<p>I'm going to be applying ED to Northwestern and I was wondering how much weight they put on an ROTC Scholarship (I got a four-year Navy one to Northwestern). I know that some schools put a lot more weight on it than others, but I couldn't find anything on Northwestern. Any feedback is appreciated, thanks.</p>
<p>First, congratulations. A four year NROTC scholarship to Northwestern University; and an early selectee. Great job!</p>
<p>However, I am not quite sure what you are asking. Are you asking if NU will give you extra consideration for admissions, because you have an NROTC scholarship? </p>
<p>If that is your question, then I don’t know the answer and probably nobody does. However, my guess (only a guess) is that applying ED will get more attention than the NROTC scholarship. The great thing is that you know you can afford it, if admitted ED.</p>
<p>Personally, I do not see any downside to mentioning that you have already been awarded the NROTC scholarship. It might help a little, because it means that NU will not need to give you much, if any, financial aid. Thus NU might be somewhat more inclined to admit you knowing that it will cost them very little. However, there is no way for us to know if this would be an actual factor or not.</p>
<p>I definitely encourage you to apply ED to Northwestern, precisely because your NROTC scholarship is linked to NU. If you don’t get accepted to NU, then you do get to keep your scholarship but you go back into the pool of students who have not been assigned to a college. Many of the best schools will already have full quotas (yes, the Navy limits the number of NROTC scholarships at each college).</p>
<p>It is best to get any bad news fast, so that you have more options for your choice of colleges. If you were to apply RD, then the bad news would be so late that you would have very little control over where the Navy sent you. You might not even end up at your in-state public university, but instead could wind up at a college you really don’t like hundreds of miles away from where you want to be.</p>
<p>Also, after applying ED, it might be smart to continue to research other NROTC colleges, so that you will be clear on your other preferences. You almost certainly would need to lower your sights down from schools like NU. As I said, the best schools are likely to fill their quotas fastest. In this “worst case scenario” you might have to go beyond the five you first submitted to the Navy. It best to be prepared.</p>
Sorry for the super late reply, but thanks for your input. I did apply ED and I got accepted!
For others who may be confused about selecting colleges for their scholarships and then deciding on an admission plan, I ranked my absolute number one school first (big reach by the way), a match and very close second choice school second (emphasis on the probability that I’d get in), state school safety was third because I had to, another big reach fourth, and a match fifth.
Keep in mind that things definitely went my way because I knew I had the scholarship before I applied anywhere and only my number one school was ED; the others were EA. While you will hear that it’s best to put safeties first on the scholarship list, I think that it’s also good to have your personal number one or two schools near the top because the Navy will look at your interest in those schools when it comes around to transferring your scholarship, should it come to that.
I hope this thread proves helpful to upcoming ROTC (and college) applicants and thanks again @NROTCgrad.
CONGRATULATIONS! :-bd
Great strategy, and illustrates how smart it is to apply early for the NROTC scholarship.
Lesson… for people who want to take their NROTC scholarship to a “reach” school, it is absolutely essential to apply early so that you can get the scholarship early then apply ED to your reach.