I want to do the ROTC program, however I do not understand what the program fully entails… Could someone explain ROTC further? Also I am interested in majoring in pre-pharmacy/pharmacy. Is ROTC really worth it? And would it be difficult balancing ROTC and majoring in pharmacy?
ROTC, as I’m sure you know, is the reserve officer training corps. Therefore it includes rigorous exercise, essentially a prolonged boot camp, as well as, depending on the branch, some type of military science minor. This means that just as you have requirements for your major you’ll also have requirements for that minor. If you are involved in ROTC out of your own self motivation then you’ll be able to balance the two. For me the exercise defeats the oh so dreaded freshman 15 and I love learning the military science so it’s all a release from the stress of the pre-pharm courses.
Since you didn’t specify, here’s the Army ROTC link-read it carefully
http://www.goarmy.com/rotc.html
As you are probably aware, upon completion of the program you’ll be commissioned as a 2Lt in the Army; keep in mind that there is no guarantee that the Army will allow you to go to pharmacy school right after undergrad; they have the authority to order you onto active duty immediately after commissioning. It all depends on the needs of the Army. If you are ordered to active duty, you can be ordered to serve all/some of your service commitment. So if you had plans on attending pharmacy school right after undergrad, I’d strongly encourage you to thoroughly research ROTC before committing to it.