<p>Yesterday I received a letter informing me that I have been selected for a Type 7 AFROTC Technical Scholarship. However I plan on double majoring in Biomedical Engineering and Nursing, neither one being a technical major. I’m guessing I will not be able to activate this scholarship without changing my major which is not an option for me. I was also not selected for a NROTC scholarship. </p>
<p>So my question is do I have a better chance or being commissioned in Air Force, where I can compete for a ICSP and then a Field Training spot or Navy where I will compete for a side load scholarship and then if that fails advanced standing?</p>
<p>First off, congrats on the scholarship! A few years ago, I would have said that if you keep above a 3.0, you’ll be sure to get advanced standing from the Navy. Now, it’s nearly impossible… The Air Force, on the other hand, cuts 50% by sophomore year before summer training so you really have to excel to get selected. NROTC side load scholarships are also really competitive (our unit was given 2 last year, none this year). I don’t want to make a decision for you, but if you want to commission and don’t care what branch, keeping the Air Force scholarship and working really hard will give you a better shot at commissioning that navy with no scholarship. Then again, some people pick up side load scholarships. I was one of them so it definitively happens.</p>
<p>As someone who majored in nursing and whose husband majored in engineering and we have a S who went to college on a NROTC scholarship…I would say it would be almost impossible for you to major in Bioengineering and Nursing and do ROTC at the same time. It’s just too much and highly unlikely that you could finish in four years. Isn’t Biomedical Engineering one of the toughest engineering majors?
Keep in mind that having a great gpa has a big effect on where you end up. </p>
<p>I agree that any kind of engineering degree would be considered a technical degree.
Your best option appears to be for you to stick w/ the engineering major, drop the idea of nursing and do your very best to excel academically and physically in AFROTC.</p>
<p>My S is a Naval officer now. His opinion is that the Navy is downsizing. He knows some guys who went all the way through college and got picked up for flight school only to be dropped becauce there was just too much of a logjam at Pensacola.
Navy is not taking “walk-ons” into NROTC like they used to. If you don’t already have a scholarship, chances of getting one are slim.</p>