<p>Son’s AROTC interview is this afternoon. Wish him luck!</p>
<p>Dougbetsy,</p>
<p>Good luck. Would appreciate it very much if you share with us regarding what kind of questions they are asking. Would help my HS JR son with a proper orientation.</p>
<p>While I’m not a parent of a ROTC student, many of my son’s friends at MIT were in ROTC. Here’s what I observed about BEING a ROTC student, rather than thinking about being one… If the student wants out, it would be best if s/he is at a school that’s affordable in that case. One of my son’s friends wanted out very much after two years, but couldn’t afford to pay back the AF for his two years–$80,000!–much less pay for the next two years. He finished with ROTC, in the end, but it was challenging all the way around. You need to be completely sure this is the right option.</p>
<p>You raise an excellent point.</p>
<p>Folks need to remember that an ROTC scholarship is a contract with the United States Government and not one to be entered into lightly. 4-year scholarship winners have a one year “grace” in which to break their contract without penalty. After that time, if you quit ROTC, refuse your commission or don’t meet physicial or weight standards you will be subject to either paying back the money or enlisting. Normally this is at the discretion of the service.</p>
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<p>Agree 100%. And with regards to that 1 year of grace, if a student is honest with him/herself, they will know whether it is right for them most of the time. The government doesn’t want kids who don’t know what they are in for signing up at age 18 and then finding that it really isn’t what they imagined and then being stuck. They want committed leaders. Thus the exit after 1 year with no penalty. </p>
<p>Living a semester of ROTC should give most students an idea of the very different lifestyle they will be committing to. If a scholarship student isn’t 100% sure they want the military life after the first semester, s/he needs to quickly explore other financing or a transferring to a less expensive school where the scholarship is not an issue.</p>
<p>To this end, a student has to know how to disengage from ROTC if it isn’t right for him/her. The Cadre should have a good idea of who is fitting in well and who needs some soul searching and should be more than willing to work with the student struggling with the committment issue. So it is incumbent upon the student to be honest about his/her situation with the Cadre so as not to put him/herself in the ugly situation mentioned above.</p>
<p>And good luck (not that he’ll need it) to DougBetsy’s Son!</p>
<p>Also sending good wishes to DougBetsy’s S.</p>
<p>Many who receive scholarships do change course after being introduced to the real thing.
S1 NROTC class started with 25 scholarship midshipmen. I think ten or eleven commissioned this year (counting Navy and Marines). The rest dropped out of the program for various reasons.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any insight about AF ROTC? I am trying to get my son to think about this since he wants to attend WPI. WHat are a persons chances of getting a scholarship?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Any cadet that drops out is a huge loss for them. For the opportunity cost, AND the fact that if they drop out after the first year, they don’t require reimbursement of the scholarship money already spent. </p>
<p>this is the reason why the ROTC scholarship selection board pays close attention to any factors that will increase the odds that the candidates are likely to successfully finish the program and get commissioned. One PMS I called to gather information flat out told me that he really welcomes such demonstrated support/interest on my part, when I sheepishly and defensively told him that I am not trying to over manage my son, and that I am simply trying to get some additional information while HE IS ACTUALLY DOING all the work, etc. He told me that family support is a big part of the equation of making sure that nobody drops out and any relatives with past or current military engagement are also considered very positively for the same reason. </p>
<p>We hear about colleges that care a lot about genuine interest on the part of the applicants so that they can maintain a high yield during the admission season. It’s much more important for ROTC: they want to keep their yield four years down the road high.</p>
<p>Anything the scholarship applicant does to give the “warm and fuzzy” feeling to the ROTC selection board that s/he is dead serious and will not change his/her mind down the road helps A LOT and increases the odds of getting scholarship.</p>
<p>He was scheduled for 1:30. We arrived 10 mins early and went straight in. </p>
<p>I was first. PMS started off by saying that he had reviewed Sons app and only found one thing wrong with it: the list of schools omitted this one. Ha ha PMS humor. He continued in saying that Son had maxed out points on academics, athletics, and leadership. I was glad to hear this, but surprised he could reveal it. </p>
<p>He then went on to explain that as long as Son didnt flunk (my word, not his) the interview or fitness, he was bound to receive a scholarship. He could probably be among those sent to the next board. Ummm, OK. Wow. I was really shocked by the assumptions he was making. </p>
<p>Next he talked about the way a battalion is managed and how cadets have increasing responsibilities and time commitments as they get near commissioning. This led me to ask about attrition over 4 years. </p>
<p>According this PMS (as well as the ROO at Sons #1 school) the most common reason kids leave the program is disciplinary. This led to a long talk from him about the importance of not drinking underage and hanging out with the risk-takers on campus. He told 2 stories of cadets he couldnt or wouldnt save from ROTC expulsion due to wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time arrests. (And one was ultimately acquitted, but still kicked out of ROTC.) The second reason for leaving is GPA.</p>
<p>Then it was Sons turn. For this the PMS invited the MSG to participate. </p>
<p>According to Son, the main questions the PMS asked were
- why ROTC?
- What MOS interests you? (And here the PMS explained the process for determining MOS. He urged Son to check-out the 1st choice success rate of the battalions on his list.)<br>
- What courses are you taking now? He said Sons load of 4 APs in 12th grade will be helpful during boarding. </p>
<p>Then Son heard the same dont get kicked out by doing something stupid stories that I did. </p>
<p>Then the PMS pitched pretty hard for Son to apply to his school. At first Son politely declined saying he wants a college more than 12 miles from home. But, by the end of the pitch he was considering it. </p>
<p>When the office door opened, the PMS invited me back in. He told me that Son did fine, although he seemed kinda nervous. He gave me the same come to my school pitch that Son got. And, as a demonstration of his sincerity about wanting Son, he said he would be giving him max points on the interview portion of the app. Wow. How can they really share that kinda info?</p>
<p>Lastly, the PMS mentioned that receiving a scholarship is only one part of the process. He said that many scholarship winners lose out during the DoDMERB physical exam. Stuff like past ADD or certain current meds (might have mentioned asthma, but I cant recall specifically) can cause a DQ. He also asked specifically if Son is still doing his risky martial arts activity. He said an injury from that or skiing, skateboarding, etc could send the whole program down the drain. Interesting.</p>
<p>Finally, as he was leaving, Son received a drawstring back pack full of AROTC goodies: key chains, mouse pad, t-shirt, laundry bag, pen, etc. Another wow.</p>
<p>Any questions, just ask.</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>Could you please include more of the details he gave?</p>
<p>soonermom,</p>
<p>by now, you got most of the information regarding what they look for already on this thread. to summarize, they are looking for the most balanced combination of academics, athletics, and leadership. These are more or less documented on the submitted application package. During the interview, they will confirm what’s on the paper. What they are looking for during the interview that may not be 100% easy to discern just based on the paperwork is maturity, dedication, and general poise. It appears to me in general how the candidates come across is very important. Think of it just like a job interview after one passes the initial screening test based on the application package. </p>
<p>By the way, out of the three factors they are looking for (academics, athletics, and leadership), two (athletics and leadership) can be amply demonstrated if the candidate is a team captain or something like that in a sports team. That’s why they just LOVE the captain of such and such sport team. When I told the PMS that I called that S2’s sport is an individual variety (track), rather than a team sports, he strongly recommended that S2 take on a clear path to demonstrate the leadership quality through different venues such as student government elected officer position, etc. </p>
<p>My advice to you: if you child is interested in pursuing a path of ROTC scholarship, call PMSs in a variety of battalions. They are the BEST source of information, and they often are willing to share very valuable insider’s tips that will NEVER show up on any official web pages.</p>
<p>If you do call, and get interesting insider’s tips, please share with us, as I have been and dougbesty has been. let’s all learn from each other’s experience.</p>
<p>Having had 2 sons in the past 3 years apply for and receive appointments to the academies and NROTC, AFROTC and AROTC scholarships I will help provide info where I can.</p>
<p>Both sons did most of the legwork and since they were just a year apart they ended up helping each other out.</p>
<p>Since they were applying to the academies and had their paperwork in for those early (end of junior year) they had their DODMERB scheduled for late August. Before ROTC could even request them. They did not do the summer seminars but their fitness tests were done by their coaches during their late summer practices for fall sports.</p>
<p>Since most of their stuff was done early they were sent to the first boards for ROTC and heard very early. Before EA decisions came out for schools, made it a little difficult in designating order of preference for schools but they figured it out.</p>
<p>Their respective ROTC liasons were EXTREMELY helpful and did deliberately call to talk to me when they knew the boys were in school. I was told if “mama wasn’t behind them, it would be an uphill battle,” so they were thorough.</p>
<p>One son is at an academy and the other ended up declining his ROTC scholies and appts. Life has a way of turning things upside down!!</p>
<p>Again I’ll help where I can about the process, it was 2 years ago.</p>
<p>Good luck to all…</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>I am reading more scary stories about public universities with much lower % of the students graduating in four years due to the fact that the recent budget cut reduced the amount of spots in core classes required for major, etc.</p>
<p>What happens if a student couldn’t graduate from the school in four years? What happens to the ROTC scholarship, commissioning as an officer, etc?</p>
<p>Will this be a good reason to shoot for mostly private schools for ROTC scholarship awardees?</p>
<p>At the beginning of freshman year, the cadets have to fill out a 4 year plan that shows how they plan to finish their degrees in 4 years. The ROTC office will look it over and will (theoretically) look for potential problems. They work at the university and have dealt with lots of cadets, so they know where the problem areas lie, schedule-wise. </p>
<p>If a student cannot graduate in 4 years, he requests an extension and my understanding is that it will usually be granted if the student has been doing what he needs to do. His ROTC detachment will be evaluating his credits each semester to make sure he is on track. I would not choose a private school based on this. ROTC detachments at public universities know how to work with their cadets and with their universities.</p>
<p>Right, S1’s friend in AFROTC was a brilliant kid majoring in Aerospace Engineering and made a perfect score on the test to get into flight school (very unusual). Still he needed an extra semester to finish college. He’s in flgiht school now. Engineering is known to often take longer when combined with ROTC. S1 knows a few who have taken an extra semester to finish and received an extension on their ROTC scholarship. </p>
<p>Like timely said, if the student has done everything he/she can and still can’t finish in four years, they will work with you.</p>
<p>S1 graduated in four years from state u. No matter where you go it requires taking a heavier than normal class load each sem. due to ROTC class. S1 took 18/19 credit hours every sem. exacept for his first and last semesters in college. He took about 20 AP credits in with him (helped a LOT). He also took a summer school class online after his jr. yr. ROTC takes some planning but it all works out.</p>
<p>Ok, so I’m really interested in serving in the military…but I don’t know what branch I want to go into. I’m interested in all the branches except for the Army and my top two are the Navy and Coast Guard. Also thinking about the Marines a bit.</p>
<p>So, I’m planning on applying to both USCGA and USNA and NROTC and maybe even AFROTC.
But the thing is, I’m leaning towards the Coast Guard right now, slightly, and they don’t have a ROTC program. They have something kind of similar called CSPI, but you have to apply Sophomore year of college and it only goes into affect for Jr. and Sr. year. I don’t really think that paying Frosh and Sophomore year would be too much of a burden, but the thing I don’t like about it is I have to wait 2 years while going to an expensive private or OOS school before finding out if the Uncle will pay my tuition in exchange for service. </p>
<p>And, I’d like to be a pilot, but I’m not completely set on it. I’d love to save lives and fly helicopters for the Coast Guard, but flying off an aircraft carrier sounds like one of the coolest thing you could do in life.</p>
<p>One nice thing about the CG is that I will most likely be stationed on land, in the U.S., after doing a tour or two on a cutter as an Ensign or LTJG. As opposed to the Navy, which sounds like I’d do 18 months at sea, 36 on land, sea-to-shore I believe they call.</p>
<p>If flight school does not work out for me, I would not mind going back to law school and becoming a JAG or any type of grad school. I’ve thought about being a college prof, so maybe teaching at a SA could be a possibility. </p>
<p>Finally, would this screw up my financial aid at certain places? I don’t think I can go through college committed to one service, so I’m not sure if NROTC is for me. But I still probably will apply, in case I change my mind.
But say I apply to USC and get accepted. Say my family’s EFC is about 27k and they give my like 25k in grants or whatever and my family feels like we can pay that. But…they find out I was accepted for a NROTC scholarship, will they automatically take back my grants and school FA? Because I understand they will eventually take the grants, because if I accept the NROTC scholly, I won’t have the need for institutional FA.</p>
<p>Or if I plan on applying for scholarships, will they look over my app and say (even if I am well qualified for a certain scholarship): “Oh, he won a NROTC scholarship, he doesn’t need any more money”.</p>
<p>And finally, applying for NROTC would knock down financial burdens, whci means I can basically apply to any OOS public with NROTC and afford it(assuming I get accepted). This opens the door to schools that don’t give great aid to OOS students or the student shave to have top of the line stats. Schools I’m thinking about are: UT-Austin, UC-Berkeley, UCLA, UIUC, UF, UNC, UVA. Michigan also falls under this category, but I like the school enough to apply anyway and try and get one of their 20k scholarships.
…So sounds great, right? Well, yeah, but my list is already like 12+ schools long and if I add 3-4 schools from the above list, then I’m talking applying to like 16-17.</p>
<p>All those app fees and sending SAT scores and all that crap would surely cost me like $1500. Yikes!</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Financial aid - being awarded a ROTC scholarship will cause any financial aid already awarded by the college to be adjusted. You can’t make money off going to school. In other words, your total aid, including ROTC can’t be higher than the Cost of attendance.
ROTC (except for some AF programs) pays full tuition and fees and books.<br>
If you EFC at USC is $27000 and you would only be responsible for room and board of about $12,000 where is the issue?</p></li>
<li><p>Coast Guard - the USCG is a very small service. You can commission from the USCGA, US Merchant Marine Academy as well as a Maritime school; i.e. SUNY - Maritime, Maine Maritime, Cal. Maritime etc. You can also wait and apply for OCS after you have your degree.</p></li>
<li><p>Service - Why not Army? If you want to fly helicopters, there are plenty of opportunities there. I understand you want a sea service but understand if you go Marines you will probably be boots on the ground. AF is not a sea service.
Think about if you want to serve your country and what skills you will bring to that service. If you think Navy and Marines are “safer” think again.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Gentle request: If you receive any news about the outcomes of the October board reviews, please post it. Approximately 2 weeks have past, so notifications must be coming out soon, right?</p>
<p>DougBetsy, we have found the old military adage “hurry up and wait” to be entirely true.
You jump through a lot of hoops and then wait, wait,wait.
Don’t despair if it takes awhile. I know how you feel. We checked the computer every day for weeks before S finally got his “acceptance”. The waiting is hard. S got his letter about this time (in Oct.)when he applied. Hopefully you’ll get good news soon.</p>