Gap Year?
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Pima
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Look at it for a second from AROTC's perspective.
They have a limited pot of money, and you would now be pushing yourself really into the class of 19, not 18. That means if you take the Gap yr. after accepting the scholarship, 1 less 18 cadet would not have a scholarship that could have received one, and 1 less in 19 because you really are class of 19 when you do your Gap yr. Now what if 250 kids did this, because the minute you approve one, you must approve others too....unless there is an extraordinary reason, car accident, family crisis or religious (Mormon). The point is it really messes with their budget if they just allow everyone to take a yr. because they want a yr to mature and grow or have a great internship opportunity that conflicts with doing ROTC.
On top of that AROTC is not like AFROTC scholarships since the scholarship is tied to the school and the cadet. It impacts the colleges too.
Plus, it impacts long term AD Army. They use the scholarship as a recruitment tool, and they plan their personnel accordingly, yes, they even plan 5 yrs out.
I know for the SAs they allow a deferment for religious reasons, such as Mormons.
They have a limited pot of money, and you would now be pushing yourself really into the class of 19, not 18. That means if you take the Gap yr. after accepting the scholarship, 1 less 18 cadet would not have a scholarship that could have received one, and 1 less in 19 because you really are class of 19 when you do your Gap yr. Now what if 250 kids did this, because the minute you approve one, you must approve others too....unless there is an extraordinary reason, car accident, family crisis or religious (Mormon). The point is it really messes with their budget if they just allow everyone to take a yr. because they want a yr to mature and grow or have a great internship opportunity that conflicts with doing ROTC.
On top of that AROTC is not like AFROTC scholarships since the scholarship is tied to the school and the cadet. It impacts the colleges too.
Plus, it impacts long term AD Army. They use the scholarship as a recruitment tool, and they plan their personnel accordingly, yes, they even plan 5 yrs out.
I know for the SAs they allow a deferment for religious reasons, such as Mormons.
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I don't think so because of the above mentioned, and since scholarships are awarded on the basis that you will be going to college the following fall.
Four-Year Scholarship | goarmy.com said:
My DS, an AROTC MS III, was allowed to defer his scholarship for a gap year.
-That was three years ago
-DS had excellent stats
-Major was/is engineering
-Had full support of the school
-Spent gap year on Rotary Exchange Scholarship in Taiwan, living in a Chinese only environment. When he returned, he tested out of all Chinese language classes at his Big 10 U.
-At the end of the day, the Army got something out of it--a blonde-haired blue-eyed Chinese speaker that cost them zero to language train.
Before even considering what the Army thinks about it, you need to think about why it would be right/wrong for you. A year of seasoning and maturing can be very worthwhile. I am a huge supporter of the gap year under two conditions:
-There is a hard, fixed plan in place to execute at the end of it.
-There should be a reason and purpose behind the gap year which makes you smarter, more mature, more experienced or, in some quantifiable way, a better person at the end of the year. Taking a break, finding yourself, "doing something interesting", working a minimum wage job, paying to do good works in an African country are not compelling reasons or purposes.
As far as whether or not they'll let you do, I would, as with most issues, defer to Pima, Kinnem, Marist, Clarkson, dunn, et. al.
Best of Luck!
-That was three years ago
-DS had excellent stats
-Major was/is engineering
-Had full support of the school
-Spent gap year on Rotary Exchange Scholarship in Taiwan, living in a Chinese only environment. When he returned, he tested out of all Chinese language classes at his Big 10 U.
-At the end of the day, the Army got something out of it--a blonde-haired blue-eyed Chinese speaker that cost them zero to language train.
Before even considering what the Army thinks about it, you need to think about why it would be right/wrong for you. A year of seasoning and maturing can be very worthwhile. I am a huge supporter of the gap year under two conditions:
-There is a hard, fixed plan in place to execute at the end of it.
-There should be a reason and purpose behind the gap year which makes you smarter, more mature, more experienced or, in some quantifiable way, a better person at the end of the year. Taking a break, finding yourself, "doing something interesting", working a minimum wage job, paying to do good works in an African country are not compelling reasons or purposes.
As far as whether or not they'll let you do, I would, as with most issues, defer to Pima, Kinnem, Marist, Clarkson, dunn, et. al.
Best of Luck!
What you are really asking is for your scholarship to be transferred from Year Group 2018 to Year Group 2019.
There is already a process in place for the Year Group 2019 mission set... that is the awarding of the Scholarships to HS graduates of 2015.
The transfer of your Award from YG 18 to YG 19 affects several things, if not done very early in the Process:
1) Budget for 2018
2) Budget for 2019
3) Reduces by 1 the MS1 cadets reporting to your selected college in Fall, 2015, who serve as cadets for the MSIII and MSIV to lead. If this is a small Battalion, where perhaps 5 new MSI cadets come in each year, your not showing up in Fall 2015 reduces the number of MSI cadets by 20%, and the Leadership opportunities for MSIII and MSIV by 20%
Now, if your Award and request are approved early on in the YG 2018 Award season, then budgets and headcounts can be adjusted accordingly. But this requires manual work outside the normal system, which can cause mistakes. It is like asking for a vehicle on an Assembly Line to be removed from the line and dealt with in a 1-off way in a side room. Custom if you will. Or like going into MacDonalds and asking for the patty to be grilled instead of fried. That is expensive and disruptive to an efficiently operating line of production. And you occupy the time and energy of a Battalion PMS O4 or O5, the Brigade O6, and the Cadet Command O7 to get it approved. The military isn't usually accostomed to going outside of the protocols to deal with an issue in a custom way. YOu would need to have the O4/O5, the O6, and the O7 all in agreement to treat you outside the normal protocol. Might happen, but odds are pretty long right now in our current draw down environment where Cadet Command has had no problem hitting its reduced mission set (vs. in 2010 where Cadet COmmand was struggling to hit the mission set, and was therefore more willing to be flexible with DODMERB waivers, conduct issues, and per the post above, a move from one YG to another).
Cadet Command will not have any problem filling its 2019 Mission Set with HS graduates of 2015, so why should they go to the trouble of Awarding one of those YG 19 Scholarship cadets a year early? You'd have to present some compelling reason that would benefit the Army. The post above about living for a year in China is compelling, b/c the Army has a current emphasis on cross cultural awareness, and foreign skills in critical foreign languages, of which Chinese is one.
So, those are the obstacles. Good luck in getting an Award first, then in trying to get it moved to YG 19.
There is already a process in place for the Year Group 2019 mission set... that is the awarding of the Scholarships to HS graduates of 2015.
The transfer of your Award from YG 18 to YG 19 affects several things, if not done very early in the Process:
1) Budget for 2018
2) Budget for 2019
3) Reduces by 1 the MS1 cadets reporting to your selected college in Fall, 2015, who serve as cadets for the MSIII and MSIV to lead. If this is a small Battalion, where perhaps 5 new MSI cadets come in each year, your not showing up in Fall 2015 reduces the number of MSI cadets by 20%, and the Leadership opportunities for MSIII and MSIV by 20%
Now, if your Award and request are approved early on in the YG 2018 Award season, then budgets and headcounts can be adjusted accordingly. But this requires manual work outside the normal system, which can cause mistakes. It is like asking for a vehicle on an Assembly Line to be removed from the line and dealt with in a 1-off way in a side room. Custom if you will. Or like going into MacDonalds and asking for the patty to be grilled instead of fried. That is expensive and disruptive to an efficiently operating line of production. And you occupy the time and energy of a Battalion PMS O4 or O5, the Brigade O6, and the Cadet Command O7 to get it approved. The military isn't usually accostomed to going outside of the protocols to deal with an issue in a custom way. YOu would need to have the O4/O5, the O6, and the O7 all in agreement to treat you outside the normal protocol. Might happen, but odds are pretty long right now in our current draw down environment where Cadet Command has had no problem hitting its reduced mission set (vs. in 2010 where Cadet COmmand was struggling to hit the mission set, and was therefore more willing to be flexible with DODMERB waivers, conduct issues, and per the post above, a move from one YG to another).
Cadet Command will not have any problem filling its 2019 Mission Set with HS graduates of 2015, so why should they go to the trouble of Awarding one of those YG 19 Scholarship cadets a year early? You'd have to present some compelling reason that would benefit the Army. The post above about living for a year in China is compelling, b/c the Army has a current emphasis on cross cultural awareness, and foreign skills in critical foreign languages, of which Chinese is one.
So, those are the obstacles. Good luck in getting an Award first, then in trying to get it moved to YG 19.
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@OP.
You can always ask but I wouldn't count on getting it. cb7893 relates a good tale regarding DS. However, things were quite different back in 2010 which is when I think this would have occurred. There was no Sequester. We were surging in Afghanistan. We still had troops in Iraq. The size of the Army was not being reduced. Scholarships were far more plentiful. Additional officers were needed. Now? Not so much. Frankly, if it were up to me I would not grant it, but like I said you can always ask if you are awarded a scholarship. Of course, if not granted, you could take your gap year and re-apply for a scholarship the following year, which you may or may not get.
You can always ask but I wouldn't count on getting it. cb7893 relates a good tale regarding DS. However, things were quite different back in 2010 which is when I think this would have occurred. There was no Sequester. We were surging in Afghanistan. We still had troops in Iraq. The size of the Army was not being reduced. Scholarships were far more plentiful. Additional officers were needed. Now? Not so much. Frankly, if it were up to me I would not grant it, but like I said you can always ask if you are awarded a scholarship. Of course, if not granted, you could take your gap year and re-apply for a scholarship the following year, which you may or may not get.
nathanmbaker
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Hello,
I just received a 3 Year Advanced Designee AROTC scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania on the January board. I would really like to do a gap year in a Spanish speaking country in order to perfect my Spanish speaking ability and take a much needed break from school. Do you think that you could tell me more about how your DS went about requesting the gap year? Who did he contact and when in the process? PMS? Cadet Command? Both?
Thank you so much for all the help already. I know your original post was years ago, but it has already been of great use 6 years later!
Anguswarrior112
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It’s unlikely if your taking a gap year straight out of high school.
Anguswarrior112
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This is different than taking a gap year coming out of high school like the op mentioned. I have a friend who did the program you mentioned but this was considered an academic trip. If op isn’t doing anything out of high school and takes a gap year to mature or work then the Army is unlikely to accept a gap year.
Overwhelmed
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This could potentially impact my DS as well.
If he chooses the AROTC route his university has a school sponsored gap year that is fully funded by the university. Students travel to foreign countries to learn new languages, cultures, and to perform service.
If he chooses the AROTC route his university has a school sponsored gap year that is fully funded by the university. Students travel to foreign countries to learn new languages, cultures, and to perform service.
Remember, a gap year is a year taken off between HS and College. You are referring to a semester or year abroad.
When DS visited GA Tech, the recruiting officer said a semester abroad or year abroad sophomore year was very doable, but that was in 2009.
You will find no greater proponent of getting US students the he!! out of their dorms, frat/sorority houses, parents' houses into an unfamiliar environment where their English is useless. There are plenty because tuition at US schools is so high and they pay the foreign school a fraction of the tuition room and board you paid to them. I would caution that, like gap years they are not created equal. Many are designed specifically to smooth the hard edges of cultural immersion. Classes are in English. The students have English speaking roommates, etc. Again, I wouldn't argue against taking advantage of the opportunity.
The LDS Church has it right. Intensive language training, get on a plane to wherever, get a bundle of LDS literature in the local language, and start knocking on doors.
Remember, my info is almost 10 years old. But to answer your question, Yes and Yes plus the admissions department at U of ??. To add a further twist, he also transferred his 4 yr scholarship from GA Tech.
As I recall, the last "t" had not been crossed nor "i" dotted when he got on the plane. He stayed in touch with the recruiting officer and admissions at U of ?? from overseas which they saw as a good sign. I remember getting a call from the ROTC office with some questions. At the end of the call she said, she just got off the phone with admissions and it sounds like they really want him.
I would suggest you get on the stick like right now and be discriminating. Don't end up in dorm full of English speakers. Shoot for a family without English speakers.
Sorry for the late response. I don't check in as often as I used to.
Overwhelmed
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Actually, I am referring between HS and College.