Does an ROTC Scholarship have weight in the admissions process?

jlmnc

5-Year Member
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Feb 26, 2014
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Hi there,

I recently was notified that I received an AFRTOC Scholarship, however, I was deferred from the school I hope to use my scholarship at. I was curious if the office of admissions takes into account the fact that you have been awarded the scholarship, and weighs it into the admission decision. I emailed an officer at the detachment of the university and he said that they have a strong relationship with admissions and that he would notify them that I received a scholarship. Will this help my chances at gaining admission just as a coach would help a prospective athlete get into a school?

Thanks
 
Usually admissions doesn't consider it. If you're talking about a high keel university like Havard, Yale, Stanford, you're on your own when it comes to getting accepted. At smaller schools where the ROTC program has a lot of pull (VMI for example), a scholarship probably will help you get accepted.
 
Hi there,

I recently was notified that I received an AFRTOC Scholarship, however, I was deferred from the school I hope to use my scholarship at. I was curious if the office of admissions takes into account the fact that you have been awarded the scholarship, and weighs it into the admission decision. I emailed an officer at the detachment of the university and he said that they have a strong relationship with admissions and that he would notify them that I received a scholarship. Will this help my chances at gaining admission just as a coach would help a prospective athlete get into a school?

Thanks

It may. It depends a lot on the school. It also depends on the strength of the relationship between the unit and admissions. Since it appears the unit has a good relationship with admissions it might be helpful. Also, they only deferred you, they didn't reject you; which is also in your favor. No guarantees though.
 
what kinnem said. Yet another of the multiple reasons why it is good for a prospective cadet to develop a relationship with the PMS of his/her #1 school during the application process. That's why I recommend doing the PMS interview at the #1 choice whenever practicable.
 
I don't think it hurts to contact admissions or someone at the school to let them know you received a scholarship.
When my son won the scholarship, he contacted the person at the school who interviewed him for the ROTC scholarship. Several days after that, he contacted admissions. He was told by admissions that they did not consider scholarships when making their decisions. He was accepted to the school one week later.
 
Some. college admission boards have ROTC staff sit in on their admissions board.

Our DS was offered admission to two flagship state colleges (1 OOS, 1 IS) . The funny thing is he never applied to either college. The ROTC det CoC saw his name on the scholarship results and his stats. They felt he was a match for admission.
~~~ Imagine our shock when he received congrats letters. We actually called them and told them they must have got it wrong because he never applied. Their response was that they knew he did not apply, but were offering him admittance based on the AFROTC CoCs recommendation.
 
When I got my scholarship, I notified the PMS at my school and he told admissions, and they immediately accepted it. It may be a different case though because I was told that I was going to be accepted anyways, but they just rushed my acceptance.

If I were you, I would contact admissions and the schools ROTC det. It couldn't hurt to let em know
 
I have been in contact with one of the recruitment officers at the unit as well as the admissions office to let them know of my scholarship. The officer told me that my scholarship will not guarantee admission, but it will certainly help my chances. The detachment was also voted the #1 small detachment in the Air Force, so I would assume that admissions thinks highly of the ROTC program at the school.
 
Another thing to consider is that colleges generally love ROTC scholarships because the government pays full rate.
 
The detachment was also voted the #1 small detachment in the Air Force, so I would assume that admissions thinks highly of the ROTC program at the school.

There is absolutely no way you can draw a line from this fact to your conclusion. However I do hope your surmise is correct.
 
+1

Another thing to consider is that colleges generally love ROTC scholarships because the government pays full rate.

Colleges do love someone paying the full rack rate.
 
DS' experience.

Son got 4 yr army rotc scholarships to his three top schools and needed to pick one. The due date for picking one army rotc scholarships was before he was going to be notified by the three schools admissions. He interviewed at two of the schools but not one of the school.

He had completed all applications.

He called each of the schools and talked to the PMS.

Georgetown: "we dont contact admissions at all and wont get involved at all until you are already admitted. We liked you though and hope you get in"

University of Michigan: "We have a pretty good relationship with admissions and may be able to come up with an answer in time."

Washington University in St Louis: "Consider it done" Acceptance letter was over nighted.

Of the three schools Washu is ranked highest.

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/spp+25


In my opinion its about the school's relationship with the program and the programs relationship with the school. Not about rankings or costs.
 
In muy case at VMI, when I emailed the PMS to inform him that I was accepting the scholarship to VMI, he immediately called admissions and told them. I don't think he blatantly said to accept me, but I'm sure it's kind of assumed. Admissions at VMI was also very helpful in getting me my decision before my scholarship deadline.
 
DS' experience.

Son got 4 yr army rotc scholarships to his three top schools and needed to pick one.

Georgetown: "we dont contact admissions at all and wont get involved at all until you are already admitted. We liked you though and hope you get in"

University of Michigan: "We have a pretty good relationship with admissions and may be able to come up with an answer in time."

Washington University in St Louis: "Consider it done" Acceptance letter was over nighted.

Of the three schools Washu is ranked highest.

That's because it's the closest of the three to Pappy's Smokehouse, which is open for business at 11 a.m.

None of them too shabby, though I still want to know what a "high keel" university is.
 
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In my experience, the admissions office at Northeastern University was genuinely interested in the fact that I had a scholarship, and they said they would make a note of it in my file. I was accepted Early Action. For the University of Southern California, the ROO specifically contacted me and told me to give him my USC ID so that he could pull for me. He said the ROTC scholarships carry a lot of weight. So of course it depends on what school, but generally it will help. From an economics standpoint, it's an obvious win for them to accept someone who they will get paid in full for, and not have to worry about the student dropping out because they can't afford it. For private schools that can do whatever they want for admissions, this carries a lot of weight.

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