Hello all, I am 23 and I come from Quebec, though I am bilingual due to my father being an English speaker. I am currently applying through ROTP for ARTY and thought I would share my personal story as many have done before me, either to inspire, or to receive feedback.
I started my journey in 2010, I had just failed CEGEP for the second time in Cinema, a DEC I had entered due to the strong pressure from the people around me to use my artistic talent. At first I thought that it was to be my calling, since I was young, people have been praising me for my writing, my acting and my eye for movies. Of course, people see what they want to see, and objectively, while I am a decent writer, actor and screenwriter, I am far from being a Hemingway or a Tarantino. I literally stopped going to classes at the end of my first year and got terrible grades, which obviously brought me down more than a bit. At around the same time, this girl I had met decided that we should end things and go our separate ways.
How did my life get to that point? Well it's quite simple. I've always been someone who had an easy time in school, so I didn't need to study for any exams in High School. I also was kind of a nerd, so not exactly popular with the ladies, though I always was somewhat athletic. When I got into CEGEP, I discovered that you actually need to work to get good grades (Doubly so in University). This, coupled with the laziness and tendency to procrastinate I developed as a result of always having things go my way made for a harsh awakening. Furthermore, I always was involved far more in student politics and college activities than I should have. Add to that the fact that in college level education, being smart is suddenly attractive and popular, and I was swimming in parties, girls, booze and drugs. From 17-20 I lived the good life, while failing school and taking sabbatical years to travel and have fun. I don't exactly regret that time, since it was a lot of fun, but I do wish I could have had better grades while living it, since it would have simplified many things today.
Either way, I had just failed CEGEP again, my girl had stopped talking to me, and I was hitting rock bottom. I was afraid I would never do anything with my life and would keep on being a security guard for the rest of it. The thing is I always had great ambitions for my future, to find something I can contribute to and help make it better at the same time, so I started getting *really* scared. I examined my options, and first thought about joining the merchant navy as an officer, which eventually drifted to joining the Canadian Navy. At one point I was looking over the trades, and something hit me. Why not go in the Army? My family had always been somewhat, if not hostile, at least reluctant towards military professions. I started doing my research nonetheless and found ROTP as well as RMC. I started being more and more stoked so I applied, found out I needed strong maths, so I took the next year to complete them while working and reapplied next year (That is last year, 2011-2012). I went through all the process up to the interview, passed the CFAT with flying colours, same with the medical, until the officer responsible for my interview pulled me in her office. She told me that my CEGEP grades precluded me from going to Kingston, and that it was an administrative error that I got up to that point. We talked a bit about my options, and I asked her if I could reapply next year if I went to CEGEP and upped my grades. She said it might be a possibility.
I was faced with a choice. The old me probably would have given up then, and moved on to other things, but it was obvious that this was a chance to test my determination and my choice of career, since if I wasn't able to endure one year of CEGEP for a chance at my dream, how am I supposed to lead men into battle? So I decided to go to CEGEP again this year (2012-2013) and try my hand at it. Turns out that having a clear goal and hopes for a career can do wonders for your motivation. My average for my semester was A, and for this semester I am currently holding an A+ average at midterms. I applied again for Kingston, choices of trades being ARTY first and INF second. They told me at North Bay that RMC wouldn't be taking me but that I might have a chance with Civvie ROTP, so I started applying to universities throughout Ontario, put around 600$ in registration fees down from my own pocket and waited for news. Around February they started the process with me at my local recruiting center. I didn't have to take the CFAT again, but I did the medical and the personality test, until the day came for the "dreaded" interview. The interview turned out super well, and hilariously it was the same officer who turned me down last year that gave it to me. She didn't remember, but I did, and I was very grateful she took time to give me some tough love last year, because it made me a better person and showed me I could stick with a project if it mattered enough to me.
So about a week or so after my interview I got offers from universities I applied to, turns out that not only is U of Ottawa taking me, but they're crediting me with a full year of courses and are giving me a scholarship since a significant part of my studies will be in French. So here I am, with a possible lifelong career on the table, a university (My first choice) willing to take me on, in better shape than I've been for two years (I joined a fencing club and am training regularly to prepare for the forces) and with my grades through the roof. So to all of you that are faltering right now while we're waiting for offers, even if you don't get in this year, there's always next year. If it's hard during your BM(O)Q, soldier through it, you'll be thankful on the other side, even if you decide the CF are not what you want to do. Make sure you bring your passion and determination in the Canadian Forces, as far as I know from my lowly applicant status, they are two things they never have too much of.
Thanks for reading my story, feedback and advice on how to prepare for both BMOQ and how civil PFOR works, as well as general tips are welcome.
-Sam
I started my journey in 2010, I had just failed CEGEP for the second time in Cinema, a DEC I had entered due to the strong pressure from the people around me to use my artistic talent. At first I thought that it was to be my calling, since I was young, people have been praising me for my writing, my acting and my eye for movies. Of course, people see what they want to see, and objectively, while I am a decent writer, actor and screenwriter, I am far from being a Hemingway or a Tarantino. I literally stopped going to classes at the end of my first year and got terrible grades, which obviously brought me down more than a bit. At around the same time, this girl I had met decided that we should end things and go our separate ways.
How did my life get to that point? Well it's quite simple. I've always been someone who had an easy time in school, so I didn't need to study for any exams in High School. I also was kind of a nerd, so not exactly popular with the ladies, though I always was somewhat athletic. When I got into CEGEP, I discovered that you actually need to work to get good grades (Doubly so in University). This, coupled with the laziness and tendency to procrastinate I developed as a result of always having things go my way made for a harsh awakening. Furthermore, I always was involved far more in student politics and college activities than I should have. Add to that the fact that in college level education, being smart is suddenly attractive and popular, and I was swimming in parties, girls, booze and drugs. From 17-20 I lived the good life, while failing school and taking sabbatical years to travel and have fun. I don't exactly regret that time, since it was a lot of fun, but I do wish I could have had better grades while living it, since it would have simplified many things today.
Either way, I had just failed CEGEP again, my girl had stopped talking to me, and I was hitting rock bottom. I was afraid I would never do anything with my life and would keep on being a security guard for the rest of it. The thing is I always had great ambitions for my future, to find something I can contribute to and help make it better at the same time, so I started getting *really* scared. I examined my options, and first thought about joining the merchant navy as an officer, which eventually drifted to joining the Canadian Navy. At one point I was looking over the trades, and something hit me. Why not go in the Army? My family had always been somewhat, if not hostile, at least reluctant towards military professions. I started doing my research nonetheless and found ROTP as well as RMC. I started being more and more stoked so I applied, found out I needed strong maths, so I took the next year to complete them while working and reapplied next year (That is last year, 2011-2012). I went through all the process up to the interview, passed the CFAT with flying colours, same with the medical, until the officer responsible for my interview pulled me in her office. She told me that my CEGEP grades precluded me from going to Kingston, and that it was an administrative error that I got up to that point. We talked a bit about my options, and I asked her if I could reapply next year if I went to CEGEP and upped my grades. She said it might be a possibility.
I was faced with a choice. The old me probably would have given up then, and moved on to other things, but it was obvious that this was a chance to test my determination and my choice of career, since if I wasn't able to endure one year of CEGEP for a chance at my dream, how am I supposed to lead men into battle? So I decided to go to CEGEP again this year (2012-2013) and try my hand at it. Turns out that having a clear goal and hopes for a career can do wonders for your motivation. My average for my semester was A, and for this semester I am currently holding an A+ average at midterms. I applied again for Kingston, choices of trades being ARTY first and INF second. They told me at North Bay that RMC wouldn't be taking me but that I might have a chance with Civvie ROTP, so I started applying to universities throughout Ontario, put around 600$ in registration fees down from my own pocket and waited for news. Around February they started the process with me at my local recruiting center. I didn't have to take the CFAT again, but I did the medical and the personality test, until the day came for the "dreaded" interview. The interview turned out super well, and hilariously it was the same officer who turned me down last year that gave it to me. She didn't remember, but I did, and I was very grateful she took time to give me some tough love last year, because it made me a better person and showed me I could stick with a project if it mattered enough to me.
So about a week or so after my interview I got offers from universities I applied to, turns out that not only is U of Ottawa taking me, but they're crediting me with a full year of courses and are giving me a scholarship since a significant part of my studies will be in French. So here I am, with a possible lifelong career on the table, a university (My first choice) willing to take me on, in better shape than I've been for two years (I joined a fencing club and am training regularly to prepare for the forces) and with my grades through the roof. So to all of you that are faltering right now while we're waiting for offers, even if you don't get in this year, there's always next year. If it's hard during your BM(O)Q, soldier through it, you'll be thankful on the other side, even if you decide the CF are not what you want to do. Make sure you bring your passion and determination in the Canadian Forces, as far as I know from my lowly applicant status, they are two things they never have too much of.
Thanks for reading my story, feedback and advice on how to prepare for both BMOQ and how civil PFOR works, as well as general tips are welcome.
-Sam
