NROTC pilot slot questions(Navy option)

[wannabejetpilot]

Hello! I am about to start my freshman year of college soon at a community college then transfer to a university, where I will join NROTC and try to get a navy flight slot. I have a few questions. I want to major in biology. Is everything the exact same as AFROTC such as class rank, GPA, officer test(ASTB for Navy), and extracurricular activities when they decide on who gets a slot? AFROTC seems more difficult to me in that you have to have a high commander's ranking. Is it the same for NROTC? If so, how do you get a high commander's ranking and ranking?I go to air warriors often and I once read somewhere where about 275 people got a pilot slot out of 9 hundred something total graduates. I'm not sure if they were including marine option as well. How hard exactly is getting a pilot slot from NROTC? That number of flight slots looks really small and the navy changes the amount of flight slots based on their needs.How can I make myself ahead of the competition? I also read about the Navy liking mostly aerospace engineering people and physics majors(technical majors). Will my biology major, which is non-tech affect their decision in putting me on a different designator? My vision is 20/200 but I plan to get PRK surgery. My ultimate goal is to fly jets in the Navy.

 

[Spud]

You know that you are asking impossible questions over a completely unknown timeline, right? First off, you are to be congratulated to having a good long term goal of a particular job you would like to do as an officer. Now you have to decide which service you want to do that in. There is a big difference in being an Air Force pilot and a Naval Aviator (notice even the labels are different). Time for some more research and this forum is a good place to start. Neither path is easier, both paths want to see pretty much the same efforts. Of course GPA is important, of course class rank is important, of course officer tests are important, of course leadership shown in activities (extra curricular or curricular) is important, and tell me in what military you don't need your CO's endorsement? So the Navy changes it's flight slots according to its needs? Of course, and so does the Air Force----just ask the guys who wanted to be hair-on-fire F-16 jocks and they now sit playing video games with RPAs.

How hard is it to become a pilot out of NROTC? What is your definition of "hard"? What's the answer you are looking for? a percentage of some group?Does that percentage even apply to you because of the superb job you will do to get to that point? The odds always stink but that is for the "average" candidate. Are you dedicated to being rated as "average" or are you going for "top 5%"? The Navy puts Aerospace Engineering majors on ships (me) and Economics majors in F-18s according to the famous "Needs of the Service". The fact you need your eyes fixed is yet another hurdle and chance for a medical DQ (not big but remotely possible).

I am not trying to belittle your concerns by any means because I was similar to you and I empathize more that you can imagine but take a little advice here and stop trying to outthink and outmaneuver life itself. You have a long way to go and you beat the odds by doing the best you possibly can on everything laid in front of you whether it is grades, athletics, or leadership. That is how you stand out----the top performers of every group are recognized and get what they want. Minimums will kill you----keep that in mind when you are taking a class you don't like.
You may find yourself at selection time, and I will admit a lot of luck and "needs of the service" will determine where you will go, but you will have stacked the cards mightily in your favor. You may go to helicopters, you may go to transports but you will be the best possible in that field because that is way you are. You can do it.