Recent content by DeskJockey

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    NROTC - 4 Yr Scholarships for Tier 3 Majors

    Some high school students have markedly higher verbal test scores as compared to math - and vice versa - but many (and I would guess most) NROTC scholarship candidates score well on both of them. Which is to say that while your DS has a strong preference for a non-technical major, he likely also...
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    ROTC double major

    I doubt that it is possible to double major with an engineering degree and a non-engineering discipline, or even to get a non-engineering minor, at most universities - not even taking ROTC commitments into account. The engineering curriculum must conform to national accreditation standards...
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    AFROTC Change of Major

    I presume that no one is forcing you to participate in AFROTC, and that you are doing so out of a conviction that it will be mutually beneficial for yourself and the Air Force. I also assume that as you are already a declared EE major, you have the aptitude to successfully earn an engineering...
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    AFROTC Questions

    Let me suggest another way of looking at this. Let’s imagine that it didn’t matter what you majored in, and that five years from now you will be commissioned as a 2LT. At that point, you are going to be assigned a career field and a specific job at a specific location – which may or may not...
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    Choosing a major for NROTC

    It is all well and good to say "follow your heart" or "do what you love"; but if you want to get an NROTC scholarship and a sure path to a commission, it is important to understand that the selection board cares much more about its own needs - to fill its quota of tech majors - than your...
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    Advice for NROTC Scholarship Application - Marine Option

    Given your intended major and the activities you have been engaged in during high school, I am surprised that you are applying as a Marine Option instead of a Navy Option. Of course you may have a strong desire to serve as a Marine, and little or no interest in serving as a naval officer, but...
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    NROTC Aerospace Engineering Major and Path

    Some things for you to consider: 1) Many engineering schools have eliminated a separate Aerospace Engineering BS degree or made it a sub-specialty of a Mechanical Engineering BS. I doubt that you will be disadvantaged in any way if you get a degree in Mechanical instead of Aerospace. 2) It is...
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    Is NROTC Tier III realistic?

    Statistically speaking, even a candidate with superior credentials who opts for a Tier III major is unlikely to be awarded a 4-year scholarship. I don't know whether it makes any difference if college programmers take Physics and Calculus, but I would like to share some general thoughts about...
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    NROTC Marine option Vs. PLC

    I don't know how firm your son's interest is in the Marines, but a Cal Maritime Mechanical Engineering degree is way more relevant and valuable to the Navy side of things, both in NROTC and as a commissioned officer. It would be a big plus factor as an NROTC Navy option candidate, but of little...
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    NROTC --> AROTC

    We are accustomed to thinking about the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines as being very different service environments - and in some ways they are - but from the perspective of a junior officer they are a lot more similar than you may imagine. Your workplace may be on a ship or in a quonset...
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    Question about NROTC scholarship Tier 3

    I hope you don't mind some unsolicited advice, which perhaps will be of no interest to your son but is of general relevance to all NROTC scholarship applicants. As you already know, the odds of being awarded a non-technical scholarship are considerably less than those for candidates who are...
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    College has Army ROTC/no Navy ROTC

    Right now, all you have are a set of preferences that are based on certain assumptions you have made about the Army, the Marine Corps, college life, and what you envision yourself doing in the future. Those assumptions are not necessarily going to match up with reality, which is why I think it...
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    Want Out of NROTC

    The deadline for making this decision is not now - it is at the beginning of the academic year after summer break. I hope that you will at least choose to go through CORTRAMID, which is intended to give you a first-hand look at what junior officers do in real life once they are commissioned. It...
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    Disenrollment From AFROTC as Contracted Cadet

    At your age, a four-year commitment probably seems like an unreasonable period of time to delay getting on with what you really want to do. I know, because I felt exactly the same way almost forty years ago when I was a senior in college. I didn’t join AFROTC because I had some burning desire to...
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    NROTC Scholarship

    If you would be happy to serve in either the Navy or the Marine Corps, I think it may be a better strategy to apply for the Navy Option. Assuming that you have competitive stats, your odds of getting a scholarship are probably higher - as Marine Option scholarships are a much smaller component...
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