Hey, guys, welcome back to space nerd confessions. I’m Cynthia, and today I’m going to be talking about officer training school, otherwise known as OTS. More specifically, I’m going to be talking about the application process for both military and civilians. Before I get started, I want to mention that OTS is a very fluid process. By that I mean it can change year to year or even board to board.
So considering this, I’m going to help give some information that’s been pretty consistent throughout the OTS application process. Also, I was able to work with the CGO, or company grade officer of officer recessions, which there are only three in the Air force. So a lot of the information that I have came straight from the source. All right, so for step one is to find a recruiter, and this only applies to the civilian side of the house. So I know a lot of people have difficulty getting a hold of a recruiter.
And for the officer accession side of the house, there are only approximately 150. And that may seem like a lot, but they get spread pretty thin pretty quickly, especially during the time of the year. The boards, which I’ll discuss a little bit later in my video, but by keeping that in consideration, the average timeline from day one, meeting an air Force recruiter and then finally stepping foot on the OTS campus, it could be about a 16 to 18 month process, but that’s not really on the recruiter side. There’s just a lot of steps in between and there’s a lot of waiting time during those steps. So considering that there’s a lot of wait time in this 16 to 18 month window, it could be anywhere from the recruiter, it could be from MTF, could be waiting for a class date, or even just the board dates that can maybe come once, twice, or three times a year.
I’ve also had multiple questions about the civilian interview process and the CGO. The officer of sessions did give me a few words of advice to share with you guys. So there are a few things that they’re really looking for at this interview. So overall, they’re looking for individuals that can carry themselves well, that are professional in manner, that are influential, well spoken. Most of all, they’re really looking to see how prepared you are for this interview, where you’re able to talk about your leadership experiences and what sets you apart as a leader and why you would be a great leader in the Air Force.
So the next phase of the OTS application process is to build that application itself. And I’m not going to lie, it’s definitely overwhelming there’s a lot of information that goes into this application profile, but by simply understanding what goes in this application and understanding the significance of each portion of this application, then it seems doable. Overall, the application really resembles a resume. So you’ll have your career achievements in there, your personal achievements, your education background, and your work experience. Also on there you’re going to have any law violations.
So if you got a speeding ticket or parking ticket, you’ll also have that in your application. The application process also requires letter of recommendation. And on the military side of the house, you only can submit one and it can’t be signed by anyone higher than your senior raider. So that would be the wing commander in my opinion. Based on personal experience, I recommend that the letter of recommendations to be written by officers.
They typically kind of have their own secret language and they usually translate better to the officer. The six board for the OTS application, it’s definitely not a requirement, but it will give you a stronger letter of recommendation. And on the civilian side of the house, you can have up to five letter recommendations and that can pretty much be anyone except for immediate family. Next on the agenda, AfLQT scores. Everybody’s favorite.
I know it definitely wasn’t for me. This one, you’re not going to really like the answer to it, but there’s not an exact answer or exact score that they’re looking for. This application process is just extremely competitive. And so there’s been boards where the average is in the. There’s been boards that the average is in the high ninety s and it could just really fluctuate.
So it’s very important to understand that the entire application is in a composite score. So it’s an average of everything that you have to offer. So maybe you can’t get extremely high AfoqT scores, but if you have a high GPA or have a high demand degree, or if you have really great leadership experience, then it will help offset that AfoQt score. So don’t be focused on only that. The OTS application also will require some other miscellaneous documentation, such as your transcripts or military award certifications, and also gives you a chance to tell your story.
You get like about a page of describing why you want to become an officer and this is where you get to have a voice. The portions that are weighed the most in the OTS application is going to be that GPA, what your degree is in. So right now the air force is really looking for stem degrees. And then lastly, those AFOQ scores. All right, so now that you have a recruiter for the civilians, and then now for military and civilians, you have your application put together.
The next step is to apply for board. It is extremely important for you to be familiar with the upcoming board dates. Like I mentioned previously, there are a lot of pieces to the puzzle. So you want to ensure that every piece is accomplished in time for the board. Also, the boards can fluctuate themselves.
So there can be boards that are for rated positions only, or it could be a blend of rated and non rated. There’s also been boards where it’s military and civilian applicants, and then there’s also been boards where it’s military or civilian only. So being familiar with what type of board you need to apply for and when it is is very vital. I feel like it’s also important for me to note that the boards are really dependent on the air force’s needs. And I know a lot of people don’t like that answer.
But the number of recruits or the percentage selection can vary depending on how many officers or how many positions the air force needs. And unfortunately, this is where the Air Force can be as picky as looking to fill specific jobs or potentially only looking for specific types of degrees. What’s the. So what? How can you help me build a stronger package?
What can I do to set myself up for success for my OTS application? I got you. So in my experience, and in my opinion, education is huge. Education plays a very big role in your application profile and you can do so much with it. One thing to know is that stem degrees are hot, hot, hot right now.
Secondly, bachelor’s degree is a minimum requirement for the OTS package. So what are you going to do to set yourself apart from your peers that are applying? Everybody that’s applying has that bachelor’s degree. So what’s going to make your package even stronger? And I’m not saying that I’m expecting for everybody to go get a PhD, but if you are waiting for the next board, or maybe you applied for a board and you didn’t get in and you’re waiting for the next board, or if you’re waiting for a couple pieces to your puzzle, to your application, in the meantime, just knock out a couple master’s classes.
The Air Force is really looking for people that are self motivated and have those natural leadership skills. So by continuing your education and not just putting that bare minimum, that’ll make you have a stronger package. For those that are stressed about the AFLQT, there’s a lot of different sources that you can use to help study for or even do practice tests. So I definitely recommend taking advantage of those resources. But most importantly, at the end of the day, it’s just a numbers game.
For the OTS program. You may be more than qualified for the OTS program, but maybe that board or even that fiscal year is just completely saturated. So don’t give up. Keep applying and keep improving yourself to make your application stronger than before. For those that were curious about ots, I’ll just give it a quick summary, but it’s an eight week training and it’s kind of a blend of basic training, tech school and airmen leadership school.
For the basic training piece, we get lovely wake up calls at 430 in the morning. We also are in charge of keeping our dorms very pristinely clean. And then there is also a lot of marching. So kind of a lot of similar attributes that you would see in basic training. For tech school.
It’s similar because it’s kind of broken up into phases. So once you first get there, you kind of get all your freedoms taken away. That includes coffee, cell phones, civilian clothes. So similar to tech school, you have to earn your freedom back over time. And the last piece, like I said, it’s very similar to airmen leadership school or also known as ALS, which is the required training from e four to e five to become an NCO.
The majority of OTS is spent in the classroom and it really mirrors the ALS curriculum. And for those that asked about the space Force in OTS, they are currently building a team as we speak to work with the officer assessions into the Space Force. And right now there’s no clear cut answer how to commission into the Space Force. But as soon as I get any information, I’ll get that to you. I also wanted to make a huge shout out for my viewers and subscribers.
Thanks to you guys, I was able to hit two of my goals for my YouTube channel with my first one being hitting over 1000 views on my last video. And then my second goal was to hit 100 subscribers on my YouTube channel, which right now I’m at 106 and I’m really excited and thankful for that. As I mentioned in previous videos, please comment with any questions that you may have and it could be about the air Force or the Space Force or anything in general. Your questions guide my videos. I’m here to help.
Thank you for watching my video and we’ll see you next time on space nerd confessions. Say bye.