Which senior military college for NROTC?

jmk0601

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I'm Korean w/ pretty good stats
3.97 WGPA, 1920 SAT (790 Math, 580 CR), rank 40/668, 500+ volunteer hours, NHS member, Mu Alpha Theta member, Key Club secretary, church leadership positions, work, and tutor

I've already applied for NROTC scholarship, USNA, USAFA. I needed back up do I did NROTC.. I'm considering Georgia Tech if I get accepted, but I want the true NROTC experience.. So..

I applied to VMI, Virginia Tech, Norwich, and Citadel. Which one has the best NROTC programs? And pros and cons of all of them? Any other colleges give scholarships like Norwich? Norwich automatically awards merit scholarships based on GPA and SAT. Thank you in advance!

Oh also, which one has the really good pre-dent/pre-med programs?
 
Last edited:
I'm Korean w/ pretty good stats
3.97 WGPA, 1920 SAT (790 Math, 580 CR), rank 40/668, 500+ volunteer hours, NHS member, Mu Alpha Theta member, Key Club secretary, church leadership positions, work, and tutor

I've already applied for NROTC scholarship, USNA, USAFA. I needed back up do I did NROTC.. I'm considering Georgia Tech if I get accepted, but I want the true NROTC experience.. So..

I applied to VMI, Virginia Tech, Norwich, and Citadel. Which one has the best NROTC programs? And pros and cons of all of them? Any other colleges give scholarships like Norwich? Norwich automatically awards merit scholarships based on GPA and SAT. Thank you in advance!

I think you would find that NROTC at all the SMCs to be pretty much the same. If you're going to make a choice between them, make it based on the school and choice of major.

You didn't mention athletics in your resume. What have you been doing athletically?
 
I did 2 years of kendo. My parents are always busy, so rides were never available for school sports. All the interviews that I've been to have recognized this and put a good statement for me in my interview application.
Majors that I'm interested in are biochemistry, biology, or chemistry for pre-med or pre-dent path
 
I did 2 years of kendo. My parents are always busy, so rides were never available for school sports. All the interviews that I've been to have recognized this and put a good statement for me in my interview application.
Majors that I'm interested in are biochemistry, biology, or chemistry for pre-med or pre-dent path

OK. Just wanted to make sure there was something, whatever it was. Glad the interviews went OK. Good luck sorting this out and I hope the scholarship comes through. I don't know which school would be best for those majors but I know you will figure it out.
 
You will find that there are similarities and differences between the sundry SMCs. The two larger ones, Virginia Tech and TAMU both have well regarded science and engineering programs. The smaller SMCs with Naval ROTC units, Norwich, VMI, and the Citadel, all have very good engineering programs, and with the smaller schools you will have more interaction with professors than you might at a larger school. Which program that has the right strengths for you is something that only you can decide after talking to your parents, the various programs, and students. All of the programs have a way to connect with students. TAMU has an outfit, Squadron 20, that is a “pre-professional” program for those who are considering going onto programs past a bachelors degree. You can find out more about TAMU and its Corps of Cadets by going to www.Corps.tamu.edu

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TAMU is a great place if you want to be lost in the middle of 40,000 students. The Citadel commissions more Marine Officers than any NROTC program, has small classes and an excellent pre-med program in the Biology department. More MD alumni than you can shake a stick at and very high acceptance rate for those applying to Medical and Dental School. You can even stay in Charleston and attend the Medical University of South Carolina
 
A student with an ROTC scholarship to Norwich will also be awarded the I.D. White Scholarship by the University, which covers room and board.
 
I am a graduate of The Citadel. I was not a contract military cadet but I was in the NROTC (Marine Option) program for all four years.

The Citadel is a great school, with great engineering departments, in a great (port!) city. The Citadel is jokingly referred to as the "Marine" academy (possibly only among ourselves) because of the high number of Marine officers that the school produces. This stems from how serious the instructors are and how much preparation they provide for the PLC. They have a really great success rate.

The program itself was pretty good. The leadership theory and joint history portions are shared between Navy and Marine option students. The Marine option students go on to learn about amphibious combat, weapon systems, land navigation, and a few other topics. And, of course, the intense preparation that occurs later for the PLC.

If you get a full four year contract you won't have any other costs so that's not a big deal. I had a 3.2GPA in high school, Eagle Scout, and terrible physical fitness scores. I was still offered a Type II AFROTC scholarship.

I'll put this on it's own line: I majored in Computer Science.

This put me a huge jump over pretty much any other student who wasn't in a technical field. (The Marines, FYI, don't seem to give a rip about this. The Navy might be another story.)

In short I'd say go to The Citadel. But I'm obviously biased.
 
Perhaps one of the reasons that The Citadel is referred to as the Marine Corps Academy is that the Marine Corps has made two attempts to buy The Citadel. The first time the Corps approached The Citadel directly. A couple of years after their offer was rejected, they tried to backdoor The Citadel by going directly to the state legislature. The Citadel had to use all of its influence to get the SC legislature to reject that offer. Unfortunately, there were too many SC legislators who were willing to entertain the Marines' interest.
 
I want the true NROTC experience.. So..

If you are considering attending a Senior Military College - with a Corps of Cadets vs applying to a federal service academy, I would suggest you first decide do you want a large university atmosphere with a wide variety of courses and majors, or a small college experience. I graduated from The Citadel - it is very similar to VMI and small (2,200 Cadets vs 1600 at VMI). You will definitely not have the same experience at TAM and Va Tech. The atmosphere on both these campuses is intense military 24/7 during the academic year. Students are serious (at The Citadel over half major in some form of business degree, another 25% in the Engineering school). On the other hand, the large land grant universities have great academic programs and opportunities to attend class with non-Cadets, and experience the big state college life. It is very important you go and visit each before deciding.

As far as NROTC units. All the Senior Military Colleges and several large university programs have top flight NROTC programs and similar training. Where you place in your choice of branch upon commissioning does not so much depend on which school you attend as on your major, your grades, evaluation by the PNS and your success at required summer cruises or at Quantico (Marine Corps). At The Citadel, about 40% of graduating seniors accept a commission in the armed services. In 2012 92 commissioned into the Army, 42 into the Marine Corps and 29 into the Navy. Hope this helps
 
As a current cadet at El Cid I would definitely say we have the best NROTC unit.
In all honesty just look at it this way: VMI is in the middle of nowhere and Charleston is a city....
 
Charleston, especially with its up-and-coming reputation, is the best selling point that The Citadel has. (Having the College of Charleston right down the road is another.)
 
during the World War I era The Citadel was commissioning so many Marine officers it triggered a congressional investigation because other colleges were complaining they were being given preferential treatment. When then Commandant General Krulak spoke at the school several years ago his first words were "its great to be here at the Military Academy of the Marine Corps!"
 
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