Nuclear Power School Instructor Questions

[revans87]

I want to be a Nuclear Power School Instructor and have a few questions.

A little background on myself:

-3.42 GPA (last two years) from bloomsburg university of pennsylvania
-b.s. in mathematics
-president of my chapter of the mathematics honor society 09-10 school year
-Ran track and xc in college, I'm in excellent shape
-other awards include dean's list 2 times, scholar athlete, all academic athlete
-I transfered from a private school wear my gpa wasn't that great, only like a 2.8 for my first year and a half
-in the army reserves
-the only other thing that i might have going against me is I got a C in physics 2 and a B- in physics 1, partly due to my instrutors and huge workload i had on top of those classes, However I have mostly A's in my other technical courses, barring 2/3 B+'s
-I was a math tutor during college


Do I have a shot at getting in the instructor program based on the given information?  Also is goose creek a good place to live?  I also wanted someone to look over my motivational statement, would that be more appropriate in a military forum?  Thanks so much.

[HydroDave63]

-the only other thing that i might have going against me is I got a C in physics 2 and a B- in physics 1, mostly due to my a--hole instrutors and huge workload i had on top of those classes, However I have mostly A's in my other technical courses, barring 2/3 B+'s

Persecution complex (not all Nuclear instructors are Welcome Back Kotter). Workload/time management issues (we're talking nuclear frickin' power here).

100 quatloos against

[Gamecock]

100 quatloos against

[revans87]

Sorry didn't mean to offend. 

[spekkio]

I want to be a Nuclear Power School Instructor and have a few questions.

A little background on myself:

-3.42 GPA (last two years) from bloomsburg university of pennsylvania
-b.s. in mathematics
-president of my chapter of the mathematics honor society 09-10 school year
-Ran track and xc in college, I'm in excellent shape
-other awards include dean's list 2 times, scholar athlete, all academic athlete
-I transfered from a private school wear my gpa wasn't that great, only like a 2.8 for my first year and a half
-in the army reserves
-the only other thing that i might have going against me is I got a C in physics 2 and a B- in physics 1, partly due to my instrutors and huge workload i had on top of those classes, However I have mostly A's in my other technical courses, barring 2/3 B+'s
-I was a math tutor during college

Do I have a shot at getting in the instructor program based on the given information?  Also is goose creek a good place to live?  I also wanted someone to look over my motivational statement, would that be more appropriate in a military forum?  Thanks so much.

I can't speak intelligently about your chances for NNPS instructor (no one can unless they are on the selection board, and those people won't post here on the matter). However, here's some advice for whatever profession you choose: lose the "my professor was a *$*@&!# attitude."

When you tell employers that you earned a bad grade because your professor was [insert insult] and because you had a "huge workload," you're really telling them two things:

1) The first part says that you can't accept responsibility for your own actions and work. So if your boss comes to you and says that you need to step up your performance, are you going to blame it on your coworkers? If you are late on an assignment/project/whatever, are you going to blame it on everything else but you?

1a) The first part also says that you might have teamwork issues in the future. You're not going to like everyone you work with, but you still have to build professional relationships to accomplish the task at hand. If you are involved in a team project, are you going to go around calling your coworker names when things don't go your way?

2) The second part says that you have poor time management skills. Guess what? All that stuff you hear on the news about wealthy people not working for their money is patently false, unless you're Paris Hilton. But that's like .01% of wealthy people. Most of them work their butts off to be successful in their fields, and many of them also have a family at home which is a full-time job in itself.

Your post also says that you ran cross country in college. So you had enough time for track, but not enough time to study?

So yea, you might want to think up of a better response to how you earned your C and B- in physics.

[revans87]

Ok so I need a better reason for getting a B-/C in physics, I understand that. And I wouldn't have told any employers that

As a side note yes I did run cross country and track, I would just like to say that anyone would have difficulty juggling running 60 miles a week, being in the army reserve, being president of my honor society, being a math tutor, and taking 18 credits of math/science classes.  So I am a very hard worker, please don't be quick to judge.  By the way if you bothered reading my post you would have saw that I have made the dean's list, was a scholar athlete, and all academic, so yes I had time to study but I'm not perfect.

Anyways if I could get any comments on the questions in my original post besides B-/C in physics that would be great.  Thank you.

[spekkio]

Ok so I need a better reason for getting a B-/C in physics, I understand that. And I wouldn't have told any employers that

As a side note yes I did run cross country and track, I would just like to say that anyone would have difficulty juggling running 60 miles a week, being in the army reserve, being president of my honor society, being a math tutor, and taking 18 credits of math/science classes.  So I am a very hard worker, please don't be quick to judge.  By the way if you bothered reading my post you would have saw that I have made the dean's list, was a scholar athlete, and all academic, so yes I had time to study but I'm not perfect.

Anyways if I could get any comments on the questions in my original post besides B-/C in physics that would be great.  Thank you.

I did read your post; that one line stood out among your accomplishments like a tree in the desert.

The issue isn't whether or not you would tell your employers that, but whether or not you can actually believe it. Since obviously the latter is not the case, it's a sign of something that could be a deeper issue, and many interviewers can tell if you're telling them what they want to hear.

[co60slr]

Ok so I need a better reason for getting a B-/C in physics, I understand that. And I wouldn't have told any employers that

As a side note yes I did run cross country and track, I would just like to say that anyone would have difficulty juggling running 60 miles a week, being in the army reserve, being president of my honor society, being a math tutor, and taking 18 credits of math/science classes.  So I am a very hard worker, please don't be quick to judge.  By the way if you bothered reading my post you would have saw that I have made the dean's list, was a scholar athlete, and all academic, so yes I had time to study but I'm not perfect.

Anyways if I could get any comments on the questions in my original post besides B-/C in physics that would be great.  Thank you.

You don't get to choose what your employers look at.   They don't care about "country and track"....can you solve problems? 

In the nuclear industry, (and any technical industry) your GPA (enlisted, officer, commercial) has a LOT of weight.  I recommend NOT arguing with someone that asks why you only gave "C-" effort.  Your competition did more than you did and got a 4.0 GPA.  (FYI).  So, while one could simply ignore your posting, you have some feedback that you MIGHT consider.   

Don't keep asking the same question until you finally get the answer you're looking for...unless you don't care about the truth.  People are here to help you...not "diss" you.

Good luck.

Co60

[HydroDave63]

Ok so I need a better reason for getting a B-/C in physics, I understand that. And I wouldn't have told any employers that

Considering that you posted that answer here with the luxury of posting at your own pace, vice answering that question with several senior officers eyeballing you in real time ....oh yes you would.

Here's a nuclear power concept: People generally perform how they practice.

As a side note yes I did run cross country and track, I would just like to say that anyone would have difficulty juggling running 60 miles a week, being in the army reserve, being president of my honor society, being a math tutor, and taking 18 credits of math/science classes.  So I am a very hard worker, please don't be quick to judge.  By the way if you bothered reading my post you would have saw that I have made the dean's list, was a scholar athlete, and all academic, so yes I had time to study but I'm not perfect.

By the way, if you had bothered reading any of the reply posts, no one judged you for not being perfect. Spekkio identified some accomplish-the-primary-objective issues, but that was sidestepped for a repeat of the impressive list of activities. By the way, there will be other NPS Instructor applicants with really cool resumes who are also not selected.

Anyways if I could get any comments on the questions in my original post besides B-/C in physics that would be great.  Thank you.

Goose Creek has been covered in other threads, that's a lookup.

Motivational statement review..... there are several officers that read threads like this one. Impress them positively, and who knows they might just read it!

[revans87]

I appreciate the advice, I don't really have a valid reason then as to why I got a C in gen phsyics 2.  Not sure what I'll say when they ask me about that.  I realize there are people smarter than me out there who went to ivy league schools and got 4.0 GPA's.  I also know that there is a huge emphasis on GPA, so will these 2 low grades kill my chances at the position?  What kind of GPA do NPI applicants typically have?  My other technical courses are mostly A's with a few B+'s.

[Gamecock]

What kind of GPA do NPI applicants typically have?  My other technical courses are mostly A's with a few B+'s.

>3.5

[NukeLDO]

Ok so I need a better reason for getting a B-/C in physics, I understand that. And I wouldn't have told any employers that

Maybe you just did.  Who do you think is on this forum?

[IPREGEN]

I don't think anyone enters the Navy with the goal of being an instructor. in Nuke School we had reservist officers, a few from UC Berkley, prototype was staff pick-ups (hold overs from student ranks) and sea returnees. You give your average from the last 2 years, what about all 4? Anyway if you have the time you could probably get there eventually. Maybe things are different now.