My finished package (with the letter) is being sent in today! Now it’s time for arguably one of the hardest parts: waiting. For the betterment of current and future applicants, here are a couple helpful sources I found while I was digging for info:
-I’m sure many have come across this already, but it’s worth mentioning. This is the Officer Interview Resource Guide. The officer who interviews you will ask you these questions verbatim (or at least mine did, and according to the document I think they’re supposed to).
https://www.public.navy.mil/netc/nstc/SitePages/NR/Officer_Interview_Reference_Guide_2015.pdf
-This is a quick reference guide that the NROTC recruiters use. I found it to be helpful to look at the forms that they see. For example, if you look at the officer interview forms, they really do grade you on how you dress and your posture during the interview:
https://www.public.navy.mil/netc/nstc/NR/Navy_Recruiter_Quick_Reference_Guide.pdf#page40
-Here is a good document of info regarding how many scholarships there are and how the different types are allocated:
https://www.public.navy.mil/netc/ns.../NSTC_Notices/NSTCNOTE 1533 - NOPMS 18-19.pdf
-A lot of the NSTC Notices contain plenty of info about a range of things related to NROTC:
https://www.public.navy.mil/netc/nstc/SitePages/NSTC_Directives/notices.aspx
Finally, here’s some advice for all of the future applicants that may come across this page: I know it’s been said numerous times before, but always always always double check what your recruiter is telling you with an outside source if you can. There are several things that my recruiter mixed up, either because he forgot or he didn’t know something. Us applicants need to remember that our recruiters are human beings too, so they are bound to make mistakes. They are probably just as busy as you are. Even the guys who have been doing this for a long time still make mistakes. My application is a good example of that (my recruiter is retiring from the Navy after this year). Remember that you need to take ownership of YOUR application. It is YOUR job to get yourself where you want to be, and you should try to rely on your recruiter as little as possible. Every leader out in the fleet needs to take extreme responsibility over his/her own circumstances, so if you plan on being a leader in the world’s finest military, you should start modeling that responsibility right now. I suggest that every time before you contact your recruiter that you first research the questions you have for him/her and read all relevant materials and keep them close by so you can facilitate the conversation as smoothly as possible or even find out that you didn’t need to reach out in the first place. Don’t get me wrong—recruiters are amazing people and they work diligently to get the best version of your application turned in, but you can’t sit back because of that. You need to be constantly proactive. Just put your heart into it and if this is what you really want to do, then DON’T GIVE UP THE SHIP!
Best wishes to all you future leaders.