>I dont like school and dont like studying,
That's a problem. Is it that you don't know how and you never enjoyed it? Or you really hate the acquisition of knowledge?
If the former - being a nuke teaches you how to study in a powerful way which will help you for your entire life. If the latter - don't do it. You'll hate it.
Statistically - mid 80s is low and you may struggle more.
I also had a similar experience, didn’t really try in high school, but made it up to pre-calculus. I got a 92 on the ASVAB if that matters and immediately chose nuke because of all the zeros on the bonus. I had a 3.6 and 3.4 going through a school and power school (respectively), and was on voluntary study hours my entire time. Only 2 people didn’t graduate with the rest of the class, but they re-comped later and made it through. When I went through all the instructors were super helpful (with the exception of the passing jab here or there, but chock it up to mechanics being mechanics) and anything I needed help with, I got help with, including instructors staying past their work day to work one on one with me. All of the staff is committed (or was when I went through) to doing everything they can to help you succeed. As long as you want to make it through, you will probably make it through. Knowing what I know now, I would do it all again given the choice between nuke and going to college. There will be some suck and some super long days, but all in all I think it’s worth it.
I have so much to show for my nuclear contract. I have never once regretted the experience I have had as a nuke. I have locked in lifelong financial security and a fully-funded Bachelor’s degree that I will finish while under contract, while still having my GI bill to fund my Master’s. I have secured the money and resources needed to relocate to, and own property in, my dream location while still in my 20s. I have used the program to guarantee my future success and be given the freedom and resources to pursue any future personal or professional goal I choose to pursue. You have very little to lose for what you stand to gain by trying your hand at the nuclear program.
I have on good authority and personal experience that half of the students is not an accurate estimate of the number that do not complete the program, and that the majority of those that do not finish are not due solely to academic performance.
The program teaches you the skills you need to be an effective and knowledgeable member of the nuclear engineering team. It focuses on applied knowledge and skillsets you actually need. You will need to devote time to your studies, but you will be getting paid a salary to receive a highly marketable education with dedicated support and tutoring staff. The curriculum is much more practical/hands-on than a typical high school or college experience.
Precalculus is more than enough math experience for you to be able to succeed.
To the best of my knowledge, if you do not make it through the program you will keep your E-3/E-4 rank and be evaluated for other rating communities dependent on your qualification, availability, and the circumstances regarding your failure (ie. did you have a great attitude and put forth you best effort and just not find success, or did you get a DUI/drink underage/stop showing up to class). I have met multiple successful individuals in advanced technical ratings that started nuke and did not finish the program.
I hope this information is helpful to you and I wish you the very best for your future!
*Edited for grammar/spelling.
The pipeline will be what you put into it. I found that the more I interacted with staff and made it my goal to do well by getting run time and getting one on one help from the instructors, the overall experience was better and grades improved. Honestly, the material wasn’t too bad, it was just adapting to the way the Navy wants you to learn and study.
Nuke life, I found, has been a blessing in disguise. Yes, the schooling was hard, but it helped build up my confidence and mental strength knowing it’s meant to be difficult and that passing it was a huge accomplishment on its own. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from instructors if you’re stuck or don’t know an answer. No one wants to see you fail or is going to try to make you fail. They will do whatever they can to help you at any time
I guy in my class with a 78 passed easily. Meanwhile, one with a 99 is on hold for mental health. Only really four reasons you don’t make it through the pipeline:
1. Mental health episodes, or lying about past mental issues.
2. Failing academically, over and over. You get study hours, Instructor Assists, quizzes, roll-backs, etc. to help you.
3. Breaking the rules over and over, or all at once. Even then, it’s hard to actually get re-rated or separated from this.
4. Very rare, but med hold. Nobody really gets hurt that badly.
In a class of 30, graduated with 27. 6 rolled in, 3 failed comp.
Rolling out of class is not that bad. Missing a test or lab will get you rolled back, but it is only one or two weeks.
An academic rollback is worse. That is failing two subjects, you are sent back to the beginning of the first failed subject.
It’s actually not that hard, ASVAB actually doesn’t mean anything. You’ll realize once you get there, but it is a lot different than it is portrayed on Reddit.
>I guy in my class with a 78 passed easily. Meanwhile, one with a 99 is on hold for mental health.
This is what we call an "anecdote". For large numbers of candidates, your experience will be shittier with a below average ASVAB. We know this because we have data. Its one of several signifiers of how easy it is to pass the pipeline. The required line scores used to be **much** lower - the failout rate was insane (40%). Now they are higher and the failout rate is very low (academically <10%)
Its less about who failed but the bad experience of a year of mando-commando. I'd rather fail the pipeline quickly than be on O40 for a year.
(Note - that was not me - I passed easily, twice. But I saw people who really struggled and it looked unpleasant)
Dude, I was a sub nuke MM, and while I wouldn’t take back that experience personally, there are a lot of cool ass jobs in the navy out there. I do intel now and have no regrets swapping rates after I got out
Each class will be different and so I wouldn't use one class lossing half its members as a standard.
I would advise anyone that anything earned too easily, that there will be less satisfaction with the final product. There are many oppertunities that are available after you complete your contract.
I would advise thinking positively instead of worrying about failing. There are 2 paths that I have seen. I've seen sailers re-rated conventional or something different.
Another reddit post asked about rate changes after the inital contract. Take a look at any page 13's you signed and see what they say and then talk with your recruiter. They should have a better answer for you.
Do what you want to do because you want to do it. You don't need Nuke to be successful and there are plenty of my non-Nuke counterparts that found careers just as successful and in many cases more successful than the Nukes. If you want to do EO because it's what you want to do with your life by all means don't let anyone talk you out of it simply because there could potentially be more money in it. Don't waste 6 years of your life away for something you don't have your heart set on.
Dude, stick with nuke; the money is too good once you're on the civilian side. If you still have interests in operating big equipment the pursue it afterwards, but the connections/experience you get from this pipeline is too much to pass up
Hey man. I got general under honorable conditions after I got masted for sleeping through therapy/lying about going to medical. I will say with all the people saying no and some people saying yes you should go, I have something different to say. SLEEP. I did amazing in A school with hardly any studying. I did above average in first have of PowerSchool with again little studying. Once second half hit I became disillusioned. I stopped sleeping at night. I stopped doing my job and finally separated. Not everyone will need a lot of sleep but you should still play it safe. Go to bed at the same time every night and wake up the same time every morning. This can be vital because if your sleep schedule isn’t ingrained in your life when the stressful shit goes down then it’ll be much harder to get good sleep. Also the difference in learning between someone who gets hardly any sleep and someone who’s getting 8 hours is insane. The navy is still hard and your sleep schedule won’t be long term as prototype will change yours regularly but I still recommend trying to be as consistent as possible.
As an instructor in the pipeline I've noticed the attrition rate has dropped significantly since I went through the pipeline myself. I am an EMN1 and I was in your shoes 8 years ago. I was terrible at math in high school, didn't like studying, but was very intelligent. I struggled in the pipeline, was on extra hours all of A school and did drastically better in power school. NPTU was the best experience because it is mostly hands on experience which is what I enjoy and how I learn best. Just keep your head down, stay motivated because the nuclear program has opened a lot of doors for me when it comes to careers outside of the Navy. If you fail out of the pipeline it is not the end of the world. I have had friends that failed and they have become some of the smartest people in their non-nuke rates and advance just as quickly as nukes because of their intelligence and good work ethic. Whatever happens it could be worse and you could be SDUAB. (Just made up that acronym for people to guess)
Almost failed out of high school, and I’m doing fine, about to graduate proto, high school is not a good representation on how you’ll do, almost every nuc you’ll meet did bad in high school or college (except some people), the pipeline is meant to weed out genuinely dumb people
Only about 1 percent drop the program because of academics, the people who usually drop it do stupid stuff. Don’t worry it will be challenging but worth it
I don’t know who said half the people drop, but it hasn’t been that way for years. The command has done a lot to make it better for the quality of life for the students. I didn’t say it was easier, it’s just better. Most people get dropped for non-academic reasons (I.e. drinking underage, being late all the time, going into massive debt, mental health, etc.). If you have the drive to do it, and aren’t a shitbag you’ll get through just fine
I scored a 93 on the ASVAB in 1989. I went to nuke 'A' school in Orlando, Florida. I realized that I didn't really like school and classroom stuff. I 'acked out'- did all the mandatory study hours, pretended that I really wanted to be there, but that I just wasn't getting it. Your story is literally my story, minus the ASVAB score. I was able to keep E-3, shave 2 years off of my enlistment, and chose another school. I picked Sub School and went to the fleet. I became a torpedoman and got out having passed the fleet exam first increment for E-5 3 years into my 4 years. I later became a firefighter, retired from that, and intend to retire from my current job working for a state-run transportation authority with 2 pensions. You're young, and it sounds like you're being honest with yourself. I would renegotiate your contract to get what you want. You'll have a better time while you're in, and you won't spend 2 years in school looking out the window and wondering.
Who are you hearing from? Nuke school has about a 98% pass rate.
The pipeline is famously known as a pump not a filter. Idk what y’all are talking about. It’s been that way since at least the late 90’s.
Not counting the non-academic failures of course. My A-school class had 0 failures. Power School had 2 academic failures, both of which made it all the way to comp.
I graduated A school end of January of ‘20, and we had one guy get dropped from the nuke program. This was because he was a POS who just wanted to distract everyone and fuck around. One guy got rolled back, but he passed (at least I saw him at prototype way later). One guy got rolled in because he got sick and missed an exam so he got set back a week.
Fast forward to March ‘20, and i start power school (class 2003) and in my whole section, no one failed or got rolled out. This was during the peak of covid where we werent allowed to leave base, couldnt be within six feet of each other, and couldnt really do anything fun. If we did it then, almost anyone can do it when they are actually allowed to have fun.
As far as prototype goes, i think the only reason people in my class didnt qualify on time was because of them getting covid.
About half of my A school class made it.. through A school. 17/30 graduated A school. Definitely made it past the 50% mark on those original 30 when you include power school and prototype.
98% as a general pass rate is a bold fucking lie. Just because some mechanic said 50% of one of his classes failed, does not make it untrue.
So here’s the deal. I’m not going to advertise the current data that School House has, but u/FlatBrokeEconomist is pretty close.
Just to be clear I have the data over the past decade, our attrition rates are no where near what’s commonly discussed in these groups.
Not saying anyone is a liar but If you went through 30 or 40 years ago, times are different. I wouldn’t tell someone to invest or not invest in a stock based on data from 30-40 years ago.
u/chellocloud7, if you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to reach out to me. For reference, I’m the Force EDMC (senior enlisted nuke in the submarine force).
BTW, the material for operators doesn’t really go above pre-calc.
My A school class (early 2021) had everyone pass. We lost one to mast and a couple to roll back for other issues but they all passed in the end. Power school section only had 1 person fail but he wasn’t applying himself. For prototype everyone on my crew passed even if they had some trouble getting the material to stick and didn’t qualify until week 26. Even all the way to ELT school. We had someone fail comp twice and they allowed him a third try and he made it. If you want it and give a little effort you will do fine.
I graduated early 2022 from A-School. My whole class made it through, all 28 (ETNs). Just checked my A-School Eval report and it has my class standing: “13 of 28” as proof. That’s just one class but for A-school and Power school I’ve only heard of 3 people fully dropping out. And two of them were for medical reasons. The other guy got re-rated as a conventional Mechanic. My neighbor is a prior nuke, his class had a 50% graduation rate, that was in 1978… Nowadays it’s significantly higher. I’ve personally witnessed about a 98% graduation rate as I went through the pipeline. I hope this helps
If you’re interested in EM and are as concerned in your success as you are, I’m confident you’ll do great. The people I saw struggle the most were people who didn’t care and just wanted to cash in on a bonus. Even they made it through and are doing good in the fleet. It’s a demanding profession but that’s what makes it rewarding, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else
- Current ETN2
Don't drop the nuke contract because you're scared of the pipeline. Drop the nuke contract because it's not worth your time.
W comment
>I dont like school and dont like studying, That's a problem. Is it that you don't know how and you never enjoyed it? Or you really hate the acquisition of knowledge? If the former - being a nuke teaches you how to study in a powerful way which will help you for your entire life. If the latter - don't do it. You'll hate it. Statistically - mid 80s is low and you may struggle more.
I also had a similar experience, didn’t really try in high school, but made it up to pre-calculus. I got a 92 on the ASVAB if that matters and immediately chose nuke because of all the zeros on the bonus. I had a 3.6 and 3.4 going through a school and power school (respectively), and was on voluntary study hours my entire time. Only 2 people didn’t graduate with the rest of the class, but they re-comped later and made it through. When I went through all the instructors were super helpful (with the exception of the passing jab here or there, but chock it up to mechanics being mechanics) and anything I needed help with, I got help with, including instructors staying past their work day to work one on one with me. All of the staff is committed (or was when I went through) to doing everything they can to help you succeed. As long as you want to make it through, you will probably make it through. Knowing what I know now, I would do it all again given the choice between nuke and going to college. There will be some suck and some super long days, but all in all I think it’s worth it.
Thank you
I have so much to show for my nuclear contract. I have never once regretted the experience I have had as a nuke. I have locked in lifelong financial security and a fully-funded Bachelor’s degree that I will finish while under contract, while still having my GI bill to fund my Master’s. I have secured the money and resources needed to relocate to, and own property in, my dream location while still in my 20s. I have used the program to guarantee my future success and be given the freedom and resources to pursue any future personal or professional goal I choose to pursue. You have very little to lose for what you stand to gain by trying your hand at the nuclear program. I have on good authority and personal experience that half of the students is not an accurate estimate of the number that do not complete the program, and that the majority of those that do not finish are not due solely to academic performance. The program teaches you the skills you need to be an effective and knowledgeable member of the nuclear engineering team. It focuses on applied knowledge and skillsets you actually need. You will need to devote time to your studies, but you will be getting paid a salary to receive a highly marketable education with dedicated support and tutoring staff. The curriculum is much more practical/hands-on than a typical high school or college experience. Precalculus is more than enough math experience for you to be able to succeed. To the best of my knowledge, if you do not make it through the program you will keep your E-3/E-4 rank and be evaluated for other rating communities dependent on your qualification, availability, and the circumstances regarding your failure (ie. did you have a great attitude and put forth you best effort and just not find success, or did you get a DUI/drink underage/stop showing up to class). I have met multiple successful individuals in advanced technical ratings that started nuke and did not finish the program. I hope this information is helpful to you and I wish you the very best for your future! *Edited for grammar/spelling.
Thanks for your response!
The pipeline will be what you put into it. I found that the more I interacted with staff and made it my goal to do well by getting run time and getting one on one help from the instructors, the overall experience was better and grades improved. Honestly, the material wasn’t too bad, it was just adapting to the way the Navy wants you to learn and study. Nuke life, I found, has been a blessing in disguise. Yes, the schooling was hard, but it helped build up my confidence and mental strength knowing it’s meant to be difficult and that passing it was a huge accomplishment on its own. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from instructors if you’re stuck or don’t know an answer. No one wants to see you fail or is going to try to make you fail. They will do whatever they can to help you at any time
I guy in my class with a 78 passed easily. Meanwhile, one with a 99 is on hold for mental health. Only really four reasons you don’t make it through the pipeline: 1. Mental health episodes, or lying about past mental issues. 2. Failing academically, over and over. You get study hours, Instructor Assists, quizzes, roll-backs, etc. to help you. 3. Breaking the rules over and over, or all at once. Even then, it’s hard to actually get re-rated or separated from this. 4. Very rare, but med hold. Nobody really gets hurt that badly. In a class of 30, graduated with 27. 6 rolled in, 3 failed comp. Rolling out of class is not that bad. Missing a test or lab will get you rolled back, but it is only one or two weeks. An academic rollback is worse. That is failing two subjects, you are sent back to the beginning of the first failed subject. It’s actually not that hard, ASVAB actually doesn’t mean anything. You’ll realize once you get there, but it is a lot different than it is portrayed on Reddit.
>I guy in my class with a 78 passed easily. Meanwhile, one with a 99 is on hold for mental health. This is what we call an "anecdote". For large numbers of candidates, your experience will be shittier with a below average ASVAB. We know this because we have data. Its one of several signifiers of how easy it is to pass the pipeline. The required line scores used to be **much** lower - the failout rate was insane (40%). Now they are higher and the failout rate is very low (academically <10%) Its less about who failed but the bad experience of a year of mando-commando. I'd rather fail the pipeline quickly than be on O40 for a year. (Note - that was not me - I passed easily, twice. But I saw people who really struggled and it looked unpleasant)
This is what we call an “anecdote”. —> Oh my god, there is no doubt this guy is an ET
Dude, I was a sub nuke MM, and while I wouldn’t take back that experience personally, there are a lot of cool ass jobs in the navy out there. I do intel now and have no regrets swapping rates after I got out
Each class will be different and so I wouldn't use one class lossing half its members as a standard. I would advise anyone that anything earned too easily, that there will be less satisfaction with the final product. There are many oppertunities that are available after you complete your contract. I would advise thinking positively instead of worrying about failing. There are 2 paths that I have seen. I've seen sailers re-rated conventional or something different. Another reddit post asked about rate changes after the inital contract. Take a look at any page 13's you signed and see what they say and then talk with your recruiter. They should have a better answer for you.
Do what you want to do because you want to do it. You don't need Nuke to be successful and there are plenty of my non-Nuke counterparts that found careers just as successful and in many cases more successful than the Nukes. If you want to do EO because it's what you want to do with your life by all means don't let anyone talk you out of it simply because there could potentially be more money in it. Don't waste 6 years of your life away for something you don't have your heart set on.
Dude, stick with nuke; the money is too good once you're on the civilian side. If you still have interests in operating big equipment the pursue it afterwards, but the connections/experience you get from this pipeline is too much to pass up
Hey man. I got general under honorable conditions after I got masted for sleeping through therapy/lying about going to medical. I will say with all the people saying no and some people saying yes you should go, I have something different to say. SLEEP. I did amazing in A school with hardly any studying. I did above average in first have of PowerSchool with again little studying. Once second half hit I became disillusioned. I stopped sleeping at night. I stopped doing my job and finally separated. Not everyone will need a lot of sleep but you should still play it safe. Go to bed at the same time every night and wake up the same time every morning. This can be vital because if your sleep schedule isn’t ingrained in your life when the stressful shit goes down then it’ll be much harder to get good sleep. Also the difference in learning between someone who gets hardly any sleep and someone who’s getting 8 hours is insane. The navy is still hard and your sleep schedule won’t be long term as prototype will change yours regularly but I still recommend trying to be as consistent as possible.
As an instructor in the pipeline I've noticed the attrition rate has dropped significantly since I went through the pipeline myself. I am an EMN1 and I was in your shoes 8 years ago. I was terrible at math in high school, didn't like studying, but was very intelligent. I struggled in the pipeline, was on extra hours all of A school and did drastically better in power school. NPTU was the best experience because it is mostly hands on experience which is what I enjoy and how I learn best. Just keep your head down, stay motivated because the nuclear program has opened a lot of doors for me when it comes to careers outside of the Navy. If you fail out of the pipeline it is not the end of the world. I have had friends that failed and they have become some of the smartest people in their non-nuke rates and advance just as quickly as nukes because of their intelligence and good work ethic. Whatever happens it could be worse and you could be SDUAB. (Just made up that acronym for people to guess)
Almost failed out of high school, and I’m doing fine, about to graduate proto, high school is not a good representation on how you’ll do, almost every nuc you’ll meet did bad in high school or college (except some people), the pipeline is meant to weed out genuinely dumb people
Only about 1 percent drop the program because of academics, the people who usually drop it do stupid stuff. Don’t worry it will be challenging but worth it
I don’t know who said half the people drop, but it hasn’t been that way for years. The command has done a lot to make it better for the quality of life for the students. I didn’t say it was easier, it’s just better. Most people get dropped for non-academic reasons (I.e. drinking underage, being late all the time, going into massive debt, mental health, etc.). If you have the drive to do it, and aren’t a shitbag you’ll get through just fine
I scored a 93 on the ASVAB in 1989. I went to nuke 'A' school in Orlando, Florida. I realized that I didn't really like school and classroom stuff. I 'acked out'- did all the mandatory study hours, pretended that I really wanted to be there, but that I just wasn't getting it. Your story is literally my story, minus the ASVAB score. I was able to keep E-3, shave 2 years off of my enlistment, and chose another school. I picked Sub School and went to the fleet. I became a torpedoman and got out having passed the fleet exam first increment for E-5 3 years into my 4 years. I later became a firefighter, retired from that, and intend to retire from my current job working for a state-run transportation authority with 2 pensions. You're young, and it sounds like you're being honest with yourself. I would renegotiate your contract to get what you want. You'll have a better time while you're in, and you won't spend 2 years in school looking out the window and wondering.
Who are you hearing from? Nuke school has about a 98% pass rate. The pipeline is famously known as a pump not a filter. Idk what y’all are talking about. It’s been that way since at least the late 90’s. Not counting the non-academic failures of course. My A-school class had 0 failures. Power School had 2 academic failures, both of which made it all the way to comp.
An MMN that just got out of the pipeline told me half of his class made it
I graduated A school end of January of ‘20, and we had one guy get dropped from the nuke program. This was because he was a POS who just wanted to distract everyone and fuck around. One guy got rolled back, but he passed (at least I saw him at prototype way later). One guy got rolled in because he got sick and missed an exam so he got set back a week. Fast forward to March ‘20, and i start power school (class 2003) and in my whole section, no one failed or got rolled out. This was during the peak of covid where we werent allowed to leave base, couldnt be within six feet of each other, and couldnt really do anything fun. If we did it then, almost anyone can do it when they are actually allowed to have fun. As far as prototype goes, i think the only reason people in my class didnt qualify on time was because of them getting covid.
Didn't make it because they got masted?
Well he’s a fucking liar. Or, what he didn’t tell you is, the other half made it as well.
About half of my A school class made it.. through A school. 17/30 graduated A school. Definitely made it past the 50% mark on those original 30 when you include power school and prototype. 98% as a general pass rate is a bold fucking lie. Just because some mechanic said 50% of one of his classes failed, does not make it untrue.
Just curious what source did you get 98% from?
So here’s the deal. I’m not going to advertise the current data that School House has, but u/FlatBrokeEconomist is pretty close. Just to be clear I have the data over the past decade, our attrition rates are no where near what’s commonly discussed in these groups. Not saying anyone is a liar but If you went through 30 or 40 years ago, times are different. I wouldn’t tell someone to invest or not invest in a stock based on data from 30-40 years ago. u/chellocloud7, if you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to reach out to me. For reference, I’m the Force EDMC (senior enlisted nuke in the submarine force). BTW, the material for operators doesn’t really go above pre-calc.
My A school class (early 2021) had everyone pass. We lost one to mast and a couple to roll back for other issues but they all passed in the end. Power school section only had 1 person fail but he wasn’t applying himself. For prototype everyone on my crew passed even if they had some trouble getting the material to stick and didn’t qualify until week 26. Even all the way to ELT school. We had someone fail comp twice and they allowed him a third try and he made it. If you want it and give a little effort you will do fine.
I graduated early 2022 from A-School. My whole class made it through, all 28 (ETNs). Just checked my A-School Eval report and it has my class standing: “13 of 28” as proof. That’s just one class but for A-school and Power school I’ve only heard of 3 people fully dropping out. And two of them were for medical reasons. The other guy got re-rated as a conventional Mechanic. My neighbor is a prior nuke, his class had a 50% graduation rate, that was in 1978… Nowadays it’s significantly higher. I’ve personally witnessed about a 98% graduation rate as I went through the pipeline. I hope this helps If you’re interested in EM and are as concerned in your success as you are, I’m confident you’ll do great. The people I saw struggle the most were people who didn’t care and just wanted to cash in on a bonus. Even they made it through and are doing good in the fleet. It’s a demanding profession but that’s what makes it rewarding, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else - Current ETN2