Scholarship vs. non-scholarship

eagleman

10-Year Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2011
Messages
41
I am sure this question has been asked before somewhere on this site. Unfortunately, I am unable to find it.

Anyway, I am wanting to know whether those on scholarship with any ROTC branch are favored as far as receiving a commission compared to those that are just contracted and not receiving scholarship money?

It seems as if the government would favor them because they want to make sure they get their moneys worth.

Thanks,
JLT
 
I am wanting to know whether those on scholarship with any ROTC branch are favored as far as receiving a commission compared to those that are just contracted and not receiving scholarship money?

As far as the Army goes, no difference, just your score.

BTW, non-scholarship cadets tend to serve (stay in) in the Army longer than any other group of officers (USMA, OCS, scholarship-ROTC)
 
It seems as if the government would favor them because they want to make sure they get their moneys worth.

For Army, scholarship students incur a 4-year active-duty commitment (plus 4 years Inactive Ready Reserve), while non-scholarship students incur only a 3-year active-duty commitment (plus 5 years Inactive Ready Reserve). http://www.goarmy.com/rotc/service-commitment.html For Air Force, service commitment is more uniform (and depends on nature of duty): http://www.afrotc.com/careers/service-commitment/

gojack is exactly right on the other points.
 
above posts are correct.

The options available during ROTC and upon commissioning to a non-scholarship or scholarship cadet (not counting children of Colonels and Generals :) ) are determined by two things:
1) during ROTC - a Cadet's ranking (and cadet-rank) within the Battalion, and
2) Branching of 4th Year Cadets -- a cadets position from 1-4850 (or whatever the # of cadets that year) in the Order of Merit List, established early in senior year after the summer-before-senior-year LDAC 5 week course.

The Order of Merit List positioning and how this affects Branching choice for a cadet is described well in these two powerpoints:

http://www.career-satisfaction.army.mil/pdfs/Order_of_Merit_Score_Calculations.pdf
http://www.career-satisfaction.army.mil/pdfs/ROTC_BRADSO_Briefing_slides.pdf

The bottom line is that, like at the Academies, from Day 1 a cadet is graded and compared to all other cadets in the Battalion, and eventually in the country's 200+ other Battalions. What a cadet is graded on exactly is described in the two powerpoints. GPA is the most important, and a cadet's score at LDAC is the 2nd most important. But everything counts in one way or another. There is no "blending in" or operating in the background. Every single thing a cadet does socially, scholastically, in voluneer activites, and within the Battalion is noticed, discussed, evaluated, and scored. On scholarship, or not on scholarship does not affect any of this, nor does it affect the position a cadet holds in the Order of Merit List.
 
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