Questions about (AF)ROTC Programs

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi! I'm looking at a number of colleges to apply to right now, quite a few of which are consistently ranked pretty high, and consequently cost a lot of money.</p>

<p>I'm interested in getting my Bachelor's and Master's then doing between three and five years of service in either the Air Force or the Navy (but probably the AF).</p>

<p>I don't really understand the ROTC programs that colleges offer. I know that you can become an officer after you graduate when you do the program, but I'm not sure about a lot of other things:</p>

<p>-Do the programs differ between schools?
-If I accept one of the ROTC scholarships that are always advertised, what is the minimum required duty in the AF or Navy?
-If I don't accept a scholarship, does the minimum requirement go down? (I really want to serve for a few years, but not a whole lot. I'd really like to be an officer, complete a few years of service, and then return to school to get my doctorate.)
-Will expressing interest in participating in an ROTC program increase my likelihood of getting admitted to Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Rice, Harvey Mudd, etc., since, I believe, historically they have had low enrollment in these programs? (I'm genuinely interested. I wouldn't lie about something like that on an application/interview.)
-Can I enroll in an ROTC program as an undergraduate and still go go grad school before beginning my duty?</p>

<p>And possibly my largest question, how do I tell my parents that I'm interested in serving my country? I have a cousin who is about to finish his third tour in Iraq, and as my entire family (including myself) is liberal and opposes the war, I am not sure what type of reaction I will get from them.</p>

<p>This last question is the primary reason I'm asking my questions here, and not to a recruiting officer, although I do absolutely trust the feedback I get from people on this site, especially in regard to my individual queries concerning the ROTC programs.</p>

<p>I really can't tell you how grateful I am for your help. Thanks.</p>

2

<p>-bum****imo-</p>

3

<p>Hahaha. I wrote bump+issimo, and it censored me. That's odd...</p>

4

<p>1)Do the programs differ between schools?</p>

<p>No...only colleges differ</p>

<p>2)If I accept one of the ROTC scholarships that are always advertised, what is the minimum required duty in the AF or Navy?</p>

<p>5 years</p>

<p>3)If I don't accept a scholarship, does the minimum requirement go down? (I really want to serve for a few years, but not a whole lot. I'd really like to be an officer, complete a few years of service, and then return to school to get my doctorate.)</p>

<p>Min. won't go down...you can't "try out" being an officer...the military is investing a lot of money and they want their 5 years from you...if you want to try the military, go enlisted b/c the shortest is around 3yrs or maybe less now</p>

<p>3)Will expressing interest in participating in an ROTC program increase my likelihood of getting admitted to Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Rice, Harvey Mudd, etc., since, I believe, historically they have had low enrollment in these programs? (I'm genuinely interested. I wouldn't lie about something like that on an application/interview.)</p>

<p>It won't increase you chance in getting into these schools by saying you want to go rotc ... anybody can do that then..</p>

<p>4)Can I enroll in an ROTC program as an undergraduate and still go go grad school before beginning my duty?</p>

<p>you can enroll as undergrad...however, the only grad schools they usually let you go to is law or med/dental ... if you're in engineering, they'll let you go to school after a few years in the military, then you can request for the school, but they usually require an additional two or more years out of you</p>

<p>i'm not 100% sure but if you go med/dental/law, you'll go in as O-3 (LT in navy or CAPT in AF) but def. O-2 (LTJG navy or 1st LT AF)</p>

<p>if you go navy, most likely you'll be in a ship ... and you most likely won't be in combat</p>

<p>bottom line... here are 2 questions during your college years 1. do you want normal suimmer? or 2) do you want to be like an enlisted for your summer years?</p>

<p>if you want normal summer and still want to join the military..go to officer candidate school (ocs for navy) or officer training school (ots for af)...in these schools, you will have to go to boot camp for 4 months but you'll get paid as E-5 instead of E-1 for normal enlisted entrance ... after you'll be an officer and you won't have to go through the same stupid things you do in rotc</p>

5

<p>Rice doesn't have it's own AFROTC. U of Houston does, though, and that's where Rice students who are interested in AFROTC do their stuff. </p>

<p>I think we have Navy though.</p>

6

<p>Programs do not differ in the curriculum. Of course, some units will place emphasis on different aspects.</p>

<p>IIRC, commitment for scholarship students is usually 4yrs active, 4 reserve.</p>

<p>You may be able to go to grad school before serving your commitment (you will probably need to make a longer commitment). Those programs are very competative, AFAIK, and definitely NOT guaranteed.</p>

<p>As to how to tell others:
You are serving to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States...not the President, not the Congress, not the Secretary of Defense; the military swears an oath to the Consitution.<br>
The military does not decide foreign policy. That is left to civilian control. As long as that civilian control gives lawful orders, the military is legally and morally required to follow those orders.</p>

<p>I highly recommend you go to U.S</a>. Air Force ROTC - College Scholarships and Careers for more information. (Also, there are some people who know a lot about ROTC in the Service Academy section)</p>