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I was just selected for Army OCS and also looked at the Air Force. My experience was this. Both are excellent options, but the Air Force was not selecting new officers at a high level due in part to having an over inflated amount of people in the AF. I didn't have a technical degree (sciences, math, engineering, aviation) and thus had an uphill battle for selection. The AF does a selection board every 6 months and they rotate between rated (technical) and non-rated (everything else) The last 2 non-rated boards where canceled and the rated board that I did apply for selected less than 10% of the applicants.
That was a blessing for me because it helped me realize that in the long scheme of things the Army is where I truly wanted to be. They board every month and have traditionally had higher selection rates than the AF, at least over the past few years. Nevertheless, they too have begun taking fewer candidates and have actually changed the boarding process to reflect that. 6 months before my selection, a candidate could be selected for Army OCS just by passing the battalion board in their state. Since then, however, the Bn board at the state level is nothing more than an interview in front of Army officers, whose recommendation (or lack of) gets attached to your packet and sent to USAREC for ultimate selection. My board selected only 53% of its applicants and I've heard it's gone down since.
To your main question, a GPA is important to any branch for Officer selection, but that's not all that is looked at. Each board, at least the AF and Army, were looking at the "whole person" concept when selecting their candidates. That means their GPA, ASVAB GT scores, APFT (fitness test scores), Letters of Recommendation and Bn board interview scores. All of those things played a part in the candidates overall chances of getting selected. If you feel you have a weak GPA, then obviously you want to supplement that with a great APFT score, high GT score and knocking out the Interview.
In the end, the military wants officers who are well rounded candidates. Focus on getting the best possible scores, LOR's and Board results you can and your overall profile will be very good.
Definitely get in touch with a recruiter ASAP and make sure you find one that is will to work with Officer candidates.
What do you mean by definitive programs? Much like BCT, where civilians are turned to soldiers at the end of their training, OCS is a general "school" used to turn those soldiers into officers.
You don't do specific training for your branch until after you've completed OCS and earned your commission. That training is referred to as BOLC training (Basic Officer Leaders Course) and it's duration/location depends upon what you branch, based off where you finish on the order of merit list, at OCS.
Sorry, the some of the recruiter types seem to get off on making people confused. When I call about OCs, the ask, "Which program?".
Or perhaps you are not paying attention. It depends on what service you called. They have various commissioning schools such as Officer Candidate Schools, Direct Commisioning programs, Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), to name a few...
You previously started another thread about officer training, so this thread is being merged with it.
Or perhaps you are not paying attention. It depends on what service you called. They have various commissioning schools such as Officer Candidate Schools, Direct Commisioning programs, Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), to name a few...
You previously started another thread about officer training, so this thread is being merged with it.
Yes, and I just want to go into the Officer Candidate Schools.
Yes, and I just want to go into the Officer Candidate Schools.
I listed five above, with URL's to descriptions for each one...
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Officer Candidates School
