I have already been awarded a scholarship and I have already sent out the letter of intent to utilize the scholarship with my school choice selected. I was just wondering if I can change my school choice now
It is my understanding that you cannot change Battallions until the end of the selection process. There are several good reasons for this.
First of all CC has a hard enough time just getting everyone through the shuffle 1x before June given the requirements to distribute the candidates across schools.
Second, engineering a system to process the changes vs the first time recipients with equity would be troublsome.
At this point, I think you need to understand that your first choice school did not rate you high enough on their list to merit a scholarship at the first board. Cadet Command goes out of its way to award scholarships from the top of the applicants list down, given the school is willing to accept the applicant.
I don't know why this was the case. Probably a number of factors at work here. The first board is always made up of the most qualified candidates - something you should be proud of. However, like with college admissions, there isn't room for everyone at Harvard (or fill in any other highly selective institutuion) academically and the same goes for ROTC at the high demand schools. And with the widely discussed reduction in the number of scholarships available to schools, I'm sure this makes the decision process even more difficult for the ROOs and PMSs.
I don't know if you ever contacted the Cadre at your #1 school to discuss your interest. Often when equally well qualified candidates are available (and there were plenty in this first board), a battallion will go with the one who they know will accept their offer.
Are you also a SA applicant? I can't say that this is the actual thinking, but given equally qualified applicants where one has a nomination, the PMS may choose the one without the SA nomination this year because with a very limited number of scholarships, they can't afford to have a slot held until the bubble wrap is off in the summer and hope they can find an equally qualified applicant wanting to transfer. This is case where the shortage of scholarships and a glut of great applicants causes strange results.
As to advice as to how to move forward... I would suggest that you contact the PMS at your #1 and express your disappointment at not receiving the opportunity to select them. Let them know your admissions decision (I'm going to #1 U no matter what your decision, so if a slot comes available any time - even in the summer, select me OR the ROTC scholarship is a major deciding factor in where I will commit to on May 1. If you have a slot available before then (transfers start near that deadline IIRC) you'd be honored if they would reconsider you, otherwise I will be staying with my scholarship choice of #2 U.
At large battallions, there are almost always slots available around transfer time due to SA acceptances and DoDMERB issues. It is my understanding that the units still control who they will accept even as a transfer, so you need to sell them on your interest in their battallion.
I'd also suggest follow-up notes at landmark times - when you receive your acceptance at #1 U, when you receive any other significant honors at your school, etc. Keep your name in front of them and they are far more likely to select you the second time around.
Bottom line, celebrate that you've got the opportunity at #2 U with a 4-year scholarship, do your best to optimize your chances in the spring, but don't let it distract you from the opportunity in front of you. The results won't probably change until late spring, if at all.