Living abroad, what to do with arrmy ROTC scholarship?

andrew

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I am half American half Japanese. I have dual citizenship. I attended an International school in Japan for 12 years. Graduated there with IB certificates in Math Studies (5), Information Technology in a Global Society (4), English Higher (4), Japanese B (7), Biology Standard (5). My counselor hasn't calculated my GPA yet but it is definitely +3.0. Will be taking the SAT tests soon, numerous times. I have 210 hours of CAS (Creativity, Action, and Service), I attended 3 Model United Nations in High School, and played volleyball, soccer, baseball, and basketball. In very good physical shape (don't mean to sound narcissist or arrogant! Sorry if I do!). I am currently taking a gap year to raise some money, but I am still living in Japan. I plan to apply for university and the 4 year army rotc scholarship next year.
My questions are:
1. Does taking a gap year affect my chances of receiving an army rotc scholarship?
2. What do I do for the interview? I will be in the states during the summer of 2010. If the interview is in the winter, do I have to fly back for the interview? In which case, it would be no problem.
3. Because I have lived all my life in Japan, as a result I do not have residency in any state. My father is a resident of Washington. Does this affect me or not?
4. I took a brief look at the application form. For my address and where I live, do I put down my address in Japan or one of my relative's addresses?

I'm sorry, living abroad really does complicate matters. I just really want to apply and enroll in the army rotc program. Thank you very much for your time. I very much appreciate it.
 
Trying to answer your questions...

1. It is my understanding that as long as you have not completed significant college course credit during this gap year, you will be eligible for the 4-year scholarship. I think having a complete HS transcript (especially an interesting one) can't hurt your chances, but is more likely to help (more information is always better).

2. Summer 2010 is too late for an interview for a Fall 2010 scholarship, as all application requirements must be completed before a deadline this winter. You will want to interview ASAP as you will want to make the January Board. I suggest if travel to the mainland is difficult that you interview at one of the colleges in either Hawaii, American Samoa, or Guam.

3. Should not affect your application.

4. My daughter goes to school in another state, so I understand your problem. For permanent addresses, always use a location where you can retrieve postal mail either directly or through a parent. Not sure how they handle international addresses, however, and I don't have access to the online application right now. I would suggest contacting a PMS at a school you are interested in attending next year for further guidance. If they do not have an answer, they will put you in contact with Cadet Command, the ultimate authority on these issues.

Final thought, you need to get this process going ASAP, if your target is to start next fall. You can work on the online application today, noting any questions (like #4 above) where you will want to seek guidance of a PMS. Then email a PMS or a school ROO with your questions. Our experience is that they always respond within a day or so.

Once your online application is in, have your transcripts sent immediately as well as your SAT/ACT test scores. You can fax those in as well if you have the original documents from the testing agency.

If you have a competitive application, Cadet Command will authorize you to have an interview with a PMS. This can be based totally on the self-reported data in the online application. However, make sure to get the supporting documents in (test scores, transcripts, etc.).

Since you are not living in the states and no longer in school, I would advise you to request an APFT be done at your PMS interview. They should be happy to oblige. That will pretty much complete your application.

Your target for completing all of this should be New Years, if you want to be considered at the January Board. If you wait for later boards (they have them about monthly until April), you run the risk of them running out of scholarships for your target school(s).

This can be done in a month, but you need to work efficiently. There are plenty of folks around here who can point you in a direction if you get stuck.

Good Luck.
 
2. What do I do for the interview? I will be in the states during the summer of 2010. If the interview is in the winter, do I have to fly back for the interview? In which case, it would be no problem.

You may be able to be interviewed at a US military base in Japan--start applying now, and when it's time to set up an interview, ask that it be conducted at the post/base nearest to where you live.

My AFROTC interview was at the base 40 miles from my home.

:redface:Good luck!
 
My older son applied for AROTC while we lived in Singapore. Was never an issue. The system is a bit different now, more centralized. but he had visited his #1 choice school the summer before his senior year so I think that qualified for an interview.

Fill out the application, send in the information ASAP. Cadet command will figure out the logistics for interview, etc. Use your overseas address if that's where you are. Don't delay, because there is alot to get done and the holidays are coming up. Good Luck!!:smile:
 
Thank you so much for the feedback and advice. I really appreciate it! just to clear things up, I won't be applying for fall 2010, I will be applying for fall 2011. In which case, I have up to a year to take the SATs multiple times, work some more and so on. So I guess its not really a gap year but more 2 years off. Is this a bad thing? there are just some things going on with my family here, and I'd like it if I could work for a while to gain some experience as well as some money. Will this hurt my chances of receiving the scholarship? Once again, thank you very much for the answers.
 
Here's the link for the requirements:

http://www.goarmy.com/rotc/hs_four_year_scholarship.jsp

17-26 yrs old....as long as you haven't gone to college you can receive a 4 yr scholarship. Think carefully about your schools that you apply for. Visit them if at all possible. Also, to get an interview at a school on your limited schedule (summer 2010), apply as early as possible. I don't know when the Fall 2011 applications open up...probably spring 2011. Get everything ready. Also, If you get a scholarship, you will be asked to complete a DODMERB...medical exam. They will figure that out if you are overseas, but you can get prepared for it by tracking down medical records between now and then. You'll have to answer a questionnaire and sometimes the medical records help you answer the questions.
 
I wouldn't say it is a bad thing, just fill you application with interesting things during this time. Also, find the school you want to go to and start corresponding with them. This was the biggest thing that helped me while I was trying to get a scholarship.
 
Fall 2011 applications should be online in late spring 2010.

I think your gap years will have interesting potential for your application. Try to work at something meaningful, not just fast food or errand-running. You can show reliability and conscientiousness.

Which colleges are you interested in? Any idea about a major? Can you work in a related field? For example, you want to be an engineer::you get a job in construction.

Good luck.
 
Try to work at something meaningful, not just fast food or errand-running. You can show reliability and conscientiousness.

You can get valuable lessons from any job, even if it seems like menial work--you just need to be able to identify and write about what you've learned on the job in your scholarship app. Things like time management and trustworthiness are a big deal.:wink:
 
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You are absolutely right, weather. I did not mean to imply otherwise. Just that it will be a must to identify his work's relevance.

Sorry to come off as snotty.
 
You mentioned your dual citizenship. Once in college and assuming you get your scholarship, order for your scholarship money to kick in you need to contract with the army, in order to contract you will have to renunce your japanese citizenship. Just so you know.
 
Once again thank you so much for all the replies! Things are finally clearing up and I have a clearer picture of what I have to do now :)
I am interested in schools like University of Washington in Seattle, University of Georgia in Athens, or perhaps Portland State University. I would love to major in Japanese and/or minor in Arabic. I would love to be trilingual and be a translator of some sort for the army.
Job wise, its very hard to find one, but I have been tutoring a number of kids and teens and teaching English to them for +3 years now. I also have a steady part time job as an IT assistant every Saturday, +4 years, and I just applied to work at a french supermarket/grocery store by the name of "Carrefour". Kind of lame, I know, but its one of the few jobs I could apply for since my Japanese isn't considered perfect.
Oh, I didn't know I had to give up my Japanese nationality. Bummer eh, oh well, shouldn't be a problem :)
again, thanks so much! this has helped me incredibly!
 
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