Air Force Reserves and AFROTC

Matthew1994

5-Year Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2012
Messages
26
Hello!

Since getting denied into USAFA and USNA I haven't had a back up plan (My dad screwed EVERYTHING up; no ROTC scholarship, etc) and I saw this opportunity to still become an officer in USAF.

I wanted to join the Air Force Reserves right out of high school for the 4 year contract and still attend college in the fall. I know the Air Force doesn't have an SMP program like the army where you get be in AFROTC and Reserves at the same time plus split AIT and basic.

I wanted to know if I could do basic training this summer and do Tech school next summer.

The college I wanted to attend costs $20,000 a year and the GI bill will cover like $300 a month + the kicker which is like $250 a month? + TA which is like $4500 a year + I have a scholarship from the college that pays $1k a year. Any other money I can come up with to help pay for the student loans I'm GOING to have to take out?

Along with that, I wanted to know if anyone else has done this route. From what the recruiter on the phone said to me, after you contract with AFROTC you have to cancel your contract with the reserves and AFROTC will pay for the last 2 years of college?

I dunno; just need help! :biggrin:
 
Hello!

Since getting denied into USAFA and USNA I haven't had a back up plan (My dad screwed EVERYTHING up; no ROTC scholarship, etc) and I saw this opportunity to still become an officer in USAF.

I wanted to join the Air Force Reserves right out of high school for the 4 year contract and still attend college in the fall. I know the Air Force doesn't have an SMP program like the army where you get be in AFROTC and Reserves at the same time plus split AIT and basic.

I wanted to know if I could do basic training this summer and do Tech school next summer.

The college I wanted to attend costs $20,000 a year and the GI bill will cover like $300 a month + the kicker which is like $250 a month? + TA which is like $4500 a year + I have a scholarship from the college that pays $1k a year. Any other money I can come up with to help pay for the student loans I'm GOING to have to take out?

Along with that, I wanted to know if anyone else has done this route. From what the recruiter on the phone said to me, after you contract with AFROTC you have to cancel your contract with the reserves and AFROTC will pay for the last 2 years of college?

I dunno; just need help! :biggrin:

I could go with that route and come out with like $20k in debt through student loans (How I calculated it) or I could just not do reserves and have around $60,000 in debt when I come out (FAFSA and grants combined) or I could do 2 years at a community college, then transfer to a university and have around $40,000 in debt.
 
Since getting denied into USAFA and USNA I haven't had a back up plan (My dad screwed EVERYTHING up; no ROTC scholarship, etc)...:

This creates a poor impression. Nobody is interested in hearing you blame somebody else for your situation.

If you didn't have a back-up plan, then you didn't have one. Clearly you are trying to improvise a solution. By the way, when you say you "wanted to join the reserves and still attend college" does this mean you no longer want to attend college in the fall?
 
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This creates a poor impression. Nobody is interested in hearing you blame somebody else for your situation.

If you didn't have a back-up plan, then you didn't have one. Clearly you are trying to improvise a solution. By the way, when you say you "wanted to join the reserves and still attend college" does this mean you no longer want to attend college in the fall?

I'll agree with EDelahanty on the blame game. College applications are the responsibility of the applicant. ROTC scholarship applications (other than possibly getting the student to the interview) are the responsibility of the applicant. Yes, it does take a parent to file FAFSA given the income reporting requirements, but it doesn't sound like that was even brought up a a problem.

This attitude will not fly (no pun intended) in the reserves or ROTC.

On the positive side, you are still looking for a path which shows a will that is important for success. Now you just need to learn always look after the details and accept the fact that you are not in control of absolutely everthing and everybody who can stand in your way. Look beyond the setbacks without recrimination and you will go much further in the military and in life.

One last note, you might want to check out the total cost of attendance beyond tuition, books, housing in your planning. Most colleges will give guidance on what typical (additional) expenses for a student will be.
 
Not quite sure anyone her will be able to give you an answer for your question, sounds like this is a decision you have to make on your own.

I would say that 99% of those that applied for an Academy also applied for ROTC as a back, all without having their Dad screw anything up, not quite sure how that would happen anyway, would love to hear that story.

As far as joining the reserves, I would highly doubt you could join the reserves, get a slot this quick for Basic, let alone a Tech school and be done in time to attend college this fall. I think you might be out of luck for that option.

You do realize that you could just start college, enroll in AFROTC as a non scholarship cadet, most cadets are non scholarship, and possibly compete for a AFROTC scholarhip over the next 3 years. If you do not receive a scholarship you can still go through the program and if you do well continue on to commissioning when you graduate. You would have to do well to be selected for SFT your sophomore year, if your selected and return your junior year you will be on your way to a commission, of course there would still be the issue of debt, but there are programs in the service that can help with that once you commission.

The biggest point here is that you will need to take some resonsibility for what you do, nobody can be blamed for what you should have done or what you will decide to do. Once you start down this road, it's all on you.
 
Thanks for the help. I'll probably just rent my own apartment (Cheaper than boarding at the college) and attend community college for 2 years while taking an ROTC class at a university then after those 2 years I'll transfer the credits I have and begin taking classes at the university. The first 2 years at the community college can be covered with a grant I was given however, based on what I was given for the university for the 2012-2013 year if I don't get the scholarship for the 3 year or 2 year? (If they offer 2 year) then I would come out with around $25,000-$30,000 in debt which isn't to bad.

Thanks....... :wink:
 
Looks like a good plan. If you excel at community college and at ROTC, you will open doors for yourself.

Be aware that you will have a handicap in commuting between community college and the (AF)ROTC host school.
 
+1 to everyone
Well said, I was thinking the same exact thing. I only applied for AFROTC it was my plan A, plan B was to use a tuition scholarship and take out loans since my family is too well off to get anything from FAFSA but not well off enough to pay for anything over a few hundred dollars out of pocket. I am incredibly lucky that things turned out the way they did. Getting plan A school AND plan A scholarship, nearly gave me grays and I had a sever case of anxiety up until a few weeks ago, but totally worth it (although I'll be damned if I ever put myself through that again). If things hadn't worked out, it would have been entirely my fault. I chose to only apply for one real scholarship, the rest were very small or were lottery type deals and I knew that the other branches weren't for me so didn't apply for any other ROTC scholarships. And I chose to hold off applying to other colleges until I heard back from plan A school and, once I was accepted, dismissed applying for anywhere else (my parents were NOT happy about that).

You are the master of your own fate. I know it's hard, but you have to grow up, I had to. Yeah I was always mature for my age as i'm sure most of the kids on this forum are, i.e.: responsible, respectful, thoughtful, etc., but my eyes were half shut like alot of kids. Had to force myself to become more decisive and proactive with my career. Even before that, I had to make myself sit down and stop oscillating between career fields. Play time is over. This is the big leagues. Mistakes and neglect will cost you respect, time, and/or money.

I would say that 99% of those that applied for an Academy also applied for ROTC as a back, all without having their Dad screw anything up, not quite sure how that would happen anyway, would love to hear that story.

You know, I keep hearing that most Academy applicants apply for ROTC also, but evey time I see actual numbers enter the discussion, it usually shows that 7,500 applicants are qualified for an Academy but only 4,000 are qualified for ROTC. I would assume that the initial qualifications are relatively equal for both, so how could most of them have applied for ROTC also? How does that possibly factor out?
 
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You know, I keep hearing that most Academy applicants apply for ROTC also, but evey time I see actual numbers enter the discussion, it usually shows that 7,500 applicants are qualified for an Academy but only 4,000 are qualified for ROTC. I would assume that the initial qualifications are relatively equal for both, so how could most of them have applied for ROTC also? How does that possibly factor out?

Not really sure how the numbers work out, I guess it would depend on which ROTC and Academy you look at. 4000 seems awful low for the number of qualified applicants for ROTC, again depends on the branch. Numbers for AROTC have been estimated at between 10,000 and 13,000 in a given year, though it's hard to find the true numbers anywhere. There has been some speculation that receiving an AFROTC scholarship can sometimes be harder then an appointment to the Academy. I think it's hard to look at raw numbers and make much sense out of this process sometimes.

It does seem that when you read the posts of those that received scholarships this year, most have applied to one of the Academies as well.

Your right about one thing for sure, not everyone that applies for a ROTC Scholarship, applies to an Academy.

Congratulations on receiving your scholarship, Both my son's followed your same path, different service, they applied only for the AROTC Scholarship.
 
Not to divert the topic too much, you need to understand the system of how AFA and AFROTC.

@10K open packets
@7500 are considered qualified --- this just means they will be assigned an ALO and move forward with the process
@3600 will become candidates --- received a nom.

Thus when people say 99% apply the number is not 7500, it is the 3600 number.

AFROTC is just a submission situation, there is not the jump through hoops to meet a board.

LY AFROTC had close to 5200 applicants.

Any good ALO will tell their candidate to apply for ROTC as plan B. In the yrs here on this site alone, I could probably count on one hand how many each yr do not apply for a ROTC scholarship. The majority of them that did not apply fell into 3 categories:
1. LOA from an SA
2. Applied to all SA's, but only 1 branch for ROTC, which lowers the pool.
3. Would go to the traditional college and try again next yr, and the yr after that for an SA. They have it in their mind they only want an SA experience.

Back to the OP,

I am sure there are some that get a 2 yr scholarship, but what I would look deeper into is the cancel contract issue, because as POC he may be confusing this with the fact as a contracted cadet you receive a stipend, thus pay.

You need to remember how the recruiter system works. They must meet a quota for enlistment, not officers. I am not inferring this is a way they get their numbers, I am saying that they deal with enlisted and not the officer path as often. ROTC and AFA candidates have ALO's, they do not interact with the recruiters. Hence, if you should listen to any advice you should talk to your ALO.

Personally, as others have stated on your AFA post, this is not a path that people would regard as a sound choice for many reasons regarding your personal life path. For others it maybe, but with your future desires it really is not the best option out of all your choices.

I know at our DS's AFROTC det., there are many that do the CC and transfer over. Last Sat. night they awarded scholarships to cadets, these were not AFROTC IS, but from the college itself. Thus, you can get a scholarship this way too.

Plus, if you do well academically, many colleges even as a jr. will offer dept. merit scholarships which can be worth thousands.

25K is not bad, as a C400 they will offer you a 35K low interest loan @1-2%, and many cadets with college loans actually use that money to pay off the college loan, or some of it, because the rate is much lower. It has a shorter payback period, so the payment is about the same, but in 5 yrs it is off your books compared to 10 yrs for the other way.
 
Thanks! I'm glad it worked out for your boys too. I never realized what a foolish gamble that was until I got it, I'm still trying to shake of the feeling of this near death experience....seriously, I'm pretty sure I saw my life flash before my eyes, wonder if that's normal lol. But I believe I saw those numbers on the AFROTC website and a few threads on here, although I cant seem to find them again. It said 15000~ start the application process, 4000~ are qualified candidates, and less than 1000 (in recent years it's been closer to 900) get a scholarship of any kind. The academy numbers I saw only on other threads. It could be that some that applied for AFA applied for an ROTC back up in another service, but I would think that if you applied to an academy AND ROTC that it would be for the same branch you know? Ah well, the world may never know...this feels curiously like trying to find out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop. Deep down you know you'll never get it right, but you keep trying anyways:rolleyes:
 
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USNA and USMA have always been in the 15K marker, AFA being the smallest branch has always been much smaller. I think the highest I ever saw was @12K. The drastic drop to candidate is due to 2 reasons:
1. They never finish the PCQ, thus the file is open, but they will never be a candidate.
2. The AFA states on their website, a 24 V ACT/490 CR SAT will be deemed non-competitive.

As far as not applying ROTC, for example, many candidates that want to fly fix wing may apply to AFA, USNA and CGA.

They may decide to apply only for A/NROTC because the colleges or majors they want do not have AFROTC, but does have A/NROTC. Thus, if they can't have the AFA, they cover their bet for plan B regarding the college.

For the class of 17 reading this thread, the truly important walk away lesson here IMPO is to cover all of your bases regarding planning your future. If you intend to apply to every SA, and every ROTC scholarship, plus 5-10 colleges, use this summer wisely.

It is a lot of paperwork and typically the drop dead date for all of them will be around the same time. Not every college is on college ap., and that means lots of essays on top of your academic hw, ecs, etc., if you wait until Sept.

Some do not apply for all scholarships because they waited to do it tomorrow and when tomorrow became today they were underwater and had to pick and chose which ones were the priorities and which ones would be thrown away.

Not piling on Matthew, but I agree with other posters regarding the parent issue. This is your life now, it is your responsibility. I have told all 3 of my kids that I am not going to college with you, so if you want it bad it enough you need to be responsible for it.

The minute you turn 18, the AF will lock your parents out regarding any information. You are a legal adult in their eyes.
 
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