<p>goaliedad,</p>
<p>thank you so much for your thorough reply!!!</p>
<p>1st board met Sept 29th. The next will be Dec.1. Expect a 4- 6 week wait for results.</p>
<p>for the 9/29 selection board meeting, by when should a student interview with PMS?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Interesting. I’m wondering why Cadet Command sent a letter with a 15 day deadline dated September 23??? I figured it to be for a late October board, although I had heard rumblings about the next board being in December. Getting “official” information is difficult. Pima, any clues as to why the short deadline we were given? And do you have a source for this date?</p>
<p>In the spirit of doing my share of adding insight to the community, I am reporting what I learned last few days by calling several ROTC battalions to gather information. Some very interesting, and unexpected gleanings from these calls.</p>
<p>When I asked the recruitment officer or PMS the question of how many freshmen cadets do you have, and how many of them have national scholarship, the % of the cadets on scholarship was all over the map. </p>
<p>(1) Battalion A: all 29 of them assigned by the end of the full admission cycle that ended in May were on full national scholarship, and on top of that, 11 walk-ins (after the school year started) are getting full scholarship provided that they pass the physical, etc. This battalion serves 4 private schools with total undergraduate freshmen of ~10,000. One top school, two other schools within top 100, and the last school probably a safety school for the CC crowd (given the general high standard for the kids of the CC parents). This safety school makes up 1/3+ out of the 10,000 kids and their admission rate is over 80%+. (I am providing this data, since it’s relevant for later discussion)</p>
<p>(2) Battalion B: out of 24 incoming freshmen cadets, 9 are on national scholarship. The unit provides 1, locally funded scholarship. The remaining 15 who did not get the national scholarship are competing for it. This unit serves only one school, and the school’s total incoming freshmen are about 4000.</p>
<p>(3) Battalion C: out of 27 incoming freshmen cadets, 7 of them are on national scholarship. Total size of the students in the school the unit is serving is 6000.</p>
<p>(4) In one entire state school system, they have about 30 national scholarship awardees, and the size of the total student body served by this state university system is about 15,000.</p>
<p>I was curious about this discrepancy, so I called back the officer at Battalion A, and asked, in a roundabout way, what’s the secret of having everyone on a scholarship, and he said “this unit is thought of very highly, and the Army is allocating a lot of funding to us because of our past performance, track record, and the quality of the cadets we attract”. He then proceeded to give me a laundry list of dignitaries from his unit and the talked about the recent cadets who got all sorts of very prestigious awards, etc. </p>
<p>I learned along the way, meanwhile, that the number of cadets with scholarship in a battalion depends on two factors:</p>
<p>(1) the reputation/evaluation of the battalion itself
(2) the kind of students who are admitted to the universities the battalion serves. </p>
<p>Given the wide spread of the incoming students’ academic standing of the four schools Battalion A was serving, the composite academic profile of their 10,000 students is not much better than the other battalions or the entire state university system mentioned. above. As such, I do believe that the officer from the Battalion A was not just giving me a self serving statement. It’s not just that they are drawing from such outstanding body of candidates who were good enough to be admitted to the top tier schools. The reason why all their cadets are getting scholarship is in good measure due to the STRENGTH AND REPUTATION of the battalion itself.</p>
<p>An officer from another battalion, who was very straightforward with no BS, told me that his unit, in all likelihood, couldn’t accept ROTC scholarship transfer, because even if the student bring their scholarship, if it exceeds the national scholarship cadet allocation for his battalion, he couldn’t take that student. On the other hand, another officer from Battalion A (not the officer mentioned above) was saying “bring them on. I can take them all”. </p>
<p>Moral of the story??? If you want to know which battalion has the best reputation where it matters (in the Army), there is a very simply question to ask: HOW MANY OF YOUR INCOMING FRESHMEN CADETS ARE ON A NATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP??? This number never lies. You don’t need to rely on any marketing pitch. And, mostly importantly, </p>
<hr>
<p>IN YOU WANT TO INCREASE THE ODDS OF YOUR KID GETTING THE ROTC SCHOLARSHIP, YOU SHOULD LIST THE SCHOOLS SERVED BY A BATTALION WITH AMPLE ALLOCATION FOR SCHOLARSHIP CADETS AS ONE OF YOUR TOP THREE PICKS.</p>
<hr>
<p>(P.S. The battalion A, based on these measures, is indeed an ROTC version of Harvard).</p>
<p>Helpful Hint:
You guys can’t mix Army, Navy and Air Force ROTC. They all have different board meeting dates, different qualifications and different expectations.</p>
<p>ARMY:
The ROTC scholarship questions should not simply be how many are on scholarship but how many who applied for scholarship are winners.
Many kids take ROTC as a class to decide if it’s for them. Some may also have difficulty qualifying medically but take the class in the hopes of later becoming medically qualified.
Another thing that affects scholarships is the National Guard scholarships. Many kids at state schools will turn down their national scholarship and join the guard once they get to their sophomore year since they are often a better deal. This also frees up money for incoming freshmen.</p>
<p>yes, yes, and yes:</p>
<p>good point. I should have clarified that it’s Army I was talking about, since that’s what my S2 is interested in. For instance, for Army, you list 7 SCHOOLS you would like to consider for scholarship. I understand for NROTC, you designate the battalion. Is this correct? If so, for NROTC, if you are designating battalions that serve multiple schools, you have more flexibility in choosing which school to enroll… I don’t know anything about AFROTC, since that’s something we never considered.</p>
<p>No, for NROTC you have choose 5 schools all of which must have an NROTC unit on campus or be affiated with a cross-town unit. Of the 5 schools you list at least 1 in the top 3 must be public. </p>
<p>The school application process is separate. The NROTC unit at the to which you are applying has no influence on either the NROTC or school application process. </p>
<p>Another Navy difference is that the DODMERB physical is not given until after you are chosen for the scholarship. It is difficult at best to pass. If you don’t pass you lose the scholarship.</p>
<p>Also for NROTC, an eye exam is required along with the DODMERB physical.
For any not familiar with the process…these medical exams are not done by your family physician/opthamologist. The scholarship letter directs you as to which provider to contact for the exams. S1’s eye exam had to be done at a Dr.'s office about thirty miles away from where we live. The DODMERB was done at an urban center about twenty miles from us. It appeared to be a place where many companies sent their people for physicals and drug testing i.e. there didn’t appear to be any sick people and there were no children. Many people were stopping in to pick up drug testing results.</p>
<p>
Just for an update… The rules have changed for Army this year. It joins Navy in only giving DoDMERB physicals AFTER the candidate is chosen for a scholarship. I received this information directly from Cadet Command in response to a question as to when my daughter would be contacted for her physical.</p>
<p>Hello. I’m the mom of an AROTC hopeful. In fact, it is my question about where to interview that the OP addressed in post #1. </p>
<p>Son’s app is submitted, and he has received the “15 days” letter. All he has left is his interview and fitness test. Both should be complete this week. (Although, I’m a little worried about the fitness test. He aggravated an old ankle injury in XC on Wednesday and I’m thinking his mile time won’t be as good as it could.)</p>
<p>Does anyone have a sense for how often an applicant’s first choice is included in the 5-school scholarship offer? It’s the reachiest school on Son’s list and an expensive private. (Not out of reach, just a reach.) It’s hard to explain, but an admissions rejection there would almost be easier to take than a scholarship rejection.</p>
<p>Just wanted to say this is a great thread. Thanks to all of you.
S3 is a hs sophomore and is interested in ROTC, and this is a great starting point.</p>
<p>DougBetsy - it’s hard to say. Cadet Command recently changed how scholarships are offered. Up until last year offers were made by the PMS in the Battalion.
It is early though - the earlier the better so I think that is a plus.</p>
<p>I think the best source of information is the PMSs of the battalions who have been in that post for a couple of years. These are the kind of people who can give you “unofficial” information they don’t put up on their web site. My experience is, when you call them and present yourself as an enthusiastic parent of an enthusiastic candidate, they are MORE THAN HAPPY to share their thoughts. Some of them are downright candid about sharing terrific insider’s insight.</p>
<p>They can also tell you about the “local” practices. One PMS told me that among the schools his unit serves, at one school he has no influence on the admission decision, and in another school, he has 85-90% chance to get the candidate who won the national scholarship to his unit into that university. Of course, the official party line is, the ROTC scholarship and college admission are totally separate, but still, come on, we are not born yesterday, and we all know humans are humans (wink, wink). A couple of PMSs more or less indirectly “fessed up” to me that when the central selection board sends a preliminary list of candidates who passed their initial (selection board) screening and require final approval of the local PMS of the battalion for national scholarship, their natural tendency is to recommend the ones they personally interviewed. Again, human nature, what can I say. They can also tell you what their tract record has been in securing 3 year scholarship in case your child did not get the 4 year scholarship, or what their recent history is like about their ability to absorb and accommodate scholarship transfer.</p>
<p>I even point blank asked one of them “if my kid is going to interview with you today, what would you look for and how best he can present himself”, and he answered in detail including proper dress and shoes.</p>
<p>Better yet, find out if that particular PMS has ever sat on the selection board, you can get even more information. This, I haven’t encountered yet, but if you call enough of them, I am sure you will find some. (note that the selection board is made up of PMSs in various batalion on a rotational basis). (This is the case for Army. I don’t know about NROTC or AFROTC). </p>
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<p>If any of you have any insight on what goes on in the selection board meetings, let’s hear it. anyone with this insight? Or talked to any PMS who has sat in the selection board?</p>
<hr>
<p>For my S2 who is a high school junior, we already have a dream combination of the battalion and school, and we are getting a lot of detailed information on this combination. Of course, we are also collecting information on other schools and battalions to make sure that we don’t put all of our eggs in one basket.</p>
<p>When S1 interviewed for NROTC scholarship, the interview was not with a PMS. It took place in an Navy office in the big city close to our town. His NROTC recruiter was a Master Chief. I assume that the recommendations of the interviewer were sent on to the board review. </p>
<p>S1 did his interview in June, just after finishing his jr. year.<br>
He wore a dress shirt/tie, dress pants and dress shoes.</p>
<p>So, I’m seeing a difference between applying to college and applying for an ROTC scholarship. When applying to college, the schools don’t want to hear from Mommy or Daddy. They want to deal with the applicant. However, for ROTC, the PMSs are willing and open to discuss things with the parent. </p>
<p>Is that right? Or, is it only safe for parents to call in an anonymous way?</p>
<p>DougBetsy -
The Army wants the parents to be onboard. They know your child will have a more successful experience if the parents are okay with it. Hence, they do really like to have the opportunity to discuss and answer questions that parents have. These questions - more often than not are different from the questions your s/d will have!
But… they also want to know that you are not pushing your s/d into the Army. The decision has to rest with the student.
So - if the PMS invites parents to the interview trust that it is a sincere invitation. Go, if you can. Sometimes they will offer to give the parent a tour while their s/d is interviewing, as was the case with my daughter. This is good because it allows the parent an opportunity to ask those questions without <em>embarrassing</em> the candidate and it allows the candidate to be evaluated away from the parent.
For the most part - questions about the application etc. These should be handled by the student and not the parent. IMO.</p>
<p>Just got off the phone with the ROO at Son’s #1 school. We talked about many things, but the newsiest item was that the school has just informed the Dept of Military Science that it will no longer provide free room and board to scholarship winners. Instead, the school will subsidize only the first $5,000 of R&B. </p>
<p>Interesting, but not surprising in these economic times.</p>
<p>Is this school a private? The big state u’s S1 considered/attended have never paid for R&B. At S1’s school, he was allowed to use university merit scholarships to cover R&B (even after he moved off campus) which was great.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s private.</p>