NROTC Selection Board

<p>This was posted on another site earlier this year. Sound advice for NROTC applicants.</p>

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<p>"I've just finished serving as a recorder on the NROTC selection board. That's where 9 O-5s and O-6s (and me as a go-fer) go through ~450-500 applications every month for about 7-8 months. </p>

<p>Amazing process. If you are selected, congrats... The process, is damn near flawless. There are a lot of considerations and the smallest thing can really jam you/help you...So, needless to say, the more information, presented in an accurate and concise way, the better...</p>

<p>**Technical majors. HUGE point getter as long as you do well in math/science and they are under the quality of APs/IBs (or whatever is highest offered at your school ----MAKE SURE TO HAVE YOUR COUNSELOR INCLUDE "Completed highest offered math course, etc" IN HIS/HER STATEMENT).</p>

<p>**Leadership. Break out in whatever you do. If you do boy scouts, take it to the Eagle level. If you do CAP/JROTC, Pick up a billet. Run for class office, etc. There were no extra credit points offered for being in 30 clubs but not leading in them. There were, however, smaller points awarded for these "non-athletic" events.</p>

<p>**Physical Fitness. Get in a sport and do it starting no later than 11th grade. It doesn't matter if you are a stud or not. You'll get the leadership points if you pick up captain, but stronger points were awarded just for participating. If you are out of height-weight standards...you'll be deducted BIG TIME if you're not documented as participating in physical activities.</p>

<p>**Grades. Don't get below a C and you'll be fine, as long as you don't have more than 2-3 Cs. Ds/Fs REALLY drag down the score.</p>

<p>**Arrests/Law troubles. IF YOU DON'T INCLUDE THAT YOU'VE LEARNED SOMETHING FROM IT ... or, if you are a repeat offender, you're starting out bad. This is one of the first things the board looks at. There is DEFINITLY NOT a 0 defect policy (I was shocked some of the selects, but the board memebers understand you're freakin' going to make mistakes when you're young...BUT, realize that it's a big deal, learn from it and don't EVER do it again.)</p>

<p>**PERSONAL STATEMENTS. BIG one here. TAKE YOUR TIME and ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION! SO MANY applicants had 700+ SAT VERBALS and wrote like $hit, or had a 1 sentence answer. ELABORATE. MAke it look like you give a damn and took some time to read it, re-read it and spell check it. It's an electronic application people...you have spelling errors and the board will probably dock you big time...Relate personal, ACTUAL events that influenced your decision to apply for NROTC. Also, you can have people look it over, but remember they are YOUR statements. Don't trust others to edit content, because the board will see right through that crap."</p>

<p>^^^^^
Excellent advice.</p>

<p>This is a valuable post for prospective applicants ... thanks usna09mom. What was the site?</p>

<p>It sure would have helped if I would have know all this when I applied this summer... I'm glad I really worked on the personal statements</p>

<p>seriously... but i still made it regardless. </p>

<p>great advice usna09mom. nrotc provides an excellent path to becoming a navy officer if an application to usna falls through. and even if you find usna isn't the place for you.</p>

<p>thanks for giving this to the hs class of 2008.</p>

<p>They never made a decision on my application. It was so weird. Of course, NROTC was my second choice and I was planning on calling pretty soon, but then I recieved my appointment to USNA and I had already decided that NROTC was just my fall back. Still. My interviewer gave me really high remarks and said that I would have a decisuion on all 5 of my schools (UNC, Duke, UPenn, Cornell, and GA Tech) by the end of the year. Well, Feb 1st came around and so did my appointment, so I just never pursued it, but I still would like to know what I got a scholarship too. Kind of rude if you ask me. :(</p>

<p>During plebe summer I imagine my mid was second-guessing her decision to relinquish the four-year NROTC scholarship she had been awarded to UC Berkeley. However, by December of plebe year she had bonded with USNA and was anxious to return for the second semester. No regrets.</p>

<p>Just a reminder for prospective candidates to keep working on those ROTC applications this summer!</p>

<p>Yes, sooner beats later in their submission as there are limited billets.</p>

<p>Right...My S did his NROTC scholarship interview in June right after his Jr. year in h.s. He sent the application in late August. He was notified of his scholarship in Oct. of senior year. I was so glad he started early and didn't have to spend senior year waiting and wondering.</p>

<p>My S. had his app done in May, and has already been interviewed, NROTC coordinator says he be have an early acceptance due to the high scores and overall package. Interview was 3 weeks ago. Hope to have similar results as well.</p>

<p>Excellent! What are the deadlines this year?</p>

<p>^^^^^^^bump</p>

<p>^^^^^no one answered the question</p>