<p>I'm entering as a college freshman at a small private college in Santa Barbara and I'm thinking about doing the AFROTC program at UCLA and then going to medical school on a health scholarship through the air force. Can anyone tell me the pros and/or cons of this program besides classes every friday? Any opinions are appreciated.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about the health scholarship but I can offer a few pros/cons</p>
<p>pros:
monthly stipend
scholarship opportunities</p>
<p>cons:
limited majors
i believe there’s also a physical activity requirement which is very early in the morning - combined with the ‘class’ this could take up substantial time
I’m not familiar with the area, but the drive to UCLA could be quite a ways, especially if you have to go there several times a week for the aforementioned physical activity</p>
<p>My experience is 20 years old, but it was very positive.</p>
<p>There were very many majors represented. The physical activity requirement is not an issue for someone who is in good shape. If you aren’t in good shape, then ROTC is great at holding you accountable getting there.</p>
<p>I am in pretty good physical shape so I am not worried about physical training, but the commute and balancing air force training with pre-med concerns me. The classes would be 5-6 hours on friday so and occasionally saturday so I would only have to go to UCLA once a week.</p>
<p>What about the 6a.m. PT sessions? My S did NROTC. All three ROTC branches at his school had PT twice a week at 6 a.m. and finished around 7:30 a.m.</p>
<p>That’s what I’m worried about, the captain I spoke to told me I only had to be there on friday and “occasionally” saturdays. Could I do PT independently?</p>
<p>Your majors aren’t limited. When you do Air Force ROTC, you can do any major you want, especially if you aren’t applying for the scholarship. With the scholarship, you have to apply within a specific major and you are competing with the students in that major. You can apply within any major category (there are three – Technical Majors (mostly math, physics, and engineering), Foreign Language Majors (these are only Middle Eastern and East Asian languages; there is a list on the AFROTC website) and Non-Technical Majors (everything else). When you apply, you are competing with other students in that major category. Once you get the scholarship, though, it is difficult to change your major.</p>
<p>PT is twice a week. It is early in the morning but you would get used to it. I don’t think you are allowed to do PT independently when you are in ROTC (you can do it independently if you are actually active duty, but not while training).</p>
<p>The HPSP (Health Professionals Scholarship Program) has nothing to do with ROTC. As a matter of fact, if what you REALLY want is the HPSP, you can just go to college without doing AFROTC (stay in shape though) and just apply for HPSP when you are a senior in college. If what you want is to participate in ROTC and the HPSP, then you can participate in college without incurring a commitment and still apply to HPSP, and you’ll probably be more competitive because you’ll be immediately commissionable and you probably won’t have to do OTS. And your ROTC experience will count towards your time-in-service for raises and retirement.</p>
<p>If what you want is an AFROTC scholarship, however, there are restrictions. Air Force officers commissioned through ROTC garner a 4-year active duty commitment as an unrestricted officer (less time if you don’t get the scholarship until sophomore or junior year), which means that they won’t necessarily let you go to medical school right after that – you have to apply for a waiver, and those are very competitive. If you don’t get one (and it isn’t likely), then you have to serve your 4 years first, get out, and then apply for medical school and the HPSP.</p>