New NUPOC Accessions Website

[BrianScott87]

After an approximately 6 year hiatus, this evening I created a website which will serve as a resource for potential NUPOC applicants.  It will provide an overview of many aspects of the program, answers to FAQs, and links to other resources (such as NukeWorker.com, official Navy sites, etc).  We will still be actively checking NukeWorker.com to address questions/comments/recommendations.

Please reach out to me on here or via the recommendation block on the website with any ideas for improvements you may have.  The link is posted here:


[/size]http://nupocaccessions.blogspot.com/

[Rennhack]

Some advice:  Remove the "**** Website is currently under Construction ****" text.

[Gamecock]

Hopefully you will refrain from putting actual NR interview questions on your blog. 

[BrianScott87]

Rennhack - Fair point.  While the "under construction" point is true, there's no need to be repetitive about it! 

Gamecock - Correct.  We will put study areas and links to resources such as Khan Academy, but not specific questions that were asked by the Engineers at NR.

[BrianScott87]

Appreciate the feedback.  Please check back in periodically as it gets built out and provide more recommendations.

[BrianScott87]

New post on website - -  explaining why NUPOC is a compelling offering to exceptional college students and graduates.

[spekkio]

The majority of your post centers around military pay/benefits and military leadership experience, which are not exclusive to NUPOC or the submarine community. The only thing exclusive to NUPOC is the up to 30 months of pay while completing your undergrad degree.

Also, your statement that you can double your money every 8 years from compound interest is misleading. It's overly optimistic and doesn't account for the stochastic nature of the market, e.g. 100 * 0.91 * 1.18 =/= 100 * 1.09 * 1.09.

[BrianScott87]

Spekkio,

No argument on the leadership and pay/benefits existing across Unrestricted Line officer communities (though some big differences in the nature of the leadership and responsibility that you would have).  I suppose the thrust of the argument is that NUPOC is a uniquely appealing means of entry to get all of those benefits, and allows you to do this while heavily utilizing one's technical background assuming that is something the applicant desires.  I intended to highlight (briefly) some of the uniquely technical aspects of the job vs conventional SWO or Pilot without getting into the weeds. In most cases (based on my anecdotal experience and that of my peers) the alternatives that NUPOC applicants are considering are civilian Engineering firms and not other Military Officer positions, so in this light I think the discussion of benefits is relevant to their considerations. Any recommendations on things to add either to that post or separately in a future post would be appreciated --- either drop them here or shoot me a private message.

On the compound interest note, my point was simply to highlight the importance and value of saving early in one's life and the impact that compounding growth would have, not to suggest that you'll definitely get those same returns.  I'll put a quick note in there to highlight that point, but even if you were to say the average return was ~7% you'd still be looking at compounding every 10 years which would give you just shy of 5 doubles during that time period.

I appreciate your comments and hope you'll continue to check in on the site and provide input.

[BrianScott87]

Gamecock -- I just realized what (I think) you were referring to in your post.  The FAQ's I referred to in the original post here were questions related to the application process, which from the perspective of an applicant can seem extremely opaque, particularly if their recruiter is either new or otherwise not as knowledgeable or proactive as they should be. 

[Gamecock]

Gamecock -- I just realized what (I think) you were referring to in your post.  The FAQ's I referred to in the original post here were questions related to the application process, which from the perspective of an applicant can seem extremely opaque, particularly if their recruiter is either new or otherwise not as knowledgeable or proactive as they should be. 

I almost always asked the exact same questions when I conducted my interviews. 

I remember seeing the  questions I asked on the old blog. 

It made me mad.

Cheers,

GC

[BrianScott87]

GC,

I don't blame you.  Our intent is maximum preparedness, not "pre-alertment".  I hope to provide more resources in the future to help applicants who are looking for study material that will match up with the subject areas that are asked frequently, but we not be putting up "gouge" at any point (Really "A Message to Garcia" should probably apply here, but going the extra yard).  When you say the old blog, do you mean the previous NUPOC blog that went defunct circa 2011? 

Best,
Brian

[Gamecock]

  When you say the old blog, do you mean the previous NUPOC blog that went defunct circa 2011? 

Best,
Brian

Yes. 

[spekkio]

No argument on the leadership and pay/benefits existing across Unrestricted Line officer communities (though some big differences in the nature of the leadership and responsibility that you would have).  I suppose the thrust of the argument is that NUPOC is a uniquely appealing means of entry to get all of those benefits, and allows you to do this while heavily utilizing one's technical background assuming that is something the applicant desires.  I intended to highlight (briefly) some of the uniquely technical aspects of the job vs conventional SWO or Pilot without getting into the weeds. In most cases (based on my anecdotal experience and that of my peers) the alternatives that NUPOC applicants are considering are civilian Engineering firms and not other Military Officer positions, so in this light I think the discussion of benefits is relevant to their considerations. Any recommendations on things to add either to that post or separately in a future post would be appreciated --- either drop them here or shoot me a private message.

The technical aspect of the job is something that you can include, but the majority of your blog entry is dedicated to explaining general military pay and benefits. I came away from reading it that the main thrust of your sales pitch is that the money is good. While that is true, I think you could do a much better job selling the position of a sub officer or SWO nuke specifically.

On the compound interest note, my point was simply to highlight the importance and value of saving early in one's life and the impact that compounding growth would have, not to suggest that you'll definitely get those same returns.  I'll put a quick note in there to highlight that point, but even if you were to say the average return was ~7% you'd still be looking at compounding every 10 years which would give you just shy of 5 doubles during that time period.

You're still missing the point. You can't use the average and say your money will double every 10 years because there are times where you will succumb to losses. As I said before, 100 * 1.14 * .93 =/= 100 * 1.07 * 1.07. Both are 7% average gains, but you will have more money at the end of case 2 than in case one.

[BrianScott87]

Taking on board your recommendation re: selling the actual job.  I'll either edit or include a discussion in a future post.

I understand your point re: compound interest.  Still, regardless of how you calculate the numbers, looking at the progression of money invested over a long period of time shows remarkable growth and even if the returns are erratic it is important to start early.  There's also a survivorship bias inherent in looking at US Stock returns which I'm not oblivious to.  It's really immaterial to the broader post, but finance is a major interest area for me and a lot of people never have this sort of thing explained to them. 

[BrianScott87]

I calculated a profile of NUPOC Accessions (those accepted) through the last interview.  It is on the website, but here's a glimpse:

Total Accessions:
146


SAT Scores:
Math:
Median -710
Mean -691
Interquartile Range - 650 - 730


Verbal:
Median - 630
Mean - 632
Interquartile Range - 560 - 690

GPA:
Median - 3.56
Mean - 3.53
Interquartile Range - 3.28 - 3.72

Major / Course of Study:
Mechanical Engineering - 41
Chemical Engineering - 24
Physics - 16
Chemistry - 8
Aerospace Engineering - 8
Mathematics - 6
Materials Engineering - 5
Electrical Engineering - 5
All Other - 33