eyesight waiver?

[danuke]

Hi everyone,
    I will be graduating from college in a couple of months (UC Berkeley, physics/astronomy double major, 3.0 GPA) and am considering enlisting in the nuclear program. My main concern right now is my vision: left eye -8.5, right eye -7.0. I read on one of the forums that the minimum requirement is -8.0. What are the chances that i can get a waiver for this? I showed my recruiter the result for the eye exam and he just told me to let the MEPS people can find out for themselves when i get tested. If i do end up failing the vision part of the physical does that prevent me from joining the navy all together or do i get to choose some other rating that has a lower requirement (currently debating between nuke and corpsman)?

[My Moratorium]

Hello danuke!

  I did a search for "vision waiver" up at the top, and it seems the only disqualifying thing related to vision is failing the colorblindness test. You could probably get a waiver for that. The Navy provides waivers for just about anything.

  On a different note, you said you are going to have a degree and you want to enlist in the nuclear program. Most enlisted do not have a college degree. Why not apply for Officer Candidate School instead?

//edit: Ask Gamecock about what to do...

[Gamecock]

Hello danuke!

   I did a search for "vision waiver" up at the top, and it seems the only disqualifying thing related to vision is failing the colorblindness test. You could probably get a waiver for that. The Navy provides waivers for just about anything.

   On a different note, you said you are going to have a degree and you want to enlist in the nuclear program. Most enlisted do not have a college degree. Why not apply for the Nuclear Propulsion Officer Candidate Program instead??? That way you can make officer without being enlisted.

NUPOC program's website: http://www.navy.com/nuclear/program/

Ummm....

Don't give advice if you don't know what you are talking about (and, in case you are wondering, you don't know what you are talking about).

1.  The waiver process is on a case by case basis...so don't tell someone he is likely to get a waiver unless you are familiar with his entire package.

2.  There are lots of enlisted nukes that have a college degree.

3.  A 3.0 GPA is not be good enough to get into the NUPOC program (not at this time anyway).


Cheers,
GC