POC decision?

[GaussianEliminator]

I have a bit of a decision to make at the moment regarding officer entry into the Royal Marines and was wondering if anybody has been in a similar position before (or not) and could give me some advice.

I am 17 years old and I am in my last year of school, looking to start uni in 2006. Officer entry into the Royal Marines has always been my ambition and I have been pursuing the possibility of gaining a bursary from the RM while at uni. I had my second interview with my careers liaison officer last week and was hoping to get a POC date for some time next year(March - May). However, at the interview I was told that bursaries are not usually awarded to students studying a four year course(I'm from Scotland(don't hold it against me lol!)) and to get a bursary I would have to get extremely exceptional scores on my POC and AIB(assuming I pass the POC). Therefore my chances of getting a bursary for this year are pretty, pretty slim.
But he said that an option I could choose would be to hold off for a year, develop my fitness, leadership qualites and whatnot and have a bash after I've been at uni for a year. Either way I would still begin YO training when I finish uni.
The decision which I have to make is whether to attempt the POC early next year or leave it for 12 months. I really want to attempt the POC next year but the advice I'm getting from most people at the moment is to hold off for a while.

I do realise that at the end of the day it is my own decision but any advice would be great?

[friendlyfireaintfriendly]

Personally im in pretty much the exact position as you,

if it helps im holding off for a surer pass and developement of fitness etc and to do a couple of other things i want to do in life before commiting to military...

[letsrole]

Hey man I'm 17, possibly looking to start Uni. in 2006, in my last year of 6th form and joining as a royal marine officer has also been my ambition too! So I guess you could say I've been in your situation I was supposed to be on a POC on the 21st of Nov. but I'm in the process of rescheduling for March possibly. Anyway...as a 17 year old there will always be doubt in the back of your mind as to if you will even get passed the POC or not. To be quite honest I guess I am just going along for an experience, at the moment. With the intention of joining after university, I am also looking at four year course.

I looked at a bursary but these are few and far between, but somebody has to be awarded them, so why can’t it be you? You just have to try it man. Even if you do fail it in March there is nothing to stop you trying again after a year of Uni. Now I am going down the DE route it makes more sense to me as I would rather start royal marine officer training in 2006 than university, but even if I do fail I will go to Uni., have a great time then reapply.

So basically I’m saying go for it now, then you may surprise your self- love yourself at POC and AIB and be awarded a place on the 2006 batch! One other thing that has always been in the back of my mind (a bit silly I guess and not very likely) but I want to attempt POC because what if in four years, after my Uni. Course, I don’t want anything to do with the RMs as I would have a degree to get a better well paid job. At least then I could say well, I’ve attempted a royal marines POC something others would never relish the challenge for. You never know, in 12 months time you could loose the use of your legs or something-crazy lol or get shin splints like me!

..this may found a little far fetched but that’s the way I see it

[GaussianEliminator]

Well I've made my decision. I phoned them up and told them I would wait a year. Although my heart was telling me to go for it I listened to me head for a change. This way I will have ample time for fitness training and I should go down there and fly through the fitness tests. I'm looking at joining the reserves aswell while I'm at uni so that I can gain a bit of experience ( and some cash!) and this way I'll go down there and have a right good bash at POC and AIB with a better chance of actually getting a bursary and a place. Either way I would still be starting training at the same time but like you said letsrole it would of been a good experience.

[chris78290]

good luck, but don't hold your breath. The Royal Navy has a limit on the amount of bursaries it can issue to students, the number of RM bursaries is included in this. Last year they gave out 1 RM bursary and the year before they gave out none. 95% of RN bursaries go to medicine or engineering students, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but thats just the way it is at the moment.