Chances of Receiving Scholarship

Hi, I was wondering what my chances are of getting a 4 year NROTC scholarship. My school choices are Norwich, Purdue, Virginia Tech, Marquette, and Citadel. I have a 3.65 gpa, I have a 1230 on the sat (reading and math), 1920 total, I've taken multiple honors classes, 3 AP's, I got a 27 on the ACT, I was 3 seconds and 6 crunches away from a perfect score on the navy fitness test, I have over 150 hours of community service, I have a summer job, I play hockey, soccer, swimming, and was involved with the school play.

I hate these threads but did want to chime in that more info is needed before anyone can reasonably comment. What is your planned major and where does it fall on the Navy's tiered system? Are you applying for Navy Option or Marine Option ( perhaps even Nursing Option)? Did you letter in any of those sports? Were you a captain of any of the teams? What (other) leadership positions have you held?

In some ways (IMO) getting an NROTC scholarship is as tough as getting into USNA (ignoring the difficulty of getting a nomination). You're competing against the entire nation vs. initially competing against the other folks on your nomination slate - so you need to be on the ball with your scholarship, athletics, and leadership. Not saying you're not, just trying to give you a sense of the caliber of people who get these scholarships.

What I see is good stuff but you really need to provide more info to cover some of the other things the boards look at.

kinnem said:

I hate these threads but did want to chime in that more info is needed before anyone can reasonably comment. What is your planned major and where does it fall on the Navy's tiered system? Are you applying for Navy Option or Marine Option ( perhaps even Nursing Option)? Did you letter in any of those sports? Were you a captain of any of the teams? What (other) leadership positions have you held?

In some ways (IMO) getting an NROTC scholarship is as tough as getting into USNA (ignoring the difficulty of getting a nomination). You're competing against the entire nation vs. initially competing against the other folks on your nomination slate - so you need to be on the ball with your scholarship, athletics, and leadership. Not saying you're not, just trying to give you a sense of the caliber of people who get these scholarships.

What I see is good stuff but you really need to provide more info to cover some of the other things the boards look at.

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I lettered varsity all 3 sports and I'm doing navy option. I'm a leader on my schools service committee too. I'm doing civil engineering which is tier 2

Well then, you have a fair chance. Do not count on anything though... keep working those backup plans.

I agree kinnem, we start sounding like a broken record. Look the fact is you need to have plan B, C, D, etc in place, especially if you need the scholarship to pay for the college.

Good luck.

Pima said:

I agree kinnem, we start sounding like a broken record. Look the fact is you need to have plan B, C, D, etc in place, especially if you need the scholarship to pay for the college.

Good luck.

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Thankyou so much. I'm not expecting to get the scholarship, and I don't necessarily need it, but it would definitely be nice to get.

It is to your general advantage that you have declared an engineering major on your application, but to my knowledge the Navy has not quantified the priority that it gives to Tier 1 over Tier 2. Presumably the distinction has some significance, so you may be at a disadvantage to a declared mechanical or electrical engineering major with identical stats. But I don't think anyone knows for sure.

If you really want to do civil engineering for the Navy, you should know that the Navy has its own civil engineer corps, which is a "restricted line community" that is not generally open to newly-commissioned ensigns coming out of the academy and NROTC. You would first have to serve as a Surface Warfare Officer for a couple of years, and then meet a board to compete to lateral transfer into it. Most of the CEC officers are engineering graduates recruited directly out of college who did not participate in NROTC. So if you don't end up getting a scholarship, there may still be a viable path for you to follow to get to where you want to go. Look up the "Civil Engineer Corps Collegiate Program" for more information. Good luck to you.

That's an interesting response. My DS spent a considerable amount of time and effort completing both the AROTC and NROTC scholarship applications this summer so he could focus on college app's, senior grades, and working to save as much money as possible. With out of state and private tuition ranging from $18-5oK a year for an SMC, if you don't need it, you might consider not applying so others that do (like us) might have a slightly better opportunity? Just a thought.....Either way, good luck!

Just FYI. Civil Engineer Corps is a misleading name when it comes to the type of engineering degree. Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, etc make up the ranks. We even had an Architect (who by the way retired O-6) in our Battalion.

As always, the best advice is to apply no matter what you think your chances are. The most they can do is say no. Good luck.

SGTLee said:

That's an interesting response. My DS spent a considerable amount of time and effort completing both the AROTC and NROTC scholarship applications this summer so he could focus on college app's, senior grades, and working to save as much money as possible. With out of state and private tuition ranging from $18-5oK a year for an SMC, if you don't need it, you might consider not applying so others that do (like us) might have a slightly better opportunity? Just a thought.....Either way, good luck!

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I disagree. He's certainly entitled to apply and there is no restriction on how much money your family has. Further he will be required to be contracted at some point in order to commission... so in order to commission he HAS to apply... and if he doesn't apply this year they will require him to apply next year. That's how it works.

So the bottom line point is that it isn't just about the money... it's about the contract! No matter how much money you have you need that contract and there are only so many of them.

Kinmen - I made no reference to lack of entitlement or the like (nor did I intend on doing so). I based my response on his comment about not needing a scholarship. Further, you do not have to apply now for the 4 year scholarship as you can contract during your sophomore year and still not be a scholarship recipient. Unless I am missing something through my years as a former SMP ROTC cadet (many moons ago) and my DS going through the process in more current times, many cadets "contract" during their subsequent year(s) outside of the national scholarship process. There are many paths to "gold" and it was just my opinion based on his comment about not needing scholarship assistance. I totally agree, ideally it would be great to have the contract and the scholarship. I wish him and all those in the process the best of luck. Sitting on pins and needles for this second board too..ahhhhh! Cheers.

Sgt. Lee - unlike AROTC, in order to advance in NROTC, a midshipman must either receive a scholarship or be granted advanced standing. Some years, not many are given advanced standing, so the scholarship is the surest way to ensure he has a chance to commission.

Thank you all so much for the input. I have another question. Will changing my ranking of school choices have any affect on my application decision?

I don't know that it will have an affect for sure, but I can tell you my son's story.....
He applied to 6 schools (the 5 for NROTC plus a sister school that was not on his official list). His first choice was a reach. When he did not get accepted to it, he changed his order of schools, listing the ones that he already had acceptances from first. A week later he had his scholarship to his new number 1 school. Can't tell you if the change mattered or if it was just good timing but that's how it happened for him.

JMPO navymom, but I doubt it had an impact. The reason why is if he got it a week later he would have already been boarded. It usually takes about 7-10 days to process and release the results.

Can it have an impact? Maybe.

For NROTC I doubt that changing the order has any impact on the scholarship. School selection is an independent process that occurs after the scholarship is awarded.... at least according to here: http://naval.dasa.ncsu.edu/sites/na...sitors/Scholarship application info-2013F.pdf

However, if your order of preference has really changed I would recommend changing it. DS changed his at least once.

All the responses above seem correct to me as regards your specific question about "chance for scholarship".

I'd like to make an Admissions observation.

As you know, the scholarship can only be applied to a school to which you have been admitted on an academic basis... that is, through Admissions. This is my concern given your SAT/ACT stats and your intended major of civil engineering. I am not specifically familiar with the schools you have listed, but in general, those Admissions departments in Engineering will be looking for your math aptitude, and the math courses you have taken through Jr. year, and in which you are enrolled Sr. year. Engineering is a rigorous and math intensive major at any school, and typically over half of those students who were admitted into an Engineering major wash out by Jr. year... and those washouts probably had much higher SAT than 1270, and much higher ACT than 27.

What were your Math scores on the SAT and ACT? Did you take the SAT subject test in math, and if so, what score did you get? In Calculus, did you actually understand the concepts, vs. just learning how to apply formulas but not really sure why?

Regarding declared Majors in general:

The National Center for Education Statistics reports that 80% of entering college students change their major. Some discover more interesting majors, some change by necessity because they are not able to keep up with the pace of the major due to a lack of prior preparation, inherent lack of aptitude, or just hate the GRIND... typically STEM majors. It's amazing how many students enter college as Sociology majors (maybe half a percent), and how many graduate as sociology majors (a whole lot more). By the way that isn't a dig on the importance of understanding people and cultures and how they interact, which is really fascinating. This is relevant to you because if you enter NROTC as a Type II major, and you find it's not for you or you can't keep up, then you'd likely switch to a Type III major (non-STEM), and that switch is not always approved by the NROTC cadre on your campus who need to sustain the 85% mandate for STEM major graduates for NROTC commissionees.

Just food for thought on your broader educational journey, and best of success in our scholarship pursuit.

My math SAT was a 680 and I received an A- in AP Calculus. I don't find the material too difficult either. I've been accepted to Norwich, Purdue, Marquette, and Citadel, and I'm waiting to hear from Virginia Tech. I got a 31 on my math for the ACT. Also in Honors Precalculus I got an A- and I got an A- in Honors Physics too.

Your math and calculus based science is very strong... so disregard my comments about your scores. In your original post it wasn't clear that you are a Sr... I thought perhaps you were a Jr. I can see why those schools accepted you with those math scores and grades and also Physics.

OP: Thanks for your interest in serving your country.

One of my sons is currently a Civil Engineering student (junior) and looked at several of the schools on your list. There is a pretty wide range of "average student" scores at the Universities you listed and quite a difference in the Engineering Departments as well. It seems there are stretch schools and safety schools in your list which is good. I agree with the other posters - scholarship selection and school placement within NROTC are two distinct processes.

I know a little bit about Marquette I can share. Marquette has historically not filled its NROTC quota so they often have spots open. This is something you could call the unit and ask. They just opened a brand new Engineering building within the last 2 years. We toured it with the son mentioned above - it was incredible with state of the art facilities. They really push the 5 year work co-op approach and feel there job is to prepare you to go on to a Masters. The school my son ended up choosing had more of a practical hands on internship type approach which he felt more comfortable with.

Good luck