Army Cadet Accessions - I'm about to get hammered

[Trigger]

Greetings Rangers,

I've had a pretty major curve ball come out of nowhere courtesy of Cadet Command and I'm looking for any advice you all may have to offer.

I'm a 4th year Army ROTC cadet, about to go through the accessions process and receive my branch. I started ROTC as an undergrad, graduated with my BA, and then went into a master's program. Last semester was my first semester in grad school.

I was told by Cadre that for accessions purposes the Army would use my cumulative GPA (both undergraduate and graduate). My undergraduate GPA was a 3.74; which when you consider that GPA is 40% of the rubric used to evaluate cadets on the OML, is very important. 3.74 is above the average GPA for a distinguished military graduate/top 10% cadet.

Today I learned that the Cadet Command will be using just my graduate GPA - just four classes from one semester - as my GPA for accessions purposes. My graduate GPA is a 3.3 - which for purposes of the OML, is an absolute night and day difference between a 3.7. With a 3.7 I was set to be a DMG (Distinguished MIlitary Graduate) and have the ability to get my branch of choice (Infantry). Now I'm going to fall into the "dead zone" on accessions - that top 30% or so where you aren't good enough to get your branch of choice outright and aren't bad enough to fall under that 50% mark where the more desirable branches become available again (If this is confusing, see Ranger Rico's post on accessions tacked at the top of this forum).

This is 180 degrees opposite of what cadre told me last year when I was very specific in asking how grad school would affect my accessions process. I was told that they would take the cumulative GPA between my grad and undergrad. I then embarked into grad school knowing that if I didn't get straight A's, I would still be okay for accessions - as 4 classes/12 units is a drop in the bucket against the 140 units I had from my undergrad at a 3.74 GPA.

I'm trying to find the regulations that govern this process but haven't had success yet. I've found lots of regulations dealing with accessions, but nothing formal that actually states how GPA is calculated for a Cadet in my position. Our civilian employee here who handles the paperwork is, well, fucking clueless. My Lieutenant Colonel has stated he'll "see what he can do" and agrees that I'm getting screwed over. I'm going to meet with him face to face as soon as soon as possible, hopefully today if he has the time.

At this point I'm hoping that this can get sorted out and I can be evaluated with the 3.71 (cumulative between grad and undergrad) GPA that I've earned and that I was instructed I would be assessed on. If that doesn't work out, the S is going to HTF. I'll be exploring all options at that point - everything from National Guard to lateral transfer to the Marine Corps - if it means I could be an Infantry Officer. I mean, I'll still be the best I can be for my future Soldiers whatever branch I end up getting; but I'm going to do absolutely everything within my power to get Infantry. Right now my focus is on having the GPA that I was told would be applied to be the one used.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

- Trigger

[Ranger Bill]

Don't put the cart before the horse. Take one step at a time. Meeting with the LTC in charge of your program may resolve the situation one way or the other. My advice is to ask him about the reference that governs how a GPA in your circumstances is calculated.

[Silverback]

Check this out

[dabeetrus]

deleted

[Trigger]

dabeetrus,

Yes, the accessions process is pretty jacked up to say the least. Had I known that this was how the Army was going to roll on this one, I would've been a communications major for a semester and walked away with a 4.0 for accessions purposes. I really feel for the biology/pre-med/engineer cadets and what not, they get royally fucked in this whole process when they have to compete against criminal justice and communications majors.

I found out that evidently my contract isn't even a valid one - that they're not suppose to put two different scholastic programs (grad and undergrad) on one contract. My PMS has stated that they will still honor the contract/scholarship (oh, how nice of them...not pulling my scholarship because of integrity/competency issues on past cadre's behalf). I'm going to call him today and ask if I can be released from my contract (figuring it's supposedly not even valid) and then go to OCS, as I already have my BA.

We ran my OMS scores yesterday with my original 3.71 GPA and the 3.32 they're going to use now. The PMS thought it would be a good idea, I'm betting he thought there wouldn't be much of a difference and it would calm me down. Nope....would've been top 14% last year and would've received Infantry as a branch without an ADSO all three years that the branch expectation management program shows. Now I'm top 32% and will be throwing the dice with my branch choices. Going to put in for:

1. Infantry (with ADSO) [slim chance]
2. MI branch detail Infantry without ADSO [statistically I could get this, but I don't know about doing a branch detail without an ADSO]
3. MP or FA without ADSO (catcher branch to prevent falling to needs of the Army).

Pretty pissed off right now to say the least....doing my best to channel that anger and hate into something productive.

[PocketKings]

I swear this wasn't the case when I was a cadet. Regardless, that's pretty screwed up.

If you have to do the branch detail thing, do it. Since well over 50% of CPTs punch out after 4-5 years, you might have a shot at staying IN. Or, go SF like a good number of them. Make the best of whatever you get.

[Silverback]

This was my first year of helping with accessions so I am still learning. In the future I would like to help cadets from this site so they know more about the process.

[Trigger]

Ranger RangerTom,

Branch detailing from MI to IN is definitely one of my better options right now. Right now I'm trying to figure out whether or not branch detailing requires an ADSO (my PMS couldn't give me a solid answer so he is going to send that question up to higher).

And yes, definitely a "welcome to the real Army" moment. Our SFC enlisted instructor asked me what was up (he had heard me and the LTC talking about it in the building) and I explained it to him. He responded "Do you drink?". I said "No". He said "Well you should probably think about starting".

[Jim]

The good thing is 80% eligibles make maj and 90% eligibles make LTC so you are coming in at a good time for rank.

Let me give you a harsh reality moment: What you say is true today, but OIF and OEF will not last for more than a few more years. Following Korea and Viet-Nam, we had massive Reductions in Force (RIF), and following Desert Storm we had Selective Early Retirement Boards (SERB) to rebalance the officer corps. Competion for officer promotion will become much more intense a few years from now.

[Trigger]

Ranger Silverback,

If you'd like help with anything OML related, I would be more than happy to help you where I can. I studied my ass off on the OML so that I would know exactly what I needed to do to get my branch AND I've been screwed over by it, so I've experienced quite a few different sides of it.

I'm about to go through accessions in the dreaded "dead zone" (that top ~30% where you can't get your branch outright and you're not low enough to get it on the second pass off the OML either), so I'm about to become really familiar with the whole branch detailing, ADSO, and general volunteering to screw yourself over to get the branch you want thing.

- Trigger

[Silverback]

I'm about to go through accessions in the dreaded "dead zone" (that top ~30% where you can't get your branch outright and you're not low enough to get it on the second pass off the OML either),

- Trigger

I tell everyone that will listen "You're either first or your last"

[PocketKings]

I pretty curious about where this was back in my day. I had a cumulative 3.27 (but was still a DMG), mostly because I dropped a sub 3 my first semester of college (too much soccer). Flash forward to accession time and I'm 30th overall nationally on the OML, which seemed high to me at the time. That semester, my GPA was a 3.93 so maybe it's just a semester that's considered. Maybe people in my day were just dumber, I don't know.

Given some of the mis-truths and mis-representations that I got from my PMS, I can see the confusion. I don't necessarily think they were intentional, but rather, unintentional and misinformed. It'd be nice to gather the ground truth for future bubbas to learn from.

[Rabbit]

I had a sheet somewhere that my PMS showed me of the figures for who got what and the percentile in which they got it. When I get it, I will scan it to you. Good luck!