AFROTC Breakdown

Aragundi,

As others have stated, major in something you desire to major in. Hate the program, and many tend to start cutting classes or stop studying...it is the attitude that can impact grades just as much the ability to understand the information being taught.

For some it also seeps in another way....their opinion of the school itself. They impose their feelings about the major as that is why they don't care for the school, so they want to leave. When in reality it is they like the school, but not the major.

The idea that marketing or any business degree is a fall back for the just in case. You really need to do research. Business, unless you are talking CPA or Econ is a dime a dozen, and even than you will need a Masters. JMHPO. but you'd be better off as a teacher for employment purposes. What is the 1st thing companies cut when they need to pull in their costs? It is not accounting. It is marketing.

Again not saying don't go marketing, just saying from an employer perspective I can interview a Marketing major, an English major, a Communications major or a journalism major to do the college entry job. That is a heck of lot of majors I can get the same result.

As for your question about giving up the scholarship and staying in, I don't know. I would think it is going to come down to Command support and your cgpa. That is before even placing sequestration into the equation.

I don't know why you believe you are ABM medically qualified, but nothing else. I assume it is a vision issue.

As far as the way it works for jobs it comes back to the OML for AFSC. That means again your cgpa, and your AFOQT will be a player. They will have X amt offered in each field, and cadets get to place a dream sheet of 3 choices (?) Highest OML wins that slot.

Right now you are placing the cart before the horse in way too many ways.
1. You have yet to get the scholarship.
~~~ You may end up not getting one and the bulk of your meteorology scholarship questions will be moot.
2. You have yet to spend a second in AFROTC or at college.
~~~ AFROTC big drop yrs are C100 and 200. 100 because they can walk. 200 because of SFT.
~~~ Taking the 3 hr tour is not the same as living there far from home. It is not uncommon or common for freshman students to decide that they want to leave, but it does happen. I think more so for students that went there because choice A wasn't going to happen, so they are going to a fall back school.
3. You have yet to get selected for SFT
~~~ Said it before will say it again. AFROTC does not give points for scholarship recipients for SFT selection.

Don't rush life thinking about being 22 and graduated from college. Plan for the future, YES, but not 4 yrs, 1-2 yrs.
 
GemStateMom said:
Hi Pima. DS - a 200- (3.85 HS unweighted GPA), is somewhere around a cumulative 3.0 right now (which causes us concern, as he has a non-tech major). His ROTC extra-curricular activities take up A LOT of time. Also, even though he is non-tech, his particular major is also pretty demanding as far as time. I can see where a cadet with a major not so demanding and who is not super engaged in the ROTC program could pull higher grades a little easier. This also applies to cadets who are a little more "academically gifted" and/or very good with time management (unlike DS, I suspect). So, IMHO, a 3.5 is not always easy.....
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Trust me I get the fear. I can still remember knowing any day the SFT results were being released and fearing the phone ringing with DS's number on the ID. Is this going to be a good call, jumping for joy, or a call where we remind him that he gave 110% and that the AF was not his fate.

Just remember a couple of things.

1. Although the avg is 3.3/3.4 the college profile is going to play into that equation.
~~~ I don't know what school he attends, but Notre Dame, Georgetown cadets or UIC are going to fight harder for a 3.0 than the cadet at University of Central Timbucktoo.

The board knows that.

2. The WCS will include the Commanders rec.,
~~~ In AFROTC when you are in organizations like Arnie Air or Honor Guard, the cadre are advisors to them, and so they can give other perspectives from outside of AFROTC regarding your child.
~~~ They are at the college, and they know the programs for the major too. I.E. DS was in Scholars, which the school required not only Scholars Seminar for academic purposes, but the school also required a 20 hr week internship for 3 credits. He was pulling 18 credits, doing AFROTC, and interning on the Hill 20 hrs a week (add in commuting and it was 25 hrs a week off campus M-F). DS was also in AAS.

This is why IMPO the CoC has a voice at this point. They can tell the board these little details that explain why they should get an SFT slot. CoC's are O5/6s.

Boards respect their opinion.

I don't do chancing, but using what I have just stated you can see 3.3/3.4 is an avg. That means there will be a 3.0 for every 3.6. They never publish the median.

Back on topic...
 
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Pima said:
The det is what would be equivalent to a squadron because unlike an ADAF wing, there won't be multiple squadrons. You will only have flights. Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, etc.

Within each flight you will have a mixture of all ranks. They won't have one that is just C100 or one that is just C400s. They will be commanded by a flight commander, and an assistant flight commander.

Jobs vary det by det for 100's, however, don't expect a big job your 1st semester because as a 100 you are learning the system. When you get to the C200 yr that is when you start taking the jobs like asst flight commander. As a 300 that is when you start getting jobs at the squadron level. As a 400 that is when you can become the CWC, CVWC.
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Structure depends on detachment as well. Our det is split up like an ADAF wing. Basically you're in a flight just like the ones Pima described with flight commanders (these are typically 300s). Two or more flights form a squadron and there will be a squadron commander (typically 400s). Two or more Squadrons form a group, for which there are group commanders (again 400s), and all the groups form a wing and there is a wing commander and a vice wing commander, along with a bunch of other jobs held by 300s/400s. My det has 8 flights (15-16 cadets), 4 squadrons (30ish cadets), 2 groups (50-60 cadets), and obviously 1 wing(100+) the number of cadets in your det will fluctuate as the year prgresses. FTP (200s) are assigned in normal flights as the rest of the wing, but they form their own flight most of the time and there is an FTP commander and deputy.

In my detachment you don't get jobs as a 100. One 200 is selected to be GMC liason and 200s get switched in and out of different leadership roles (running PT stretches, marching the flight/squadron, leading FTX exercises, etc), 300s and 400s get all of the jobs, and not all of them get a job but they all help out. I can't tell you about how that process works because I'm only a 250 but that's how jobs work at my det.

So basically, it all depends on what school you choose to attend. Hope I helped!
 
As xROTC cadets consider school choice - check into the grading scale used by each university you are considering. A school with a straight 10 pt A,B,C scale may work for a higher GPA. DS's school uses the 93+ A=4.0, 90-93 A- = 3.67 and so on down. This has impacted his cgpa.

I would consider his school a match/easy choice, Polisci major/hist minor a strong desire major for him and he's carrying a 3.67 cgpa with no grade lower than a B-. He is the class of 2015, so the last class before AROTC attached the newer major requirements.

For the OP poster, please do choose a major you have a strong desire for over a scholarship driven choice.
 
Adelita and Ohio both illustrate why asking these type of questions result in a multitude of answers and can bog your brain down.

It is why visiting the det that you intend to join is an important part of the process.

Dets are like colleges they have unique personalities and range in size. Dets in the AFROTC world are classified as small, medium and large. They vary in size. Just because the school is large does not equate into a large size det. UMDCP is a large college like UConn, but it is not host to NROTC. AROTC dwarfs AFROTC in numbers, and Det 330 is classified as large for AFROTC.

Ohio also stresses major in something you desire. You are in HS now, you can't imagine what college will be like when you select a major you don't like. Think of the class you dread the most, now imagine 75% of your classes are that class.

DS graduated last May. Loved, loved, loved his major every semester, every yr. Fought for his cgpa because he interned, in AAS, and AFROTC at the same time. His friends that graduated from HS at the same time, didn't know what to major in and selected varying engineering degrees. They fought their way hating their major, but did so because the scholarship hung over their cranium.

Bullet commissioned as an AFROTC grad back in 87. His biggest regret in life...he went aerospace engineering because as a hs student they told him from an aptitude perspective this was his best choice. He lost his AFROTC scholarship due to his cgpa. He was miserable because others convinced him this was the path to take.

Take the path you want. This is now going to be your life, not theirs. Your parents love you more than you will be able to fathom until you have a child. They might have issues with that decision, but eventually they will accept it when they see your success.
 
Every cadet I know that major's in the Air Force's critical majors are miserable. Just saying.
 
I agree with Sole Train

If you are majoring in a degree for a scholarship just to collect a check you will be feeling the pain/misery.

Worse yet, Sole Train's friends/cadets are not ADAF.

4 yrs at :

Minot: Why No Minot? Freezing is the reason
Alamogordo: Oh My God No Alamogordo!
Del Rio: HELL RIO

Kwangiu AFB, in Korea is not a place you want to be.
Mt Home AFB is 50 miles from Boise
Goldsboro AFB is 70 miles from Raleigh

You can't even fathom where you live for 4 yrs, 365 days a yr., 24/7. College is 30 weeks, 20-30 hrs a week for 4 yrs at a school you wanted to attend.

Understand the difference college is PART TIME.
 
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