Although OTS selection remains very competitive, across the board our selection rates are way up. OTS applicants come from two sources. Civilian college graduates apply for OTS through Air Force recruiting offices. Active-duty enlisted members apply through their base education office. Applicants can list up to two program choices, although those who apply in the technical program must have a technical degree in subjects such as physics, chemistry, meteorology, or engineering.
Boards meet every six weeks to select a new crop of potential officers.
The selection rates for fiscal 1998 reflect the Air Force's need to attract new navigators, pilots and officers with specialized undergraduate degrees, according to Lt. Col. Chuck Gallagher, chief of the Air Force Recruiting Service Operations Division. Fully 70 percent of those who applied in the navigator program were selected. The fiscal 1998 OTS select rates for pilots is more than 31 percent. For technical program applicants, the select rate is nearly 49 percent. Nontechnical applicants were selected at 14.3 percent, up from just 5.3 percent during fiscal '97.