Couple of Misc. Questions RE: AROTC Scholarship Appl.

1. I read or heard somewhere (don't remember if it was on this forum or not), that if DS had a martial arts background, he should put it on his scholarship application. He earned his black belt in Taekwondo, but he was only around 10 or 11 years old when he earned it. Should he go ahead and put that on there, or is the board looking ONLY for accomplishments in high school?

2. The scholarship application allows the applicant to indicate 7 colleges. However, DS is only interested in five. Is he potentially shooting himself in the foot by only indicating 5?

2. The scholarship application allows the applicant to indicate 7 colleges. However, DS is only interested in five. Is he potentially shooting himself in the foot by only indicating 5?

If memory serves DS only listed one school on his application. In state public school. He received a 4yr AROTC scholarship. I freaked when he told me
Worked out ok.

If he has not done martial arts since 11, I would not place it because he is not current and did not do it in HS. Look at it like BSA, if he quit the scouts in 7th grade, would he place it on his application?

Pima said:

If he has not done martial arts since 11, I would not place it because he is not current and did not do it in HS.

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That's what I thought, too, when we were given the advice. We just didn't want to leave it off the application and then find out later we should have put it on there.

Thanks for your input.

Future2LtMom said:

1. I read or heard somewhere (don't remember if it was on this forum or not), that if DS had a martial arts background, he should put it on his scholarship application. He earned his black belt in Taekwondo, but he was only around 10 or 11 years old when he earned it. Should he go ahead and put that on there, or is the board looking ONLY for accomplishments in high school?

2. The scholarship application allows the applicant to indicate 7 colleges. However, DS is only interested in five. Is he potentially shooting himself in the foot by only indicating 5?

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The application has a section for Additional Remarks, this is where he would list things that there are not spots for on the application itself.

He should definatly list that he received his Black Belt, he does not have to list what age he was when he received the belt, this may be asked at the interview but the age won't matter.

Both my son's listed that they were Certified Scuba Divers, both were certified the summer before they started the 9th grade. Both were asked about scuba diving during their interviews and the age they received the certification did not matter.

Look at it this way, your son received his black belt when he was younger, that doesn't mean he lost that belt when he got older, he is still a black belt. Does your son still participate in the sport at all, if so he should list it in the additional remarks.

My son did not list 7 school, he only listed 5.

sheriff3 said:

If memory serves DS only listed one school on his application. In state public school. He received a 4yr AROTC scholarship. I freaked when he told me
Worked out ok.

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Wow! I would have freaked out, too!

I think for the Martial Arts aspect, it looks like it is a personal decision. For me, I would not place it on the application. Both of our DS's are black belts, but only one placed it on his applications, because he competed nationally and was an instructor until he was 16. DS1 went onto become a lifeguard and it would have been impossible to juggle both, esp. for the competition team. Our younger DS did not place it because he was in 6th grade when he quit. He could have continued, but it was his choice not to continue.

Leaving the sport at 11, is IMPO not what they intended when they left that spot there for athletic/ECs in the applicant to fill in. Just my opinion, so nobody scream at me.

Now if he places it under awards, than that is different, because it is an award that he earned.

I went from the athletic portion. Many kids these days, like my DS1, did non-traditional sports, such as TKD, which required him to train 20 hrs a week, 52 weeks a yr. , thus he put that under sports, and his awards were 2X state champ, and Jr. Olympic Bronze champ. I think that is where the OP may have seen people asking if TKD counts.

Just my 0.018965 cents, but I agree with others don't feel the need to place 7 on the list if he only wants 5 of the schools, because what will he do if he gets it to a school that he just put on the list because he thought he must have 7? He could not get a scholarship to there and have to wait until the spring to see if he could transfer the scholarship to one of the colleges that were his only true desires.

Pima,

The AROTC application has a special section for athletics, I'm not sure if it has changed with the new application process but the old one only had boxes to check for 10th, 11th, and 12th grade, if the applicant did a sport in 9th grade they had to list it in additional remarks. I guess they did it that way because not all high schools are 4 year.

I agree, I wouldn't list any sport that was done earlier then 9th grade in the athletics section.

On the AROTC application the Additional Remarks section is pretty open for the applicant to add anything that may set themselves apart.

The Awards section is a great idea for a place to mention the black belt.

I would list anything 9th grade +. If it was in high school it's relevant.

DS listed his jr high school athletics in the additional section. He did rodeo in JH and part of High School and made it to the JR High National finals. He listed it in that section along with his local circuit awards.

The PMS that interviewed him noticed these items and talked at length to him about it because it stood out from most applications. I feel this was one thing that impressed the PMS and got him his scholarship offer.

If it's there they will look at, if it's not relevant they will ignore it. Personal opinion.

Jcleppe,

I understand what you are saying. I would think that when they see the award, but nothing athletic regarding martial arts, they will figure out that this occurred before 9th grade at the earliest, and I am not sure how much weight they would place in that situation, esp. if they ask a follow up... I see you have a black belt, when did you get it?

10 yrs old.
Are you still doing martial arts?
No, I quit at 11.

Basically, they will see it for what it's worth. In your case Jcleppe your DS only recently got his certification when he was 14/15, it was still current. In the OPs case, just my 0.01864 cents, it looks more like fodder.

They really are looking at athletics and ECs to see leadership, and time management while maintaining strong cgpas.

Just me, but being a NMSF, Eagle Scout, would carry more weight than a black belt if the PMS realizes it was when he was 10/11