NROTC application question... when do I get in?

Coolcats

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Is it possible to receive your offer before ED deadlines? What about regular decision? So that your application gets marked as an NROTC applicant for the admissions to see?

Why I'm asking this, is I'm applying to some really selective schools and I think that NROTC would be a huge boost for me to get in.

Any personal experience?
 
I don't think there is anywhere on an application to mark that you are pursuing an ROTC scholarship. I also don't think schools take that into account.

BUT, I could be way off base.
 
If admissions were to know you were participating in NROTC, I doubt very much it would make any difference at a highly selective school.

Further it is quite unlikely you would get a acholarship offer before most ED deadlines. I also recommend you not apply ED. If you are accepted at the school you are obligated to attend, but your NROTC scholarship may not be awarded to that school. You will list 5 schools you would be willing to attend and if you win a scholarship, Navy will pick the school. It may not be the one where you applied ED.

I would also say you may or may not hear about a scholarship by regular decision deadlines. I don't think there is any real advantage if you did, as you don't need to accept admission to the college until May 1.
 
If admissions were to know you were participating in NROTC, I doubt very much it would make any difference at a highly selective school.

Further it is quite unlikely you would get a acholarship offer before most ED deadlines. I also recommend you not apply ED. If you are accepted at the school you are obligated to attend, but your NROTC scholarship may not be awarded to that school. You will list 5 schools you would be willing to attend and if you win a scholarship, Navy will pick the school. It may not be the one where you applied ED.

I would also say you may or may not hear about a scholarship by regular decision deadlines. I don't think there is any real advantage if you did, as you don't need to accept admission to the college until May 1.

I was told by a college admissions officer that NROTC applicants get starred off and receive preferential treatment, similarly to athletic recruits and musicians.
 
I was told by a college admissions officer that NROTC applicants get starred off and receive preferential treatment, similarly to athletic recruits and musicians.
That might be true at that particular college, but it is not the norm. In any case, I certainly wouldn't rely on that happening. Also, from time to time, even admissions officers have been known to be mistaken.
 
This topic comes up every year. Just because one admissions person at one school said that does not mean it applies for all schools. If you look at old threads on this board, it appears more schools do not take ROTC into account for admissions than those that do. Actually I would probably say very few take that into account. And if they do, who knows what kind of impact it really makes. A huge boost... Highly doubtful. Take a look at threads for NROTC scholarships and you will see applicants being awarded scholarships from the fall all the way to now. Very few are awarded in the fall. Also be careful about ED as mentioned by others. It locks you in and what happens if you do not get a scholarship or it's not awarded to that school?
 
I agree with Kinnem, I wouldn't expect that to be the case at all. Now, if it's late in the game and you receive a scholarship, then maybe notifying admissions will help, but I doubt seriously it would help with ED. It is possible to be accepted prior to the ED deadline but usually that is only the ISRs.
 
Having an ROTC scholarship, with unit support, is like being an athlete at YPSM, H is as well if you are a URM. You must be a 3.9 UW 34+ACT, but it is more than a tie breaker.
Oldsalt
 
Having an ROTC scholarship, with unit support, is like being an athlete at YPSM, H is as well if you are a URM. You must be a 3.9 UW 34+ACT, but it is more than a tie breaker.
Oldsalt
Can you clarify which chools YPSM stand for? The schools you're referring to are Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and M...?
 
Two years ago DD got her NROTC scholarship before EA admissions came out. She notified admissions officer and NROTC unit indicated they also notified admissions. She got in, but for all we know, she would have gotten in without the NROTC scholarship. We'll never know for sure if it made the difference. We would never consider ED, though; as we knew we needed to know scholarship result before making final decision.
 
Two years ago DD got her NROTC scholarship before EA admissions came out. She notified admissions officer and NROTC unit indicated they also notified admissions. She got in, but for all we know, she would have gotten in without the NROTC scholarship. We'll never know for sure if it made the difference. We would never consider ED, though; as we knew we needed to know scholarship result before making final decision.
What colleges was this?
 
Having an ROTC scholarship, with unit support, is like being an athlete at YPSM, H is as well if you are a URM. You must be a 3.9 UW 34+ACT, but it is more than a tie breaker.
Oldsalt
where did you get this information if you don't mind me asking?? Thanks for the tip.
 
Sometimes it also works for the Public Ivies and competitive state universities.

Our DS (AFROTC) did not apply to UNCCH or NYU Sterns (both OOS), however, he was offered admission to both colleges. When we got the congrats letter I was stunned and floored. I thought that this had to be a scheme and somehow they were looking for money. DS didn't want to attend either school, but curiosity got me going. I called both schools admissions and offer and they stated that yes he was admitted, and yes they knew he didn't apply.
~ The AFROTC CoCs sat on the admissions board and so when the list was released from the scholarship board they saw that he was a match and they offered him admissions.

That being said, Coolcats please take note the key word is MATCH. If you are applying only for reaches than don't assume that it will help. I doubt that if you have a 32 ACT superscore with no strong ECs that you will get an edge just for receiving a ROTC scholarship. However, typically if you are a ROTC scholarship recipient you typically will also see nice merit packages. Our DS had merit packages up to 100K.

As for Notre Dame that was the 1 school he was waitlisted. He had a 34 best sitting and a 1390 best sitting SAT. He was a National Merit Finalist. Top 7% of his class. All APs (I think 9 by the time he was a Senior in HS and did jump start too. His uw cgpa was 3.86. 2 time state champion for Tae Kwon Do. Junior Olympian Bronze medalist. Senior lifeguard with 23 saves. Basically, he wasn't just academics and still no offer of admissions.

Finally, something to realize regarding ROTC scholarships, many SA candidates will also apply for ROTC scholarship as plan B. They will be your competition.
 
Sometimes it also works for the Public Ivies and competitive state universities.

Our DS (AFROTC) did not apply to UNCCH or NYU Sterns (both OOS), however, he was offered admission to both colleges. When we got the congrats letter I was stunned and floored. I thought that this had to be a scheme and somehow they were looking for money. DS didn't want to attend either school, but curiosity got me going. I called both schools admissions and offer and they stated that yes he was admitted, and yes they knew he didn't apply.
~ The AFROTC CoCs sat on the admissions board and so when the list was released from the scholarship board they saw that he was a match and they offered him admissions.

That being said, Coolcats please take note the key word is MATCH. If you are applying only for reaches than don't assume that it will help. I doubt that if you have a 32 ACT superscore with no strong ECs that you will get an edge just for receiving a ROTC scholarship. However, typically if you are a ROTC scholarship recipient you typically will also see nice merit packages. Our DS had merit packages up to 100K.

As for Notre Dame that was the 1 school he was waitlisted. He had a 34 best sitting and a 1390 best sitting SAT. He was a National Merit Finalist. Top 7% of his class. All APs (I think 9 by the time he was a Senior in HS and did jump start too. His uw cgpa was 3.86. 2 time state champion for Tae Kwon Do. Junior Olympian Bronze medalist. Senior lifeguard with 23 saves. Basically, he wasn't just academics and still no offer of admissions.

Finally, something to realize regarding ROTC scholarships, many SA candidates will also apply for ROTC scholarship as plan B. They will be your competition.

Ah, I see. Well your kid was accepted WITHOUT even applying to his matches. I'd imagine that having it as a supplement to schools that you actually apply to could be, as OS stated, "more than a tie-breaker". I'm not looking to get accepted to schools automatically, but I think that I have a decent shot at getting IDR, and I'm hoping that from there I could get into one of those super selective schools.

The reason why I was slightly worried, is that those schools typically have acceptances of around 5-10%. Imagine clearing the hurdle of actually GETTING the NROTC scholarship, only to face the wall of world caliber university admissions where everything is essentially a gamble? It just seems like it'd be too tough for a battalion to put together a decent class that way. Which is why what OS said makes sense to me.
 
The question is are you applying to schools that are only reaches or are they closer to being a match. IE. Are you the valedictorian? Do you attend a magnet HS? Have you gone on Naviance or www.collegeconfidential. com?
 
The question is are you applying to schools that are only reaches or are they closer to being a match. IE. Are you the valedictorian? Do you attend a magnet HS? Have you gone on Naviance or www.collegeconfidential. com?
I an applying to schools that are considered reaches for ANYBODY(minus a school or two), without an NROTC scholarship (which according to OS provides benefits). I don't want to provide too much info for privacy, but I've got a 800 on math and CR for SAT (1600/1600), maxed out my AFA.

I'd be severely disappointed if I didn't win a scholarship at one of my schools, even though they are all very competitive schools.
 
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