<p>Just wondering if anybody out there has a child participating or planning on joining their college ROTC program? If so, which military branch, do they like it, did they apply for scholarship and whatever other input you may have.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Ginger40, My S is attending school on a Navy ROTC scholarship. Yes, he likes it. Are you considering applying for a ROTC scholarship?</p>
<p>Ginger, </p>
<p>LFWB looked at ROTC programs as his back up plan to the Academies. There is much to be said for ROTC programs. They produce very good officers with a breadth of experiences that sometimes is lacking from Academy grads.</p>
<p>I would encourage your son to look at the academies as well. Especially Kings Point. From USMMA you have more options upon graduation than you do anywhere else. You can go active duty in any service or take a reserve commission and work anywhere in the Maritime industry.</p>
<p>Additionally, he will spend a year at sea. LFWB has already circumnavigated the world; been to 9 countries and 25 ports of call.</p>
<p>My son will be attending Penn State in Navy ROTC this fall. We attended an info meeting this weekend and I was highly impressed. He intends to go Marine option within NROTC. The unit is fairly large at PSU. SOMe schools are smaller. </p>
<p>A key part that is attractive to me he will be, day one at college, part of a fairly large and cohesive group. There is an XO (executive officer) who serves as disciplinarian if necessary, and it will add alot of structure to what is often a chaotic first year of college. There is mandatory study halls for freshman, and they are supervised fairly closely to make sure they get off on the right foot at college - as a parent, that's a bonus. He applied for and received a Marine Option scholarship. </p>
<p>I would not recommend ROTC as a means to simply get some bucks for college, but rather if you have serious interest in spenidng the first part of your career in the military. The money is fine, but it's also a heavy commitment of time both in and after college. It's not for everyone but, if you are seriously interested after doing some due diligance, I think it's a great program.</p>
<p>hvccgolf, Congrats to your S on the Marine option scholarship. Those are tough to get. Is he a runner? If not tell him to start running a lot between now and August:)</p>
<p>packmom - he joined the Young Marines at the local naval air station when he was 11 and has been "locked on" to the Marines ever since. I assumed it would be one or two meetings and out. But It's been his primary focus for many years now. </p>
<p>As a result, he became aware early on of the rigorous physical requirements and has used them as motivation to work on his physical aspects. He ran cross country in high school which served him very well with the "PFT" (phys fitness test) that they administered as part of the scholarship process. </p>
<p>I'm proud and excited for him, but he has a long way to go before commisioning as a Marine officer. I also admit to mixed feelings about his choice given the world we live in.</p>
<p>My son applied for both NROTC and AFROTC scholarships. He's waiting to hear from the March Air Force board, but the Marines are very interested in him accepting a Corps-option NROTC scholarship offer. Unfortunately for WDJr and the Corps, if you ranked the four services and the Coast Guard, the Marine Corps would be about the 10th-best fit for Jr. It's the most "military" of the services, and my son is not a natural fit for their program. Actually, from talking to officers in the various services, his tech-nerd personality would probably not be a bad fit for the Air Force, and to some extent the Navy.</p>
<p>He doesn't need the money to go to college, so now he is going through the decision agony.</p>
<p>WashDad, from what S says, you are right. The AF is the most techy. At his school, They seem to spend way less time doing PT than the Army,Navy, Marines. Marines is definitely the most hardcore. Did he get the NROTC scholarship?</p>
<p>The Navy has also become quite techy. All Navy scholarshp kids must take 2 semesters of calculus and 2 of physics (at least that is true at Penn State - I presume it's a requirement of the scholarship).</p>
<p>packmom- as for PT requirements at AIr Force, I've heard Marines refer to the Air Force as the "Chair Borne Rangers."</p>
<p>No offense to you Air Force guys/gals - just relaying some Marine trash talk..</p>
<p>haha, hvccgolf, I was gonna say my S calls them the Chair Force but didn't want to offend. It's all in fun. One of his best friends from h.s who is a genius is doing AFROTC (majoring in Aerospace Engineering).</p>
<p>You are right about the Calculus/Physics requirements for NROTC. Is that required for Marine Option also? S is slogging his way through the second semester of Physics now and counting the days until it's over!</p>
<p>"D" had a tough choice last year deciding on which college she wanted to attend. In the end, she chose the most expensive college and was to be responsible for 1/2 the tuition. As a result, the next day I received an e/mail, which talked about 4-year AROTC scholarships. I took it home and we both researched it out. Long and hard! Her being a gymnast since age 5 and being used to rigorous work-outs 5 hours a day, 5 days per week, she felt she could handle this. We looked at the Navy, Air Force, and Army ROTC programs. The only one that allowed her to major in whatever the university had to offer was the Army. My dad, being a retired lieutenant commander in the Navy suggested the Army route since D ultimately wants to become an anesthesiologist and ships can get a little claustrophobic. At first, it was very tough. Army PT is more strenuous then Navy PT and far more strenuous than Air Force PT (no offense to either!) Having to awake every morning at 5:30-6:00 was difficult to say the least. Her mindset had to change in order to make it work. She has made the best of it, loves the other cadets (says they are like her family), and has scored nothing less than a perfect 300 on every PT test she has been administered. She has received the platinum pt award, as well as a couple others. Bottom line, she is a competitor and I think the branch of military she chose worked out well for her because of her upbringing and personality. Where things get a little crazy is when her friends want to go out and party and she has to stay behind or call it an early evening due to morning wake-ups, pre-med studies, etc. If your child isn't easily distracted, then he/she should be okay. If not, ROTC will probably not be the way to go.</p>
<p>packmom - now that I've dissed the Air Force, I'll poke some fun at the Marines my son is so attached to. While the Navy scholarship has the physics and calc requirements, the Marine scholarship has few, if any, academic requiements. My son and I had a laugh about that - the Navy requires X ? NO requirement for Marines. The Navy requires Y, none for Marines, etc. Even the SAT minimum is lower. </p>
<p>That being said, the practical reality is that the Marine scholarships are highly selective and I cannot imagine that the published SAT minimum of 1,000 ever comes into play. My son had 1270 and mostly AP coursework.</p>
<p>Now that I've provided some Chair Force humor, my son asked me what MARINE stands for.....Muscles Are Required, Intelligence Not Expected.</p>
<p>Just kidding, you Marines out there.....</p>
<p>momoney, You're certainly right about the early wake up call while others are sleeping in. It really helped my S to have another NROTC midshipman for a roommate. One could always drag the other out of bed. Their beds were lofted in the dorm room so they had to get out of bed to turn the alarm off. </p>
<p>hvccgolf...muscles are required,lol..last summer when S went to Cortramid (the first training thing you do after freshman year for NROTC) he reported that he saw quite a few Navy guys with a less than trim physique (and thats putting it kindly,. I saw the pictures)
Believe me your S is not missing a thing by skipping the calc. and physics. S was only required to take one semester of physics for his major so had to jam the extra into an already loaded schedule. He can't wait for this semester to end. ROTC students will always have more hours each semester than the regular courseload because of having to take a ROTC required class each semester. S has 19 hours this semester with 4 labs...ugh.</p>
<p>Congratulations to all of you and your kids who have made serving their country as part of their life.</p>
<p>I'm glad to hear all good stuff about all the ROTC experiences. My D is planning on joining her college "Ch"air Force :)</p>
<p>We just heard that she has been awarded a 4-year AFROTC Type-2 scholarship which will cover up to $15,000 per year of tuition cost. </p>
<p>GO AIR FORCE!!</p>
<p>WoooHooo..Ginger40...Congrats to your D. It's a great accomplishment and one to be proud of. AFROTC is pretty selective so you must have a great girl.
S's ROTC class started out with 4 girls and they have all dropped out. S seems to think it was the PT that did them in. So get that girl running and doing push-ups! Congrats again.
PackMom</p>
<p>As a member of Army ROTC, I can tell you that it's a great program. Any ROTC acts as a form of "accountability" to the cadets and certainly leads to better organized, better prepared, more responsible students.</p>
<p>"S's ROTC class started out with 4 girls and they have all dropped out. S seems to think it was the PT that did them in."</p>
<p>I'd be willing to bet on this!</p>
<p>Arctic16--Couldn't agree with you more. :)</p>
<p>S decided to join ROTC (army) as a Junior in college. He was awarded a 2 year scholarship. (Since we had already paid for this year, we will get a rebate.) The money was not his reason for joining. However, he felt compelled to contribute to the cost of his education. (We are one of those families that qualified for no financial aid because both Mom and Dad are gainfully employed, but agreed we would borrow against the equity we have in our real estate in order for him to attend a "top" school). </p>
<p>This is something he wanted to do. He is an extremely brilliant student, and is amazingly fit. He has always been an athlete, so loves the PT part. We still can't picture him getting up at 5:00am however. ;)</p>
<p>S decided to do this on his own at age 21. He never discussed it with us, because he knew that our initial reaction would be very much opposed to it. He attends a school where everyone is pre-something. This will definitely distinguish him when he decides to continue his career and attend grad school. He will attend leadership training this summer and be commissioned as an officer after he graduates and attends further training next summer. It is not the path we envisioned, but since he made the decision, we have seen a remarkable change in his independence and motivation level.
He really feels compelled to serve his country before getting locked in to a career for the rest of his life. According to him, he has "no interest in making money just for the sake of making money."</p>
<p>Sounds like your guy has grown up into a first rate individual with a grown up sense of serving his country. Congrats. We need more like him.</p>