Confused about ROTC and application

34KING18

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Apr 15, 2015
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Hey guys. I'm currently a junior in high school and I really want to go a Federal Service Academy. I have began my pre-application for all of the Academies except Merchant Marine ( I don't want to go there ). I know that the Academies are extremely competitive and there is a good chance that I would not be selected to attend so I'm being realistic and looking at other ways to become an Officer. I was looking at ROTC and I'm a little confused.

Do you apply to the University, and if you are accepted, then apply for ROTC at that campus?

Do you have to be accepted to the University like you commit there and then you can apply for ROTC?

How likely is it that you can get a full ROTC scholarship?

What other types of ROTC scholarships are there? Like no scholarship, quarter, half, full etc...?

If you could explain the process, that would be very helpful. Thank you!
 
The short answer is, you apply to the Universities you are interested in and once you get there, you enroll in their ROTC program. You apply separately to the different ROTC scholarships you are interested in (Navy, AF, Army). You have to list the schools you are interested in, in order of preference, so you have to have some idea of where you want to go. ROTC scholarships are very competitive - rather like the Service Academies.
Spend time on each ROTC application site to read exactly how to do it and pay CLOSE attention to deadlines - you will want to get the information in to each one BEFORE the first board meets to have the best chance at getting a scholarship. Each military branch of ROTC has different deadlines and a different application.
There are different types of scholarships for each branch, but I am only familiar with Army. They cover tuition and fees, at 1 of the colleges you have indicated (they usually give a choice of 2-3), for either 2,3,4 years. Some colleges will then give ROTC scholarship recipients a scholarship to cover Room and Board - you can usually find this on the college website.
Good luck and come back with more questions once you get into the process - everyone has questions!
 
Soccmomer's info is correct, but please be clear on the fact that you apply for the ROTC scholarship while in high school - not after you get to college. That part was a bit ambiguous.
 
If you apply for the ROTC scholarship when you are in high school and are awarded one, does that mean that you can go to any college that has your specific type of ROTC and already be accepted? It kind of sounds like a gamble cause if you apply to the universities and once you get there , you don't receive a scholarship, you're kinda stuck. Can you apply to a university, apply for their ROTC and if you get the responses you wanted, then go to that college ? Do you have to be enrolled in the college to apply for the ROTC or just accepted?
 
The ROTC scholarship applications and the college applications are 2 separate processes. This summer, while you start your Academy applications, you will also start your ROTC applications. You will also fill out your applications to the colleges you are interested in. Your head will be spinning, but start a file for each type of application, and put a sheet on the outside with all of the deadlines you need to meet and then check them off as you go!
And yes, sometimes it is a gamble to be awarded an ROTC scholarship to a college you have not yet been accepted to. Some colleges have rolling admissions so the earlier you apply to them the better. My son was awarded a 4 year ROTC scholarship during the first board (October of his Sr year of high school). Luckily, all of the schools he applied to were rolling admission and he had already been accepted to all of them by the time he had to commit to the scholarship.
You don't apply to the ROTC program at a specific school. You apply to the University, then sign up for the ROTC program, sort of like you sign up for a class (there is a bit more to it, but that is the easy version).
You can be in ROTC without a national scholarship - either you foot the whole bill, or sometimes there are campus based ROTC scholarships available to those already in the program - if you are not a scholarship winner, then you start talking to the ROTC folks at the University you are planning on attending.
 
Your questions are all over the place. This is a very, very approximate breakdown of how it works. You need to do considerably more research than you have.

For Army Only - apply for ROTC scholarship senior year of high school. You list 5-7 schools on your application. If you have your application in by October-ish, it will be reviewed by the first board, and all subsequent boards until you are either rejected, or receive a scholarship. If you receive one, it will usually be to 2 or 3 schools on your initial list. You have 30 days to accept or turn down the scholarship.
At the same time (fall of senior year), you apply for admission to all of those same schools you listed on your scholarship application. If everything goes well, you then receive an admission decision and a scholarship decision that are both positive, you accept both and move on.
If you fail to be admitted to a school to which you were awarded a scholarship, you can ask the Army to transfer the scholarship to a school you did get into, assuming it also has AROTC.
If you fail to get awarded a scholarship at all, you can still go to whatever school you choose and enroll in ROTC, but the Army won't pay your tuition. There are opportunities to earn scholarships after you arrive at school, but those are not guaranteed. You do not need a scholarship in order to join AROTC and commission.

Is that clearer?

Edit: cross-posted with Soccmomer. Keep in mind the process is different for AF and Navy. Someone else will have to chime in for those services.
 
Navy ROTC works the same as Army ROTC except for the following:
1. I think you're limited to listing 5 schools in order of preference
2. There are many more boards for NROTC than AROTC. I'm pretty sure Navy has a review board once a month starting in September.
3. When applying for an NROTC scholarship, you must select one and only one option of Navy, Marine, Nursing. The Marine and Nursing review boards are separate from Navy and each other. I know there are only 2 Marine Option boards which I think are in late Oct or early Nov. and the second in Feb. I think there are only 2 Nursing option boards as well.
4. Navy has a formal process for applying for in-school (Navy calls it sideload) scholarships. You can apply to these in your second semester of college.
 
Can you go to any college with an ROTC scholarship or just colleges that offer ROTC?
 
Just the ones that have the ROTC program (Army, Air Force or, Navy) that you want to pursue.
 
Ok. Thank you Larry321. I will private message you later on with some more questions about ROTC. Thank you very much
 
You need Pima to chime in here about AFROTC but for Navy and Army, follow Kinnem and Jcc's advice. You apply to BOTH the universities AND ROTC at the same time starting this summer but they are completely separate. Army usually gives you a couple of options of schools once you are awarded a scholarship. Navy takes your list and puts your scholarship at the first school on your list with availability (so seriously consider your order of schools.)
 
Ok. Thank you Larry321. I will private message you later on with some more questions about ROTC. Thank you very much
You're certainly free to PM someone, but I think if you ask questions here you'll have a much broader audience to provide answers and other folks with the same questions as you will benefit too. Trust me! There are plenty of folks out there with the same questions.
 
Ok. Let me make sure I am getting this straight.

You can apply for a nationwide scholarship for ROTC (Army, Navy, Air Force) and if you are awarded a scholarship, your scholarship goes to a couple schools and then you apply to those schools that have that certain branch of ROTC from which you received the award and if you are accepted to that school, you're automatically set in their ROTC program?

If you do not receive a nationwide scholarship, you can still go to a college that has ROTC and enroll through that, if you are selected?

I will speak to Pima about AFROTC, kinnem for Navy and Jcc123 for Army. I know the processes may be a little different for each branch but is this the general kind of format?

Thank you. I know my questions were kind of akward sounding. I was confused.
 
You can apply for a nationwide scholarship for ROTC (Army, Navy, Air Force) and if you are awarded a scholarship, your scholarship goes to a couple schools and then you apply to those schools that have that certain branch of ROTC from which you received the award and if you are accepted to that school, you're automatically set in their ROTC program?

Yes, but you don't apply for the scholarship and then the schools in a sequential manner. You're really applying for the scholarship and the colleges at the same time... in parallel.

If you do not receive a nationwide scholarship, you can still go to a college that has ROTC and enroll through that, if you are selected?

Yes.

I will speak to Pima about AFROTC, kinnem for Navy and Jcc123 for Army. I know the processes may be a little different for each branch but is this the general kind of format?

Yes, that's the general format. AFROTC is quite different in how they handle the schools but I'll let Pima explain that. BTW I PMed her and asked her to pitch in on this thread but it might be a while. She mentioned something about traveling recently
 
While you await Pima's response (and she has much more knowledge than I), here's my two cents on how it works for AFROTC as DS just successfully went through it ... This summer while you're applying to Service Academies and civilian schools, you also apply for an AFROTC scholarship (no joke about your head spinning :).) On your AFROTC application it will ask you to list your top three civilian schools (that have ROTC programs) and what your three choices are for a major. FYI - You are much more likely to get a scholarship from the Air Force if you plan to major in something technical--i.e. Engineering, Physics, etc. so make sure the schools you are applying to match up regarding majors that you put on your ROTC application. If you are fortunate enough to be awarded a scholarship, AFROTC will let you activate it at any of the schools you listed on your application as long as you major in one of the items on your application. In other words, make your choices of major and choices of schools marry up. You wouldn't want to say you're going to major in Engineering and then apply to a school that doesn't have an accredited Engineering program and hope to activate a ROTC scholarship there. And a previous poster made a great point too - make sure you have submitted your complete application prior to the meeting of the first board! If you don't get awarded a scholarship on the first board, you may get another chance and get pushed to the next board. If you apply too late, you may only get one shot at it or there may be no money left to award.
 
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The following was provided by Pima, perhaps with some minor editing from me.

1. AFROTC does not super score SAT/ACT. It is best sitting
2. AFROTC has three types of scholarships... type 1, type 2 and type 7. See here: https://www.afrotc.com/scholarships/types
3. AFROTC does not tie the scholarship to the college. All they care about is that the school accepts AFROTC.
~ IOWS they do not care if you go to MIT or University of Timbucktoo as long as both offer AFROTC or have a xtown unit that you can attend
4. It is a 2+2 scholarship. You must be selected for Summer Field Training (SFT) between sophomore and junior years. If you are not selected for SFT/EA as a 200, HQ AFROTC has the right to disenroll you.

Finally the most important. Sit down with the folks. Let's assume you get a type 1, but once at MIT you can't meet the 2.5 cgpa min., or decide you have no desire to go AFROTC, how will you pay for school if you leave?
 
Sorry, I stepped away for a few days.
~ Will do so again come Thursday.
~~ Visiting our wonderful DS and his wife that is a C130 pilot stationed at Dyess.

Now 34KING18.

I truly cannot emphasize enough 3things.
1. USAFA and AFROTC selection boards DO NOT TALK.
~ The selection process is different. USAFA does superscore, AFROTC will not. USAFA starts off geocentric (you state), AFROTC is national. USAFA does not care about your intended major. 80-85% of all AFROTC scholarships go tech...aka STEM. To boot the avg. ACT best sitting for AFROTC is 31+. Type 7 is 28-29 best sitting.
~~ Stressing BEST SITTING.
2. Summer Field Training/EA aka the 2+2 comment
~ Scholarships are considered masked/blind. The selection board has no clue if you are on scholarship or not. They don't care. They do care about the AFOQT, CoC ranking and your cgpa.
3. If this is a MUST HAVE to attend your dream college, go back and sit down with the folks. It is not only about SFT selection, but it is also about how not everyone loves ROTC.
~ More importantly; ROTC and college are 35 hours a week at tops, 30 weeks a year, living where YOU choose to live. AFROTC and NROTC requires you to go Active Duty for 4 years, 24/7/365.
~~ They will show you the best of the best. Randolph AFB in San Antonio, Eglin in Pensacola, Hickham in Hawaii, Anchorage, Ramstein, etc. etc. etc. They are never going to say to you Minot ND. Alamogordo NM, Del Rio Tex., Mt Home ID, Kunsan, etc. etc. will be a chance too

I am not trying to say do not do it. I am trying to say investigate before you make any decision regarding applying.
 
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