How confident are you that you can pass the medical and physical fitness tests for ROTC? (you say you are currently on an injured list). And for the military academies.
Sounds like you have researched all the ROTC, service academy requirements and are ready to serve in the military ro help fund your education.
Are there appealing colleges to you that offer strong merit or need based aid just in case the military options don’t work out?
Anything before 9th grade doesn’t count unless on the HS transcript and it sounds like OP was 13 at the time?
How confident are you that you can pass the medical and physical fitness tests for ROTC? And for the military academies.
I have an official West Point score on their CFA from this summer. I was in the top 5%. Ideally I will retest and ceiling it towards the end of September once I complete PT and train back up, but even if I don’t do that, it’s hopefully OK. (You can have your test done by a PE teacher and filmed.) That said, I would have ceilinged the CFA if I had been smarter about planning my training. My cadre gave me some great tips about how to train for the CFA and I’m feeling good.
I currently have some messed up but not torn ligaments in the knees and a chip off the bone in my elbow (healing without surgery.) PT thinks I’ll be able to resume training in about 2 weeks. The ROTC test is less demanding than the CFA (e.g. you can be more than a minute slower on the run,) so I’m also feeling good about that, assuming I don’t stupidly mess myself up again. But you’re 100% right to be concerned, because catching another injury now would be catastrophic.
Maybe the right move is to skip the CFA retake and nurse myself through the ROTC test. I’ll see what the PT advises in another couple of weeks.
Sounds like you have researched all the ROTC, service academy requirements and are ready to serve in the military ro help fund your education.
For anyone looking to go this route, if you’re lucky enough to have one, I strongly suggest speaking to your local ROTC enrollment officer and visiting your local battalion. These visits are very easily arranged during the summer, can be combined easily with college visits, are important for demonstrating interest, and are great sources of information, both about admission to ROTC and about subsequent careers. I’d be proud to serve the USA in any way that I can.
Are there appealing colleges to you that offer strong merit or need based aid just in case the military options don’t work out?
Unfortunately, I think my family makes too much on paper for need aid to close the gap absent a lot of merit aid. Thanks to the great advice in this thread, I will be applying to a lot of less competitive schools that focus on merit aid and named scholarships.
IIT is very generous with aid (both merit and need) and is very supportive of ROTC. It is a very good engineering school (I am a grad and my daughter is currently attending IIT with a Camras Scholarship). It tends to get a little overlooked on various rankings but is generally ranked in the top 30 for ROI at both the 5 year mark and 20 year mark. I recommend applying EA to get qualified for their “best” full tuition and full ride scholarships. You just need to be sure that you like small, private universities. Definitely a different feel than large, state schools. If you are interested in energy generation, look into IIT’s microgrid. They had one of the first in the country (back in 2013 I think) and it was mainly developed by graduate students. IIT keeps expanding it (last expansion in 2021)
RPI is typically generous with aid but unless you have a Rennselaer Medal I am not sure you will get close to full tuition/ride.
You may get into Purdue but they tend not to give much aid. You would need to rely on ROTC money for that.
MSOE is interesting and I generally hear good things about it. However, I own an engineering company and have never come across any of their grads too far out of Milwaukee. Definitively look at who is hiring their grads (generally listed on the school’s outcomes page or ask for a list of schools attending their job fairs) to gauge the fit…
Let me know if you have any questions about Syracuse. My son is starting there this year in engineering. They have great support for military students/ROTC. It’s expensive but they give some excellent scholarships, including some full-rides. Their engineering admissions rep is super helpful and would be delighted to talk to you, I’m sure.
Thanks for sharing your experiences as an IIT alum, an IIT parent, and a highly successful professional engineer. Those are some strong recommendations. I have a visit scheduled there soon and it’ll be great to go in knowing that you’ve had such a good outcome and a positive view of the school.
With RPI, I’m hanging my hat on auto room and board if you bring an ROTC scholarship in. I don’t have high expectations for much other aid.
Purdue is starting to look like a pipe dream, but IIT and RPI are great options and I’d be delighted if I could get over the line with either one. Thanks again.
Thank you! Is it OK if I PM you once I’m farther along with Syracuse planning? It wasn’t on my radar until yesterday and I feel like I need to learn more before I can ask any intelligent questions.
My son is in AROTC at WPI and could give you more details if you want.
Yes, of course! It’s not the strongest school for engineering, but it has a lot going for it. And they can surprise people with really generous aid.
Thank you. This is a real kindness. I will reach out once I’m done with my Common App (which, thanks to this thread, is bulging at the seams.) Much appreciated and best of luck to your son!
Just a quick note to anyone reading this thread for ROTC info: the Three Rivers Battalion enrollment officer (Pitt, CMU, Robert Morris, Chatham, Carlow, Franciscan Steubenville, La Roche, California U of PA, Washington and Jefferson, Seton Hill, and Saint Vincent) is incredible. Can’t say enough good things about his advice and guidance from our meeting.
Well I saw my name tagged but then that I want to go for free.
So with a 3.4 unweighted GPA, U of Arizona is out.
U of Alabama will give you $30,500 - $28,000 + $2,500 for the SAT. Now, I thought the award was based on unweighted (you need a 3.5) but someone noted the other day that it’s based on weighted.
So for Alabama, you’d be high teens.
I don’t see a W&L or Va Tech type school happening. I could be wrong. You have to go to a school that you’re a stud for.
In addition to the academies and ROTC, I think you start with in state:
For VA, there’s ten electrical engineering school per ABET:
CNU, GMU, Hampton, LIberty, Norfolk State, ODU, VCU, VMI, Va Tech, UVA.
Mechnical has 7 - GMU, Liberty, ODU, VCU, VMI, Va Tech, UVA
I’d focus on the lesser known names - Norolk State is $21,200 a year all in. But maybe has merit.
CNU is $29K but has merit (not sure if the 3.5 is weighted or not to qualify).
A school like W Carolina is ABET for EE and tuition is $2500 a semester OOS.
I think you have to go through that exercise - school by school.
Free is unlikely.
What we don’t know is affordability. You say they have nothing but will schools agree. I don’t see a low income program for Virginia students but you might talk to a counselor.
If under $65K, you might look at Questbridge (but your unweighted GPA may not work).
Finances are going to be a real limiter, but I love your attitude about it. I really strongly discourage going into major debt for college (at most, the federally backed loans of like $8K per year is what I would consider).
Virginia Tech is a reach with the GPA, but more importantly they are very stingy with merit aid. VCU is a bit better with merit aid, but will still be like $20-25k per year. It’s high value, but if you have to pay for the whole thing with loans, then might not be worth it. Run the net cost calculator for the schools to see.
The community college route is valid for a great value. you could get a degree from UVA or Virginia Tech for a fraction of the cost. I’d strongly consider this if the service academys or ROTC, etc scholarships don’t work out.
I think you could do well financially at not well known colleges that are far from home. For instance, Saint Vincent (outside if Pittsburgh) and Waynesburg U give away 5 or 6 full tuition scholarships per year and the SATs for the winners are usually in the 1300s. That SAT score is awesome and you can play it your advantage.
Also look up merit charts for Troy (AL), WVU, Trinity, Ole Miss, etc.
Have you considered Texas A&M Corp of Cadets? You can apply for an ROTC scholarship from one of the military branches, serve in the Corp of Cadets, then be commissioned your Junior year. They have a top engineering school (deadline to apply for engineering school is in October).
Here is a Virginia Residential Community College option with guaranteed transferred agreements to schools including William and Mary, VT, Virginia among others,
https://www.rbc.edu
Hi folks, thanks for the continued interest in this thread. I haven’t forgotten about the fantastic advice here – I’ve just been busy with whirlwind college tours, admissions meetings, ROTC meetings, finalizing applications, and my first week back at school.
First, some general comments.
Comments and responses on posts in this thread since I last visited, consolidated:
@tsbna44: Thanks very much for the detailed analysis! I’m afraid the “free ride” part may have been misleading – I recognize that I’m not going to e.g. get a Rensselaer Medal. All I need is admission plus enough merit aid or auto-room & board to cover my attendance costs.
This seems very doable at schools like MSoE (auto-grant of $16-28k for all students, which can be applied to room and board) and RPI or RIT (auto-grant of room & board for ROTC recipients.) So these are more like binary cases where if I get ROTC and I’m the last person admitted, I will still graduate without debt. Out-of-state publics generally do not do this kind of thing, so my focus has shifted to (a) in-state publics where I’m a relatively strong applicant, as safeties, and (b) out-of-state privates that do ROTC matches or equivalent. Major kudos to several posters upthread for pointing out option (b) and special thanks to @vwlizard for providing a comprehensive NROTC list.
Thanks for pointing out the in-state schools; I will be applying to every one you listed except for VMI and UVA. (CNU is the only one that does the explicit room & board coverage for ROTC; for the others I’ll be counting on in-state and merit.)
You’re 100% right about school-by-school. This will be a very complicated cycle to complete. Fortunately, my parents are providing a ton of research support on the legwork, and I expect to be able to go complete on my first batch of schools (~5 TX schools via ApplyTexas plus RPI and Pitt) later this afternoon.
I’m a goner for Questbridge – not on the table. You’re also completely right that schools will 100% not agree that my parents have nothing because they’ve had high incomes for a few years, and 0 assets doesn’t make much difference in FAFSA or in schools’ individual cost portals. Thanks for your thorough and comprehensive response!
@DadBodThor: Really appreciate your comment, and completely agree with your remarks on debt! The schools I’m looking hardest at say that average salaries upon graduation with majors that I’m looking at are in the $70-90k range. Call it $50-70k post-tax, and all of a sudden the debt service on even small loans is really deflating your effective take-home. I’d prefer saving money before graduation to spending it on interest afterward!
I agree that VT is no-go. I am going to apply just to see if I get lucky, but strong in-state publics don’t look like my best bet financially – see my comment above to tsbna44 re how I’m weighing lower-ranked in-state publics for safeties vs. out-of-state privates that actively reward ROTC participation for targets/reaches. I’m not writing the CC option off, but I currently think my best chance at avoiding debt entirely lies elsewhere.
@HotMom: Thanks a ton for flagging half a dozen merit likelies! I will hit the bricks researching these as soon as I finish submitting today’s batch of apps. Great finds and much appreciated!
@lmp4213: Thanks, and totally agreed! Going live on TAMU app later today.
@kevi2900: Thanks very much for pointing this out. I hope I’m going to squeak through without having to use it, but I might be back in this thread in a month or two frantically clicking your link.
Thanks again to everyone who participated in making this incredible thread. It has already had a huge impact on my life and I will probably be benefiting directly from your advice for my entire adult life. CollegeConfidential is truly an amazing community!
Gentle reminder: many schools use your AP credit as a prerequisite so you can register for higher level classes that sometimes are hard to get into (students get closed out). No need to repeat a class a student feels competent in just to bolster their GPA. JMO
ROTC opens a lot of doors… Look at Virginia Tech’s Corp of Cadets, they are all eligible for an $8000 per year scholarship (only 200 are awarded per year though). I’m not sure if it stacks with the ROTC scholarship, but if it does, then that would make it very affordable.
Good luck!
Tacking on to this, it looks like the scholarships do stack… Army ROTC covers in state tuition, all fees, uniform, books and gives $420 per month stipend. That plus the Emerging Leader Scholarship would make the school affordable (you’d still have to take a small loan I think but it would be less than the federally subsidized loan, so imo, worthwhile).
These are obviously competitive to get, so should not be counted on, but definitely worth a shot. Virginia Tech is a great school, and if it’s affordable should be on your list.