quote:

Originally posted by HillsEastRecruit:
In my freshman year of high school, but im gonna drop out

Then you NEED NOT worry about joining all together.

If you enlist with a GED, you will NOT be competitive for any commissioning programs. Your commissioning program package will be overlooked.

Why are you dropping out? Life's not easy, let alone becoming a Marine and officer.

whoops. i meant freshman in college.

quote:

Originally posted by HillsEastRecruit:
so if i enlist, about how long would it take me to be able to be commissioned?

whoops. i meant freshman in college.

Then to answer your question, it will be awhile as you may have to serve some time in the Fleet and/or your first command before you can apply for a commissioning program.

Why are you leaving college when you're really just getting started? Word of advice, if you knock out some college now, it might make you MORE COMPETITIVE for a commissioning program later.

Yes, as an enlisted Marine, you can apply for a commissionining program WITHOUT any college under your belt. But if you have the means to go to college right now, then knock out some courses so you increase your commissioning program selection chances.

If you don't know what you want to major in, then take general education requirement courses.

Just my .02 cents

Don't enlist with the intention of just passing the time until you commission...

You will be miserable as a junior enlisted Marine if you have some ulterior motives for being there, and the enlisted to officer programs aren't exactly easy to get into. Many of the MECEP's in my class had tried 2 or 3 times prior to getting accepted - many more never do.

Seems like some of the advice given here makes it seem like getting into a commissioning program as an enlisted Marine is a sure thing...

The other factor to remember is the operational tempo of the Marine Corps is such that you may have deployment schedules slowing down your progress as well.

Your smartest bet is to NOT drop out of school - talk to the NROTC program about walking on as a college programmer or talk to your local OSO.

I have found some great advice on here and I have a few questions of my own to add. I'm hitting my 6 year mark here in a month and I'm in the process of putting my package together as we speak. I've figured out pretty much everything but I have a few hiccups I guess you could say so here goes. I have had little to no hard advice I could go by locally but I have lots of support within the command as far as officers that I've spoken to about it. The only thing that I am somewhat worried about is my pft score. Currently it's a 249 and it's a first class but I know it could be better. I'm working on it but I just wanted to know if that is a real concern. I have 40 credits from pre-USMC and I have been able to squeeze in 4 classes in between deployments.

#1 Does it matter what your major was before the Marine Corps. I was a business major but that was because I didn't have the cash to complete an engineering program. I was figuring on engineering being a major with a minor in business. I suppose that this would work but I wanted to ask anyway.

#2 I'm married and I know my wife would accompany me for school and some of the training. If I knew ahead of time what parts of the training she would not accompany me to that would help with planning for it if I am accepted.

#3 I'm currently 26 and I want to be a pilot. Is my age going to kill my wish to be a pilot or is it still possible. I would be commissioned by the the required age of 30 but I know that there is a shortage of pilots and would like to "cash in" on that need. Any advice on the training would be appreciated.

#4 How is NROTC? I don't know anything about it really. I know that it is a training program for officers that are going through college but what exactly do they do? I'm currently a Sergeant and I know how to drill etc etc. I suppose I'm just not sure of what the purpose is of that being a requirement of the program. I have definetly done some time in the Marines and I haven't had a good experience with Marines that came from ROTC programs in their high schools. Some are good to go but I seem to run into the guys that assume that everything is done the ROTC way in the fleet....it drives me nuts sometimes. Maybe I just ran into some bad apples but it did make me want to ask the question.

#5 How important is the military resume in the hand written essay. I spent 4 years with a MEU and visited 20 countries, trained with many different military organizations and held a variety of billets but the essay is only 500 words and I was wondering how much time and space I should spend on it.

Thank you for any replies and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

quote:

Originally posted by RickerRicker19:
#1 Does it matter what your major was before the Marine Corps. I was a business major but that was because I didn't have the cash to complete an engineering program. I was figuring on engineering being a major with a minor in business. I suppose that this would work but I wanted to ask anyway.

What you major in is immaterial. Find something you want to study and excel at it.

quote:

#2 I'm married and I know my wife would accompany me for school and some of the training. If I knew ahead of time what parts of the training she would not accompany me to that would help with planning for it if I am accepted.

You are allowed to have dependents accompany you while at TBS. For MOS training it would depend in the length of the school.

quote:

#3 I'm currently 26 and I want to be a pilot. Is my age going to kill my wish to be a pilot or is it still possible. I would be commissioned by the the required age of 30 but I know that there is a shortage of pilots and would like to "cash in" on that need. Any advice on the training would be appreciated.

Since you are prior service, your chances of getting an age waiver for SNA (Student Naval Aviator) are good. That will however depend on the needs of Naval/Marine Aviation. When I went to Officer Candidate School, a fellow candidate was a prior Corporal and came into OCS at 32 in the flight option.

Be advised, you have to have a clean bill of health or close to it if you want to go flight option. As for myself, I had the height, I had the sight, but I got DQ'd for flight because of my colds, sinuses, allergies---THE WHOLE NINE YARDS!

Give flight a shot regardless!

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#4 How is NROTC? I don't know anything about it really. I know that it is a training program for officers that are going through college but what exactly do they do? I'm currently a Sergeant and I know how to drill etc etc. I suppose I'm just not sure of what the purpose is of that being a requirement of the program. I have definetly done some time in the Marines and I haven't had a good experience with Marines that came from ROTC programs in their high schools. Some are good to go but I seem to run into the guys that assume that everything is done the ROTC way in the fleet....it drives me nuts sometimes. Maybe I just ran into some bad apples but it did make me want to ask the question.

College and HS ROTC are two different animals. At either rate, there are things from both you can apply in the Fleet and there are things you CANNOT. ROTC whether in HS or college is a good start, but not the end-all-to-be-all.

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#5 How important is the military resume in the hand written essay. I spent 4 years with a MEU and visited 20 countries, trained with many different military organizations and held a variety of billets but the essay is only 500 words and I was wondering how much time and space I should spend on it.

Important, HOWEVER concentrate on why you want to be an Officer of Marines. If you want to include your experience, indicate in your essay how it can contribute to being a commissioned officer. Don't just put your experience just to jazz up your essay. Remember, a board of officers will be reviewing your package. If all they see is glitter with no substance, they'll dismiss your package real quick.

Are trying for MECEP? If picked up for MECEP, you'll be attached to an NROTC unit at your school. Your 40 credit hours can help you get picked up. Remember, how you present yourself to the board and your recommendations from your CO and others can determine whether you get selected or not. Also mastering the SATs can help.

Good luck!

I am putting in my package for fy10 yes. I have a good clean bill of health and there's nothing in my record except eye surgery which is the approved flight prk (Photo Refractive Keratotomy). There seems to be a change where if you have a high enough asvb that you don't have to take the sat to be accepted into mecep. I'll end up taking it anyway but I heard something about it. I have the order in front of me and it could be interpreted like that. I test well so I'm not too worried about tests. I took the act in 2001 so I don't think that score is really good anymore lol.

Thank you for your advice. It is deeply appreciated

I need advice from some Marines. My son has been accepted to West Point. He had applied to the Naval Academy and even though they showed interest in him, they turned him down. At first he was all gung ho about attending West Point. He has told us he is 99 % sure he is going to turn down his appointment and enlist in the Marines. He wants to be Marine more than anything. He was CO in HS of his MCJROTC unit for 2 years. He has this idea that he can not be a good Marine Officer unless he is prior enlisted. He has this idea he will be accepted into MECEP. As Marines what advice would you give your son?

Well the idea that he cannot be a good Marine officer unless he's enlisted first is not true but it helps a lot. Enlisted Marines also hold Mustangs (prior enlisted officers) to a higher standard too. If he wants to do enlisted and then go MECEP shoot for it. I'm putting my package in this year. I never thought about becoming an officer before I enlisted. It's ultimately his life but the advice I would give is go with what you want. He only gets to do this once so make sure it's the one that you want.

All of the Mustangs I knew where the best officers. They know how it feels to be enlisted and they feel they have nothing to prove. Most of the generals that I met were good as well. I was never chewed out by a general nor after talking to him because I may have done or said something wrong Really the worse officers were the ones with big egos and thought they had something to prove or unsat or both. Aviators were pretty cool too.

quote:

Originally posted by 5928862:
I need advice from some Marines. My son has been accepted to West Point. He had applied to the Naval Academy and even though they showed interest in him, they turned him down. At first he was all gung ho about attending West Point. He has told us he is 99 % sure he is going to turn down his appointment and enlist in the Marines. He wants to be Marine more than anything. He was CO in HS of his MCJROTC unit for 2 years. He has this idea that he can not be a good Marine Officer unless he is prior enlisted. He has this idea he will be accepted into MECEP. As Marines what advice would you give your son?

Your son should do what he wants.

HOWEVER, tell your son not many people get accepted into West Point. He should give it a shot.

A HS classmate of mine got accepted into West Point, but didn't get accepted into USNA his first choice. He turned down the WP appointment. He didn't enlist though, he went to the New Mexico Military Institute's Academy Prep program and got accepted into the Naval Academy a year later.

Tell him being a GOOD officer is NOT dependent on whether you are prior enlisted or not. It's about knowing what your duties are and taking care of the people under your charge.

MECEP is a good program. However, thinking of MECEP before even joining the Marines is "putting the carriage before the horse."

I had many HS classmates who said they will enlist to get into MECEP later. NOT ONE OF THEM ACTUALLY CARRIED OUT WITH THAT PLAN. Why? They looked too far and their sole purpose for enlistment was MECEP.

MECEP is for Marines who have been in awhile and have decided to go above and beyond and apply for commissioning.

Tell your son to think the WP appointment though before turning it down. If he wants to go USNA, he can go to a program like my HS classmate did.

I have a couple questions maybe someone can answer for me. My husband is getting his MECEP package ready now but he's concerned about the big picture only right now (i.e. getting into the program and into a school). I on the other hand have a few curiostites (not concerns just wonderings)

1. If he is accepted, what would be considered his duty station? The school he's going to, the closest base, or where we choose to live? (his first choice school is UCLA and the 2 biggest Marine Corps bases are Camp Pendelton, about 95 miles from UCLA and 29 Palms which is about 150 miles)

2. His BAH would be based on the zip of whatever is considered his duty station? So if UCLA was his duty station then BAH would be on the Los Angeles zip code?

3. How would his medical work? Right now he goes for dental checkups/physicals whenever they tell him to and he goes here on base. And of course the couple times he's been injured he's gone to the clinic on base. If we choose not to live on a base (either there's not one close or we just don't want to) would he still have to go to the nearest MTF or would he be able to see a civilian dr like I can?

The reason I ask is because we have a house in Yucaipa and if he only had to go to school a couple days a week (if he could arrange his schedule like that) he wouldn't mind the drive to UCLA and back and we would probably live there. I appreciate the help!!!

One more thing

What about paying for tuition and books. Do we pay and get reimbursed, or is the school payed tuition directly and we're responsible for books, etc? How does that work? And I think I'm remembering that there's a cap as to how much is payed for...is that by semester or year?

Thanks again!

quote:

Originally posted by smarden:
1. If he is accepted, what would be considered his duty station? The school he's going to, the closest base, or where we choose to live? (his first choice school is UCLA and the 2 biggest Marine Corps bases are Camp Pendelton, about 95 miles from UCLA and 29 Palms which is about 150 miles)

The NROTC unit he's attached to will be his duty station, so in effect his school

quote:

2. His BAH would be based on the zip of whatever is considered his duty station? So if UCLA was his duty station then BAH would be on the Los Angeles zip code?

Correct

quote:

3. How would his medical work? Right now he goes for dental checkups/physicals whenever they tell him to and he goes here on base. And of course the couple times he's been injured he's gone to the clinic on base. If we choose not to live on a base (either there's not one close or we just don't want to) would he still have to go to the nearest MTF or would he be able to see a civilian dr like I can?

It would have to be a civilian doc since there are no military hospitals nearby. (The closest MIGHT be NAS Pt Magu, but that's still a drive from LA).

Hope that helped.