So basically, I’m looking into the NROTC scholarships. I know there are the extra classes and PT requirements, but does it affect the social aspects too? Also, besides the summer cruises, are there any other obligations? If I receive a NROTC scholarship and find that I’d rather do military training separate from undergrad, can I quit after a year or two )if I receive a scholarship) and do the Officer Training School instead? Or am I bound by the scholarship to NROTC for all four years? I know that after signing to the Navy commitment I’ll have to pay up if I quit, but that’s normally sophomore year, so if I opt out before then will I incur any costs?
The last portion (about being able to opt out even if I’m on the scholarship) is my biggest question, but if you have any answers please let me know!
NROTC will very clearly spell out priorities for you. It goes academics (you need those to commission), NROTC events, then everything else. That being said about half of the midshipmen in my unit are in fraternities at what is a pretty big public university and others are in clubs so it is definitely possible to have a social life, you just have to manage your time well.
Besides summer cruises there are no other obligations over the summer generally, that being said cruises can be anywhere from 2-6 or 7 weeks with an average of around 4 from what I have seen so be prepared to be flexible with your summer plans. You can request certain dates but are not guaranteed them, and you must go when they tell you barring extreme circumstances such as making up a class you did not pass (see first paragraph for priorities). You only get to go on summer cruises if you are on scholarship or are a college programmer going into your senior year.
NROTC is definitely better to do than OCS in my opinion because you get the added benefit of college paid for. With a 4 year scholarship you can quit up to your first day of sophomore year with absolutely no debt or punishment, but after that you owe them all the money back they have spent on you or enlisted service, at the discretion of the Secretary of the Navy. The later you quit (say within 12 months of commissioning, so after you’ve already completed 3 years of college), the more likely enlisted service is. I have not heard of anyone being forced to enlist in my time in the program, but you should know that is technically in your contract.
I’m going to be a bit harsh here. First, every question you asked can be answered with either a simple Google search or by reading the Navy web site. If you want to be an officer you need to learn to take initiative rather than relying on others to do your research.
Second, if you are already asking how to get out of the commitment then you need to do some serious reflection on your priorities. My DS’s unit had 20+ Midshipmen start. 4 commissioned. Grades, behavior, aptitude, and lack of commitment caused the attrition. I can tell you in my experience the Midshipmen that make it through the program and earn the honor of an
officer commission are the ones whose #1 goal in life was to serve as a Naval Officer. The thought of failure or of withdrawal never entered their minds. If you can’t honestly say this then my advice is to reconsider.
Third, if you are a currently a Senior you are way late to apply for the scholarship. Technically the deadline has not passed, but the top candidates have had their applications in before 9/1 and their officer interview completed.
Thank you so much, that was really helpful. I don’t know very many people who do ROTC and I’m trying to get an idea of what everyday life is like. It’s really hard to ask people in person because if there is a negative they generally don’t express that. I also keep getting confused because depending on who I talk to (ROTC vs OCS), people tell me different opinions on how to approach becoming an officer.
And you will continue to get different answers. It varies by year but ROTC generally offers all line communities while OCS is limited at times to just communities with the most need.
What Sportsman said. OCS is used to fill the holes in the officer corps that the Academy and NROTC didn’t fill. Some years there are a lot of spots, some years not so many.
@nonewusernames Becoming a commissioned officer is similar to being a doctor. You’ve got to want it and there are different ways to get it. Within the community, a pecking order is established. Like doctors going to the Caribbean for med school, those who go through OCS are at the bottom of the totem pole. USNA grads are, more often than not, career military servants and held in the highest esteem among their peers. Making the commitment to serve is key. Less time is allowed to decide if it’s for you. Now it’s one and done. Before it was two and screw. YMMV;)
This is not accurate, at least based on my 24+ years experience as a commissioned officer in the United States Navy. Navy OCS graduates are not at the bottom of any totem pole in comparison to officers from other commissioning sources. All applicants for officer positions are very carefully screened, and the competition for every spot can be very rigorous. During training and out in the fleet the distribution of high performers, mid performers and low performers is relatively even among USNA, NROTC and OCS graduates. Sure, there are isolated incidents where a “ring knocker” will show bias for a fellow boat school alum, but the critical, long standing policy for officer career management has been that consistent superior performance determines advancement and assignment, regardless of commissioning source. In other words, what matters is not where you received your commission, but what you do with it once you’re in the warfighting business.
A few questions from a parent quite in the dark on the NROTC process.
My son just had his officer interview, has everything else submitted. What’s the normal timeframe for an answer?
I’ve read that engineering is the preferred focus. He is looking at liberal arts majors (history or Poli Sci). Does that severely limit his chances?
Lastly, maybe chance him?
-ACT 31 (33 Superscore)
-GPA 3.76 UW/4.4 W
-5 AP Classes
-HS doesn’t rank, but he would be 12/190 per his guidance counselor
-NHS, Spanish NHS
-Selected by school for a prestigious leadership role
-Received Leadership Book Award as a junior
-2 varsity sports
-Lots of the other requisite HS sports & extracurricular leadership/service activities
-All-boys Catholic HS–academically very good
I know that he should have started this earlier, but he spent the summer wrestling with applying to USNA and he completed that application and was working on recommendations, but around Labor Day decided that he wanted a more traditional college experience.
He is focused on becoming a USN officer, so he thought about NROTC, but between college applications and football, he lagged on getting NROTC app done.
Thanks for any and all info. If you or you child is serving, I appreciate your/their service.
Yes, @MylesCK, I believe a liberal arts major hurts him very much. The navy focuses on STEM majors (especially engineering) for their NROTC members. THe system is organized in tiers, with the navy’s most valued majors in tier 1, then the not as valued in tier 2, and finally tier 3. The system is explained in more detail here: http://www.nrotc.navy.mil/scholarship_criteria.html
I think the scholarships and available majors may fluctuate from college to college, but as you can see, arts majors really only fall in tier 3. After looking at a specific college (Duke), I’ve found that the slate of NROTC majors is larger, with political science being a tier 3 major. I guess what this means is you can find arts degrees paid for by NROTC at various colleges throughout the country. Still, I would think that wanting to be an arts major severely hurts your child’s chances at getting a scholarship, as the navy wants STEM.
So we know @onthewestfence is an academy mid/grad now lol. And @MylesCK only the board knows if he’ll get it, none of us can really chance him, just tell you what looks good and what does not. Try to get his school to release his ranking, that will help, and tier 3 scholarships are harder to come by than tier 1/2 (STEM).
@MylesCK There are two things that will work against your son. First, getting the officer interview done now vs in the summer when top applicants have it complete tells the review boards that either NROTC is not your son’s first choice or he procrastinated. Neither of these look good. If this year follows the previous pattern then there have already probably been two review boards. His application will be at the bottom of the pile vs those that came in by 9/1.
Second, he is trying to get the scholarship with a Tier 3 major. 85% of NROTC scholarships are required to go to Tier 1 and Tier 2 majors. This is non-negotiable. The Navy wants STEM majors. Once you receive a scholarship you cannot move to a Tier 3 major without losing the scholarship. I should also note that even Tier 3 majors have to take Calculus 1 & 2 and then a full year of Calculus bases Physics and achieve no worse than a C for each course. In most schools these are the classes full of Engineering majors. If your son has a very strong math background he will be fine but otherwise I’ve seen this requirement cause Tier 3 majors severe problems to the point of losing their scholarship.
If your son wants to be a Navy officer and does not receive the scholarship please look into him participating in NROTC via the college program and earning a partial scholarship that way. There is also OCS after graduation but those opportunites are very limited these days.
As far as the comment that there is an officer pecking order with Academy grads being at the top goes that is not reality these days.
Dear MylesCK. Your son’s stats are good enough to get the NROTC National Scholarship, probably any type so long as he did well in STEM Classes and top scores on ACT Math and English. What many said on this Thread are very accurate. As many did say Tier 1 and 2 are 85% of the offer and they are STEM majors. 15% is none STEM. Navy is a service that needs more STEM so you have to be STEM comfortablenif you want Navy. Otherwise you need to look into the Army. Your son has 33C on ACT. How strong is his English and Math on the ACT. Navy only look at those two sections and equalize to SAT. If your soon want Tier 3 none Science major scholarship full ride than his scores on E and M have to be very strong. I mean near perfect. I believe Navy gives out only 30 Tier 3 Scholarship nationwide. Also quality of his classes have to be very strong with strong STEM and social science and English classes. Getting 100 in gym and art are great but do not get calculated.
Most importantly is his attitude and commitment to the service and the Navy. If your son is very serious to be a Naval Officer he should apply to both NROTC and USNA. I read a study done by PhD and Veterans who are in Harvard professional programs. Their conclusion is that commissioning through the ROTC Program vs SA is that SA grads get the priority on branching if your total ranking is the same. This is GPA Leadership Fitness which are calculated to overall class rank. For the ROTC where you went to school doesn’t matter. It is your overall standing as a Distinguished graduate from your program that will set you apart from your class. So Harvard or Penn State your GPA is weighted the same.
So for your son the key is his motivation and dedication to really want to be in the Navy. Unfortunately I don’t see that he has the motivation and dedication based on what you provided here. But I do see that you have as his parent. And you clearly want him to finish the journey to apply. For someone who want to go so bad this is rather late in the game. Many dedicated to be military cadets start early. Normally begin the Apps in early August when the Apps are released.
I started my App in Jan. Didn’t get selected to go to NASS. But I got selected to go to USMA and USAFA this summer. So I waited to start my Apps in July for USNA. I finished the Apps by end of July. My files were complete for review by early Sep. My App was bottlenecked by my school just returning to school in Sep. I got my LOA to USNA in Sep. And got Appointment to USCGA in November Early Action.
I got my NROTC package done by early Sep including interviews. My DODMERB was approved for all 4 services in October. I received my NROTC National Scholarship in November Type 3 full tuition for none STEM Major. I am extremely thrilled because none of the civilian colleges I applied to offer majors I want to study in college. For example Cyber Operations or Aerospace which USNA offer. So if I got to a civilian school I plan to major in History and Minor in Entrepreneurship and take the STEMs I want to study. I like social science and I do well in STEM. I have A in Physics and A in AP Calculus.
I feel that what’s holding your son’s Scholarship is not so much his qualification but he doesn’t appear to be ready. Not ready to pursue Navy or the military service. Whether it is his lack of interest or maturity he needs to be on top of things to get the Apps done. Either USNA or NROTC. He should apply to both! It is late but still can do. He’s late to get Nomnination but he can still compete for VP Nom national placement if he can convince USNA that USNA is his first and the only choice for him. This is assuming he passed DODMERB and he is selected by the admissions committee and only thing holding him back is his Nomination.
Good luck. I still believe he can get the scholarship. But Tier 3 is very tough!