I am not going on an ROTC scholarship to any schools, and I am most likely not going to be going into the military after school, but I have taken Naval Science (JROTC) Junior year, and I will be taking it Senior year as well. Only reason I didn’t take it previous years is because I wanted to get French out of the way, and I was taking Computer Science as my electives both years since I want to go into an Engineering major. It looks like I am going to end out this year with a 100 if the trend continues, but I’m nervous about colleges looking at it like I copped out by taking JROTC instead of an academic class. I’m a perfectionist when it comes to my uniform and discipline, so getting that high grade is easy for me. I wanted to take the class because the military deal has always been interesting to me, even if I do not plan to go into it after school, and because I wanted to improve my discipline, and especially my self-confidence.
I’ve been on the JROTC drill team this year, and intend to return next year. JROTC drill team is an all-year thing, so it is my main extra-curricular next to my computer work in our literary magazine, and my recent acceptance into National Honor Society. I spend anywhere between 4 (off-season, doesn’t happen often) - 10 hours (mostly the entire year) in drill team every week, and I’ve attained some leadership positions as well (commanded squads in competitions, etc.) Are colleges going to look down on my course load because I took one comparatively ‘easy’ course along with all of my other courses, which comprise just about the hardest load I can take? I couldn’t be in Drill Team without taking the course itself.