NROTC Schools?

hopefulcandidate

5-Year Member
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Jul 5, 2014
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Does the order of the school choices matter for the NROTC Scholarship?

I just realized that I put a very prestigious, "reach" university as my first choice and my last choice is a "safety" school.

How does it work exactly? If I get the scholarship and I don't get in my first choice, can I transfer it to my second choice, or third, (wherever I get accepted within that list) etc...?:confused::confused::confused:
 
You can request a transfer to another school - but it is not a guarantee.

Go here and see the "helpful information" file for a description of the school selection and transfer process: http://naval.dasa.ncsu.edu/visitors

an excerpt: "Once a student has been selected and placed at a particular school, they will then receive a letter from the Navy or Marine Corps congratulating them on their selection and indicating to what unit they have been assigned. If you are not assigned to your first choice (or are not admitted to that school), you may request to have your scholarship re-assigned to a different unit. This process IS NOT guaranteed, but often, if started early enough, it works out for many students."
 
@hopefulcandidate I'm in the same boat as you. My interviewer told me that as long as you try to transfer by January, you should not have any problems transferring to most schools. Did you apply early to your first choice?


Nosce Temet
 
@hopefulcandidate I'm in the same boat as you. My interviewer told me that as long as you try to transfer by January, you should not have any problems transferring to most schools. Did you apply early to your first choice?


Nosce Temet
I didn't apply early to all five of the colleges on my list...they were all regular decisions :(

So, should I just change it to the school I have a higher chance of getting into?
My first choice is very hard to get into and with my comparatively mediocre stats, it will be like winning the lottery...

I haven't submitted my application yet so maybe I can simply change the order of the schools I applied to?
 
I didn't apply early to all five of the colleges on my list...they were all regular decisions :(

So, should I just change it to the school I have a higher chance of getting into?
My first choice is very hard to get into and with my comparatively mediocre stats, it will be like winning the lottery...

I haven't submitted my application yet so maybe I can simply change the order of the schools I applied to?

Yes, you can change your school selection order. I would call the schools on your list and see if they still have slots available before your reorder them. If you are awarded the scholarship, they look at the first school on your list and if they still have a slot, that is where they award the scholarship. If they do not, they continue down your list. For your top school choice would you be considered to have the "average" stats of an admitted student or is it really pie-in-the-sky? If you would really be happy attending another college on your list where you would be likely admitted, then you might want to change it. My DD had a "reach" school as her #1 choice. Her stats put her in the 50% percentile of admitted students, but still it was iffy if she would get in. She felt that that was far and above the school that she wanted to attend overall all of the others, so she kept the reach school, was admitted and it all worked out for her. I think it was easier for her to make that decision, though, as she applied for an AROTC scholarship and felt she had a strong chance of getting that one and all the schools she had on that list had rolling admissions, so she already knew she was admitted to all of them and didn't have to sweat it. She also had several plan "C" schools with large merit scholarships, if ROTC didn't work out.
 
My son's story:
applied to 6 schools with NROTC. First school was a major reach. The 6th school that was not on the list was the sister school (cross town) to the major reach. He was accepted there. As soon as he was notified that he did not get in to his first choice, he reordered his list. A week later, he had his scholarship awarded to his new first choice school. Now, all this happened at the end of March so it was a LONG wait but it all worked out in the end and he's very happy with his school and his unit.

While we were on campus for a tour after the scholarship was awarded, the Lt. told us that a Dad had called that day looking for a slot for his daughter. She was awarded a scholarship but wanted a different school. By then, all the slots at the unit were full.
 
I applied to all of the California colleges available for the NROTC scholarship.
I really wanted to stay in-state.

I'll just reorder them while I can before submitting my app (btw, the deadline for the app is January, right?)

So the order should be:
1. Very "safety" school.....5. Ultimate "reach" school?

However, what if, by great chance, I get accepted to those top schools? What are the chances that my app to transfer will be denied by the committee and thus lose my scholarship?

And thank you for the answers so far! I really appreciate them:smile:
 
hopeful, there is no reason to reorder them before you submit your application if you don't want to. You can reorder them at any time and you can do it more than once. Put them in the order you want and change them if you are not accepted. Best of luck.
 
+1 to navymomwannabe.
End of January is the last possible date to submit a complete application. However, you have already missed boards which started in September, and therefore missed opportunities to win a scholarship. I suggest getting the application completed ASAP. There are steps that cannot be completed until you've submitted the application.
 
I applied to all of the California colleges available for the NROTC scholarship.
I really wanted to stay in-state.

I'll just reorder them while I can before submitting my app (btw, the deadline for the app is January, right?)

So the order should be:
1. Very "safety" school.....5. Ultimate "reach" school?


However, what if, by great chance, I get accepted to those top schools? What are the chances that my app to transfer will be denied by the committee and thus lose my scholarship?

And thank you for the answers so far! I really appreciate them:smile:

I don't know that this is really how you should order it, necessarily, but you will have to decide. Are you willing to shoot for the stars to go for a scholarship to your dream school and potentially end up with no place to use your scholarship if you are awarded one, but don't get into that school? Do you really want to go to the very safety school? Is getting the scholarship and just simply being able to use it to any school on your list the most important thing to you? As you are making your decision, be realistic about the schools that you applied - Do you really have a good shot at getting in them or is it really a prayer?

As others have said, submit your application now and do not wait! The longer you wait, the fewer scholarships are left and scholarship slots are filling up at colleges.
 
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