OCS application. I got my information from a Navy Recruiting District Officer Programs Office, ergo, they are OCS numbers (nationwide). Apply a little logic please.

 

[navywareagle]

sorry, im just a little anxious. and i didn't get much sleep last night so im a little delirious (had two tests, a quiz, and a presentation due today). gotta love senior level engineering classes. i'm sure you remember those days.

 

[wink]

sorry, im just a little anxious. and i didn't get much sleep last night so im a little delirious (had two tests, a quiz, and a presentation due today). gotta love senior level engineering classes. i'm sure you remember those days.

Aircraft Design project was a group effort. I was in charge of group morale, welfare and recreation .

 

[BigRed389]

Aircraft Design project was a group effort. I was in charge of group morale, welfare and recreation .

i.e. Leadership

 

[SpacePirate]

Thanks for the replys everyone.

I cant apply right now as I have to wait 6 months after the prk to send the application but I can start taking the tests now and putting the application togethere.

Are there any other message boards similar to air warriors that you all know of? The only other one I found was f-16.net but it does not really talk about the process like this board.

Also, does one's major matter all that much to the selection boards? I've heard that to the Air Force it doesnt, but how is it with the navy? And is it true that the Air Force is trying to get rid of pilots? It sounds like from what some of you all have said that it is much harder to get into AF aviation than Navy at the moment.

Last question, what kind of airplanes did ya'll build for your design projects? Were making an "Advanced Medium Range Transport" and right now it really sucks, but next semester we get to build flying models so hopefully that will be more fun.

 

[zippy]

Thanks for the replys everyone.
Are there any other message boards similar to air warriors that you all know of? The only other one I found was f-16.net but it does not really talk about the process like this board.

And is it true that the Air Force is trying to get rid of pilots? It sounds like from what some of you all have said that it is much harder to get into AF aviation than Navy at the moment.

the baseops.net forum is somewhat similar... They aren't nearly as tolerant of new guys and redundant questions over there so make sure you do some searching before you ask some questions.

Someone was just mentioning about some AF pilots getting forced shaped, so it might be true depending on the community. The Navy forgot to use all of its fingers and toes to count its pilot needs several years back and made some sizable cuts into 3 year groups once they discovered they messed up- Its all ebbs and flows.