2.8

Willdathrill

Willdathrill

New Member
i talked to a USAF officer aviation recruiter and he was very short with me. he asked me if i had a degree and then he asked my gpa. when i told him 2.4, he said bye.

i had no idea of this limitation and he said that it had recently been raised from 2.4 to 2.8 on account of a rush of applicants for USAF officer positions. he said this was due to the lack of interest in army positions.

just to let everyone know.
 
Try and get it above a 3.0. That's usually the standard minimum GPA that you'd want to put on a resume. Anything below that, they recommend leaving off.

Not far to go! Good luck!
 
I'm working with an active duty recruiter for OTS ... unfortunately for me the flying ship has sailed.

As far as I know, if you don't have at least a 3.0GPA you won't receive any further consideration.

According to his numbers, the AVG. GPA for the Dec. boards was a 3.5
 
Does it matter which degree you get? If two people had the same package for the ANG for example, except that one has a music degree with a 3.9 and another has a mechanical engineering degree with a 3.2, which one is more likely to get the spot?

Its not really fair to base it all in GPA. Some degrees are way harder than the others which usually accounts for lower GPAs.

And yes, I know life ain't fair. I just want to know if they prefer technical degrees.
 
For ANG pilot slots, and I would assume for pilot slots as a general whole for OTS ... degree isn't too big of an issue. However, active duty OTS slots are going much quicker to non-rated candidates WITH technical degrees choosing technical fields. Because of that, the Air Force may be likely to prefer one with a technical degree should they wash out of UPT they could fill a critical, non-rated technical field.

If you're gunning for the ANG and you're young ... enlist. Units prefer to hire from within, you get accustomed to the military life, and often times the best officers are those who are prior-enlisted and don't forget their roots.
 
Windchill said:
For ANG pilot slots, and I would assume for pilot slots as a general whole for OTS ... degree isn't too big of an issue. However, active duty OTS slots are going much quicker to non-rated candidates WITH technical degrees choosing technical fields. Because of that, the Air Force may be likely to prefer one with a technical degree should they wash out of UPT they could fill a critical, non-rated technical field.

If you're gunning for the ANG and you're young ... enlist. Units prefer to hire from within, you get accustomed to the military life, and often times the best officers are those who are prior-enlisted and don't forget their roots.
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I'm graduating now in May and I'd like to enlist sometime by the end of my freshman year of college or maybe earlier. I have some issues though that are holding me back. If I was to join the ANG in the next year or so, wouldn't it be idiotic of me as I'd most likely be deployed for a while overseas? I want to go to college and get a degree, and such thing would hold me back. How does a college student do it?

Also, do I have to drive to the bases location or do they provide trasnportation? The nearest ANG base is hours away and it would be a burden to have to drive there.

I really like the forums at Flightbase. The guys over there said the same thing you said about prior enlistment. Is it also true that I should join the same squadron I would like to work for?

As you may see, I am serious about this. I just want more info about this and I really don't want the info from a recruiter. I value people with prior service's info much more.
 
BCTAv8r said:
As you may see, I am serious about this. I just want more info about this and I really don't want the info from a recruiter. I value people with prior service's info much more.
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A recruiter is going to have the most accurate and up to date information on the enlistment process, they're the ones you need to be talking to. Prior service is alright, especially when looking for personal experiences like how they liked a job etc, but most of your information should come from a recruiter. Think about it, how long has it been since those prior service guys were in the enlistment process. Stuff changes weekly in the recruiting game and the only people who knows whats up with it are the recruiters. If I were you (which i was in this same position a year ago) I would head over the goang.com and submit your info or call the recruiting office for the unit you want join and start collecting info now. And, contrary to popular belief a recruiter isnt going to lie to you, they just wont answer any questions not asked.
 
BoilerPilot2007 said:
Try and get it above a 3.0.
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i've already graduated from University of Arkansas w/ International Relations. Nothing doing there. I'm chasing a guard slot and then it's over military wise. I thought I had a chance w/ USAF due to recomendation letters and prior guard service.

as far as driving to air guard drill, the two units i have experience with provide free room at hotel or on base billeting. try and get the army guard to do it! also i've never been deployed. i was called up for 9/11 and asked to go to iraq. carried 12 hours and a 3.0 during 9/11 patrols and declined iraq to take spanish summer school. got nearly $800 a month in education benefits and expecting a $3k check for make up payments from GI Bill/ September 11 (Chapter 1607 for the guard bums)
 
BCTAv8r said:
Does it matter which degree you get? If two people had the same package for the ANG for example, except that one has a music degree with a 3.9 and another has a mechanical engineering degree with a 3.2, which one is more likely to get the spot?

Its not really fair to base it all in GPA. Some degrees are way harder than the others which usually accounts for lower GPAs.

And yes, I know life ain't fair. I just want to know if they prefer technical degrees.
Click to expand...

With a tech degree, you can get a tech slot, which is almost an assured commission due to the lack of engineers and other technical positions filled within the AF (physicists, etc).

You can get a tech slot and then, depending on your age, apply again for UPT. You can get OPRs and good recommendations from your commander. I've known a few who have crossed over from tech slots to rated slots. The key nowadays is to get your foot in the door.

As I have said before, if you are serious about trying to get a pilot slot, go after ROTC. No matter what year you are in in school, go talk to the local ROTC detachment. Maybe you can spend an extra two years and get a double degree and go into the service with a guaranteed commission if that is what you really want to do. OTS is all based on the number of slots not filled by the Academy or ROTC.

So, in answer to your question, a 3.2 mechanical engineer would be more favorable than a 3.9 in music. The music major is competing at large for a non-tech slot, while the ME is competing amongst a much smaller set for the unfillable tech slots, for which the music major is ineligible. (Tech slots are for engineering and physics majors.)

So, for a flying slot, they are considered equal. For technical slot, there's no comparison.

Then, the question becomes, do you take the tech slot and try to apply for UPT after being in the service, or do you only apply for the flying slot?
 
I was thinking more along the lines of becoming a boomer on a tanker or doing something on the enlisted side. I'm not really interested in joining active duty so ROTC is out of the question. I guess if I did a few years of enlisted service and the applied for an ANG slot I'd have a good chance?

And how does someone go to drills while attending college?

And based on the example above where he turned Iraq down to stay in school, can you turn down a war and etc as long as you have school to go to?

I'm gonna go to the ang.com website and talk to a live recruiter as well.
 
why even join the military if at every time you are going to get deployed you try to get out of it? the whole service before self aspect comes into play there.........
 
ian said:
why even join the military if at every time you are going to get deployed you try to get out of it? the whole service before self aspect comes into play there.........
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I'm not trying to get out of it. Except if I was to be attending college. My degree is already gonna take 5 years, I can't afford to make it any longer. I wouldn't mind doing something here at home.
 
USAF may not even accept a music major period. When I was in AFROTC, I knew a music major who had to get a second degree in something the AF would accept. Not a lot of call for commissioned musicians.
 
JimmyK said:
A recruiter is going to have the most accurate and up to date information on the enlistment process, they're the ones you need to be talking to. Prior service is alright, especially when looking for personal experiences like how they liked a job etc, but most of your information should come from a recruiter. Think about it, how long has it been since those prior service guys were in the enlistment process. Stuff changes weekly in the recruiting game and the only people who knows whats up with it are the recruiters. If I were you (which i was in this same position a year ago) I would head over the goang.com and submit your info or call the recruiting office for the unit you want join and start collecting info now. And, contrary to popular belief a recruiter isnt going to lie to you, they just wont answer any questions not asked.
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!












Okay, sorry about that. A recruiter isn't going to lie. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

I'm not saying trust everything you read from unknown quantities on an internet forum, but by far, I'd trust strangers who know what the military is like way before I ever trusted a recruiter. Get all the information you can from as many sources as possible and make your own decisions.

TX (9 years enlisted Navy - and lied to by recruiters! That's a fact, jack! But, I ended up knowing what was going on so it was all good.)
 
"I'm graduating now in May and I'd like to enlist sometime by the end of my freshman year of college or maybe earlier. I have some issues though that are holding me back. If I was to join the ANG in the next year or so, wouldn't it be idiotic of me as I'd most likely be deployed for a while overseas?" - BCTAv8Tr

Brian,

Don't join thinking it's going to be show up for 1 weekend a month and have BBQ while you do your college homework. Guess what, if you sign the dotted line, you are saying you can be deployed at ANY time, even guard. Yes, you can work on your college while in, and there are some great chances for finishing up your degree, but don't be like some reservists I know who expect to not have to do anything except get a paycheck and the bennies. You are signing up for the military, if you do it, and if you take that little bit of knowledge with you, it'll make it more realistic of an outlook for you.

By the way, those reservists I was talking about worked for me...they were called up for 1 year for security duty, and all I heard was complaints about how unfair it was that they got called up (mind you it was Dec 01-Dec 02). What was unfair was the fact that I had E-3's and E-4's making more money than me (E-6 at the time) because the Navy bent over backwards and gave them more money than they were entitled to. They received Per Diem and BAH (housing allowance), along with anything else the govt could give them. All I kept telling them was, hey you enjoyed the BBQ all this time, and guess what, you signed up...we didn't make you. They were always bragging about how all they had to do was show up 1 weekend a month, and every time they got together, they had cookouts and had a great time;why was the military being unfair to them now...

Okay, end of rand, I can feel my blood pressure raising again. Glad to be a civilian!!!

TX
 
BCTAv8r said:
I'm not trying to get out of it. Except if I was to be attending college. My degree is already gonna take 5 years, I can't afford to make it any longer. I wouldn't mind doing something here at home.
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There are a lot of distance learning programs that you could do while employed. In fact, I know more people who went to the continuing education branch of ERAU than went to the in-residence branch for precisely that reason.

I think if they send you, you will go. It all depends on your specialty, but if you are in a highly needed skill set, like a comm guy, you will be going. The key is to finding a degree program that can work with your deployments.
 
So would it be better for me to graduate college first and then join? Can you do engineering in the ANG? Is it better to enlist in an airbase or be a comissioned officer in any ANG base as far as the pilot slot packages go?

I'm not thinking about the benefits at all actually. I would just like to make sure I have a good packaget setup for a possible pilot slot. And if I don't get it, I don't mind serving if I signed up for it.
 
Im pretty sure people in comm are getting forced shaped out since there are so many of them. and BCTAv8r...why ANG and not AD? I'm not sure if you answered that one already. Basically if you enlist, the military comes first and school comes second. I have two friends, one USMC and one USAF who are both in college and enlisted. both went over to iraq on a deployment and had to leave school behind. once they got back, they started back up school. the USMC was Reserve and the USAF was ANG
 
guys as far as the gpa goes..right now OTS slots are very hard to come by..dont count on getting one without a 3.0+ and heavy emphasis here on +!

We are experiencing in the AF right now overmanning. We are cutting our endstrength by 40,000 folks (not all officers or pilots). This effects the pipeline and right now the AF can afford to be picky in who the accept in meaning very high scores and stats. Its all a cycle though..so in a few years look for this to reverse if history proves anything.

With this said, dont let this discourage you. There are still Guard/Reserves. I have buds picked up with under 3.0 but they had knockout test scores to supplement this. Bottom line is if you work hard enough there are opportunities out there.
 
That sucks. In WWII they were in a shortage of pilots and now its completely different. We should go back in time.:)
 
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