NROTC Marine Option Scholarship

<p>Hi,
ysics
My son is only a sophomore, but he has been talking about joining Marine as long as I can remember, and I would like to gather as much information as possible well in advance to help & guide him so that he can achieve his dream.</p>

<p>He wants to join NROTC Marin Option. Since he wants to serve 5-10 years then move on to a public service career as a civilian, he would rather do NROTC than go to the service academy: he wants to have a college lief/networking that is well balanced for civilian and military experience.</p>

<p>I heard that NROTC significantly favors engineering major with 85% of the scholarship going to the engineering major and requiring one year of calculus and one year of physics. I also understand that fewer than one in ten got a scholarship.</p>

<p>Does this apply euqally to all NROTC applicants, regarldess of Naval or Marine preference?</p>

<p>Or, are above mentioned requirements mostly NAVY requirements. Do Marine Option NROTC apply have different statistics in terms of acceptance rate and scholarship award? Do the Marine Option also require calculus and physics courses during college?</p>

<p>My son will not major in engineering and he really would like to avoid these courses.</p>

<p>thanks.</p>

<p>I went through the Navy ROTC program as a Marine Option about 25 years ago. But I do keep up on the details of the program. Your son can apply for Navy ROTC, Marine Option and go through the process. What the Marines are looking for is quite different from the other services, he MUST have been varsity athlete in school, have leadership positions (like school president....not club president) and he will need to do well in a Physical Fitness Test. I was a Navy option, then switched to Marines the end of my sophmore year. It will be quite competitive to get the scholarship....or he can go to a school, join as a college program (non-scholarship)...then impress the Marine Officer Insturctor (usually a Major)....and get a scholarship starting his sophmore year. The Marines don't require the calculus (though 1/2 of the Marine Options in my class of 6 were engineers), physics, etc....but he still will need very good scores and gpa in HS becasue NROTC tends to be at the better schools NW, Notre Dame, BC and even MIT.....the Marines are very image conscious, especially for officers, he needs be able to impress them, that he is the "jock-leadership" type that can knock out 20 pullups and run a sub 18 minute 3 miles.</p>

<p>the real reason for NROTC was to feed engineers into the nuclear engineering slots on the subs and aircraft carriers. In my year of graduating in 1980, all the "tech" majors had to go nuclear power program. That is why the navy wants 85% tech majors.</p>

<p>thank you very much for your input.</p>

<p>A couple of more questions.</p>

<p>how do "THEY" decide which candidate to accept into any particular NROTC Marine Option college and which candidate gets scholarship?</p>

<p>Does somebody (bodies) up there in a central HQ decide which candidate gets scholarship and which does not? If they wo decide to award scholarship, how do they decide to which college NROTC unit the scholarship applies? Do they consult with the local (college level) ROTC administrator/commander? Do the commanders at that particular college have a strong say on who they would like to admit and whether that student gets scholarship?</p>

<p>If Marine Corp is paying for the college tuition, is it fair to assume that they are naturally MORE inclined to give scholarship to the "inexpensive" program, thus signifcantly disadvantaing those students who listed expensive elite private universities as their preferences? I guess this is the reason why NROTC requires that one of the top 3 preferences must be an instate college. Well, in my son's case, there isi NO NROTC school in the state (NJ). How does this work then?</p>

<p>Or conversely, due to the potentially lower number of students going into the elite private universities who would like to join ROTC, does Marine Corp show willingness/eagerness to "reward" those students? </p>

<p>In general, how competitive is NROTC scholarship among those who chose Marine Option?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for any feedback you may have.</p>

<p>I was at Notre Dame, so here is the progression, your son needs to "win" a scholarship, but that is just the start, then he needs to get accepted to Notre Dame (so very good GPA and scores) and then, if ND is his first choice, then get accepted into the NROTC unit, I suspect that they would have only one or two Marine Options slots....so "Yes" it is quite competitive. One thing I noticed when I was there 25 years ago, a lot of sons of Marine Corps generals and colonel's had scholarships, but also these were impressive kids, very smart and knew what they were getting into.....when I was in, 50% of the unit quit the end of sophmore year, becasue the 4 year committment to active duty is locked in the beginning of the jr year. I wuold suggest not worrying about this, just have him apply, list his top three schools and start the process. Yes, I wonder about the Navy or Marines being less willing to fund the expensive colleges , especially with the Navy being downsized but the Army and Marines are being increased. Also, your commitment is started after freshmen year now. I am not sure on the selection process, but I do now the interviw is very important, I interviewed for a scholarship, did not get it, went to ND and joined the unit, and becasue I was an engineer major, got a Navy scholarship starting sophmore year, then switched to the Marine's my jr year. Also, for the private, elite schools, they will have a lot of applicants. Basically, to get one of these elite private college NROTC scholarships, would need something like varsity football captain, school president, 34 or higher ACT, 3.9uw gpa with AP and honors and really impress them that you want to join the military. For example also, on the general's getting slots for their son's, General Petraeus son is Army ROTC at MIT.</p>

<p>also, I still think a lot of kids are pushed into ROTC by some parents, this is worth $140K, plus the kids get $250/month now. If he could get into one of these elite schools, then join as a college program, , and then the unit can support him gettng a scholarship.</p>

<p>also, I did see something interesting, where DOD is now paying ROTC students up to an extra $250.month to major in Chinese, Arabic or other critical languages (anyone we might fight of course)....so maybe ask your son to foucs on this.</p>

<p>hyeonjlee:</p>

<p>I strongly suggest you spend $10 on this book: Amazon.com:</a> How to Win Rotc Scholarships: An In-Depth, Behind-The-Scenes Look at the Rotc Scholarship Selection Process: C. W. Brewer: Books</p>

<p>This book helped us quite a bit. It does not have information on the new 85% Tier 1 and Tier 2 scholarship applicants rule, but everything else is correct.</p>

<p>To answer of few of your questions:</p>

<ul>
<li>There is a central committee (the "Board") that meets periodically to review all applications. Each application is given a numeric score based on GPA, SAT, strength of classes taken (did the applicant take 4 years of the hardest courses available), recommednations, athletics, leadership positions held, extra curriculars, the scholarship essays, etc. The score is then totaled. If there are 25 scholarships available during that meeting then the top 25 highest scores get them. The ones that do not get a scholarship are then re-evaluated at the next Board. Their scores are compared to any new applicants and the process starts over.</li>
</ul>

<p>There is no input from the colleges or their ROTC units. Each ROTC unit has a certain number of Midshipmen they can handle. For instance, there may be 20 slots available at Notre Dame. 100 scholarship recipients may have put Notre Dame on their application as their first choice. The top 20 scores would get the scholarship to Notre Dame, the rest would move on to their 2nd choice and the process begins again.</p>

<p>Again, the COs at the individual college units have NO say on who gets the 4-year scholarship. They do have input on College Programmers who would receive a 2 or 3 years scholarship, but that is totally different.</p>

<p>thank you everyone.</p>

<p>Is there a separate selection/scholarship award process for Marine Option? or, the same rules/competition apply to ALL NROTC applicants, and the Marine Option simply gaurantees that my son will be able to join Marine Corp upon graduation</p>

<p>For instance, regarding the rule of 85% of the NROTC scholarship going to the engineering major, does it also apply to Marine Option applicants.</p>

<p>I guess what I am curious about is who constitutes my son's competitors, the enire NROTC applicant pool or just Marion Option applicants.</p>

<p>Thanks for your feedback in advance.</p>

<p>Iron Maiden,</p>

<p>the book you recommended was published July 2000. You found this book very useful, so I assume that a lot of fundamental facts have not changed. Am I correct?</p>

<p>thanks</p>

<p>I checked on this at the NROTC website for Marine Options.....a board of Marine Officers is convened and they select the appliants, and no, the Marine Options are not competing against the navy candidates, nor do the Marine options have to be 85% technical majors, any major is OK but I am sure they are looking for something rigorous if they are paying the $140K....marines do need finance majors, lanquage experts, and probably electrical engineer's are valued (for comm and signal intelligence). Since NROTC Marine Options get a regular commission, this puts them is them same class as Naval Academy graduates. Kids that go through the college progam or PLC would get reserve commisions.</p>

<p>Miperson80: you are correct in your statements for everything except reserve commissions. They do not exist and have not for many years. NROTC grads have an active duty commission that is identical to a Naval Academy grad. No difference at all.</p>

<p>Hyeonjlee: the book is totally up-to-date with the exception of only the 85% rule for Navy option.</p>

<p>We used the same book that Iron Maiden recommended. Son is in year two of his NROTC scholarship - he is Navy option, Engineering. </p>

<p>That book was extremely helpful. Also, be sure to check out schools that offer a room/board stipend - some offer zero dollars, some offer half room and board and others offer full room and board, in addition to the stipend, the tuition and fees, and book allowance.</p>

<p>Also, son's commission is 4 years active duty, 4 years reserve after college. He is in a 4 1/2 year program for Engineering, and the Navy will continue to pay for the benefits until he graduates.</p>

<p>you are confused, NROTC and Naval Academy grads get a "regular" commision, then go on "active" duty...a regular commision means you get to stay in past the first 4 years and only are forced out after being passed over twice.....a "reserve" commission means that once your 3 or 4 year (I think now the reserve PLC comisions have to stay in 4 years, it was three when I was in) are done, you petition to get a regualr commision, which can be quite competitive, essentially a "regular" commision means you can be a career officer.</p>

<p>MiPerson,</p>

<p>which one of us is confused? It isn't clear by your statement.</p>

<p>Perhaps this will clear things up: NROTC</a> Scholarship Details</p>

<p>This is the link we used when my son was applying to colleges and NROTC. It links to every college in the country that offers the program and has a ton of information.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.nrotc.navy.mil/%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://www.nrotc.navy.mil/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>MiPerson - I think with the war on and the Marine Corps needing officers all commissions are regular commissions now - even those through PLC.</p>

<p>These days in the Army, MC and Navy it's pretty easy to stay in - not so in peacetime when there was a draw down.</p>

<p>JustAMom of 4, not sure on that, reserve officers can stay past their original commitment....it wouldn't make any sense to jam up the systems with too many regular officers, if the reserve officer is considered real good, he would be offered/encouraged to apply for a regular commission.</p>