NROTC Scholarship Interview

[wannabeplebe]

Before anyone replies about reading other threads and such, trust me, every link on Google is already purple (lol).

I know the basics of questions that may be asked such as "Why do you want to be in the Navy?" or "Which service would you like to commission into an why?" or "Why should you be chosen over Candidate X?" etc.
However, my recruiter told me that the officer would most likely be asking me situation questions that test my morals and decision-making abilities. I'm having trouble finding examples of these questions online. The only example she gave me was that I may be asked about a situation that has to do with sexual assault or other circumstances that require me to have a base-line knowledge and confidence in my answer.

In addition, I know it's very highly encouraged to ask good questions at the end - Any examples of these? Is it better to ask personal type questions such as why they chose their branch or are actual information type questions about the NROTC program better? I know it comes down to what the actual question is, but I've never been good at these (already had 2 USNA/NROTC interviews).

 

[lucky8]

My advice would be to find something in common with your interviewer and ask about that. A common interest or something that will make you memorable. Don't ask something stupidly personal ("what are your kids names?" "Wow I want to name my kids that too"), you want to stand out for a good reason. Maybe you are interested in the same community they have their warfare pin in. Maybe you are interested in the unit they command. Ask them questions about their unit. At the end of my interview the CO was showing me their schedule of pt and drills because his unit was high on my list.

Mine was probably different than most people as my grandfather went to the unit I interviewed at. (Well precursor to, v-12 navy college training program)

Kind of long, but as a summary my advice would be 1. Be memorable 2. Talk about something you and hopefully he are passionate about 3. Make him want you in his unit. Good luck!

 

[wannabeplebe]

My advice would be to find something in common with your interviewer and ask about that. A common interest or something that will make you memorable. Don't ask something stupidly personal ("what are your kids names?" "Wow I want to name my kids that too"), you want to stand out for a good reason. Maybe you are interested in the same community they have their warfare pin in. Maybe you are interested in the unit they command. Ask them questions about their unit. At the end of my interview the CO was showing me their schedule of pt and drills because his unit was high on my list.

Mine was probably different than most people as my grandfather went to the unit I interviewed at. (Well precursor to, v-12 navy college training program)

Kind of long, but as a summary my advice would be 1. Be memorable 2. Talk about something you and hopefully he are passionate about 3. Make him want you in his unit. Good luck!

Thank you for the advice; I will definitely use it during my interview - I didn't mean personal like "what are your kids names" haha but more along the lines of "why did you choose your service branch?" or something similar, ya know? However, I believe that the officer interviewing me is a Pilot and I would like to do Subs. Additionally, I have already been accepted into a college and will be joining their NROTC unit (non-scholarship) and my interviewer will be someone who lives in a different state than my college so I don't believe the unit thing would apply.

 

[kinnem]

Best questions to ask - the one's you want to know the answers to. If knowing how someone chose their branch is actually useful to you, then ask it. If the point of the question is to simply ingratiate yourself, don't bother asking it. Aside from that there are no stupid questions.

 

[eljay60]

Before anyone replies about reading other threads and such, trust me, every link on Google is already purple (lol).

I know the basics of questions that may be asked such as "Why do you want to be in the Navy?" or "Which service would you like to commission into an why?" or "Why should you be chosen over Candidate X?" etc.
However, my recruiter told me that the officer would most likely be asking me situation questions that test my morals and decision-making abilities. I'm having trouble finding examples of these questions online. The only example she gave me was that I may be asked about a situation that has to do with sexual assault or other circumstances that require me to have a base-line knowledge and confidence in my answer.

In addition, I know it's very highly encouraged to ask good questions at the end - Any examples of these? Is it better to ask personal type questions such as why they chose their branch or are actual information type questions about the NROTC program better? I know it comes down to what the actual question is, but I've never been good at these (already had 2 USNA/NROTC interviews).

You might try putting "Behavioral Interview questions" into Google. The concept is that rather than ask a hypothetical situation, you are asked how you previously handled a similar situation and whether you think your response was on target or could use improvement. Here's an example - "Describe the most challenging negotiation in which you were involved." or "Tell me about a time when a goal or result turned out to be less attainable than you thought. How did you handle it and what was the outcome?" Good luck.

 

[wannabeplebe]

Before anyone replies about reading other threads and such, trust me, every link on Google is already purple (lol).

I know the basics of questions that may be asked such as "Why do you want to be in the Navy?" or "Which service would you like to commission into an why?" or "Why should you be chosen over Candidate X?" etc.
However, my recruiter told me that the officer would most likely be asking me situation questions that test my morals and decision-making abilities. I'm having trouble finding examples of these questions online. The only example she gave me was that I may be asked about a situation that has to do with sexual assault or other circumstances that require me to have a base-line knowledge and confidence in my answer.

In addition, I know it's very highly encouraged to ask good questions at the end - Any examples of these? Is it better to ask personal type questions such as why they chose their branch or are actual information type questions about the NROTC program better? I know it comes down to what the actual question is, but I've never been good at these (already had 2 USNA/NROTC interviews).

You might try putting "Behavioral Interview questions" into Google. The concept is that rather than ask a hypothetical situation, you are asked how you previously handled a similar situation and whether you think your response was on target or could use improvement. Here's an example - "Describe the most challenging negotiation in which you were involved." or "Tell me about a time when a goal or result turned out to be less attainable than you thought. How did you handle it and what was the outcome?" Good luck.

Thank you!! This was really helpful and was essentially 95% of my interview!

 

[jipsyjips]

I know you already had your interview, but this is for future applicants:
They asked things like
1. Leadership---what went well, what you learned, what you didn't do well
2. Adversity
3. how your mental/physical health is taken care of
4. how important diet/how you maintain your diet/health

point is, they asked A LOT. You can't prepare for every question. Just pause and take a moment to think of a good answer and go.

Practice answering some questions just to get your brain working.