Military average application time

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

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

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.

It probably doesn't help that my original commissioning paperwork I signed I had to redo as they were outdated forms, so I'm betting I didn't get submitted for orders until that was fixed in December.