Any advice on joining the Navy Nuke Program??

[aylin]

Hi guys, I would really appreciate some help here. I am having a hard time deciding whether or not to join the Navy Nuke program, and what route to take if that. My recruiter doesn't know too much about the program so he hasn't helped a whole lot.
Some background info on me:
19 y/o, going to USC for Chemical Engineering (in SC not Cali), current sophomore status with 3.5 GPA.
Got a 99 on the AFQT and qualifying scores for the Nuke program.

An option that my recruiter gave me was the Nuclear Propulsion Plant Operator route. I would go to basic then to A school as either EM, ET, or MM and then in Power School I would be able to apply for STA-21. I've read some questions on here but not all, so PLEASE excuse me if this is a duplicate question.
               
How hard is it to get accepted into STA-21 from this route?
I don't want to go into this program and then not get accepted since my main goal right now is to get my degree out of the way.
And is it a lengthy process?
I've read about all the interviews you have to pass, and then finally you go Washington for the final one. Is this true?
If I do get accepted then go into the officer training pipeline, would I be able to choose another job in the Nuke world or do I have to stick with Plan Operator? I was hoping to be either an Instructor or Reactors Engineer, but it seems that I'd have to go the NUPOC route for that.

I would do NUPOC instead, except I only have one semester of physics and my GPA is not that competitive either.

Also, from you guys' experience, what are the jobs like in the Nuke world? I don't want to be in a submarine since I am very claustrophobic, but the other 4 jobs I would be okay with (Surface Warfare Officer, Naval Reactors Engineer, Navy NPS Instructor or Nuclear Operations).
Like what does each job do, are the people in it generally happy, and are they mentally challenging at all or boring and monotonous?
This question is especially for Nuclear Operator because that's the main one. I just don't want to pick a job that I will hate for 5 years and I don't want to regret it in the long run.
Also, is there enough free time do do what you want to do? Like travel, or just relax.

Lastly, I just want to say THANK YOU in advance; I'm not that smart so if these are common sense questions I apologize.
 
I also want to say that the other option I am considering right now is the Air Guard part time with a job in Avionics, which for some reason doesn't sound as appealing to me.

At first I started looking into the military to just pay for my school but I didn't want to commit to too much time. In that case Air Guard would be the best option. But recently I've started thinking that I don't just want to make a lot of money. Like I don't just want to go to work, get a paycheck, pay my bills and repeat. I want to do something that will give me satisfaction in life, something that will feel rewarding. I'm just hoping that the Navy will give me what I'm looking for in that sense.

[Gamecock]

Call the NROTC unit at USC.  They have a nuclear qualified LT on staff who would be able to actually sit down and talk to you about naval nuclear jobs.

803-777-3451

Cheers,

GC

[spekkio]

...I don't want to go into this program and then not get accepted since my main goal right now is to get my degree out of the way...I would do NUPOC instead, except I only have one semester of physics and my GPA is not that competitive either.

What?

Aside from pursuing NROTC, which you should definitely investigate, you definitely have a GPA that is competitive for NUPOC. You also have enough time to knock out your second physics and calculus course because you need to have at least junior status to get accepted anyway. You could apply later than that (yours truly applied post graduation), you just can't apply any sooner than that.

If your priority is to finish college, then finish college. Once you enlist, the military owns you. Getting a degree while active duty Navy is not a high priority, and as a nuke you will be hard pressed to find the time to do it during your first tour. STA-21 is a highly competitive program and I would not recommend enlisting if that is what you are hanging your hat on doing.

[PercMastaFTW]

You shouldn't enlist "for" STA-21. Think of it as an "extra" you're able to do due to being a nuke. Like previously stated, your only sure-fire route would be complete your degree (or enough credits for NUPOC) and applying then.

I've heard that there may have been a 30% acceptance rate last year. I've also recently heard from a fellow student picked up this year that there were about 300 nukes attempting to apply this year, 100 finished the application, and only about 8 got picked up this year. Of course, you having many credits already would be a nice plus to your application. I haven't looked too much in-depth into STA-21, but this is the very vague and conflicting information I've heard about from others recently.

Edit: Re-read your first question. Yeah, I would not join if getting into STA-21 is your primary purpose... The interviews I've heard of are an interview with 3 lieutenants and a group interview with the CO (mostly for formality).

Edit 2: Yes, it was 30% acceptance rate from nuke school last year.

[Matt]

I am a program manager for the NUPOC program at the Navy Recruiting Command Headquarters and can answer most questions pertaining to the NUPOC program.  I can also speak to STA-21 as I enlisted as a nuke ET and was selected for STA-21.  I am now a submarine officer.

I highly recommend that you join the Navy via the NUPOC program for several reasons, here are a few: 
- All of your time in college counts towards retirement (this is not true for ROTC or Academy, even if they finish 20 years as many people incorrectly believe).  Your time also counts towards pay raises which occur every two years.  So you could commission as on O-1 (Ensign) over 2 years, which is a nice pay bump over all of the other Ensigns and this will result in a decent amount more money made over a career.
- While in college you don't have to participate in any of the ROTC extracurricular activities, such as PT at 6:00 AM 3 days a week (I consider this a huge bonus, others may not).  This allows you to solely focus on your class work and will lead to a higher GPA which is of importance when the time comes to get out the Navy, which eventually happens to all of us.
- While in college your get all of the pays and benefits of an active duty E-6 (you are on active duty and will be issued a military ID) which is around $4080 for you (Base Pay $2380 , BAH $1347, BAS $357), it changes depending on the housing allowance for different zip codes.  And free healthcare with Tricare; to include you, your spouse, and children.  You also get a $15K sign on bonus if you go Fleet (subs or surface) and another $2K after finishing prototype (the second of two 6 month nuclear schools).
- Enlisting with the mindset that you will get picked up for STA-21 is not a good plan as it is ridiculously competitive.  It sounds like a set goal of yours is to get your degree so I would not recommend going that route unless you are willing to take the risk of having to complete it while serving, which is entirely possible but much more challenging.

I haven't met anyone yet who couldn't handle being on a submarine because of space restrictions due to actual claustrophobia.  Many may not prefer it, but like I said I haven't heard of anyone panicking inside a submarine because they thought it was too tight.  If you can handle flying on a commercial jet you will not have an issue.  As such, we require that everyone who joins the program must go on a free trip to San Diego to tour both a submarine and surface ship to allow you to see what you are getting into before you are allowed to join the program.

An engineering major with a 3.5 GPA from any college is competitive for Fleet, so you should be good to go for subs and surface.  That GPA is borderline competitive for Instructor and not really competitive for Engineer.

The basics to join the program for Fleet, have your recruiter refer to the Program Authorization for more detailed information:
1 year of Calculus
1 year of Calculus based Physics
Be within 30 months of graduation
Age limit: 31

We have accepted people into the program who have not yet completed Physics II (for some majors it falls later in their degree plan) but with the understanding that you will complete it before graduation.  You are expected to make A's and B's.  C's are ok if you have a few, but not so much for Inst/Eng.

To get more information about the NUPOC program you need to contact an Officer Recruiter.  The Enlisted Recruiter and ROTC Lieutenant both really have no clue about the specifics of this program.  If you are not able to get into contact with one you can PM me your contact info and I can pass it along to someone who will contact you.

I hope this answers many of your questions, some of your others questions will best be answered during a sit down with an Officer Recruiter.