Military average application time

Editorial Team / Moderator · Jan 25, 2016

Started application process in January 2010, board selected in November 2010, notified in early December 2010, went to BOLC (Army AMEDD officer basic) in March 2011. Selection boards for active duty meet once a year now, in November.

gilversplace · Jan 25, 2016

thanks for the reply, what was your experience before you applied, i am just wondering how competitive was the selection board.

Editorial Team / Moderator · Jan 25, 2016

thanks for the reply, what was your experience before you applied, i am just wondering how competitive was the selection board.

Very competitive. 400 applicants, approximately 50 selected. I applied with a 4.0 GPA, my CEN (and CPEN, but the Army doesn't really care about that one), and 3 years of ER RN experience.

sarahmarie14 · Jan 25, 2016

Army Reserves, started my application process aug 2014, mine took longer because I was still in nursing school ( graduated Dec 2014) and couldn't get a date to take Nclex soon enough to apply to march boards so I had to wait until October , Boarded in October 2015, found out selection results mid November, was commissioned near the end of November. Still waiting to receive orders

jfratian, DNP, RN, CRNA · Jan 26, 2016

You're definitely an outlier, and I would definitely be checking-in weekly with your recruiter. However, your timeline is nearly identical to mine and I didn't start training until early March.

troy14 · Jan 26, 2016

Mine was pretty lengthy due to having wires in my elbow from a previous broken elbow injury. However, I would say application process was about ~4 months to get things together, then interview with chief nurse, MEPS, and waiting for my wavier took another two months from the surgeon general. This is for active duty Air Force nurse corps.

I'm not sure how competitive it was, but I can imagine pretty tough. 32? Med Surg spots for the boards in Oct, no idea how many applicants. I don't think GPA is the biggest factor, mine was only a 3.48 but I had exceptional recommendations from my current employer, clinical instructor, and nurse educator. Also, a few awards/honors from my hospital and some volunteer service/committees. My interview I think played a huge part, it was very clear that this was the path I wanted (for instance, I switched from Computer Engineering to Nursing) and was able to explain why/how my decisions lead me there. The interviewer was very impressed with my answers.

My advice? Take part in as many committees at your job as you can. Try to take on roles where you can showcase your leadership abilities, it's what you are commissioning for and will impress your branch of service. They are not looking for just another nurse to be an employee.

sarahmarie14 · Jan 26, 2016

It probably doesn't help that my original commissioning paperwork I signed I had to redo as they were outdated forms, so I'm betting I didn't get submitted for orders until that was fixed in December.