MOC interview questions.

crair70

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Feb 7, 2011
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DS has his interview tomorrow and was wondering if any candidates who have interviewed already could share some of the questions that surprised them or where not as expected? He has been brushing up on current events and of course can answer the typical questions like " why SA" but anything else? Thanks:smile:
 
DS has his interview tomorrow and was wondering if any candidates who have interviewed already could share some of the questions that surprised them or where not as expected? He has been brushing up on current events and of course can answer the typical questions like " why SA" but anything else? Thanks:smile:

I was prepared to answer "What do you think is your worst quality?" but I got asked "What do you think are your 2 worst qualities?" That threw me off guard because I didn't have two. I was also asked "What are your two best qualities?" and I hadn't prepared any answers for that either. It's hard to come up with best qualities on the spot. :rolleyes:

That's the only one that surprised me as far as I can remember.
 
DS indicated his interview was fairly straight forward (didn’t share much). However he did state the hardest question was, why should we select you over all the other applicants?
 
DS indicated his interview was fairly straight forward (didn’t share much). However he did state the hardest question was, why should we select you over all the other applicants?

I had this question as well. I also had the "What's your definition of a leader?" question, which like in navy2016's situation, were pretty easy for me to answer seeing as I had just written a couple essays on them. :rolleyes:

They also picked out what they considered was my biggest achievement, and asked me probably 75% of their questions about that achievement. Questions such as, "What did you gain from that experience that will that make you a better officer in the Air Force/help you succeed at the Air Force Academy?" "What leadership role did you play?" "What/who was directly affected because of your leadership role, and how?" "Can you give us a time when you failed to live up to the expectations set for you/how did you handle yourself/what would you do differently next time?"
 
Thanks to all who took the time to respond! Excellent info and very helpful!:thumb:
 
The first question I got was: "Now, it's quite obvious that you are an accomplished individual with many successes in life. Tell me, what is your greatest shortcoming, failure, or weakness?"

Then they asked me some basic questions about my grades, classes, my preparation plan for Plebe Summer, my PRT and CFA scores, my extra-curriculars, etc.

They told me my essay was great, but I did not specifically mention a desired service selection. I told them I wanted to go nuclear submarines.

The submarine officer on the interview board immediately lit up and began a battery of ethical questions relating to the nuclear field and the Navy. Some were hypothetical, some were centered around historical and current events, and some were about the nuclear program itself.

"What do you think about Fukushima? Could something have been done to prevent that disaster?"

"Do you know what will happen after you graduate from the Academy? What do you know about Nuclear Power School? Why do you think every Ensign must be interviewed and selected by a four-star Admiral before attending Nuclear Power School?"

"Tell me about your family. I noticed you put your ethnicity as "Chinese," but your parents are from Taiwan. Do you speak Chinese? What do you think of the Navy's current role in the Taiwan Strait and Seventh Fleet area of operations? If Taiwan and China were to go to war with each other, which side would you take? Which side do you think the United States and the U.S. Navy should take?"

It wasn't an easy interview because of those ethical questions where there is no straight and narrow answer. Some of those questions were a lose-lose situation where any response could be seen as poor (Like the Taiwan vs. China questions). Be prepared for hard ethical questions, political questions, current events questions, and do plenty of research on your desired service selection. Know enough about the Naval Academy and the Navy/Marine Corps to know what they're talking about when they use specific terms like "Prototype," "Pacific Fleet," "PROTRAMID," etc.
 
Easier than i thought but here's several...

"Where do you see yourself in 10 years?"

"What is an example of a positive and a negative event in your life?"

Of course the usual "What is your back-up plan?", etc.

Obviously be prepared to make a case for yourself or DS/DD to know what leadership positions have been held and know what you want out of the military (branch, etc.)
 
For any females out there, I would also expect the questions like:

Since you are a girl, why do you want to be an engineer? Since you are a girl, why do you want to join the army? etc.

I think some of the questions they ask is to see how you react under pressure.

Good luck!
 
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