Hi Lpshrtr, welcome to SAF.
If you are not selected for SFT, there's a chance that you may be allowed to stay another year to try and compete again. Keep in mind though, that if you do compete the next year, you will be competing against the class under you.
In the event that you are not able to secure a slot for SFT, you're chances of commissioning into the AF goes out the window.
Don't take this the wrong way - but try not to compare high school to college, regardless of how hard high school may be. Sure your may have taken some AP courses; but at the end of the day college courses and high school courses will never be the same. In college (especially bigger ones) professors may not personally care for students due to the sheer size of classes ... or they're just cold hearted. You may be put in to classes where the only grades are: the midterm and the final. That's it. If you don't do well .... well not much you can do about it. College becomes a place where you make your own decisions, and start your own life, unlike high school.
I don't know enough about selection for SFT, someone like Pima will chime in on this. My extent of AFROTC ends at the application (that's as far as I got).
One thing that I want to correct you on. You DO NOT commission after sophomore year. In any of the ROTC branches you would commission your senior year (at the earliest, STEM majors can be different).
Here's how it
typically works:
academic year = Army = AF
freshman = MS1 = AS100
sophomore = MS2 = AS200
junior = MS3 = AS300
senior = MS4 = AS400
super senior = MS5 = ???
AF also has AS500 and AS250, I think. 500 being those who did not get selected for SFT sophomore year, but were allowed to stay on to the following year to recompete; 250's are those who start the program ... junior year. I could be wrong - don't hold me to my word on this.
So AF and Army are two very different programs. I will discuss/contrast between several big points between the two programs.
As previously mentioned there are for 4 "levels" MS1-4/AS100-400 (MS5 is typically used for cadets who commission past 4 years, ie: STEM majors --> engineers). In between your MS3 (junior) and MS4 (senior) year -during the summer - you go to LDAC (Leadership Development & Assessment Course). For all intents and purposes, and for a lack of better word choice, and to be loosely interpreted, it's sort of like a boot camp if you will. I don't know all the details, but basically it's the culminating, keystone event of a cadets career. At LDAC you will be tested on various aspect you've learned over the 3 years; land navigation, marching/drill & ceremony, marksmanship, etc. In other words, it's the Army's equivalent to SFT.
Now, one of the nice things about LDAC is that there's no competition to go; there are no X slots to fill. As long as you are contracted (note how I did not say "have a scholarship") you will go to LDAC. A common misconception is that one must have a scholarship to commission (false). Basically the only difference between the two is that just a contract ... only gives you a contract to commission. A scholarship is money + contract.
On the other hand, SFT as you know - requires a slot to go, and it occurs between AS200 (sophomore) and AS300 (junior year) in the summer.
Now you must be thinking, why is it so? Army seems like a better deal. There's what I consider, a trade off to this.
For Army, you're guaranteed to go to LDAC provided you have a contract, SFT you need a slot. BUT for commissioning, herein lies the difference. For AF you automatically go Active Duty. For Army, you have to compete for Active Duty, regardless of whether you have a scholarship. For Army, should you not get Active Duty you will go into the Reserves/Guard.
Both are a double-edged sword. If the Military is what you want to do for the rest of your life, AF
can give you a better shot at securing that goal. However if you want to get a civilian job but also want to Serve, just not 24/7 Army can work out. Keep in mind this is just a basic illustration; this is not
the only way things happen.
There's are probably 2 of the biggest differences between the programs. Now granted there's a lot of smaller moving parts involved; this is just to serve a basic overview without getting too in depth.
You might also want to check out this thread; it might be of some use:
AROTC/AFROTC Interview tips? (Just a heads up - it's long)