NROTC Application Process

Trailblazer

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Sep 10, 2015
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I'm a high school senior applying for an NROTC scholarship. When I first began the process, I was contacted by a coordinator in Nashville, who sent me to a nearby Navy recruiter. Originally, the recruiter tried to get me to sign up for some enlisted Nuke program, claiming it would "up my chances." I declined, and the process continued (although, I knew that the recruiter was upset he couldn't get me to sign on).
I submitted my online application (I asked him if we could sit down and look over it for anything I missed, and he said, "Nah, go ahead and submit it."), sent out my teacher reccomendations, forwarded my ACT to the guys in Nashville, and then one day my recruiter called and said that a LT was in town to do my officer interview. I was confused, since my DoDMERB hasn't even been talked about and I haven't taken the AFA, two things I thought needed to be completed before my interview. It was done well over two weeks ago, and I asked my recruiter if I needed to do anything else. He said no.
This week, I get a text from another "recruiter" saying that he had been assigned to me by Nashville and needed to meet with me so we could get my teacher forms filled out and sign papers to accompany my application, as well as to list him as my local recruiter on my application.... Point is, I had all of that done with my original recruiter. Nothing on my status board has been updated, and my counselor hasn't recieved any type of eval from the Navy (I listed her on my app), while my teachers have submitted theirs.
I feel as if there has been no communication between my original recruiter in my hometown and his boss in Nashville. I've been working as hard as I can to get this submitted, as I know I'm behind the game and the board gathers next month, but I'm starting to think something is wrong. Is there anyone else I should talk to about this, or should I just wait around until the adults coordinating this get thier ducks in a row?

TL,DR: I'm worried the process of my application is whack, and need some advice.
 
First DoDMERB doesn't kick in until AFTER you are awarded a scholarship. No pointin Navy spending money on a physical if they are not giving you a scholarship.

Meet with the LT and do the interview. You might discuss your situation and concerns with him/her. I doubt you have anything to worry about, bumps in the road such as this are common to any large bureaucracy.

Not sure what you mean by the AFA, but if you mean the Physical Assessment (run, pushups, etc) that is normally done immediately after the officer interview (at least for Marine Options). If the AFA is something else, then you'll need to expand a bit for me.

Have your guidance counselor check her spam folder. The email they send might perhaps be in there. If not then you might also raise this with the LT.

Also, word to the wise. Recruiters are there to met enlisted recruitment quotas, which is why many try to enlist you folks. Many don't have much interest in ROTC applicants or the ways of the ROTC application. Some however are outstanding. Your initial one sounds like the former and may not, in fact, be in tight communication with the "boss". However, he or your application put you on their radar so all is not lost. I imagine the new one you have been assigned is the latter, and he or she might be a good resource to resolve any issues or concerns you have. It will all get straightened out but be sure folks know there is a potential problem.
 
Thank you so much for explaining this! My original recruiter didn't have many answers to my questions.
I've already had my officer interview, and I feel like it went well. I presented a resume, and he asked me about why I wanted to be in the Navy and presented me with different scenarios about communication.
AFA is the physcial assessment, and I'm having my JROTC instructor conduct it soon.
I'll go talk to my counselor this afternoon, and will probably give my new recruiter a call- he had a lot more knowledge of what I was doing and seemed to be interested in my progress.
 
future shipmate..Your original recruiter did you wrong. Not real happy with enlisted recruiters handling paper work for NROTC candidates. Lots to fill you in on this issue, please hit me up via private conversation. My son has secured his scholarship via an ISR, but he still hit snags with his enlisted recruiter.
 
So glad you made this post! My DS is running into the same kind of troube with his NROTC. 3 people contacting him and me! One says they have all the paperwork, portal says missing some paperwork, other hands DS all the forms and says can you ask the teachers/counselors again. Schedule interview, cancel interview, now DS needs to miss some school in order to do interview. Do physical still. One says this is my email, other says no that is not his email. It is very frustrasting for DS trying to get this all done in a timely manner but having to repeat steps. Oh and one asks for his resume he makes special trip to recruiter office just to hear "nah, we don't need that, it is all online" and lastly teachers are "Blank-I did this for you already"
 
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ok folks here is the scoop. Only run supplemental forms through the recruiters. Upload everything else The recruiters provide you with the supplemental forms and then they are to get them to the recruiting district. I believe there are 26 recruiting districts across the county each responsible for multiple states. Your package gets officially submitted via the district. Your package is a combination of the on line and manually submitted supp forms. My sons transcripts were to be sent to his recruiter who was to get it entered into the system at the district. That did not happen. We had to have his sent directly to the district. Make a copy of everything. If a teacher did not get the email prompt for their input, contact the district NROTC coordinator. They can resend the prompt. This way the input is sent electronically. Do not do the manual route through the recruiters. The district NROTC coordinators work for the Commanding Officer of the Recruiting District (so do the enlisted recruiters) They are not enlisted recruiters. The only reason local recruiters are involved is for the supp forms and scheduling the interview. Since the supp forms have to be signed in front of official personnel, local recruiters are used for that purpose. Every NROTC candidate is a super strong enlisted candidate. Can you say hello enlisted Nuke power school. They tried that drill with my son. We shut that nonsense down. The interview can be tricky. Remember that the recruiting districts cover a large area. Sometimes you travel to the district, sometimes it is done via skype. The officers conducting the interviews are officer recruiters. They are on the road alot recruiting college grads for OCS, med JAG, etc. Bottom line is don't take any crap or lazy behavior from your local recruiter. Go to the folks that can make things happen. CONTACT THE DISTRICT NROTC COORDINATOR. As for the physical. Physicals are not scheduled for NROTC candidates until they are selected. This is different from the Service Academies who send out physical info once at least 50% of the app is complete. My son had his done in July and has been qualified for quite awhile now. Hope this helps. Feel free to contact me with any questions
 
Great conversations about the NROTC application process, and great advice too! My son has had almost the exact same experience with his assigned NROTC recruiter: Missing forms, miscommunication, no review of application before it was submitted (as was suggested), no help in finding an officer for the interview, no help with discussing school choices. We are in CA so it's not the same Nashville recruiter. If the recruiters assigned to the applicants through the online application process are more concerned with meeting enlisted quotas than they are in helping the NROTC applicants, it makes sense then that the process is a difficult one for the kids to maneuver. It's definitely been a test of perseverance for my son!
 
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which is why they do not belong in the process. It is just plain wrong. As a former MEPS OPSO I knew what was going on. I did not like it at all. I bit my tongue, because I did not want any further problems with my DS recruiter. In addition, as parents we need to advise our candidates, but they need to make all the contacts and fix all the problems. We kept in contact with the District NROTC coordinator. My DS was blessed with an ISR, so we had more contact with the District than the average candidate. Please don't assume things were done, and if anyone has any questions please ask me. We are here to help each other. For the NROTC folks, you are picking up where I left off. Go Navy Beat Army!!!!!! Still anxiously awaiting USNA 2020.
 
which is why they do not belong in the process. It is just plain wrong. As a former MEPS OPSO I knew what was going on. I did not like it at all. I bit my tongue, because I did not want any further problems with my DS recruiter. In addition, as parents we need to advise our candidates, but they need to make all the contacts and fix all the problems. We kept in contact with the District NROTC coordinator. My DS was blessed with an ISR, so we had more contact with the District than the average candidate. Please don't assume things were done, and if anyone has any questions please ask me. We are here to help each other. For the NROTC folks, you are picking up where I left off. Go Navy Beat Army!!!!!! Still anxiously awaiting USNA 2020.
Hey, I saw your post on the forum about the difficulties of the application process and the recruiters messing up paperwork. Can you give me tips? I'm a senior who applied and got done with app process back in early august. I have been calling the recruiting station over and over again and the district station. I'm in Charlotte, NC if that helps at all. I send emails to the recruiters to the district station but fail to get responses. I also try to call but they never pick up. The times I have got in contact they say, "We will send it again". But still my status says I need to turn in the forms that I already filled out. Please give me some advice.
 
Michael R. You need to speak with the NROTC coordinator at the NRD in Raleigh. Try reaching him or her through the Admin number (919) 831-4152/53. If you have difficulty reaching that individual contact the Command Master Chief at the NRD. Obviously your local station has completely dropped the ball, so you must take to the NROTC folks at the NRD. Hit me back if you are still having problems. The delay is effecting when your package will be reviewed.
 
Michael R. You need to speak with the NROTC coordinator at the NRD in Raleigh. Try reaching him or her through the Admin number (919) 831-4152/53. If you have difficulty reaching that individual contact the Command Master Chief at the NRD. Obviously your local station has completely dropped the ball, so you must take to the NROTC folks at the NRD. Hit me back if you are still having problems. The delay is effecting when your package will be reviewed.
I have contacted my recruiting station many times as well as NRD Raleigh. Currently, when ever I contact Raleigh I get "We are sorry, no circuits are available right now". It has been 4 hours of that. Every time I contact Raleigh or my station no picks up the phone or respond to my email. I don't think they are trying to ignore me because they told me I was a highly competitive applicant. This is really bugging me since I went from the 1st to what ever board now. I find this very unfair and it's really stressing me out. I want to be in the military and in NROTC so bad but this little miscommunication is keeping from doing so.
 
Michael..Make and keep copies of all correspondence, keep record of all calls (date, time messages left, names, etc). Use your cell phone for calls, because it will keep record of your calls. If you still can not reach the NRD, then I suggest you contact Recruiting Headquarters in Millington, TN. (901)874-9313. Be diplomatic. Voice your frustration, without putting the NRD "on report". You dont have much of a choice at this point. Time to continue up the chain of command.
 
Michael..Make and keep copies of all correspondence, keep record of all calls (date, time messages left, names, etc). Use your cell phone for calls, because it will keep record of your calls. If you still can not reach the NRD, then I suggest you contact Recruiting Headquarters in Millington, TN. (901)874-9313. Be diplomatic. Voice your frustration, without putting the NRD "on report". You dont have much of a choice at this point. Time to continue up the chain of command.
Do you think I could make an attempt at asking them to put my app in one of the first boards since I got done with it in early August?
 
I dont believe that even headquarters can make that happen. Im so sorry you are caught in this mess.
 
Where are people getting their interviews done? DD just got email that interviews are in Philly, which is halfway across the state from us. DS did his at local recruiting center 3 years ago? Have things changed?
 
Where are people getting their interviews done? DD just got email that interviews are in Philly, which is halfway across the state from us. DS did his at local recruiting center 3 years ago? Have things changed?
The Chief's use to be able to complete the interviews at the local recruiting office. Now only the Officers from the District in Philly can conduct them. They travel a lot too. How far away are you? Maybe they can skype. My advice, though, is to face to face if possible, but time is becoming an issue too.
 
Where are people getting their interviews done? DD just got email that interviews are in Philly, which is halfway across the state from us. DS did his at local recruiting center 3 years ago? Have things changed?
The Chief's use to be able to complete the interviews at the local recruiting office. Now only the Officers from the District in Philly can conduct them. They travel a lot too. How far away are you? Maybe they can skype. My advice, though, is to face to face if possible, but time is becoming an issue too.


DS did his interview via SKYPE, sitting at my desk in my classroom. Was in Columbus four days later when he was offered his ISR.
 
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