Blue and Gold Interview

J

J1317

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What is the usual length of a Blue and Gold interview? The B&G officer in my area has a reputation for having incredibly long and unfortunately dry interviews. I did mine several months ago and it took roughly three hours, and I was wondering if any of you know if this is normal.
 
I have conducted a couple and they all ran in the 2-3 hour range. It can vary depending on the number of questions the candidate asks, if the family has questions (I give the parents a chance to ask questions but interview the candidate without them) and how much I know about the candidate prior to the interview.
 
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NavyHoops said:
I have conducted a couple and they all ran in the 2-3 got range.
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Interesting. Thanks. Just wondering especially because my west point interview was only about an hour. Interestingly, their website actually states the interview should only last 10-15 minutes.
 
My daughter's interview lasted almost 2 hours with my husband and I present for the first 45 minutes. The BGO showed up in his uniform and asked difficult questions. I have heard from other candidates in our area that their interviews were casual phone conversations, or in person interviews but conducted very casually where the BGO showed up in jeans.
 
BGO's are all volunteers and everyone probably has a different style of how they conduct an interview. This is a one-time meeting and part of the purpose is to answer any questions the candidate and their parents might have about USNA. Candidates should approach this as an opportunity rather then some kind of boring required activity. Remember too, the BGO is partly doing this to evaluate your interest/suitability for USNA.
 
Mine typically last an hour to 75 minutes, unless the candidate has lots of questions that make it go longer. IMHO, an hour of back and forth is enough for both of us. That said, I live in an area where USNA and the application/MOC process is very well known to most candidates so don't need to spend time in those areas absent questions.
 
My DS had a BGO interview that lasted about 90 minutes.
It was more of a plea for my DS to come to the Academy, rather than to grill him on anything.

The nomination interviews have been much more in-depth, to hear him tell of them.
 
I agree with "usna1985", I live in a place where the Naval Academy is virtually unknown therefore my interview took 3 hours. The first 60 minutes was him explaining to my mother and I what the academy and Plebe year were like along with what she can do as a mother. Then the next hour and a half was the interview (being in debate I tend to have lengthy answers, oops) with interjected conversation about academy life. Finally he explained what the post-academy Navy life was. I really appreciate all I learned from him and hope this helps as to why some may run long or short.
 
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The nomination interviews have been much more in-depth, to hear him tell of them.
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Understandable because they have very different purposes. The BGO interview is to get a sense of the candidate, to answer questions and, sometimes to "recruit." It is not "competitive" in that the BGO doesn't compare or rank candidates against one another.

The MOC interview is to determine which candidates will get one of the coveted nom slots. They have the "paper" record, but this is an opportunity to go beyond that. Thus, it's competitive and therefore often more expansive -- though this depends entirely on the MOC.
 
There is no standard...in fact, I suspect there is a lot of variation in how , when and where BGO d0es their interviews. I live in a rural midwestern state, and know that some of the BGO's travel to the Candidate's home, sometimes > 1 hour away,, others meet at a library or diner in between, and others have the candidate come to them. I usually do my interviews at my office, often on Saturday AM but work around the candidate's schedule. Interview usually lasts 1-1.5 hours, including one of the USNA videos. I don't typically meet with parents, but give the candidate my card and ask them to have parents call me directly if they have any questions. An hour or so is enough to get a pretty good sense of the candidate--bey0nd that its usually answering questions and telling sea stories. As anyone who has done interviews before (job interviews or BGO) can attest, the time either flies or drags. I try to do an initial write up the same day, sit on it overnight, reevaluate then post it within a day or two.
 
What makes my situation even more strange is that I am in a area where the Naval Academy is very well known. I actually had no moments where he was informing me about the academy... The whole time it was me answering questions
 
J1317 said:
What is the usual length of a Blue and Gold interview? The B&G officer in my area has a reputation for having incredibly long and unfortunately dry interviews. I did mine several months ago and it took roughly three hours, and I was wondering if any of you know if this is normal.
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Mine lasted 2.5, you're not alone! I also live in an area where the academy is well known. I think BGOs just enjoy getting to know their candidates as well as possible(and sharing as many sea tales as they can get out in 2.5 hours;))
 
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Every BGO does things differently. There are certain topics we must cover . . . beyond that, we can discuss as much, or as little, as suits us. I'm comfortable covering what I need to in about an hour. I'm busy and I know that, in most cases, the candidate has other (better) things to do than spend hours talking to me. I've had some interviews go 90 minutes, usually b/c I need to explain things to the candidate, the candidate has a lot of questions, or we discover some shared interest/person that causes a slight detour in terms of conversation.

Other BGOs may take more time -- or occasionally less time. There is no right or wrong way to do things. If you end up with a long-winded BGO, hopefully, you'll learn at least something new. If not, remember it's only a couple of hours out of your entire life.:)
 
My DS had two interviews with his BGO, one with family and a 1 on 1, back in the summer. Checked the portal recently and he has a new BGO with the interview marked “incomplete”. Turns out the BGO moved out of state. We are trying to make sure that their eval gets submitted.
 
Lazyboy said:
My DS had two interviews with his BGO, one with family and a 1 on 1, back in the summer. Checked the portal recently and he has a new BGO with the interview marked “incomplete”. Turns out the BGO moved out of state. We are trying to make sure that their eval gets submitted.
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We had the same thing happen - various contacts with one BGO for 6 months, including a full interview, then that BGO was reassigned and we had to start all over again with a new BGO - for some reason the old BGO wasn't able to submit the completed interview once it was changed on the portal. Maybe your situation will be different!? Good thing was that my DS then had the opportunity to get new perspectives from a new BGO and had already had lots of practice for the second interview due to all the time spent talking with the previous BGO, so it was a win win :wiggle:
 
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