Scholarship majors

So when you apply to colleges, do you MUST apply to a major (for ex. electrical engineering) that is ROTC qualified depending on the branch? If not, can you leave it as undeclared, or would that not work out for rotc scholarship?

And say, when you list the schools of your choice in AROTC, are they listed in order of preference? and when they offer scholarships, do they vary amounts for each school, or do they choose one school they would offer to; how does this scholarship distribution thing work out?

I'm applying for AFROTC, AROTC, and NROTC marine option , as my choices.

And for the essays, do they heavily count? and when do the next boards meet for each branch? because i want to know how much time i have that i can spend for the essays before i submit my application before the next board meets.

Thanks for advance.

You have quite a bit here...let me try to dissect it and answer it all to the best of my ability. I cannot really speak for NROTC or AFROTC as I did not apply for those, but AROTC I can speak a bit on.

For the Army, you must select a "class" of majors (basically, are you taking a technical major?) For the Army, they do not care much at all what major you take (if it's music, you may hit a roadblock there), so it shouldn't be a huge issue. I know many guys in AROTC who have changed their majors without a problem. So long as the Army sees that you're on track to graduate in 4 years and will be commission-ready, they don't really care. My major is "generalist" which basically encompasses all of the social sciences. I have not declared a major on my college applications.

When you list schools, put them in order of preference (disclaimer-there is some political reasoning, in some cases, to break this rule). Cadet Command will send you a letter essentially telling you what school(s) you won a scholarship to and what time it is (4 year or 3 year basically).

The most important criteria, from what I have heard (AROTC), come from the points awarded in the interview from the PMS that you interview with. His/ her comments about you, points, suggestions, and whether or not they recommend you for a scholarship probably play a bigger role than those essays. With that said, do NOT blow them off. Write good ones and make the thoughtful and HONEST. Do not just "blow smoke"-they know the tricks. Be yourself; it's your only chance to connect beyond checking boxes with a scholarship board.

The deadline for the next AROTC board is December 27, 2010. The board is on January 4, but with most schools about to go on break (if not already on it), this will be next to impossible to meet at this point if you don't have stuff almost totally done. The interview may be impossible to set up between now and then.

Hope this helps. Feel free to message me if you have other questions or want more clarification

My son applied for and received AROTC, NROTC, and AFROTC scholarships. His first choice for major was Math, second choice was Chinese.

On Army and NROTC applications he put down Math as his major choice. On the AFROTC he put down Math, Chinese.

Army has less of a preference, but Navy has tiers. Son knew that Math fit into their requirements and he could minor in Chinese if necessary. AF let son list both majors and then they chose the major for him.

He received the AROTC scholarship as a math major, 2 school choices given from his 5.

He received the NROTC scholarship for Math at his top choice school.

He received the AFROTC scholarship for Chinese at any school with approved Chinese program and AFROTC.

Going into the scholarship season, needing to apply to schools without knowing if he would receive a scholarship was tricky, since AROTC and NROTC are not offered at all the same schools, and he knew that he would need to apply to those schools as a Math Major.

He also needed to apply to other schools as a Chinese major for AFROTC.

Trust me the spreadsheet was daunting! The list could been trimmed down, but it settled at 11 school applications, 2 of which were for civilian schools, without regards to ROTC.

He was accepted to 6, waitlisted 2, denied 3. He had a school/major/rotc combination to cover each possible scholarship, plus full rides at 2 state universities.

In the end, he accepted his appt to USNA, and he slowly, painfully said Thanks but No Thanks to the other scholarships and schools.

I would advise you to study the tiers/requirements for each ROTC scholarship and get a top 3 list of majors figured out.

Here is my blog regarding the essay, for what it's worth

http://goldenknightbattalion.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/the-essay-what-does-the-board-want-to-hear/

Disagree with SOXFN2014 regarding the importance of the interview...It's worth 200 points out of 1000. It is part of what each board member reads, but each board member also scores the whole packet. The interview is your chance to make sure all your credentials are accounted for, but the board should look at everything in your file.

clarksonarmy said:

Here is my blog regarding the essay, for what it's worth

http://goldenknightbattalion.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/the-essay-what-does-the-board-want-to-hear/

Disagree with SOXFN2014 regarding the importance of the interview...It's worth 200 points out of 1000. It is part of what each board member reads, but each board member also scores the whole packet. The interview is your chance to make sure all your credentials are accounted for, but the board should look at everything in your file.

Click to expand...

I stand corrected then on the interview. It was just what I had heard; thanks for pointing out the error