25F enlisted as a Navy Nuke with a college degree — am I making a mistake by not pursuing officer?
I’m supposed to leave for Navy boot camp soon as a nuke enlisted sailor. I’ve been getting increasingly anxious that I may be making the wrong decision by going enlisted when I potentially could have pursued an officer route.
For some background, I already have a bachelor’s degree in Health. I was also working toward a second bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and I’m literally one class away from finishing it. I had to stop taking that final class so I could focus on preparing for boot camp.
The enlisted package I signed is pretty significant financially. I’m getting a $65,000 enlistment bonus, and the Navy is also offering to pay off my student loans from both of my bachelor’s degrees.
However, the more I research, the more I’m seeing people say that going from enlisted to officer can be extremely difficult and competitive. That has me second-guessing whether I should even be going enlisted in the first place. It also does not help that my recruiter originally told me I would qualify for a few different paths to officer and it was not until I read the op-navist myself that I realized he was wrong. He basically chalked it up to at least all options weren’t off the table
My concern is that I could spend several years as a nuke, perform well, finish my Biochemistry degree, etc., and still have a very difficult time getting selected for an officer program. At the same time, I don’t want to turn down a $65k bonus + student loan repayment chasing an officer path that I may not even be competitive for.
I’m also trying to look at this from a long-term perspective. I’m 25 now, so if I enlist for six years, I’ll be around 31 when I’m getting out.
Idk if it matters but both degrees are with 3.7+ GPA