troy14

I hope you all are working on your physical fitness. If you haven't looked @ your requirements for your age/gender bracket, I suggest you do that NOW and work on it TODAY. Whether your recruiter told you or not, you will be tested to these standards the first week of training and you will not be doing any PT during that week so you need to come in shape and ready. If you do not pass the PT test (you have to get the minimums on EVERY category) you WILL be sent home. NO exceptions. Your recruiter may not have told you this, but it is extremely important to know. I would train now and go into COT wondering if you are going to get a perfect PT score or not, NOT if you are going to pass or not. When I say NO exceptions, I mean NO exceptions. I'll give you an example. There was a young HPSP student who did the 1.5 mile in around 9.5 minutes, almost maxed his push ups, but fell short by about 3-4 sit ups and he still was sent home. You will NOT stay if you can not pass the PT. Don't think "I am in very good shape I'll get in a little more shape while i'm there and I will be fine" because you WILL NOT BE.

Your best bet is going to try and find a SICU or CVICU job right out of nursing school, get 1-3 years of experience, get into CRNA school.. and then worry about applying to the Navy/Air Force. As a new grad with no experience (I can only speak for the Air Force) you will be placed OB or Med-Surg, not ICU. I'd say a good year or two as med surg and if you're lucky you can switch to ICU... then you have to worry about getting into CRNA school. You'll save a lot of time if you go directly ICU out of school.

I'm going to offer you my advice, and take that with a grain of salt. I have my BSN and was accepted as Fully Qualified Med-Surg, I leave for COT May '16. I'm not 100% sure how ROTC works, but, I would whole heartedly recommend getting your BSN first if you can..and it sounds like you can. Having all of your school paid for is an awesome feat, don't take that for granted. I recommend getting your BSN first because a lot can happen between now and then. As for your chances of getting in ROTC vs NTP/Commission? No one can honestly say what the needs will be in the future. If you get your BSN now, you at least will have something to "fall" back on. I think down south nurses are needed more, unsure of if they get paid more or not. As far as specializations... I think that will only come with experience. It's easy to say you want to be a Nurse Anesthetist or a Family Nurse Practitioner..when you are actually practicing as a RN your decision will be much more clear.

Not sure how much my reply will help but here goes nothing, I am a relatively new grad with 1.5 yrs of experience in a Level 2 trauma hospital.. except my floor is strictly a surgical / step down unit. That being said, I receive almost all of my patients directly from our SICU or PACU. Before my first job, I wanted to work ICU or PACU very bad, and was kind of "bummed" I got stuck on a floor. Looking back, I can't imagine being a new grad in the PACU or ICU (I know many new grads do, but.....), especially the PACU. 9 weeks is an awful short orientation, especially in a PACU. My hospital will not hire anyone in the PACU without ICU experience. We had a new grad who was an aid/extern in our PACU for ~2 years, very very bright and knows what she is doing...she still did not get hired in the PACU and is on my floor now. Kudos to you for doing such a tough job as a new nurse, but, I also hope your patients are getting the proper safe care they deserve.

I am happy to hear you are doing better, stay on that track! I hope our answers don't deter you from applying, you'll never know until you do. That being said, I do think with as competitive as the programs are now and that kind of history...the chances are slim. I had a broken elbow and the amount of documentation and paperwork and exams I had to go through were absolutely insane..that was my only "history" (I'm 26) so I was astounded. I can't imagine how much a suicide attempt / overdose would take to get a wavier for. Again, these are just honest answers but none of us here on allnurses.com are the people that make the decisions for waviers or not, so, we can't tell you for sure.

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.

While I can't recall the other board selection date for fully qualified nurses (there are 2 per year), mine was in October so I would imagine ~6 months from then. How long it takes to submit your paperwork to getting an acceptance is a very, very complicated question. At least for me it was. I guess it really all depends on your health, history, and how persistent your recruiter is. Where are you located? Maybe someone is nearby and has the same recruiter, for instance, there is only one for most of Michigan/Ohio/and I think some of Illinois/Indiana?. My recruiter also worked with someone from I think Virginia. I broke my elbow at age 21 (I am 26 now) and had wires inserted, which remained in for convenience. Out of nursing school, I applied for a NTP position which took ~6 months, and missed the application deadline because my elbow had to be approved by the Surgeon General of the AF. Fast forward to a year later, it was approved but took ~2 months to get my wavier, now I am commissioning as fully qualified. So for me, it will have been about 2 years since I graduated for me to get a spot. I'm sure others have done it in way less time, but, if you have any disqualifiers and require a wavier, get started ASAP.

Thanks for the kind replies. Darn, was totally not what I was hoping for. I am selected to go to COT in May of this year. It's not that I can't tolerate Med-Surg, I am just ready to move to ED/ICU and learn more, see more, do more, etc. If I have to do it for two years and then apply, well, I guess that's the road i'll have to take. Right now my unit strictly takes surgical patients, so who knows maybe a little more medical stuff (2 years worth) might be good for me... and PACU would be pretty cool as well.

Thank you for such an honest reply. I am going in as Med-Surg with 1.5yrs of experience with my first assignment at Nellis. I am getting pretty tired of Med Surg (although my unit is strictly surgical) and want to progress to ED or ICU (ICU mainly)... How likely is it that I'd be able to do this fairly quick?

If I recall right, pretty high. Also sure they are the ones who kept most of the bonuses etc.

Not going overseas but being stationed at Nellis AFB in Vegas and I'd happily switch!

Do you care to elaborate? I am not afraid of anyone "eating their young" since I strive for greatness and am the type of person to do whatever needs to be done.

Ahhh!!! Travis was my #1 and what I was begging to get. Ended up in Nellis, NV. COT in May. I don't have a facebook but I think I would make one if we had a May COT specific group for us?

Seems like you applied for the NTP program, and were selected for the NTP program. You will be going to the NTP program...I'm not your recruiter so I can't tell you for 100% but really it seems simple. The fully qualified position is a whole different application, deadline, etc. I don't think you just go from being a NTP select to a FQ select just because you worked for a year in the meantime.

You found out? I was selected as Med-Surg and still am waiting to find out my COT, PSC etc....