Unless something has changed, AFROTC's 1st board has always been Dec. followed by Jan, Feb and Mar.
The thing to remember is it is a queue system, thus, those that have already submitted their applications prior to your DS will be boarded before him. He may have it in by the Dec. board it does not necessarily mean he will be boarded.
The boards meet for a limited amount of time, usually @ 3 days, and they try to get through all of the packets, but realistically there might not be enough time to board all of the candidates in the pile, thus, they will be at the top of the pile for the Jan. board.
Typically they will get a notification and it comes down to 4 options.
1. Congrats AFROTC has awarded XYZ scholarship
2. At this time we are unable to offer a scholarship and you will be re-boarded.
3. You were not boarded at this time.
4. At this time, due to amount of quality candidates, we unfortunately will not be offering you a scholarship.
Typically it can take up to a few weeks after the board meets to release the results. It can be as fast as 10 days and as long as 4 weeks,
Since you are new to this site and the process, a couple of things to remember.
1. Re-boarding is not a bad thing, it can be a great thing. What they are looking to see is a larger candidate pool before making their decision.
~~~ Your DS could be on the cusp between a 1 and 2, a 2 and 7, or a 7 and nothing.
The pot of gold is limited, and due to that fact they don't want to give out every penny for the 1st board. Conversely, the longer you wait to submit, the less money will be in the pot of gold.
2. If you see candidates stating they have already completed their DoDMERB, but your DS has not even have a request for one, don't fret.
~~~ Many candidates will apply for not only ROTC scholarships in each branch, but all of the SAs, The way it works is the branch will accept the DoDMERB exam regardless of which branch requests it. If there is a DQ that is when the branch gets involved regarding waivers. I.E. AF might waive, but Army and Navy might now.
If you know that there is some medical issue, such as the common ones...vision, inhalers prescribed, heart murmurs, prescribed meds for a long time past the age of 13, get your records in order now. Waivers can take a few days to a few months. Nothing is more frightening to know you have the scholarship to pay for the college, but don't know if you can use it.
As an AFROTC parent, sit down now and talk to your DS about what if he gets the scholarship, but come his C200 yr he is not selected for SFT, how will you pay for those remaining yrs. Not selected = dis-enrollment from AFROTC, AND never commissioning, even through OCS after college graduation.
The site says the recipient must maintain a 2.5 cgpa in college, but the fact is he will need @3.1 as a tech and at least a 3.3-3.4 for non-tech.
Don't try to game the system regarding scholarships. Techs get @85% of all scholarships. The problem is if he decides at anytime to switch to non-tech he needs approval from AFROTCHQ, and that is a rarity these days.
Also don't try to game it thinking a certain major gives him a better chance to become a pilot. It doesn't! Our DS (class of 12) was a non-tech scholarship recipient and is at UPT right now. The cgpa is how you get a better chance. A 2.5 tech won't get a rated slot. The lowest I have seen on the AF boards I belong to was 2.9 tech.
These are things you need to discuss as a family now because if you don't and he gets to college with all of you thinking all he needs is a 2.5, but finds out after his 1st semester that was a fallacy, chances are he will be dis-enrolled. SFT only uses their 1st 3 semesters in college for their cgpa. Do the math to he would need at least a 3.6 for the remaining semester to be safe.
Finally, I would strongly suggest to visit all of the dets he is interested in attending. Dets are like colleges, they have their own unique personalities that you can't get through viewing their website. Make an apptmt. with the CoC prior to the visit and ask to meet with some cadets. Do yourself a favor and after a few minutes, leave, let him talk to them one on one. Cadets show respect to parents, the feel of it will be different when it is just him and his age group.
Make sure you also ask some questions that are pertinent for the long run.
~ What is the avg cgpa for SFT selection at the school. As I stated, nationally it ranges between 3.1-3.4 depending on tech/non-tech
~ What % of cadets that start as a C100 attend SFT?
~ What is the avg cgpa for the career field he desires?
~ What % of 2012 got their 1st choice?
These answers will vary. If they give numbers, not %, that would raise a red- flag to me. EX: ERAU touts that they give out the most pilot slots after the AFA. 10000% true. However, statistically, VT is better, because although they have less in numbers, they have more cadets getting a slot. It is all about percentages, not the physical number.
I hope now after you take 2 aspirins to get rid of the headache I just gave you with information overload, you will see this is a world of planning for A, but having, B, C and D in place for the next 5 yrs. (1 left in HS, 4 in college)
Xposted with Non-Ducor
