NROTC SELECTION BOARD TRENDS FOR THE OCTOBER, NOVEMBER, AND DECEMBER BOARDS

GWU PNS (emeritus)

GWU PNS (emeritus)

George Washington University Capital Battalion
Joined
Nov 4, 2021
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I did something similar to this last year, and people seemed to enjoy looking at the trends and stats. Every person will tend to find a slightly different take on the stats, so I offer this for general consumption, not to imply there's a magic way to view these so you can tell if you get selected or not. As an example, we have had quite a few selectees who had SAT scores below the average, so noone should toss their application in the garbage if you don't meet the averages listed. And in that same spirit, if you are over some or even all of these averages, that doesn't mean you can assume you are an automatic selectee.

Lastly, there was a board originally slated for this week which actually finished last week. The brief for that should be in front of the Admiral early next week, so people can start looking for portal updates as early as Tuesday late afternoon, but more likely it will be sometime on Wednesday. This recent board had over a dozen ISR records tee'd up so for those of you who were told by recruiters that they were waiting on NSTC, this is likely going to be the board which you can watch out for.

See the attached two slides for the statistics.
 

Attachments

  • Stats for Selection Boards Oct to Dec.pdf
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SAT scores for selectees are notably down post-FY 20. Any explanation? Are the numbers of applicants down? SAT considered/weighed less important? Or are SAT scores just generally down among applicants?
 
GWU PNS said:
I did something similar to this last year, and people seemed to enjoy looking at the trends and stats. Every person will tend to find a slightly different take on the stats, so I offer this for general consumption, not to imply there's a magic way to view these so you can tell if you get selected or not. As an example, we have had quite a few selectees who had SAT scores below the average, so noone should toss their application in the garbage if you don't meet the averages listed. And in that same spirit, if you are over some or even all of these averages, that doesn't mean you can assume you are an automatic selectee.

Lastly, there was a board originally slated for this week which actually finished last week. The brief for that should be in front of the Admiral early next week, so people can start looking for portal updates as early as Tuesday late afternoon, but more likely it will be sometime on Wednesday. This recent board had over a dozen ISR records tee'd up so for those of you who were told by recruiters that they were waiting on NSTC, this is likely going to be the board which you can watch out for.

See the attached two slides for the statistics.
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@GWU PNS Thank you for the information. Is the next board still scheduled for the 23rd? If you received an email stating that you're in an alternate status, does your application get reviewed at every board?
 
FVHSGrad2023 said:
@GWU PNS Thank you for the information. Is the next board still scheduled for the 23rd? If you received an email stating that you're in an alternate status, does your application get reviewed at every board?
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2nd Jan board is on the 23rd. And once an application gets a score....that's where it stays through that season.
 
franknd said:
SAT scores for selectees are notably down post-FY 20. Any explanation? Are the numbers of applicants down? SAT considered/weighed less important? Or are SAT scores just generally down among applicants?
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We think the lower scores are a factor of covid and people home schooling rather than in person. But it's a guess to be honest.
 
Are applicants that participated in Sea Cadets or Civil Air Patrol included in JROTC figures?
 
Very interesting to see the averages across the board.

How much weight is usually given to the interview portion? I’m not looking for an exact percentage go to around telling people, but I’m curious since the SA interview only counts for a small percentage.
 
FVHSGrad2023 said:
@GWU PNS - Can you please explain scoring and how it works? Is the score different for each board? Thank you sir
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So the scoring process is a combination of objective and subjective criteria. The overarching concept is we are trying to capture the "whole person" as we review the application.

For the subjective side, we have SAT or ACT scores, fitness test, GPA, and class ranking if the high school provides that. Those scores are all entered by the team at NSTC and when we start a board, we can see those scores, but we don't get to adjust them.

On the subjective side, the applicant tells us about their collateral duties, volunteer work, honor society, advanced placement exams, eagle scout, private pilot license, life guard, CPR instructor, NJROTC or CAP, student government, and a whole list of other items.

There are also several essay questions. We look at those heavily. When we ask to describe why someone wants to be in the Navy, it is wise to really map that out and think about it. I'll just say we can tell when a person has given it thought and when they have not. And yes, we can tell if a person went to one of those "CHEG" websites and had a bot write their essay. There are certain buzz words, and we can spot them, so if you are prone to doing that, you aren't helping yourself.

When asked what a person has done to prepare for a certain area of study at a university, that's what we want. Not a song and dance about how eager a person is to join the university or the NROTC unit.

So, the boards consist of 9 PNS folks, and we mix it up so we have people who are new to the boards and people who are old and salty. And they are mixed up from big universities to small ones, and all across the country. They score each area as one of the PNS team briefs the applicant's record. Once all the applications for that board are scored, they are tabulated by the team at NSTC. There is a normalization process to account for a board that scores a little higher or a little lower. As each board meets the cut line for selection moves a little up or down (usually down). And once the final board wraps up. we see how many selectees we have, and if there are gaps, then the alternate list comes into play. We don't DE-select anyone until we see that they are so far below the cut line that the math just won't work for them to be selected. That is all managed by an experienced team up at NSTC.

A reminder on the officer interview. It comprises 60% of the subjective section of the scoring. Why so high? Because part of what the interview does is validate the answers given in the application. Basically, do your verbal answers to a series of questions sound like you were the person who filled out the application? Or did it sound like a mom, dad, or a friend, or did someone else handle your application? Hard to describe on a forum, but I will just say it becomes evident at some point.
 
What a fascinating peek into the process
 
@GWU PNS - Thank you as this is a great insight to the scoring process. If the cut off was 190 for Dec and your application was scored 188 and this board the cutoff was 187 would you then be offered a scholarship?
 
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GWU PNS said:
For the objective side, we have SAT or ACT scores, fitness test, GPA, and class ranking if the high school provides that. Those scores are all entered by the team at NSTC and when we start a board, we can see those scores, but we don't get to adjust them.
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It's been one of those mornings. I used "subjective" twice and the paragraph above shows what I should have typed.
 
FVHSGrad2023 said:
@GWU PNS - Thank you as this is a great insight to the scoring process. If the cut off was 190 for Dec and your application was scored 188 and this board the cutoff was 187 would you then be offered a scholarship?
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Not right away. But if it becomes clear that the 188 score was going to STAY above the cut line then the offer would be made.
 
Good afternoon, I’m having trouble opening the attachment. Can any one post what the average SAT is and GPA thank, and good luck to all!!
 
GWU_PNS, Thank you so much for the info and insight to this process. I really appreciate it and find it fascinating. It's funny...I told my DS who is going through the NROTC scholarship process about how I have some interesting numbers and figures about the boards. He did NOT want to know them. He is in the " I've done what I can and I will just wait for the outcome" mind set right now.
 
Ihavenoidea said:
GWU_PNS, Thank you so much for the info and insight to this process. I really appreciate it and find it fascinating. It's funny...I told my DS who is going through the NROTC scholarship process about how I have some interesting numbers and figures about the boards. He did NOT want to know them. He is in the " I've done what I can and I will just wait for the outcome" mind set right now.
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Omg totally. Same with my kiddo. Focusing on the back up plans and you know finals. 😄
 
I noticed there is no PFA score data in the attachment. Does this mean as long as you meet the minumum PFA requirement, it will not be a factor anymore?
 
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