USMC out of the Naval Academy

sturner11

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Mar 9, 2010
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I was just wondering how a midshipman would go about commissioning as a 2nd Luey in the Marine Corps after graduation from USNA.

Is there a competitive selection process?
Do most people who want to go into the USMC end up getting chosen?
 
Your real opportunity to go Marines will come in the fall of your senior year. In the meantime you would be well advised to take advantage of the opportunities to get to know all you can about the Marines, especially during your summer training periods. Currently about 25% of the grads are selected for USMC so it is not an easy selection, and former enlisted Marines have an edge. I would expect that not everyone wanting the Corps gets it, but I cannot provide you the exact figures. Best wishes to you. But keep your priorities in order.
 
Is it competitive? Yes. But not nearly as competitive as a few years ago. They used to only commission 15% or less of the class to the Marines. They are up to 25% now. You will participate in everything from Semper Fi society, to leatherneck during your summer cruise (this is basically USNA's version of OCS, but any OCS grad will tell you that leatherneck is child's play compared to OCS), mountain warfare school, etc. It really depends how you get your summers structured. Keep a very clean record. I spoke to someone in the USMC who commissioned from USNA. He said some years the USMC will make specific directives to specifically not commission people with honor offenses, etc.

According to a poster on marineocs.com who commissioned through USNA; he basicallyfound four types of people who ended up the Marine route. There are about 150 people who want to go SEALS at the beginning of their USNA career. By the end of their time at USNA, there are about 30ish people seriously pursuing the SEALS slots. Some of the people that decided that SEALS weren't for them will decide that the Marines maybe a better option. The other type of person will be someone who wanted Marines all their life. Another will be the type of person who decided on Marines over one of their summer cruises. And like the above poster said, the Marine priors will almost always get their slots. He basically said 300 will have gone through leatherneck, and everything. 270-285 will get the slots. These aren't official numbers. But this is what the guy at marineocs.com experienced at USNA.

Remember a lot of people at USNA want to stay far away from the Marine Corps. Some want to stay as far away from the action as possible, others want to be naval aviators, go subs, etc.

If you enter USNA with your goal as being a Marine, you have got a pretty good shot. Make sure you speak to the right people on campus (if you end up going to USNA), so they can get a route set up for you.
 
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I'm interested in going into the marines after hopefully attending USNA as well, and I was wondering, do the mids that go to the marines ever go to ocs?
 
I don't understand that statement, TBS is something completely different and every marine officer goes through it.
 
Re: TBS
Just curious re: goldfarb's other Marine perceptions.

He seems to find USNA+Leatherneck "weaker" than OCS. Academy grads tend to outperform OCS Marines @ The Basic School (the six-month Quantico training required of all new USMC officers, regardless of their commissioning source).

Btw, that Shipmates article linked above is great -- unfortunately the Academy eliminated the MCTRAMID training it mentions, due to budget problems.
 
Re: TBS
Just curious re: goldfarb's other Marine perceptions.

He seems to find USNA+Leatherneck "weaker" than OCS. Academy grads tend to outperform OCS Marines @ The Basic School (the six-month Quantico training required of all new USMC officers, regardless of their commissioning source).

Btw, that Shipmates article linked above is great -- unfortunately the Academy eliminated the MCTRAMID training it mentions, due to budget problems.

I must be misunderstood. I'm not saying that Academy grads aren't prepared for TBS. That's not what I'm saying at all. All I said was leatherneck vs. OCS, OCS is more difficult. Nor am I combing USNA+Leatherneck. I'm not talking about who is more prepared and who isn't. I'm speaking about the two methods of training relative to each other. If it came off as something different, I appoligize.
 
Does performance at TBS correlate directly to being a good USMC Officer?
 
Does performance at TBS correlate directly to being a good USMC Officer?

Come on Marvin, you"re setting the young man up! :wink:

Young Goldfarb - although I fully appreciate your enthusiasm, you do a disservice to other naive young readers of this forum when you talk about things you've not yet experienced (i.e. OCS, Leatherneck, etc.). If you want straight answers about the Marines, then ask a Marine. If you want to know about flying, playing golf, best places for cold beer and pleasurable company - ask Marvin.
 
Like anything at the Academy, being selected to become a Marine is a competitive process. The rough numbers are: 400-425 1C mids will service select Marine Corps this fall. The Marines will accept about 250. The Marine option is hardly a slam dunk.

On Tuesday my mid reports to Leatherneck at Quantico along with about 200 of her class mates. Leatherneck is a 4 week experience that is supposed to help mids decide if the Marines are really what they want. At the same time the Marines are evaluating each mid as to their suitability to be a Marine. Leatherneck is not a pleasant experience for the mids who chose to attend but a necessary one.

Upon returning to the yard, this fall, all 1C mids fill out their service selection choices by order of preference. Sometime in December they are notified as to what service selection they received.

Those who received their choice to become Marines will graduate in May as Marine 2nd LT's. That said the Marine Corps owns them but they are not "Marines" until they attend and pass TBS "The Basic School" Upon graduation from TBS they are officially Marine officers and head off to the fleet.
 
Once a Marine has me figured out, I think. I heard that the first day of TBS is when they confiscate the personality chips. Quantico in the summer, YUT.
 
That said the Marine Corps owns them but they are not "Marines" until they attend and pass TBS "The Basic School" Upon graduation from TBS they are officially Marine officers and head off to the fleet.
Who owns them if they don't pass and graduate from TBS?
 
Like anything at the Academy, being selected to become a Marine is a competitive process. The rough numbers are: 400-425 1C mids will service select Marine Corps this fall. The Marines will accept about 250. The Marine option is hardly a slam dunk.

On Tuesday my mid reports to Leatherneck at Quantico along with about 200 of her class mates. Leatherneck is a 4 week experience that is supposed to help mids decide if the Marines are really what they want. At the same time the Marines are evaluating each mid as to their suitability to be a Marine. Leatherneck is not a pleasant experience for the mids who chose to attend but a necessary one.

Upon returning to the yard, this fall, all 1C mids fill out their service selection choices by order of preference. Sometime in December they are notified as to what service selection they received.

Those who received their choice to become Marines will graduate in May as Marine 2nd LT's. That said the Marine Corps owns them but they are not "Marines" until they attend and pass TBS "The Basic School" Upon graduation from TBS they are officially Marine officers and head off to the fleet.

Those numbers are way off. This year's new firsties have more Marine wannabe's than most classes but it'll really only be about 300-350 who want it, and USMC wants just short of 300 grads. So I doubt more than twenty won't get it, most of those will be honor cases, conduct cases, and fat-bodies, in that order.

Also, the process for service "assignment" is also changing, we've been briefed on the changes but we'll see how it actually turns out.
 
Who owns them if they don't pass and graduate from TBS?

The Marines own them and it's a great question that I do not have an answer to. That said there is a recent article in Marine Times regarding 13 2nd LT who have been dismissed from TBS and the Marine Corps due to cheating on a navigation test. 2 of the 13 are Naval Academy grads. Per the article since they did not complete the training to become Marine officers both are liable for repaying the Government for the 4 year education at Annaplolis.
 
Those numbers are way off. This year's new firsties have more Marine wannabe's than most classes but it'll really only be about 300-350 who want it, and USMC wants just short of 300 grads. So I doubt more than twenty won't get it, most of those will be honor cases, conduct cases, and fat-bodies, in that order.

Also, the process for service "assignment" is also changing, we've been briefed on the changes but we'll see how it actually turns out.

The original poster wanted to know more about the process. 2013 you and I are mostly saying the same thing just slightly different numbers. There will be mids who are disappointed, weather they are wannabe's or what ever their status. A mid may want the Marine option but the Marines still have to want the mid. There are no guantees.
 
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