Enlisting and reapplying

[Grapefruit]

I am still waiting to hear back from USNA with a letter of appointment. My application is complete and I received a nomination from AR-04 MOC. While I am waiting I was thinking about joining a Marine or Navy Delayed Entry Program so that if I get rejected I will have something to fall back on. My plan if I don't get accepted is to keep on applying until they tell me I can't anymore. Has anyone else considered or went through this same pathway to gain acceptance to USNA?

 

[USMC Crayons]

Probably not the best way to go, with the possible exception of enlisting for nuke school. Enlisting in the Marine Corps I can absolutely say would not be advisable. Very few Marines come from the fleet to USNA directly ( I believe there was 1 for C/O 2027) and only 9 from NAPS. Enlist in the Marine Corps because you want to be a Marine.

 

[Grapefruit]

Probably not the best way to go, with the possible exception of enlisting for nuke school. Enlisting in the Marine Corps I can absolutely say would not be advisable. Very few Marines come from the fleet to USNA directly ( I believe there was 1 for C/O 2027) and only 9 from NAPS. Enlist in the Marine Corps because you want to be a Marine.

Yes, my main goal is to be a marine. I forgot to mention that my main goal is to be a marine and not attend the academy. Going to college is a goal of mine though because I would be the first of my family to attend so I want to show them that going to college is not only achievable but it is doable. Even if it isn't through The Academy I would still be able to get an education through the Marines. My goal is to get accepted to the Academy so I can take the cyber operations major and become a Marine cyber officer.

 

[blinkus]

If your main goal is to be a Marine, imo you should. We have similar goals, I want to be a Marine. First and foremost, and that’s the most important part. As of now, I’m applying to the Naval Academy as Plan A with the hopes of becoming an Marine Officer, NROTC-MO as a Plan B, and reservist as a Plan C with a full ride at NYU.

 

[blinkus]

If your main goal is to be a Marine, imo you should. We have similar goals, I want to be a Marine. First and foremost, and that’s the most important part. As of now, I’m applying to the Naval Academy as Plan A with the hopes of becoming an Marine Officer, NROTC-MO as a Plan B, and reservist as a Plan C with a full ride at NYU.

And if you want to become an officer, you can always do PLC in your Junior and Senior year of college. For the PLC program, you don’t even need to enlist! And if you choose to go AD, you can go the MECEP route.

 

[USMC Crayons]

Yes, my main goal is to be a marine. I forgot to mention that my main goal is to be a marine and not attend the academy. Going to college is a goal of mine though because I would be the first of my family to attend so I want to show them that going to college is not only achievable but it is doable. Even if it isn't through The Academy I would still be able to get an education through the Marines. My goal is to get accepted to the Academy so I can take the cyber operations major and become a Marine cyber officer.

If you want to be a Marine, best option would be NROTC-MO. Keep in mind that there is no guarantee that you will get a Marine slot when you graduate Annapolis. Also note that Marine Cyber is really tough out of Annapolis. Less than 10 get selected from the graduating class.

 

[Grapefruit]

If your main goal is to be a Marine, imo you should. We have similar goals, I want to be a Marine. First and foremost, and that’s the most important part. As of now, I’m applying to the Naval Academy as Plan A with the hopes of becoming an Marine Officer, NROTC-MO as a Plan B, and reservist as a Plan C with a full ride at NYU.

Yeah I wish I would have applied for Marine NROTC scholarships but it just didn’t have time to do so. If I can get accepted to a college and they offer me enough money and they have a NROTC program I may consider it. I just like the thought of not having debt. But yes, like you said my goal is first and foremost to be a Marine officer!

 

[USMC Crayons]

And if you want to become an officer, you can always do PLC in your Junior and Senior year of college. For the PLC program, you don’t even need to enlist! And if you choose to go AD, you can go the MECEP route.

MECEP might be tougher than getting into Annapolis. There's only 60 or so selected every year for the entire Marine Corps.

 

[blinkus]

Yeah I wish I would have applied for Marine NROTC scholarships but it just didn’t have time to do so. If I can get accepted to a college and they offer me enough money and they have a NROTC program I may consider it. I just like the thought of not having debt. But yes, like you said my goal is first and foremost to be a Marine officer!

Then my opinion is to go to college and talk with an OSO then. If you want to be an MARINE enlist, but if officer is the route you want to go, enlisting won’t necessary help you. If you haven’t, try finding a OSO in your area and talking to them about it. They’ll have the most up to date information. Just don’t go to a ENLISTED recruiter, as they’re two different salesman selling a different career to you.

 

[Old Enlisted Marine]

If USNA is not your primary goal then you need to decide a few things.
What do you want to do first, claim the title Marine or get into an officer program. Going enlisted is great as long as you know what you are getting into. There is plenty here who will crap on enlisting. What ever route you decide research it and make an educated decision.

 

[blinkus]

MECEP might be tougher than getting into Annapolis. There's only 60 or so selected every year for the entire Marine Corps.

This as well. If your goal is officer, my recommendation is to do college first. If it’s to be a marine and nothing else then enlist. Always look at the pros and cons!

 

[USMC Crayons]

If USNA is not your primary goal then you need to decide a few things.
What do you want to do first, claim the title Marine or get into an officer program. Going enlisted is great as long as you know what you are getting into. There is plenty here who will crap on enlisting. What ever route you decide research it and make an educated decision.

Agree 100%. If you enlist, you need to be sure that you are going to be ok with the possibility that you are going to do 4 years and still be enlisted. The silver lining is now you have a mack daddy GI Bill waiting for you at the end and can live the dream in a 4 year college. My neighbor down the street is in the Raider pipeline. Decided he was not ready for college at 18, wanted to do the high speed/low drag stuff for a couple of years and then worry about college.

 

[Grapefruit]

Okay thanks for all the replies!! I am just trying to keep all of my pathways open so I can make the most educated decision. Also, I am content with being on the enlisted side for however long it takes to become an officer. At the end of the day, I am just wanting to be a part of something bigger than myself and I see the Marines as a way to help me accomplish that goal. Also, I am still waiting to hear for USNA. If they accept me, that will definitely be my #1 route.

 

[usna1985]

I'm a bit confused. Grapefruit, you say you'll keep applying to USNA until the end . . . then say you first and foremost want to be a Marine . . . then say you really want to enlist in the USMC. Those are all admirable paths, but the route you would take for each is very different.

If you primarily want to attend USNA and aren't accepted, your best bet in terms of getting into USNA is to attend a civilian college (see the Sticky above on Reapplying).

If you want to be a Marine Officer and USNA doesn't work out, your best bet is to attend college and go through OCS. As others have advised, talk to an OFFICER recruiter.

If you want to enlist in the Marines because you want to want to be an enlisted Marine, then you should talk to an ENLISTED recruiter. There are outstanding USMC enlisted personnel and it is a wonderful career path for those who want it.

What most of us will tell you is that it is VERY HARD to go from the enlisted ranks to USNA -- harder from the USMC and non-nuclear USN -- and hard to go from enlisted ranks to officer ranks period. There are some programs that offer this, but the odds are long and lot of what is needed will be out of your control. Almost no one recommends enlisting as a pathway to becoming an officer. It can happen, but chances are it won't.

What you can do is enlist and then use the GI bill to attend college. Also, most career enlisted have Associates' or Bachelor's degrees, so there is opportunity to earn your degree while serving.

[As an aside, no one I know who has served "craps" on enlisted personnel. They are the backbone of our armed forces and any smart officer knows that. Can't speak for those who haven't served.]

I know you'd like to keep all of your options open, but sometimes that's hard to do as going down one path may close off others. It is easier to start on the officer path, decide it's not for you, and then enlist than it is to do the converse.

 

[USMC Crayons]

Okay thanks for all the replies!! I am just trying to keep all of my pathways open so I can make the most educated decision. Also, I am content with being on the enlisted side for however long it takes to become an officer. At the end of the day, I am just wanting to be a part of something bigger than myself and I see the Marines as a way to help me accomplish that goal. Also, I am still waiting to hear for USNA. If they accept me, that will definitely be my #1 route.

Great to have a backup. Keep in mind that it is very common for enlisted Marines to do a stint as active duty or reserve and then finish their degree and come back in as an officer. There are tons of mustangs in the officer ranks.

 

[Grapefruit]

Great to have a backup. Keep in mind that it is very common for enlisted Marines to do a stint as active duty or reserve and then finish their degree and come back in as an officer. There are tons of mustangs in the officer ranks.

Yes, that will be easy for me to do as well because I will have around 33-36 college credit hours completed by the time I graduate high school. Therefore, it should only take me around 2-2.5 years to get a bachelor.

 

[blinkus]

Mustangs are hella cool as well

 

[fleet_app8771]

I'm currently an enlisted Sailor and applicant for the USNA Class of '28. I applied out of HS and was unable to receive a nomination for USNA so I decided to enlist after I graduated. I personally feel that enlisting was one of the best decisions I've made and I've learned greatly from my mentors/leadership, both officers and enlisted. I don't want to say that the "bar is lower" for enlisted applicants... but it sorta is. The "recommended" SAT score is 1050 to be "competitive, heck you can even get in with lower scores or no scores. So compared to HS applicants with near perfect SAT scores, 110 GPAs, etc. it seems that USNA is less worried about your past / academics and more so what you've done while in the Navy and leadership, commitment, etc. I DO NOT recommend joining DEP until you hear back from USNA, since I've heard its a pain to get out of DEP and I'm assuming you'd wait till you graduate HS, so what's the rush?

There's a lot to the process and you should be aware that you may enlist and end up going underway which would make it difficult to apply (They don't have high speed Wi-Fi in the middle of the ocean lol). You may also show up to a crappy command who may not support your goal to apply to USNA. There's a lot to consider but if you have any questions about the enlisted application process for USNA or enlisting in general you can DM me.

 

[blinkus]

I'm currently an enlisted Sailor and applicant for the USNA Class of '28. I applied out of HS and was unable to receive a nomination for USNA so I decided to enlist after I graduated. I personally feel that enlisting was one of the best decisions I've made and I've learned greatly from my mentors/leadership, both officers and enlisted. I don't want to say that the "bar is lower" for enlisted applicants... but it sorta is. The "recommended" SAT score is 1050 to be "competitive, heck you can even get in with lower scores or no scores. So compared to HS applicants with near perfect SAT scores, 110 GPAs, etc. it seems that USNA is less worried about your past / academics and more so what you've done while in the Navy and leadership, commitment, etc. I DO NOT recommend joining DEP until you hear back from USNA, since I've heard its a pain to get out of DEP and I'm assuming you'd wait till you graduate HS, so what's the rush?

There's a lot to the process and you should be aware that you may enlist and end up going underway which would make it difficult to apply (They don't have high speed Wi-Fi in the middle of the ocean lol). You may also show up to a crappy command who may not support your goal to apply to USNA. There's a lot to consider but if you have any questions about the enlisted application process for USNA or enlisting in general you can DM me.

Seems like the internet is well enough to browse SAF! (Assuming you're still on deployment lol)

 

[Old Enlisted Marine]

I'm a bit confused. Grapefruit, you say you'll keep applying to USNA until the end . . . then say you first and foremost want to be a Marine . . . then say you really want to enlist in the USMC. Those are all admirable paths, but the route you would take for each is very different.

If you primarily want to attend USNA and aren't accepted, your best bet in terms of getting into USNA is to attend a civilian college (see the Sticky above on Reapplying).

If you want to be a Marine Officer and USNA doesn't work out, your best bet is to attend college and go through OCS. As others have advised, talk to an OFFICER recruiter.

If you want to enlist in the Marines because you want to want to be an enlisted Marine, then you should talk to an ENLISTED recruiter. There are outstanding USMC enlisted personnel and it is a wonderful career path for those who want it.

What most of us will tell you is that it is VERY HARD to go from the enlisted ranks to USNA -- harder from the USMC and non-nuclear USN -- and hard to go from enlisted ranks to officer ranks period. There are some programs that offer this, but the odds are long and lot of what is needed will be out of your control. Almost no one recommends enlisting as a pathway to becoming an officer. It can happen, but chances are it won't.

What you can do is enlist and then use the GI bill to attend college. Also, most career enlisted have Associates' or Bachelor's degrees, so there is opportunity to earn your degree while serving.

[As an aside, no one I know who has served "craps" on enlisted personnel. They are the backbone of our armed forces and any smart officer knows that. Can't speak for those who haven't served.]

I know you'd like to keep all of your options open, but sometimes that's hard to do as going down one path may close off others. It is easier to start on the officer path, decide it's not for you, and then enlist than it is to do the converse.

Thank you for stating enlisted personnel are the backbone of our armed services, I appreciate it and agree. However, I stated crap on enlisting not enlisted personnel. Freudian slip?


There is good officers and bad officers just like there is good and bad enlisted. So to say, no officer craps on enlisted personnel is not an accurate statement. Just my observations and opinion over the past few years whenever someone mentions enlisting here people are quick to push the officer agenda. This is expected since this forum is designed for those looking for the officer path but there is nothing wrong with enlisting as long as you know what you are getting into.

I appreciate all the information here; it was of great assistance that ultimately resulted in my son receiving appointments to multiple academies. He is currently at USNA 25 and I could not be prouder of him.

The military officer / enlisted paths are much like those civilians paths that are chosen. Should I go to college and become a teacher or should I go to trade school and become a plumber. Both in my opinion very admirable careers. We have too many people attending college now because that is what their parents want not what they want and in the process stack up substantial debt.

I do not believe there is a right or wrong answer here just facts and information that need to be passed on so educated decisions can be made.