2016 Class. Colleges Where/When To Start

F

FutCandMom

5-Year Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2011
Messages
40
I am a "new to the ROTC COLLEGE aspect" parent of a Northern VA high school junior. DS is currently in AFJROTC and thriving in it, but before joining, his dream had been to attend West Point.The application processes are getting into full gear and I find that I am at a complete loss as far as basic military college/ROTC program admissions info! I want to study up so that I can better guide him during the next year.
At present, we have Plan A: either USAFA or USMA (listed alphabetically). (I am getting a good grasp on the processes associated with these two SAs) Plan B: ROTC colleges like Virginia Military Institute, VT, The Citadel, Purdue.... I have been to all these college websites, and have also visited the respective AFROTC websites.
Here are my main questions, (again, please do not fault my ignorance!)
1. It appears that each of the above have ROTC dets for all fields.
Does DS have to choose between Army and Air Force NOW... before applying to the colleges?

2. College websites have timelines, but many seem to be from this past year's candidates. Can any one give a brief rundown of where DS should be as far as ROTC college apps by summer's end? Is there a good standard timeliine out there?

3. I keep on seeing/hearing about ROTC Scholarships and Early Admissions.... If DS starts applying for these scholarships, or even the early admissions, does he deny himself the possibilities of plan A (the SAs)?

Any input will help. I am just trying to get a grasp! Thanks!
 
Definitely not an expert here but I'll answer (or actually give my opinion on - may not be the actual "answer" :wink: ) as much as I can, after having gone through this the last 2 years (I will caveat this to say I haven't done AROTC, just AF & Navy) with 2 sons.

Similar to with the SA's nomination process and application process being two separate things that just come together in the end, the same is true for ROTC and college applications. As far as ROTC, I would strongly recommend getting everything in as quickly as you can - by early fall if possible - in order to give yourself the best chance at being looked at by as many boards as possible, as soon as possible. Plus if you do get the scholarship early, it will allow you to make/change decisions about what schools you're applying to.

Applying to the schools shouldn't be affected at all by where you are in the ROTC process. But, as you said, EA/ED can make a difference. This was something I learned new this year - that there was a difference between the two! EA means simply that you meet the college's deadline and have your application in early. Usually some time in December they give you a decision - and a LOT of kids are deferred (meaning they'll just be judged with everyone else come spring). Really strong candidates can still get an acceptance (and of course all this varies by the college) and some reject at this point and others simply defer. But there is no requirement to go to the school. ED means that you are committing that IF they accept you that you will attend. Pretty much period. Irregardless of how much financial aid they eventually offer (the big risk) and whether or not you later get into a SA or your dream school, etc. You should only have one ED school and it will be pretty clear in the application (and usually require a parent's signature as well) that you are applying ED. So if you still want a SA as #1, you can't do this (although, to be honest, I've never gotten a definitive answer of what would happen to you if you did eventually turn it down!). This year my son was able to apply EA to Michigan and MIT. He was not able to apply early to Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern or RPI because those were all ED. Minnesota and Wisconsin were rolling admission - he didn't apply EA/ED but still got a decision shortly thereafter rather than waiting until spring.

The ROTC scholarship won't have any effect on your chances at or ability to accept a SA (despite many rumors about such on these forums). Both the AF and NROTC scholarships at least tell you that you can (and should) accept the scholarship while waiting on other schools, SA's, etc. and that it can always be declined later. You do not need to declare which branch of ROTC you will be accepting until you actually decide which you want to do. DS received AF and NROTC scholarships this year and got all the communications from his top couple schools (MIT and Michigan) and accepted both of the scholarships. He only recently told those schools (well after acceptance) that he would not be using the AFROTC scholarships there. You can definitely wait and see what the offers are, visit the detachments, etc. before making a decision.

As far as the timeline, again I'd say that early fall is good for the ROTC scholarships themselves, but each college will have a specific timeline for its applications. Some were as early as December that we looked at and others were as late as Feb. I don't know that there's a huge advantage to getting everything done really early, but obviously if you have time to work on things like essays, teacher recs, etc over the summer it can save a lot of hassle later!

Hope this helped some and hopefully someone with more knowledge on AROTC can help you on that as well!
 
It appears that each of the above have ROTC dets for all fields.
Does DS have to choose between Army and Air Force NOW... before applying to the colleges?
Click to expand...

AFROTC and AROTC do not talk. You apply to AFROTC and AROTC for the scholarship.

However, remember AFROTC scholarships are tied to the cadet, AROTC is tied to the cadet and the school.

In other words for your list if Purdue, VT, VMI, and the Citadel accept AFROTC scholarship, and they admit him, he can go to any of them. He just notifies Maxwell.

For AROTC he has to get accepted to the Battalion and the school.

AFROTC will ask for top 3, but that is more generic to fill in the blanks of the form.

College websites have timelines, but many seem to be from this past year's candidates. Can any one give a brief rundown of where DS should be as far as ROTC college apps by summer's end? Is there a good standard timeliine out there?
Click to expand...

A strong standard time line is to try to have it in as soon as possible to meet the earliest boards.

July is a good target date. They use the accounting method of FIFO (1st In 1st Out) when it comes to meeting boards.

Make sure they get their teachers emails for recs before school ends.

I keep on seeing/hearing about ROTC Scholarships and Early Admissions.... If DS starts applying for these scholarships, or even the early admissions, does he deny himself the possibilities of plan A (the SAs)?
Click to expand...

For the AF, AFROTC and AFA do not "talk" in other words the AFA doesn't know if the candidate applied for AFROTC, and AFROTC doesn't know if they applied for AFA.

EA is a different issue. EA is binding, thus many candidates due ED and not EA. Check into the schools to see, seeing as the 4 you listed are large ROTC dets/BNs I doubt they will hold him to binding, but that is a school issue not a ROTC issue.

ROTC scholarship award is not binding. If he gets an SA appointment and even signed the ROTC paperwork, they will release him.

THE ONE THING TO THINK ABOUT: 95% of SA candidates will apply for ROTC scholarship, however 95% of ROTC scholarship candidates will not apply for an SA.

In other words the scholarship pool is much larger than the SA pool. Your true competition for the scholarship will be the SA candidate. Take the time google incoming SA profile, I would assume 13 is the last profile. Review it not just for the academic profile, but the whole profile. You will see they give % for:
Valedictorian
Class Rank
GPA
NHS
Sports
BSA

ETC. ETC. ETC.

Be honest and see where they fit in comparison.

Also, the one issue most scholarship candidates lose sight on is the PFA and DodMERB. Both can hurt the candidate.

Spend the summer practicing the PFA and CFA.

If you have a medical issue, get your paperwork in order. A waiver may take a few weeks or a few months depending on what it is. I can't tell you how many posters I have seen over the past 3 yrs that posted "OMG DS/DD got hit with a medical issue" It can be as simple as braces or an allergy which is life long (few weeks) to vision deficiency i.e. undetected color blindness.
 
Let me throw in my two cents.

You can decline an SA offer if you would rather pursue ROTC. Hopefully that nugget doesn't get me kicked off the SA forum.

Everything you read on this forum may be different next year. As the services get smaller, and as the processes change it's hard to explain what you are getting yourself into in a concise manner. Visit www.armyrotc.com, and the other services ROTC sites. Start the applications processes ASAP. You can start the Army application now. I would go on and on about the process, but in the case of the Army scholarship I have written a number of articles on my blog that explain the process, and the best way to navigate it.

http://goldenknightbattalion.wordpress.com/category/the-scholarship-process/

I'm pretty shameless about sharing the link, but It seems to be helpful.

Keep stopping by here for help, and start talking to the ROO (recruiting Operations Officer) at your top school(s) of choice. She/he will be able to give you the best, most current insight into the process. The other branches will have a similar person that will act as a liason. Some are more helpful than others, so don't get discouraged if you don't hear back from a particular ROO.

Hope that helps.
 
I agree with clarkson.

But, one thing I think we would both agree on is ROTC for AROTC and AFROTC are TWO DIFFERENT THINGS

AFROTC cadets will serve AD. AROTC cadets have a choice.

If 24/7/365 for 4 yrs AT LEAST doesn't seem palatable than the AF is not your choice.

I also have to say candidates that want AF and/or Army and not Navy makes me think twice. Their career fields are night and day.

I can see all 3 as a CRO/Seal/Ranger

I can see AF and Navy for fixed wing

I can see Navy and Army for rotor.

I have problems understanding AF and Army and not Navy, even as a non-rated officer.

JMPO.
 
Pima said:
If you have a medical issue, get your paperwork in order. A waiver may take a few weeks or a few months depending on what it is. I can't tell you how many posters I have seen over the past 3 yrs that posted "OMG DS/DD got hit with a medical issue" It can be as simple as braces or an allergy which is life long (few weeks) to vision deficiency i.e. undetected color blindness.
Click to expand...

What paperwork will I need to have in order to get the medical issues taken care of?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top