Marine question

TrevorsMom

5-Year Member
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Apr 7, 2010
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Hi everyone, I am so glad I found this forum. I am so new to all of this and my son is waiting to hear from the academy also. He is so cool and calm about everything and I am a basket case wondering where he will be going and what he will be doing. Anyway, since 5th grade his desire has always been to become a Marine Corps officer. Everything is Marine, Marine, Marine. He works out with the Marines, has posters, books, all over his room..
When he was researching how he can accomplish his goal after h.s., the best route he decided was USNA. Second NROTC. He did receive the 4yr NROTC marine option scholarship.. so that is the backup plan.
My question is, after reading through some posts and articles the last few days about USNA and the marine portion, my understanding is that they only have a certain number of slots open each year for Marines. I believe last year was around 270. They had more than that number applying. What would happen if he does get an appointment, goes through the marine training, and doesn't make the cut? I would assume the Navy would put him in another position? Can someone shed some light on this for me? How does that work?
As a mom, I was thinking.. what if? What if he made it all the way through and they tell him he didn't make the Marine cut? What other option would he have to fullfill his dream of becoming a Marine officer?
Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.. sorry for the long post. You are all so great.:smile:
 
Getting to the Marine Corps out of the Academy isn't necessarily "competitive". Most of the guys who didn't get it messed up somehow. (The 2 I know both had honor violations). Also, if you're what the Marines call a fat-body that could work against you.

That being said, most people see there being more Marine slots in the future. Pilot slots are being cut in half. There are so few SEAL and EOD slots that its irrelevant. SWO has about as many as it wants, they get most of theirs from OCS and ROTC. Subs is coming after Navy hard though, but I doubt they'd go after a kid who wants to be a Marine:wink:.
 
There will be others better able to answer this than I, but here's how I understand it. As they move through their USNA years, midshipmen are ranked, which considers GPA, physical fitness, leadership, etc. When it comes time to choose what they are going to do for their service, they make several ranked choices. The better their class ranking, the better their chances of getting their "first choice" service selection.

Now, I imagine a whole host of other things factor in. For eg., I met a woman in the line at Wal-Mart the other day whose son was a USNA '09 grad. Wanted to fly marine helicopters. But he was too tall. There are various vision requirements, fitness requirements for different billets as well.

Getting into USNA is a positive first step to becoming a marine officer. It is difficult, if not impossible, to plan out all the "what ifs" for years down the road.
 
As wannabe said, you pretty much have to screw up you're own chances of getting marines. Marine aviation is different however because you have to met all the aviation requirements as well as not screw up a marine slot.
 
Normally performance and "motivation" (for lack of better words) at Leatherneck (summer training) is strongly considered when picking Marine candidates. As mentioned in previous posts, if the motivation to become a Marine is there -- it probably will not be a problem. Participation in Marine and Semper Fi events normally helps because you put a face to a name amongst the Marines on the yard (i.e. board members).
 
This year there are 276 USMC selectees. Most people who put it down as their 1st choice get it.
 
Getting to the Marine Corps out of the Academy isn't necessarily "competitive". Most of the guys who didn't get it messed up somehow. (The 2 I know both had honor violations). Also, if you're what the Marines call a fat-body that could work against you.

That being said, most people see there being more Marine slots in the future. Pilot slots are being cut in half. There are so few SEAL and EOD slots that its irrelevant. SWO has about as many as it wants, they get most of theirs from OCS and ROTC. Subs is coming after Navy hard though, but I doubt they'd go after a kid who wants to be a Marine:wink:.

Thanks for all your feedback... if anyone has more, please keep it comin'!
 
The way I understood that it work was that at the end of your Naval Academy career, when you put down a few of your career choices, that you could select Marines. But, in the end, they also had to select you. Doesn't everyone basically go through the same training and everything up to this point? Or are they selected early and go to into a different training program?
 
The way I understood that it work was that at the end of your Naval Academy career, when you put down a few of your career choices, that you could select Marines. But, in the end, they also had to select you. Doesn't everyone basically go through the same training and everything up to this point? Or are they selected early and go to into a different training program?


I am not sure.. what I saw on the show "Inside America's Academies" awhile back is the last year, the Marines are separated out and trained together sometimes. That is where USNA choses which ones will go on with that selection. More students picked the Marine selection than needed. I am still confused on it all, but still reading and still trying to learn about the whole process.
 
The only differences are people who want to go marines will normally do leatherneck as one of their senior summer training blocks, however this is not mandatory just highly encourage as it is kind of an unofficial screener. Also, second semester senior year each service community has a practicum class for those who are headed that way.
 
The only differences are people who want to go marines will normally do leatherneck as one of their senior summer training blocks, however this is not mandatory just highly encourage as it is kind of an unofficial screener. Also, second semester senior year each service community has a practicum class for those who are headed that way.

Thank you.. all of you have helped tremendously with my questions
 
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