Some questions about CTI language assignment
 

Hello everyone,

So I've taken both my ASVAB and DLAB with a score of 85 and 120 respectfully.
Currently I'm just in the process of losing 10 lbs until I can qualify to go to MEPS to finish the procedures to sign.

So after I finished my DLAB and was told I qualified for level IV I did some research to kind of get a feel for each of the languages and I quickly came to the conclusion that Korean is the best fit for me personally.

As this is a career choice for me, I fully intend to retire as a CTI, my language choice is incredibly important to me. Even if I get Russian or Chinese I will continue to study Korean with hopes to transfer my position at some point in the future. I am already pretty knowledgable in the culture and I would say I'm also pretty understanding of the language. (I study languages as I hobby, mostly east asian so far, so I pick them up pretty easy)

Anyways I have some questions, I've already done some research but I want as much of an advantage going in as possible to ready myself.

1.) What are my chances of getting Korean?
2.) How can I improve these chances? (and will my experience help any?)
3.) I am aware that this decision is ultimately made in boot camp, if I make all this aware to my interviewer will this up my chances? (and is there anything I should make known to increase my chances?)
4.) At what stage in the future can I request a switch if I don't get it?
5.) A lot of people say "It's whatever the needs of the NAVY are" but I'm not concerned about Korean being one. A lot of people also say it's whatever classes are available, so is there any way to know when what classes start?
6.) I also heard that the Korean class is almost always available to start, is this true?

Sorry about all the questions, I know it's a lot but this is 100% my future career that I hope to retire with and I need to know how to get where I want to be.

1. Your chances of Korean are about the same as anything else, it depends on availability. Sometimes all of the big six are available at the same time, other times it can be just one or two.

2. Yes, proficiency can help secure the language that you want. I have seen multiple students "test into" a class that is ongoing in a language they had studied extensively. Most classes have vacancies because people drop. Having said that, DLI has very intensive courses and they are not always organized the same way civilian courses are. I am a Chiling and I had previously studied Japanese in college for 1 year. My Chinese skills eclipsed my Japanese skills in about a month. There was another student in the class who had studied Chinese in college for an even longer period of time but it only really gave them a leg up for the first month and then some sporadic vocabulary that we learned much later.

3. The only people who can affect language selection are the CTI detailer at bootcamp (there was a Senior Chief when I went through some years ago) and the leadership at DLI. Mentioning it to anyone else is a waste of time.

4. Possibly the end of your first tour, if the manning of your preferred language is low. In general, it will be easier to switch from Chinese than from anything else in a different language group but at the moment Korean is well-manned and no one is relanguaging into it.

5. When classes start is part of it, but looking at the list (even if you could access it as a civilian, which I don't believe you can) isn't going to be that helpful because it really depends on when the billets for the class are allocated. The CTI detailer has so many seats to fill in each of those classes and he or she fills them in advance by allocating CTIs presently in bootcamp, generally so they have about a month in the hold division at DLI to get their indoc and phases done before having to start worrying about homework. So there could be a Korean class starting the week you get to DLI, but it might have been filled by CTIs who were 3 or 4 weeks ahead of you at bootcamp. It's not something you can accurately predict. Getting held back too long in training at bootcamp can also cause you to relanguage if you miss the original start date you were scheduled for.

6. This isn't true. Korean is one of the smaller languages. Like all of the language schools, they only have a set number of teachers and classrooms and new classes can only start after an older class graduates.

You may get lucky. I just got here to the DLI last week, and of the nine people who got here my week, three were switched from Mandarin (their second choice) to Korean (first choice) by the time we got our orders. Then my roommate (who was going to be in my Levantine Arabic class) was switched to Korean when we got here. The current detailer did her best to give everyone the language they wanted.

CTI reclassing in boot camp
 

not sure if this is the place to ask this, so I apologize in advance if its not. I just took the DLAB and got a 108 on it, I also had a 89 asvab if that matters. The recruit councilor at meps told me that there is a chance I could still get reclassed in boot camp. I was looking on the the dli website and almost half of the language offerings require a 105 or less. I know the navy is hurting for CTIs hence the bonus but do you guys have any idea what the chances of getting reclassed to CTI would be if I told the counciler at boot camp that I really want to change my rate and that I am qualified for a lot of the languages. I realize it totally realizes on demand and openings for students, but are there typically ever openings? If so, would they ever consider wavering me into a category four language or would I be strictly confined to category three and below?

The requirement is currently 110 to be a linguist, because they prefer candidates who are flexible and can relanguage in to whatever's needed. That being said, not many people manage that and there have been 1 or 2 point waivers available.

There may very well be a slot for you, if you want it. Having said that, if you get in on a waiver, they're not going to put you in a CAT IV over people who have better scores. A lot of it depends on maturity and study habits etc, but although the requirement is 110, I've seen research etc that indicates that people with scores below 120 are significantly less likely to do well with CAT IVs.

What are the big 6 and is CTI a rate that's normally manned or undermanned? I scored a 119 on the DLAB for CAT4 langs, and earned an NEC for a language test that I took during GM A school.

V/r
GM3(SW)

The big six are Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Russian, Arabic (various dialects) and Farsi. People who can already pass a DLPT in one of those languages might get something related, but that's pretty rare.

They are broken up into 4 groups as far as manning/quotas go, group 1 = Arabic and Farsi aka Middle Eastern and North African languages, group 2 = Chinese and Korean aka East Asian, group 3 = spanish/european languages and group 4 = russian/eastern european languages.

As far as overmanned/undermanned goes, overall we might be slightly understrength and a lot of the big six have reenlistment bonuses, but it really depends on the specific language and the YG.