What are my chances for AROTC

WrestlingX

5-Year Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2011
Messages
17
Will graduate High School 2013

Catholic High School unweighted GPA 3.75 all honors and AP classes. Top ten in class of 225
Class Vice President
SAT 700CR, 700 Math, 730 Writing. (only took test one time) Also took one SAT II thus far 730 World History (will take two more in the spring)
Varsity Wrestling, Letter (believe I will be captain senior year)
Freshman Football
Black Belt Karate (extremely time consuming lead instructor three nights per week)
Community Service is school requirement

I was wondering whether consideration is given to what type of school I choose to apply to: i.e. ivy, Public or Private. I plan on applying to a couple of Ivies and a few national private universities (e.g. Johns Hopkins, Georgetown etc.) Will applying to expensive schools diminish my chances of being selected?

Also what else can I do to increase my chances. Any insight and guidance would be appreciated
 
1)I was wondering whether consideration is given to what type of school I choose to apply to: i.e. ivy, Public or Private. Will applying to expensive schools diminish my chances of being selected?

2) Also what else can I do to increase my chances. Any insight and guidance would be appreciated
1) It's more complicated than that. Generally, Private school scholarships are harder to get b/c they're more expensive, but the schools you mentioned -- Ivies, other Top 30 USNWR ranked universities, can have a way of making the additional expenditure appear worthwhile to Cadet Command. The schools I think will have trouble are Privates that are not highly ranked and don't have the Wow Factor at Cadet Command.

2) I would suggest starting informal conversations with the PMS & ROO at your top 3-4 school choices. Beyond that, I've noticed that Leadership tends to be a weaker area among applicants with high Academic Stats. If that is your case, focus not so much on your strengths, but on your weaknesses to bring them into balance... by all means become the Captain of your wresting team, and something additional as well that requires you to lead people. Ultimately Cadet Command would want some evidence that people will follow your lead willingly, not just b/c of rank. Then work to score very highly on the President's Physical Fitness test, or even better, train to score highly on the Army Physical Fitness test (2 mins each for pushups and curlups, 2 miles run) and have that admistered by the ROO or PMS at the school at which you interview.
 
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I know navy requires some in state schools on the application. Don't know about army. In any case, its a good idea to have at least one public in state school on your application so there is a low cost option for cadet command to consider if they can't afford a slot for you at a high dollar school.
 
I agree with kinnem that you should place at least one IS public school on your list, not so much for the cost factor, but for the competitive factor. I don't see a safety on that list. I am assuming you are from the east coast because JHU and Gtown are relatively close (Baltimore and DC). If so, the east coast is littered with top 20 Public colleges. NYU, PSU, UMDCP, UVA, UNCCH to name a few. They all also have strong AROTC units for the most part.

Yes, you have a strong resume. I am sure you will be able to superscore that SAT up to the 800 markers. However, I would also check to see if AROTC accepts superscores or best sitting. That may be a factor since you are selecting only top tier colleges. The school may super, but if AROTC doesn't it may become an issue.

Also understand during the selection process the school profile will be requested, not only by ROTC, but also by the colleges. This is why it is not uncommon to see your gpa change. For example: If your school weights an AP at 5.0, but they use a 4.5, you will see your weight change, most likely drop.

It appears you have used only uw, thus, if the school does not weight you may see it rise.

The change can also occur if the scale is a 10 point or 7 point.

The school profile will also allow them to determine if they hand out A's like candy at XMas. They will request to see the % that go IVY, Private, Public, 2 yr or none. If 0% go Ivy, 10% go Private, 40% go Public, 25% CC and 25% nowhere, it will say to them it is candy time. If 15% go Ivy, 40% go Private, 35% go Public, 10% go CC, and 0% go nowhere it will tell them that the school is like Scrooge at Xmas.

The point is there is more to the selection process than you ever even thought about, it is not just about your academics or ECs.

One last thing to realize, I am assuming you took the PSAT, at least I hope you did. The PSAT is the only way to become an NMSF/F (Nat. Merit Semi Fin/Fin). The colleges you are looking at will publish the % of students that are NMSF/F as recruiting tools. It also helps when it comes to receiving merit money from the school.

In case you don't know how it works, if you are in the top 95% you become an NMSF, and they whittle away from there to NMF. With a 1430 for 1 sitting it would appear you should be in that range.

Also, take the ACT. They will select the best of either. Our DS had a 1390 on his SAT for best sitting(not superscore), but his ACT was a 33 or 34 can't remember. That trumped his SAT, so he was reviewed on his ACT score.

It is worth the cost to do this.

Good luck.
 
^^^
One last thing to realize, I am assuming you took the PSAT, at least I hope you did. The PSAT is the only way to become an NMSF/F (Nat. Merit Semi Fin/Fin). The colleges you are looking at will publish the % of students that are NMSF/F as recruiting tools. It also helps when it comes to receiving merit money from the school.

If OP hasn't already done the PSAT, then that window of opportunity is closed. PSAT for scholarships must be done in Oct. of Junior year in HS. Yes, we learned the hard way. :eek: On the positive side, National Merit isn't the only road to academic scholarships. Fortunately, we landed one... well my DS did anyway.
 
I agree Kinnem, that if he didn't take the PSAT it is over now, but if he did he may be eligible for NMSF or merit from college. Some schools give big bucks for NMSF and some don't.

There is also a great book out there, regarding scholarships. You'd be amazed how some are basically the needle in the haystack scholarship and because they are unique the competition is not as severe.

ROTC scholarships allow you to use all forms of FA and merit on top of ROTC. However, many have very early deadline dates like Oct 1st, so it is important to research scholarships along with ROTC.

If you do not get a scholarship, understand that many large universities will award merit to freshman after their 1st semester. Typically they will want the student to be on the Dean's list, so keep the grades up.
 
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