Commissioning numbers for 2016

beglad said:
At VMI before 1991, it was a rule that anyone offered a commission had to accept it.
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It was indeed. The requirement for graduation was " Cadet will accept a commission if tendered. " Somewhere around 90 % commissioned - the rest were usually medical disqualified . This requirement was eliminated in 1991. I believe that change was what caused Gen Walker to leave as Superintendent as he was adamantly opposed to the change which was directed by the board of visitors after the Army started making guys wait for almost a year before reporting to their OBC- which I guess was a serious disruption to guys who were in the Reserves and wanted to get on with their career plans.
 
Dang, these threads are beginning to have more banned red flags than post . Knock em out Jooooooohn, well just shoot up here amongst us, one of usssss gotsssss toooo have relief. ;)
:tank:
 
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Unless commissioning numbers posted here are properly sourced to the various command center, there is no way for readers of this forum to know that the numbers being posted are apples to apples numbers.

In any case, the most important number is #1. Did YOU go to an SMC? Did YOU want to earn a commission? Were YOU successful? If not, what held you back? By far the most common reason for not earning a commission is DoDMERB-related. If you go to an SMC and you put your education first, and you work hard to be physically fit, and you do all the things leaders generally do naturally (earn leadership roles, get involved, have a decent attitude, don't make stupid choices), and you remain injure-free and healthy, your chances of earning a commission are probably excellent at any SMC.
 
Commissioning numbers and perhaps most important, commissioning percentages of graduates, is something that one would expect to be high at a military college. It makes sense, and it's good to see that some schools have over half their graduates commissioning. Kudos to all that want to serve!
 
I have no idea what the final numbers would be, and I suspect the percentages would remain about the same, but I would note that TAMU has three graduations a year, and three commissioning ceremonies a year, Spring (May), Summer (August), and Winter (December).
 
Wondering if anyone knows of SMC grads that wanted AD but did not get it.
There was a tread last year talking about SMC people being pushed NG or Reserve but I have not heard any more.
Seems there is always a few that do not get the needed PMS recommendation.
 
Lawman32RPD said:
I have no idea what the final numbers would be, and I suspect the percentages would remain about the same, but I would note that TAMU has three graduations a year, and three commissioning ceremonies a year, Spring (May), Summer (August), and Winter (December).
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UNG has three commissioning ceremonies every year as well.

AJC said:
Wondering if anyone knows of SMC grads that wanted AD but did not get it.
There was a tread last year talking about SMC people being pushed NG or Reserve but I have not heard any more.
Seems there is always a few that do not get the needed PMS recommendation.
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Yes, there are always a few who requested AD but received National Guard or Reserve instead. And sometimes there are some that request National Guard or Reserve but are assigned AD instead.

Going to an SMC does not guarantee a commission. If your grades aren't good and you aren't passing PT tests and you aren't meeting height/weight standards, you will not earn a commission because before you even get halfway through your junior year you'll lose your contract, that is, assuming you were awarded one in the first place.
 
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Right, I was asking the opposite.
I was wonder if any did not get AD that wanted it.
 
I was looking for actual information from class of 2016 SMC graduates,
like; I went to X and Y cadets did not get AD
 
I don't have the numbers available at the moment, but last year there were around 7 cadets at our school who wanted AD but did not get AD and one cadet who requested NG but got AD. (He was happy about the change.) I do not have this number for 2016. Didn't ask.

There are always a number of cadets who simply get cut from the list before the list is really made -- so I honestly don't see how comparing these numbers is at all productive.

It comes down to each individual person. Did you go to an SMC? Did you work hard? Did you earn decent grades? Did you stay out of trouble? Did you meet height/weight requirements? Did you excel on PT tests? Did you pass DoDMERB? Did you get involved in activities and make an impression as a potentially decent leader? If you did all that stuff and you indicated you wanted to earn a commission in active duty and you did not get it, THAT IS THE ONLY NUMBER THAT MEANS ANYTHING. To compare one school's numbers to the next school's numbers means nothing. Work hard, do the right thing, and your chances are excellent.
 
If a prospective cadet were to look at the commissioning number at each school individually and compare that with the number of incoming cadets who wanted to earn a commission, then decide, am I going to be good enough to be in that percentage? For example if the incoming class is 300 cadets who at the time think they might want to commission and 100 are commissioned in most years, are you going to be good enough to be in the 100? Keep in mind it's probable that maybe half of the 300 either were never really committed to the idea of a commission or will change their mind by sophomore year. So are you good enough to be in the top 100 of the 150 that remain? Probably some of those extra 50 will have dodmerb or behavior issues or not meet other basic standards too.

My point is that looking at which school commissions the most isn't really a reason to choose one SMC over another.
 
Nothing to do with any of that.
Just a simple question for 2016 graduates.
 
@AJC - I can't answer your question because I have no idea. However I can share with you what we found while visiting a couple of SMC's...the culture and mentality of serving in the military is vastly different at each school. We found one school that we/she liked on "paper", but when we were there we discovered that only a very small percentage commissions from that school (I'm not trying to start anything so the school will remain unnamed!). Talking with cadets there we didn't find anyone that had medical issues that would prevent serving - they just did not want to. In fact, we never did talk to a single cadet that planned to commission for any branch.

My daughter is aiming for career military (Marines), and as such she felt she would thrive best among many with the same goal, versus her being one of only a handful.
 
Yes, my son and I had similar experiences as we visited the schools
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My question of the year 's graduates was simple : Of those commisioning at the various SMCs did any who wanted active duty not get it?

Those with medical conditions etc are not part of the subset to which I was addressing the question.
 
theboo said:
For those interested here are the spring commissioning numbers for the SMCs:

The Citadel - 151
VMI - 140
TAMU - 130
Norwich - 127
VA Tech - 127
North GA - 83

This does not reflect some who will be commissioned later in the summer after completing LDAC, OCS, PLC or those commissioned after graduating in August
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Here's my problem with this thread: what is the source for all of these numbers? 83 is NOT the number that commissioned from UNG, spring 2016. The spring 2016 number was 49. There are more that will commission in August and more that will commission in December, but I'm not exactly sure which mission set those commissions officially are tagged to. Mission Set 16, I believe, includes those who commissioned in December and May. I also believe that the accounting of mission set numbers changed this year. In the past, a mission set included August, December, May. But this year it changed to push the August number to the previous mission set (or something like that), making this year's number appear extremely low. But that's only because of the moving around of numbers. In any case, all these accounting changes are making me question the validity of the list shown above. Since I know for a fact that the UNG number is wrong, is it also possible the other numbers are wrong? What is the source?
 
payitforward said:
Here's my problem with this thread: what is the source for all of these numbers? 83 is NOT the number that commissioned from UNG, spring 2016. The spring 2016 number was 49. There are more that will commission in August and more that will commission in December, but I'm not exactly sure which mission set those commissions officially are tagged to. Mission Set 16, I believe, includes those who commissioned in December and May. I also believe that the accounting of mission set numbers changed this year. In the past, a mission set included August, December, May. But this year it changed to push the August number to the previous mission set (or something like that), making this year's number appear extremely low. But that's only because of the moving around of numbers. In any case, all these accounting changes are making me question the validity of the list shown above. Since I know for a fact that the UNG number is wrong, is it also possible the other numbers are wrong? What is the source?
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The Citadel numbers are published by the Public Affairs Office - now called Office of Communications:
Military Commissions Total 151
  • Air Force 15
  • Army 105
  • Marines 15
  • Navy 16
However, to payitforward's point - even these numbers are not the entire story. Not counted are Cadets who are scheduled to commission, but either were not able to complete all the requirements before graduation, cadets who did not meet the academic criteria and will have to go through OCS, etc. This is mostly for Army and Marines.

What I have heard from an active duty Navy grad who is involved in Navy officer selections, is that if you do not have a Navy Scholarship when you enter college, or are not given advanced standing as a contract mid-shipman, it is nearly impossible to obtain an ROTC commission in the Navy. I assume this is not the case with nuclear engineers or other needed specialty - but would appreciate hearing from others who may know. I note from the low numbers of Air Force and Navy commissions at The Citadel - this may be the case. Others?
 
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