I agree with everything Jcleppe stated, but especially this:
When he begins flight training in June he will have new 2nd Lt's from WP, OCS, and Various ROTC programs in his class, they will all be starting again from scratch.
The ring knocker on your hand or lack of one will not matter to the instructors when they grade you, all they care about is how well you get the job done compared to everyone else they are grading.
Flynner,
You stated "I" regarding paying out the nose for an SMC compared to your IS college. My question is how will you pay for it? Are you going to take 10's of thousands of dollars in loans? If so, your parents may be on to something with their advice.
The pay is decent in the military, but you will not be making tons of money right out of college. College loan notes will start to be re-paid about 180 days after graduation, and if you are going to have 50K in loans, over the next 10 yrs of your life that is going to be incredibly painful as an O1. It will be the equivalent of a car payment, and remember you will need a car once you go AD, thus before you even move 1 step you have big chunks coming out of your checking account for yrs.
Our DS is going to be commissioned this May (AFROTC) and fortunately he was scholarship, both from AFROTC and his college, so this is not an issue for him, plus he is going UPT so he will get a tiny incentive pay on top of everything, but it was a wake up call to him to realize how much would be left after things like:
Car payment
Insurance
Cell phone
Than he also realized how much he spends right now as a college kid to socialize and eat. Folks supplement his food bill so we reminded him to up that number by another few hundred. Things became even clearer regarding why the adage you'll never make a million in the military.
Now add on 3-400 a month if you have to take loans and your belt got tighter. OBTW remember this will be the 1st time you live a way from home, and every parent will tell you to barely set up a house it will cost a couple grand...we are not talking the 60" plasma or even a nice sofa like you have at the folks. We are talking just a couple of pots and pans, dishes, towels, bedding and the essential furniture like a bed, dresser, sofa and the cheapest dinette set you can find. Realistically if you were to buy everything new, including that 60" tv, and surround sound, you would be looking at about 5K to furnish your bachelor pad on a very good day. If you put it on your Visa, you just added a couple hundred more a month to your debt on top of the car, insurance, cell, food and college loan. Don't forget you will now have about 20% of your gross deducted for the usuals, but also Life Insurance, Tri-care and dental. The reason officers love O2 is because they get a very nice pay bump to O2, but it coincides with longevity pay, and the 1st time they can start to breathe.
So if that is your path regarding how to pay to attend an SMC, than take some time and think about if from a fiscal perspective and not an emotional one.
Now that being stated, as a Mom of 2 in college and a 3rd going in the fall, the one thing that I have learned regarding chances of being successful academically in college is you have to want to be there and love that major. If you don't your chances of graduating greatly diminish because you didn't want to be there in the 1st place. Self-fulfilling prophecy.
If you just can't stand the idea of being at your IS, than maybe it is better to be in debt and go to an SMC.
The last thing I have to say on this subject is kids tend to place illusions on what this life will be like, and many times it will never meet the reality.
SMCs are the closest thing to an SA that you can get to, the idea of wearing the uniform and bonding with other cadets is something that attracts them. However, they forgot to put in the countless hours behind getting that uniform up to standards, the fact that as an ROTC cadet they must be in the Corps, which means more hours away from the books, and that their 1st yr living in a dorm will be sim. to an SA regarding even the simple things like bed linens and straightening the dorm or no tvs, etc.
The reality check hits some cadets hard, and I know at least for VT there is a rule for ROTC cadets, if you drop ROTC as a freshman before a certain date (I believe it is mid-terms) VT has the right to dis-enroll you as a student. Reason why is from an admission perspective you received extra points, and they don't want kids saying I will do ROTC just to gain admittance.
Traditional ROTC's don't have that factor, so if in 3 weeks you decide it isn't for you, you can still walk away from ROTC, but stay at the college.
ROTC does not commission 4 yrs later 100% of the class that entered as freshman. They never expect to hit that number. Before you say "well trust me Pima, I will be commissioned it has been my dream since I was six", I will remind you that the majority of the people who said that were in the % that did not commission. Key word in that statement was "dream", and as I stated earlier, rarely does an illusion (dream) meet reality.
Reality is not everyone does get commissioned, Reality is ROTC itself takes many hours a week away from classes, not including PT/LLAB. Reality is that at some point you must decide where the cost becomes an issue for you.
I am not trying to be Debbie Downer. I am trying to say, you are 18, you have visions of your future, and you should, BUT, you are 18 and now it is time to think about the bad with the good as an adult. You shouldn't let the dream override the reality of the facts that exist.
If you come to your folks and say to them why an SMC is better from a realistic fact based approach, I bet they will say "We get it, you are right, go there", if you just say "I like the campus or it is an SMC, than that will be when they say WHY?
If you want the SMC, you have been given the facts.
1. NGMC costs 18K, probably the same as IS
2. SMCs have a higher % chance of going AD, and with the DOD budget crunch I have a higher chance of getting AD.
3. SMC's require ROTC cadets to be in their Corps which gives me what I wanted from an SA regarding student life, whereas the traditional college it is I am a student in a ROTC uniform 2x a week, most likely not living with them in dorms.
Those are facts, not emotions. Your folks can't fight that. Loving the campus, and believing you will be happier there is just an emotion. Granted we want our kids to be happy, but as I said, sooner or later, unless you are a millionaire, cost overrides emotions in the decision process.
Good luck, sorry so long of a post.