Hey, so I am just curious from others out there what they think my chances at the SWO board would be to get commissioned. I have taken the OAR twice now. My first score was 46 and that was a few years ago. I decided to retake it per the recruiter's recommendation and now I scored 41. I graduated with my B.S. having a GPA of 3.13 and my M.A. with a 4.0 GPA. I am prior service and was enlisted in the Marines. In anyone's opinion should I retake this damn test. I honestly do not believe my score is going to improve that drastically or significantly as I am just not a good test taker. I didn't study for the first time and did better than when I did study for this second attempt. Thanks!
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SWO opportunity w/ OAR score, prior service, and multiple degrees
- Thread starter RMaudsley
- Start date
In good ole AW fashion, about a 42% chance of being selected.
Since you took the test for the second time already I would recommend submitting and see what happens, but plan on taking it again for a third/final time. Do you know when the next board meets? Looking over the program authorization for SWO (Dated June 2019) the minimum OAR is 40 so you're above the minimum and can apply. You're going to have to beef up the rest of your OCS package to offset your OAR. Aside from the OAR, the board also looks at your LORs and motivational statement. How are those?
Since you took the test for the second time already I would recommend submitting and see what happens, but plan on taking it again for a third/final time. Do you know when the next board meets? Looking over the program authorization for SWO (Dated June 2019) the minimum OAR is 40 so you're above the minimum and can apply. You're going to have to beef up the rest of your OCS package to offset your OAR. Aside from the OAR, the board also looks at your LORs and motivational statement. How are those?
I have yet to obtain LOR's yet. I do have at least three people that can write me a LOR to include a previous professor, CEO of a company, and a previous manager of mine. I also am in the works of getting a motivational statement prepared. My recruiter just hasn't really provided any direction yet on when those are ready.
I feel that your recruiter is similar to mine, in regards to the other package requirements. He didn't provide any direction on the LORs and statement and wouldn't let me start them until I got an OAR of at least 50.
So looking at your chances, the obvious answer for your selection, along with everyone else's, is 50%. The quality of your package will dictate whether your chances go up or down (You control this) and where you rank amongst the other candidates at the board(You can't control this). You want to submit the best possible package and leave no negative area for the board to pick at. You might have LORs that don't really highlight the whole-person concept, a motivational statement that highlights areas that don't match up with the military's expectations, or being the only applicant at that time with a OAR in the 40s. The board doesn't tell you what your negatives are at that time. I haven't looked up the reference yet, but with you being prior enlisted, do you have to submit previous evals? Will they play a factor? If not, then disregard. It's good that you have a M.A. with a great GPA. So taking those factors, with a OAR of 41, outstanding LORs/statement, strong education/leadership background, and you end up not getting selected, then you can deduce that your OAR was the main factor. Now, it is possible to get picked up with a score in the 40s, but it may require multiple board sessions along with a big change in your package for resubmitting. Are you close to the age cut-off if you need to go through multiple boards? Attaining a score in the 50s will make you competitive and will check that box for the OAR.
So looking at your chances, the obvious answer for your selection, along with everyone else's, is 50%. The quality of your package will dictate whether your chances go up or down (You control this) and where you rank amongst the other candidates at the board(You can't control this). You want to submit the best possible package and leave no negative area for the board to pick at. You might have LORs that don't really highlight the whole-person concept, a motivational statement that highlights areas that don't match up with the military's expectations, or being the only applicant at that time with a OAR in the 40s. The board doesn't tell you what your negatives are at that time. I haven't looked up the reference yet, but with you being prior enlisted, do you have to submit previous evals? Will they play a factor? If not, then disregard. It's good that you have a M.A. with a great GPA. So taking those factors, with a OAR of 41, outstanding LORs/statement, strong education/leadership background, and you end up not getting selected, then you can deduce that your OAR was the main factor. Now, it is possible to get picked up with a score in the 40s, but it may require multiple board sessions along with a big change in your package for resubmitting. Are you close to the age cut-off if you need to go through multiple boards? Attaining a score in the 50s will make you competitive and will check that box for the OAR.
exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
The OAR is just a score to get to the board, it has no actual weight, OAR tends to follow GPA, so if a person has a high GPA they tend to have a high OAR which is why people have said get a high OAR, now the longer a person is out of college the more the OAR and GPA don't track. This guy has a decent UG GPA and a really good Grad GPA so he should have a decent shot. The current board will be looking at 200+ applications so they will be looking quick and doubtful they will spend much time reading anything on most of the application until they get to the ones just above or below the cut line.