<p>I am hoping that those of you with experience in the military might be able to help. My son has been selected for an NROTC scholarship (results of dodmerb physical still up in the air). Given that he passes, he is considering attending a cross-town affiliate for a unit at a large flagship university. He visited both the unit at the public u and the cross-town affiliate last week. What he learned is that he would be the only NROTC member at the cross-town college. We're a little concerned about what that might mean for s, both as a member of the unit and at the cross-town college. Any thoughts anyone?</p>
<p>My son attends the college where NROTC is based. It can be more complicated for the student who has to drive or get a ride for PT and Naval classes, but it can be done. At my son’s unit, there are 3 schools that are cross town affiliates. The most complicated school in my son’s unit is a quarter system school - whereas all the other ones are semester based. </p>
<p>It can be done, but it is easier when the student has a support system, I think. My son’s buddies are all in the program, which means scheduling activities makes it alot easier. Also, when other students have parties and such, and you have drill or duty for a visiting dignitary, it is nice to be in it “together”. </p>
<p>Also, depending upon the location, a car may be essential for your child to get to the unit.</p>
<p>Thanks littlegreenmom. Those are some of the things we’ve been thinking about. S would need a car as the unit is about 5 miles away, but he can manage that. This unit is made up of students from three schools - a large public flagship (about 70%), a medium size private university (30%) and the small LAC that my son is considering. The LAC is known for being very liberal (in fact the officer at the NROTC unit commented on that), whereas the other two schools are not so much. Although s was also accepted into the large public school, he is not so interested in attending college there. It may be better to request (and hope for) a transfer to another one of the units on his list.</p>
<p>If you have any questions, please feel free to pm me. </p>
<p>NROTC has been an amazing opportunity for my son. I would be happy to share any information to make it less complicated for you. My son is a second year NROTC, so we have learned a lot in the last 2 years.</p>
<p>response from my son who is an NROTC unit:</p>
<p>Officially he’ll be treated just the same. Logistics could be a pain in the ***, especially if it’s a good distance, since Navy stuff starts early in the AM when public transport might not be running, but if he has/can get a car that should be ok. Socially might be isolated from the ROTC unit a little bit, again depends on the distance. As for being in uniform at the school, that’s again a function of people on campus - should be able to ask about it at the ROTC unit. Also on what part of the country it is…</p>
<p>Thanks ADad. We’re in the Midwest. He’d be about 5 miles from the unit at the large public u (about a 10 minute drive when they visited last week), so that is not so far. He would have a car, so I think that logistically it is doable. The administration at the unit seemed fine with the challenges that different school schedules, etc, present. So, it might not be ideal, but workable.</p>
<p>On the up side, the kids at the LAC noted that students with cars are very popular!</p>
<p>Just an update: Son was declared medically qualified today! Hurdle one overcome. Yeah! However, son has decided that he is not comfortable with being the only NROTC member in the crosstown LAC. So, we visited Carnegie Mellon today (sons second choice unit - now his first) and visited the NROTC unit here. We talked with them about the possibility of transferring the scholarship to the CMU unit and found out that there are 40 kids on their list for 25 spots. Ugh. We’ll send in the paperwork and see what happens.</p>
<p>Wasn’t there another school he could also attend? Also, people do change their minds…some of those that got the scholarship may want to decline their scholarships or go to a cross town, just opposite of son. </p>
<p>Make sure he visits or begins reaching out to the ROTC batallion commander or whoever administers the program. Putting a face on his application may make a difference on the wait list.</p>
<p>Yes, we had a nice talk with the commander today and son will follow up when we get back home. The commander did offer the information that he does not have influence over the placement of the scholarship recipients in his unit (of course, we did not ask, but he offered the information). </p>
<p>The CMU commander did mention that he has had good success in getting college programmers scholarships after they have been in the unit for a semester. That may be an option as well.</p>
<p>That’s good news, and excellent information that he doesn’t have any influence over the decision. </p>
<p>I have found many students who have received ROTC scholarships are also accepted into academies, thus spots DO open up once a student determines which way to go. </p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>Thanks. We’ll keep our fingers and toes crossed that everything works out.</p>
<p>Interesting thread, my son is looking to cross-enroll in a large program too. We drove the distance the other day (visiting both schools from four hours away) and by either car or public transportation it’s going to be at least an hour commute each way. One problem with this is he will have a 3 day a week early morning class at the flagship. Hopefully that won’t be problem for his main classes, because he won’t be back to his campus until late morning/lunchtime.</p>
<p>However, we are getting indications it will is unlikely his scholarship will transfer from his originally assigned unit. 
And I’m not betting on a lot of the Academy kids dropping scholarships, the freshman advisor said he had only two so far. Academy is way over applied this year Washington Post: Number of Naval Academy Applications Surges 50%</p>
<p>([washingtonpost.com](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/15/AR2009041503437.html]washingtonpost.com[/url]”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/15/AR2009041503437.html)</a>)</p>
<p>Centh, I hope that things work out for your son. As expected, our son’s request for a transfer was denied and he was placed on the waiting list (which is long). With just 10 days to go before son has to commit, it’s time for him to start making some hard choices. Pretty stressful times, right? His options:</p>
<ol>
<li>Forget about NROTC.<br></li>
<li>Enroll at CMU and hope for a change in waiting list or work toward a scholarship as a college programmer. (If this doesn’t work out he will need to transfer out after a year because of the high CMU cost).</li>
<li>Give the current situation a try and drop NROTC or transfer to the host college if it doesn’t work out. This school is within his budget, so he could attend w/o the scholarship.</li>
</ol>
<p>This last post (#13) raises questions that might merit a wider range of parental input. I am wondering whether a thread in the regular Parents Forum might also be helpful.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestion, ADad. Is it within the rules of this forum to cross-post? </p>
<p>What it comes down to, I guess, is that son needs to dig deep and really decide how important participating in NRTOC and becoming a navy officer is to him. Rather than dealing with just the one variable of choosing the ‘right’ college (which in itself is terribly complicated), he needs to consider the NROTC unit, the colleges, and the relationships between the two. Where he fits into all of it and how it can all help him achieve his dreams. </p>
<p>He’s got lots of questions to answer and lots of soul-searching to do.</p>
<p>Is it worth it to him to meet the challenges of the current cross-town situation, even though it may not be as ideal as participating in the unit right on campus? OR is being in NROTC and feeling ‘a part of everything’ important enough to him that he is willing to enroll at the host school (he was accepted there too) even though it doesn’t feel like a perfect fit? </p>
<p>We realize that he is lucky to be faced with such a dilemma. There are most likely NROTC scholarship recipients who are right now scrambling to find a unit that has room for them.</p>
<p>I think a new thread that starts from where you are now and explains the decision your son is facing would be fine on the regular Parents Forum.</p>
<p>S has decided to join the NROTC unit that he is currently assigned to and enroll in the crosstown affiliate college. We’re hopeful that everything will work out for him, even if he is the lone midshipman at his school!</p>
<p>I am glad your son has made a decision! I wish him the best of luck! :)</p>
<p>S1732,</p>
<p>Regarding the cross town affiliate ROTC units, who makes the decision to admit a candidate or not? For instance, in the DC area, Georgetown hosts army ROTC which draws cadets from GT, George Washington and American U. If my son applies to George Washington U and want to join Army ROTC, does it mean that Georgetown Army ROTC Unit has to agree to accept him? or, is there ROTC folks in George Washington that accepts him, and then my son gets automatically assigned to the Georgetown ROTC unit for training purposes…</p>
<p>If your child applies to the scholarship program as a senior in high school, they list their top five schools. Sometimes those top five are in the same area, or could be in a completely different area.</p>
<p>My son wanted to go to the school that hosted NROTC in that city. He was lucky enough to get the scholarship for that school - but it also would have covered the cross town affiliate, if he chose to do that, because that was 2nd on his list. </p>
<p>This poster’s son got into the cross-town affiliate for his #1 choice, I believe. This is not a problem, except at this site, there aren’t any other kids accepted this year. So he will still attend his school…and go to the host school for training and education. </p>
<p>For those who decide to join ROTC AFTER they get to college, the rules may be different. They may even be different from site to site! This is how I understand the cross town or host school to work with my kid’s program.</p>