Air Force Nurse Transition Program

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Specializes in Registered Nursing.

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I am looking for some advice from some people that may be familiar with the Air Forces Nurse Transition program and being selected for OCS.

I am currently a BSN student graduating on August 7th. I have been interested in joining the military as a nurse right after college, and started the process to apply to the Air Force's nurse transition program. I almost meet all the requirements, except the GPA, which is super super close. I was told I need a 3.5, and my Major GPA is a 3.464 and my overall GPA is a 3.38. I'm pretty deep in the process, already went through MEPS and passed that, and my recruiter and I are waiting to submit the official application in May after this next round of grades goes through so I can hopefully pull my GPA up. My question about this is kind of two pronged...

First off, I have a better chance of pulling my Major in Nursing GPA up to a 3.5 than my overall GPA this semester, do you think my Major GPA will work to qualify me? To get both GPA's over 3.5 would require a perfect 4.0. I am working my tail off to get that 4.0 this semester but the classes are hard and a 94% or above in an A in my program, so I know even trying my hardest might not be enough.

If I am unable to pull that overall GPA up to a 3.5, is all the work I've put in to qualify for my program for nothing? Is there some sort of waiver for the GPA requirement?

I really, really want to be selected and I have some other factors that help me in my application, even my Dean of Nursing wrote me a letter of recommendation. If everything works out I would finish school in August, take the NCLEX, and be off to OCS in October. I am so, so badly hoping this works out, and would love some insight on what everyone thinks about my situation?

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

It's hard to say for sure. You are pretty close. It will honestly depend on the strength of the other applicants. GPA is really important for new grads because it's pretty much the only discriminator among applicants.

If you don't get it, you can always wait until you have a year of experience and apply as a fully qualified nurse. I would recommend ICU experience at a large university medical center. The GPA requirement isn't as big of a deal for experienced nurses. You would definitely have an easier time in this application pool.

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I agree with the person's comment above me. A few friends of mine who are enlisted and got accepted into the NECP program and GPA is the most weighted qualifying factor. With that, and your epr etc... On the other hand, I know some people who came in as a Experienced Nurse right off the bat and all they needed to do is sign the dotted line and ship out. Also, I have heard of getting a recommendation letter from not just your school dean but maybe a politician or someone with higher authority in your city or state. Or maybe you can try to see if you can get some extra credit from your instructor, I know that's like wishing a smoker to quit smoking cold turkey but it's worth a shot. Best of luck with you

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Specializes in Registered Nursing.

Thanks for the replies so far! I am definitely going to look into trying again if I don't get in right away after gaining some experience. Do you have any input on my likelihood of getting selected for this since I am graduating in August rather than in May or December like most nursing programs? I am in a non-traditional cohort so I would graduate in August and my recruiter was talking about OCS in October for me.

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

I don't think that will impact you at all. NTP is for anyone with less than 1 year of full-time nursing experience. Plus, they only do one board per year. Many applicants graduate at irregular times or simply don't get a job right away. As long as you are within 1 year of graduation, I wouldn't worry about it.

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@LindsLinds97 I saw on your other post that you went ahead and started applying for NTP. Can you explain how your process is going? I spoke to a recruiter briefly last year who told me to contact them after I passed the NCLEX, but I see other information on a new brochure my school secretary sent out from a different recruiter in the area who is taking a while to respond to me. I can't find any deadlines. Does the board only meet once a year, and if so, when is that? Also, I see you said you didn't have a 3.5 GPA. Is that a requirement to apply or more like a strong candidate suggested GPA?

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Specializes in Registered Nursing.
5 hours ago, tee_chea said:

@LindsLinds97 I saw on your other post that you went ahead and started applying for NTP. Can you explain how your process is going? I spoke to a recruiter briefly last year who told me to contact them after I passed the NCLEX, but I see other information on a new brochure my school secretary sent out from a different recruiter in the area who is taking a while to respond to me. I can't find any deadlines. Does the board only meet once a year, and if so, when is that? Also, I see you said you didn't have a 3.5 GPA. Is that a requirement to apply or more like a strong candidate suggested GPA?

Hi! So I am still in the process of getting my packet together to submit in early May when this semesters grades go in. They did say I can use my Major in Nursing GPA which helps me meet with the qualifications! I do not know if that is a hard or soft rule to apply though. As for when to apply, I was under the assumption that the NTP program is something you apply to while you're still in school as it is for brand new nurses, so I would not recommend waiting until after you pass...as this is a long process to apply. Additionally, sometimes you really have to advocate for yourself to get in contact with a recruiter that will help you, so if you really want this, keep pushing for it! Here is a rough timeline of what I have done so far:

-January 2020: Contacted an Air Force officer recruiter and got connected with a medical officer recruiter. Met basic guidelines via phone interview to proceed with the process.

-Early February: Had interview with officer recruiter. For me this was done via FaceTime because I was about 4 hours away from my recruiters office. This lasted almost 4 hours and we went over every detail of the program. After this meeting, my recruiter sent me paperwork for MEPS and the application paperwork.

-Late February: attended MEPS appointment and got medically cleared

-March: had another group meeting via zoom (because pandemic) with my recruiter and other applicants.

Now: and now we wait until this semester ends and hopefully my grades are where they need to be. Then, I do my final Summer semester with my packet officially submitted and the selection board is happening in July-August I believe.

Hope this helps!

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Thanks for the fast response. The recruiter emailed me back a prequalification form and oddly enough she said if I'm a December grad then we can start on my packet in February. She also said that the applicants she had for this year held leadership positions (NSNA and things like that). My program also considers an A to be 94% so needless to say, I won't qualify for NTP unless I make a 4.0 these next two semesters which as they get progressively more difficult is not going to happen. I think I'll try for HPSP and do a BSN-DNP instead. Anyway, good luck. I hope you get selected.

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

My nursing program had a similar grading scale. Your GPA gets adjusted for a 10 point scale to make it fair for everyone. My adjusted GPA was a 3.7 instead of a 3.6.

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1 hour ago, jfratian said:

My nursing program had a similar grading scale. Your GPA gets adjusted for a 10 point scale to make it fair for everyone. My adjusted GPA was a 3.7 instead of a 3.6.

Now how do they do that calculation since a transcript will only show letter grades?

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

My transcript was the same way, but we do pluses and minuses. So, all of my A-'s became A's and all of my B+'s became A-'s, etc.

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So I gotta know, did you make it bud??? I’m planning on applying for the program myself and was just wondering how you faired. I’m hoping you made it!

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