first meeting with ROO

jojo603

5-Year Member
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Dec 8, 2010
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My DS is in the process of filling out his AROTC scholarship app for 2016. He has an informal meeting with the ROO at his first choice school on Tues. When do I excuse myself from the meeting so they can speak alone, or do I stay the whole time? Also,my oldest DS is a Captain at FT. Bragg and their father is a Colonel USAR on active duty should my DS mention this at the meeting? I'm not sure how help him with this because he wants to make sure this is about him and his goals. He is very proud of his Dad and brother for their service to our country and it is also a path he has chosen.
 
My DS is in the process of filling out his AROTC scholarship app for 2016. He has an informal meeting with the ROO at his first choice school on Tues. When do I excuse myself from the meeting so they can speak alone, or do I stay the whole time? Also,my oldest DS is a Captain at FT. Bragg and their father is a Colonel USAR on active duty should my DS mention this at the meeting? I'm not sure how help him with this because he wants to make sure this is about him and his goals. He is very proud of his Dad and brother for their service to our country and it is also a path he has chosen.

I followed the ROOs lead for when to leave DS alone. Actually, none seemed too interested in talking with him alone until the actual PMS interview. The casual meetings we had with the different schools were exactly that - casual. I made it a point to let DS answer questions first and only asked if I wanted clarification of some point or another. Since we have no current military in our family, I have no idea what is considered "normal", but I know DS was asked about our family - in general conversation - what we did, where we live etc... and who may have served before him. It can be about him without leaving out such important family information and inspiration for his own desire to serve.

Have a good time visiting the school and cadre. Seeing the different programs and campuses is a great help in making the final decisions.
 
I agree that these first meetings are more of a family affair than a one-on-one situation. Mostly, these things are selling the program and measuring up the candidate. They will want to know why the candidate wants to serve (this is an opportunity to say what about his father and brother's experiences he thinks is important to him). They will want to know how the parent feels about the situation as they know that a lot of military families have internal pressure to follow in the footsteps.

It is also an opportunity for your son to find out what the college experience is for a ROTC cadet. He needs to know what the experience will be at THIS campus. What activities does this unit participate in? Hopefully school is still in and he can check out the unit lounge to see how much activity goes on there and maybe meet a couple of cadets who might be running the unit when he gets there.

As for you, this is your opportunity to see your son visualize himself in the unit. I can remember being asked if I had questions and in my case, they centered around the logistical - the units we were talking with had multi-campus situations or newly started on-campus courses. They tended to be around the "what can I do to make sure my child's experience is more productive with fewer issues?"

Bottom line - this is the enjoyable part. Have fun and watch your son start visualizing himself where he wants to go.
 
This was the best part of the entire process. You are so fortunate to be able to join your DS during this time!

We had various experiences and usually the ROTC officer would invite me to join them, or clarify that we would all meet together and then he would talk to my son alone at the end. They've done this a million times, and understand that these kids are young and will be visiting campuses with parents.

Your son can bring a resume with him, complete with name, last four digits SSN, contact info, gpa, test scores, academic awards and honors, leadership experience, athletic experience, and employment experience if applicable.

DS emailed one ahead of the interview and brought a copy if needed.

Also take the time to visit admissions and with department heads of the areas of interest to your son. Makes a great difference in your DS's decision making process to get a great feel for the campus.

Good luck and enjoy this time with your son! It is such a joy to watch them mature during this process. :smile:
 
Also take the time to visit admissions and with department heads of the areas of interest to your son. Makes a great difference in your DS's decision making process to get a great feel for the campus.:

I can't agree more with the suggestion to visit with department heads or a professor in your child's major. In our college tours we found this to be incredibly helpful in learning about the curiculm, philosopy of that major and to learn more about the school from an "insider".

One question I always asked was "In addition to your univerisy, which other universities do you consider to be leaders in xyz major?". We ended up getting several recommendations for the same university, that had not been on my daughter's original list. We decided to add a trip to that school....and that's where she is today.
 
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