I'm a 23 year old Mechanical Engineering student at the Rochester Institute of Technology. I'm graduating with both a Bachelors of Science and a Masters of Engineering in May 2009. And I have a GPA of 3.8. I also have about $54,000 in student loans, both Stafford and private bank.
That info out of the way, I'm seriously considering joining the Navy out of college, with an ultimate goal of becoming a Nuke Officer. I talked to a recruiter today, and he told me the best route would be to enlist first (and he mentioned something about getting in at E-3, and quickly moving to E-4 after boot camp. Not sure I remember that correctly), to qualify for loan repayment, and then after my loans are paid off in about 3 years, apply to become an officer. He said I would be almost guaranteed to be accepted to Officer training with my degree and GPA. I know that he has a quota to fill, and he'll say enlisted is the best way to go pretty much no matter what, but what he said makes some sense.
My question is, is it a better idea for me to enlist first, or should I try to apply to NUPOC directly?