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Old 09-19-2014, 05:25 PM   #1
jzhaun
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Default The Other Side of DLI

Okay, so now that I've graduated I'm making this thread. This is not intended to scare anyone off, but y'all deserve to know what you're getting yourself into.

72% of my class made it all the way through (you can get dropped for medical issues, discipline issues, failing 3 tests in a row etc). 77% of that 72% passed the final test, for a total pass rate of 56%.

Our sister class (same start time, different teachers) had only 67% make it to the test, but all of them passed.

I'm a Chinese linguist. It's considered one of the safer languages, not because it's easy, but because our curriculum is better and covers most of what's on the test. I've heard of classes in other languages that have a 50% pass rate just for the final test, not including anyone who didn't make it that far.

So what happens if you fail out during the course?

It'll depend on what openings they have, but most LOA (lack of ability = you tried your best but failed) will get given a new job. A lot of them get other variants of CT, since we already have the clearance investigation done, but not all. I've met people who went MA, AD, LS, OS, seabee etc as well. Sometimes all that's available is Undes, but they'll try their best to get you a good assignment. Ironically, someone from our sister class failed out, got sent to Corry, graduated from that course and then got sent to the same duty station we were going (Hawaii) . . . all before we had graduated from the original Chinese course.

**However, it should be noted that if you're undes and you strike into DLI then fail, they can't send you anywhere else. You have to go back as undes.

Also I should probably reiterate that people who fail out of DLI are not stupid or bad at learning languages - most of the time they just can't learn at the pace DLI requires.

TL;DR: DLI isn't a walk in the park. Be prepared.
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