USNA or NROTC at MIT

shellyswimwvu

5-Year Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2014
Messages
5
I have a son who has received his appointment to the USNA and has received a full NROTC scholarship and acceptance to MIT. We know all about life at the NA but not much regarding NROTC@MIT. Any information regarding the program, life at MIT etc would be appreciated.
 
They host both Harvard and Tufts as cross town universities and hold their commissioning ceremonies aboard the USS Constitution. I would imagine that they would be a smaller unit than most others, which could be a positive or a negative depending on what your DS wants. MIT also hosts all 3 branches of ROTC, which is appealing to some prospective cadets/midshipman (myself included). I wouldn't make these things primary factors in my decision but would keep them in mind, just little things to keep you in the know.
 
Thank you..I know the NROTC details....what I am looking for is information from someone in the program, or a parent with a child in the program who can speak to the experience. Life as a NROTC student. I think he will ultimately choose the Academy, but the possibility of going to MIT to study aerospace engineering is enticing.
 
If he's really interested in aerospace engineering you go with MIT, especially with the scholarship and alternative route to becoming an officer on offer.
 
I am a current 4/c at the BU ROTC company, which with the MIT company forms or Boston ROTC Battalion. If you're looking for a comparison between the Naval Academy and MIT, I can tell you that the ROTC detachments here are known for producing great officers. The MIT curriculum is a lot more relaxed than over here at BU. Having spent almost a year as part of the program, I can reassure you that if you want to experience the college life alongside ROTC MIT is the place to do it. If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them!


Sent using the Service Academy Forums® mobile app
 
What are the summers like? What dorms do you stay in? How often do you wear uniform? Do you get priority for classes? Do you have weekend 'liberty'?
 
What are the summers like? What dorms do you stay in? How often do you wear uniform? Do you get priority for classes? Do you have weekend 'liberty'?


For the summers you do the same thing as the guys at the Naval Academy. You go on all of the same cruises and all of that fun stuff. Which cruise you go on is also dependent on what year you are. For the dorms, we stay in the same dorms as the other freshman. I believe you can request to be with another ROTC person of you want that. We wear our PT uniform Monday mornings for PT (0600-0700) and our khakis all day Wednesday due to our ROTC lab. Unfortunately we do not get priority for classes, that also reminds me that each semester we take one ROTC class (3 hours a week). Besides any events going on the weekend that we have to go to (there rarely is anything, everything is voluntary), we always have the weekend free. Basically the only commitment we have is when we have NS class, PT, and lab.


Sent using the Service Academy Forums® mobile app
 
For the summers you do the same thing as the guys at the Naval Academy.

I wonder if that is completely true. I know NROTC midshipmen have summer training, usually some kind of cruise, just like the USNA midshipmen; however, the USNA midshipmen usually have two blocks of training in the summer.

Do NROTC midshipmen usually have two training blocks in the summer? I'm asking - I don't know.

A USNA midshipman usually gets 30 days of leave in the summer, on average.
 
I wonder if that is completely true. I know NROTC midshipmen have summer training, usually some kind of cruise, just like the USNA midshipmen; however, the USNA midshipmen usually have two blocks of training in the summer.

Do NROTC midshipmen usually have two training blocks in the summer? I'm asking - I don't know.

A USNA midshipman usually gets 30 days of leave in the summer, on average.

NROTC folks have 1 training session. There always appears to be USNA kids on these cruises which is what I think zanyz99 meant by that statement.
 
Navy NROTC does their version of PROTRAMID after 4/C year (probably due to the earlier commitment time in NROTC), and they don't have professional development training the way USNA does. Otherwise, summer training is a mingling of NROTC, USNA, and USMMA midshipmen of all classes due to all kinds of circumstances.

I even saw a Marine Option 3/C assigned to an amphib this summer. He didn't want to do Mountain Warfare, and apparently was given a choice to just not go.
 
Navy NROTC does their version of PROTRAMID after 4/C year (probably due to the earlier commitment time in NROTC), and they don't have professional development training the way USNA does. Otherwise, summer training is a mingling of NROTC, USNA, and USMMA midshipmen of all classes due to all kinds of circumstances.

I even saw a Marine Option 3/C assigned to an amphib this summer. He didn't want to do Mountain Warfare, and apparently was given a choice to just not go.

Ouch :biggrin:. I believe said Marine Option had a job as a freshman orientation leader at his college that his NROTC unit really wanted him to do, and that was why he missed Mt. Warfare. In retrospect he thought it was way better to do the amphib cruise as his summer training. They'll send him to Mt. Warfare when they need him to go.
 
thoughts from an MIT grad

Thank you..I know the NROTC details....what I am looking for is information from someone in the program, or a parent with a child in the program who can speak to the experience. Life as a NROTC student. I think he will ultimately choose the Academy, but the possibility of going to MIT to study aerospace engineering is enticing.
shellyswimwvu,

Wow. That sounds like a tough decision. But it depends on what your DS really wants.

Don't have a child in the MIT program, but was myself an Aero/Astro at MIT back in the day ('89). One thing that MIT has is undergraduate research opportunities that are unparalleled. MIT is a research institution, which is its primary strength. As a parent with kids in college, and one about to enter, I understand what the difference between a teaching university and a research one is. Neither is better; it just depends on what you want as an undergraduate experience.

MIT in virtually all departments is in the vanguard of research and projects in most fields; Aero is no exception. The professors work on amazing stuff. You probably know of Missy Cummings, who is currently a visiting professor and director of the AeroAstro Humans and Automation Lab, is a graduate of USNA, and was one of the Navy's first female fighter pilots. I know she's done some stuff on aircraft carrier deck operations - developing a decision support system called DCAP - Deck operations Course of Action Planner, which is supposed to help human decision makers guide the automated planners in developing schedules, etc. These details are off-topic, but the point I want to make is that undergraduates have access to all this stuff that the professors are doing. I think the access at MIT for undergraduates is better than elsewhere, where graduate students have priority. There is a structured program called UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program) that facilitates undergraduate participation in faculty and graduate research. Sometimes it is even on a paid basis.

There is just nothing like the research that goes on at MIT. But then, there is nothing like the undergraduate experience at an academy. Your DS has the happy choice to pick!

All the best to him, whichever he chooses!
 
Since DS is on USNA waitlist.... I say go with MIT! :>)

Come on you have to laugh or we'll all go nuts!
 
ProudNHopeful- lol...I wish DS was in that dilemma. .. congratulations on both...

Sent using the Service Academy Forums® mobile app
 
Congrats on 2 great choices. If finances are any issue, its a no-brainer go to USNA. If you want a more normal college life, do MIT. For service selection, you will have the same selection rate from both nrotc or USNA. DS choose a top public without scholarship and earned a 2 year sideload and commissions in 5 weeks. You have 3 weeks to decide. Good luck
 
Congrats on 2 great choices. If finances are any issue, its a no-brainer go to USNA. If you want a more normal college life, do MIT. For service selection, you will have the same selection rate from both nrotc or USNA. DS choose a top public without scholarship and earned a 2 year sideload and commissions in 5 weeks. You have 3 weeks to decide. Good luck

Only on a service-academy site would the phrase "more normal college life" be used in the same sentence with "MIT."
:wink:
 
Back
Top