Chance Me ND NROTC

jculligan

5-Year Member
Joined
May 25, 2014
Messages
76
Hey guys. I am applying for the NROTC scholarship with Notre Dame as my top choice and then Purdue, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Cornell. Here are my stats, what are my chances for ND. Have most scholarships already gone out for there yet? The only things I have left are to finish my essay this weekend, retake CFA for USNA and NROTC in 2 weeks, and officer interview in 2 weeks.

36 math, 35 English, 34 composite
4.0 unweighted, 4.29 weighted
School does not rank but I would guess top 20/330
AP classes taken: BC Calc, US Hist, Physics C, English, Gov, Multivarivable Calc and Discrete Math (not AP but highest math at my school)
National merit commended
Illinois state scholar
2 years varsity cross country
4 years band (marching, pep, wind ensemble, pit orchestra)
Band trumpet section leader
4 years coaching grade school basketball team
Peer tutor (150 hours)
Guatemala service trip
Summer job as umpire for 5 summers now
National Honors Society
Spanish Honors Society

I am applying for mechanical engineering. I doubt this helps, but I go to an extremely competitive Catholic school in Illinois and I have heard we are the biggest feeder for ND.

Thank you for the help guys.
 
You look like a good candidate. Notre Dame? Not so sure... it could be all the scholarship slots for ND have already been awarded this year.
 
ND fills very quickly.

I suspect I know your HS and if so, they do send a lot to ND - how do you stack up against the others who might attend? There is no one alive that can tell you how ND selects students but it wont be solely on any one category.

You have picked some strong Engineering Schools. I would recommend you look at Marquette also. Years ago, it had a reputation of not filling its NROTC unit.
 
I agree with kinnem and USMC. ND is a powerhouse, they may have already assigned all of their scholarships out already, or you maybe too low from a competitive perspective.

I think you will get a scholarship, but when you look at ND stats, you might be a reach for NROTC scholarship to ND. 75% of the incoming class is top 5%, 35% are top 1%. 50% of the applicants fall between 32-34 composite.
~ Looking at your stats you are off on not only the ranking aspect from the top 35% acceptance, but your ACT is avg for them.

Just making an assumption, but I would think maybe 15-20% of their mids are HSSP recipients. My assumption is based on the idea that NROTC likes to spread the wealth to all of the units across the country. If nationally only 16-18% that apply receive the scholarship than it is likely that the same % at Notre Dame will be on scholarship.

I would suggest you use Naviance to see the history of acceptance rate from your school. My DS had about the same stats as you. Same ACT, more APs, NMF, cgpa was a little lower, but his rank was higher and he got waitlisted by Notre Dame. It was the only school to waitlist him.
 
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As far as admissions to ND, my guess is your school (you say its a bigger feeder to ND) has a better idea than any of us on your competitiveness for admission. On paper you are above in some areas or within averages in others. Talk to your school counselors on their thoughts, because if they have a few dozen kids a year who go through this, they know better than us.

And yes ND fills quickly. Its really important on the Navy side to get that scholarship in quickly. Folks have been posting a few times already that they have been awarded scholarships. I would think with your stats you definitely have a good shot at a scholarship... but, none of us can guarantee anything as we are just speculating. Also, second Marquette as Grunt mentions. In the past they picked up the Room & Board tab for scholarship winners which can make a big difference $ wise. I think they still do that, but definitely have to check with the unit. I had friends commission via all those schools (except Cornell... no NROTC at the time), all them of them were good people and officers. If memory serves me right... Marquette and Wisconsin used to do alot of training together (not sure they still do). Also if you are looking at engineering schools... thought about University of Michigan?
 
ND fills very quickly.

I suspect I know your HS and if so, they do send a lot to ND - how do you stack up against the others who might attend? There is no one alive that can tell you how ND selects students but it wont be solely on any one category.

You have picked some strong Engineering Schools. I would recommend you look at Marquette also. Years ago, it had a reputation of not filling its NROTC unit.

I stack up well against them and I think I have a good chance of getting in. My worry is whether or not there Are still scholarships remaining. Is it possible they leave a few for later into the fall?
 
Who knows? It's not something you can control and certainly not something anyone here REALLY knows. They definitely wouldn't save any for later on if they follow their normal process. The question should really be are there any left when you get awarded a scholarship, if you do.

Focus on what you can control. Make sure your list of schools contains only schools you would be happy to attend (except for in-state requirements) and that you have them in the proper order. We see people here every year who win scholarships to schools they have no interest in attending, and perhaps didn't even complete their application. As you hear negative news from schools (if any) you can update your list of schools until you ARE awarded a scholarship (at least my son could several years ago).
 
Yes, I guess the best thing I can do at this point is get in my application as soon as possible in order to maximize my chances. Is it released when their next board will be?
 
NROTC never announces when their boards meet.

I will say get that application in ASAP. The way it works for boarding is a queue system. The board meets for several days. If there are 1000 files to be reviewed and only get through 500, than the remainder will be the 1st up at the next board.

What that means to you is the next board might have another 1000 in the queue and it can take several boards before you are reviewed. Meanwhile, NROTC is still handing out scholarships and the units can be closing out for availability.

Remember many SA candidates will apply for a ROTC scholarship as plan B. If awarded a scholarship prior to an appointment they tend to hold onto it.
 
My DD is in NROTC at ND. There are no slots "held' for later boards. The slots to preferred schools are given out to scholarship winners in the order that the scholarships are awarded, first come first served. So the first step is being awarded a scholarship, then they look at the scholarship winner's top college choice on their list. If there are still slots available there, then the scholarship is awarded to that school. If there are no slots left, then they go to the 2nd school on the winner's list; if there are slots left there, the 2nd choice school is where the scholarship is awarded to and so on. It is critically important to get the NROTC scholarship application in as early as possible, for this reason. Your resume looks good to get a scholarship, but you are behind the curve in getting it in. Is there any way you can move up your scholarship interview and fitness test?When DD got her scholarship 2 years ago, that was the year that all the NROTC boards were delayed a couple of month due to the government shut down. She got her scholarship at the beginning of December and that was during the 2nd board according to the recruiting district. She was admitted to ND EA in December. When we visited ND in January she was told that 19 scholarships had been awarded by then and 7 of the recipients had been admitted EA at that point. Based on that, I would say that the unit would probably be filled up by Christmas. I would pick up the phone and call the NROTC unit at ND and ask to speak with the officer that handles Freshman enrollments. He should be able to tell you how many scholarships have been awarded to the school so far. Through the scholarship process, I would keep in touch with him to find out if their slots are filling up prior to you being awarded the scholarship. If you find out they are full, then you will want to re-rank your list, after calling the other units on your list to find out about their slots and move your next school on your list with availability, up to your #1 rank. If ND is your #1 choice and you don't get a scholarship there, you will want to immediately accept the NROTC scholarship to whichever school you get and then get your name on the ND waitlist immediately. Every year there are ND scholarship winners who don't get into the school, or those that get picked up for a Service Academy and choose to go there instead, and then the slots on the waitlist open up. There was a kid in my DD's class who found out the slot opened up just a week before INDOC and he was able to get ND to allow him to come into the Freshman class, even though he had already committed to another college.
 
Thanks for all the great info guys. My application will be competed on Nov 14 which is the day they are holding interviews at Great Lakes. After that, it's out of my hands.
 
My DS has applied to Notre Dame if he recieves an NROTC scholarship for there great, but if he doesn't because it is full and decides to go to Notre Dame anyway can he still join NROTC? Or better put, when they talk of NROTC slots being full are they referring to scholarship spots or any spot in NROTC?
 
My DS has applied to Notre Dame if he recieves an NROTC scholarship for there great, but if he doesn't because it is full and decides to go to Notre Dame anyway can he still join NROTC? Or better put, when they talk of NROTC slots being full are they referring to scholarship spots or any spot in NROTC?
They are referring to scholarship spots. He can still enroll in NROTC at ND and if he should decide to do that he should contact the unit as soon as the decision is made so they can inform him of next steps (courses to register for, when to report for freshman O, etc.)

Once there he can re-apply for a 4 year scholarship for the next academic year. He will also have opportunities to apply for a sideload scholarship (analogous to AROTC on campus scholarships but still going before a national board). He will be unable to attend summer training until he wins a scholarship, otherwise he's treated just like everyone else.

My DS took this route to attend his first choice school and won a sideload scholarship the second semester of his Sophomore year. He is now a USMC 2ndLt.

If he doesn't win a scholarship at all then he may have an opportunity to enroll in the advanced course after his sophomore year, which would entitle him to the stipend and attending summer training.

Remember there are no guarantees so be prepared to pick up the tab for 4 years.
 
My DS has applied to Notre Dame if he recieves an NROTC scholarship for there great, but if he doesn't because it is full and decides to go to Notre Dame anyway can he still join NROTC? Or better put, when they talk of NROTC slots being full are they referring to scholarship spots or any spot in NROTC?
They are referring to scholarship spots. He can still enroll in NROTC at ND and if he should decide to do that he should contact the unit as soon as the decision is made so they can inform him of next steps (courses to register for, when to report for freshman O, etc.)

Once there he can re-apply for a 4 year scholarship for the next academic year. He will also have opportunities to apply for a sideload scholarship (analogous to AROTC on campus scholarships but still going before a national board). He will be unable to attend summer training until he wins a scholarship, otherwise he's treated just like everyone else.

My DS took this route to attend his first choice school and won a sideload scholarship the second semester of his Sophomore year. He is now a USMC 2ndLt.

If he doesn't win a scholarship at all then he may have an opportunity to enroll in the advanced course after his sophomore year, which would entitle him to the stipend and attending summer training.

Remember there are no guarantees so be prepared to pick up the tab for 4 years.
Thank you, so a student must pursue a scholarship at every opportunity in order to participate in summer training?

How does it work if DS just goes to college and then goes OCS after? Thank you for all the help all our family members either did USNA or straight enlistment so are very very unfamilar with this whole process with scholarships. DS wants the NAVY period and just trying to figure out all the avenues of getting there through the college route.
 
Not too familiar with the route but I reckon he would hook up with an OSO, probably at a recruiter near college sometime in his senior year. Hard to say how hard it is to get but it's never easy. If he is interested in Marine Option (and I doubt he is) there is also Platoon Leaders Course over 2 summers while in college.
 
Not too familiar with the route but I reckon he would hook up with an OSO, probably at a recruiter near college sometime in his senior year. Hard to say how hard it is to get but it's never easy. If he is interested in Marine Option (and I doubt he is) there is also Platoon Leaders Course over 2 summers while in college.
Thank you, he actually is interested in Marine option also.
 
Are still scholarships remaining. Is it possible they leave a few for later into the fall?

jculligan: recommend you go to the bottom of this page http://naval.dasa.ncsu.edu/general-information and scroll to the bottom for a pdf "Scholarship Application - Helpful Information" for a description of the placement process.

An excerpt: "Once a board has chosen the hundred or so students it will select, those applications are then sent to a placement department which determines what college/university NROTC unit each scholarship will be assigned to. Obviously, every effort is made to place a student where he/she wants to go, but other factors do come into play. For example, each particular unit (there are roughly 70 total) has a certain "quota" or max number of students that they can accept in a given year. NC State’s quota is usually 30. For us, this means that once 30 students have been placed in our unit and have accepted the scholarship offer, no additional students will be added here. If a 31st student was selected and their application went to placement, they may then be assigned to their number two, three, or four choice of school (again, depending on availability at that school). "
 
The next NROTC board results should be posted on or about Nov. 6th. As of today ND has open slots.
What? How do you know the board dates? Does Univ. of Michigan, VA Tech, Chape Hill, NC State, or South Carolina stil have open slots?
 
Hey everyone. I was admitted REA into ND on Monday. When I had my interview back in November for NROTC, they told me that my application would be sent to its first board at the beginning of Devember and I could be notified around Christmas time of status. Is it typical for applications to be reviewed and decided on during the first board that they go to? I know it is possible that there are no more scholarships remaining, but is it appropriate to call or email my NRTOC coordinator or the ND unit to see if there are any left? Notre Dame is quickly becoming my #1 choice over USNA, and I would do NROTC without a scholarship my first year there, however, it would obviously be great to get it. Sorry for the wordy post; thanks for the help.
 
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