It is very difficult for some to see ROTC from a different perspective if their plan A is an SA.
Our DS spent the 1st 18 yrs of his life in for intense purposes a military bubble. His dad was an AF officer, his friends were military dependents, his class mates were mostly military kids. The neighborhoods we lived in were filled with military (always off base). He only went to one school out of 8 that was more traditional families than military. He might have had one or two friends that their parents worked as a CPA or corporate. When Dad left for a deployment, so did all of his friends' parents. He was dragged for yrs to stand on the end of the runway to either watch Dad leave or return.
For him he already had a very big picture of the military life. He summed it up when he opted ROTC over the AFA. I just want to be a typical, normal college kid and see what that life really is like before I spend the next 20 serving.
There were 2 reasons the AFA was in play which we found out much later in the process.
1. Free education. He is a great kid, and although we had money set aside, it weighed on how it would impact his father and I financially.
2. UPT. Everyone knows best chance to fly is the AFA over AFROTC.
We turned to him and said if money was not an issue, and you could be guaranteed UPT where would you go? He stated the college he is at now. That is when we called the ball for him. Bullet took him to the college and had him talk to the ROTC CC. He also talked to cadets that were (C300 and 400). He walked out and asked Bullet to take him to the Bursars, this was the 1st week of Feb, a month before the board closed. He contacted the AFA and removed his name from the the pile.
Happy to say that the ROTC CC told him keep at least a 3.2, and you will have a 95% chance of UPT from their historical data. He has carried a cgpa of 3.4+ and @6 weeks ago he was informed he was selected for UPT.
Yes, he won't have a ring knocker, and for some that is important. For him it was more important to have 4 yrs of being a traditional college kid with kids who know nothing about the military. He understood he was risking his career chances, but that motivated him to do better academically to reduce the risk, yet, he was willing to accept another career field if that was his fate.
I tell this story because it is important to realize for some this is a hard decision and one not made haphazardly. Not everyone who even applies to an academy and gets an appointment doesn't have strong second thoughts.
Trust me, as a Mom who watched her DS go through the process the deeper you get in it, the more emotional it becomes. Applying to an SA is not for the feint at heart. It is a 6-9 month roller coaster ride on a good day. For some it can be close to a yr or more...i.e. open the PCQ in March, and board results released in April as it was this yr.
Now back on topic.
Everyone needs to remember their are types/tiers of scholarships. Some will be for 4 yrs, some for 3, some for one college, but not another.
For NROTC and AROTC they are tied to the college so it is hard to say if the scores are good enough. 25 M at one college could be their median, and at another could be a bahahaha laughing moment for admissions.
It really is important to match the college that you place on the list. Many NROTC cadets yr after yr get a scholarship to a college that they receive the TWE or are waitlisted, but not to their match or safety.
AROTC and NROTC are tied to the cadet and the school.
Good luck