Applying as a college freshman? (Army and Navy) When would I contract?

[danger zone]

Ok, so I applied for NROTC as a tier 3 major and didn't have my interview until late December. And needless to say I do not have a scholarship now



Started my Army app but never finished. Navy recruiter told me I was as sure as any to get the scholarship and being tier 3 doesn't really matter much. Kinda wish I followed through with Army, but it is what it is.



So this fall I will be starting at Ohio State, my in-state safety. I really like the school and feel it has a lot to offer, but I was really working to get out of state and I'm not going to slow down just because I'm stuck for this year.



Didn't really have 1 dream school, but a couple that I really liked and thought would be good fits. Georgetown, USC, Penn, Virginia and Michigan were the schools.

Got flat out rejected from UVa and Penn, Georgetown waitlisted me (and later denied me, apparently they didn't take anyone off of the waitlist this year, they overenrolled), Michigan was too hard to afford OOS.

Leaves me with USC. Got in, visited, liked it, liked LA.

Then NROTC dinged me. USC has some generous FA but their was a pretty huge gap in what my parents said they could pay and what USC said we could pay. So I had to give up USC.




But I'm not going to give up completely. I plan on reapplying to NROTC and going to finish my AROTC application this time. Would like to have both done by August/September. Might wait until October to finish AROTC, get the best possible fitness score before the first board.



So, I'd be looking to transfer. To the five schools I mentioned above, and maybe Northwestern (rejected as senior in H.S.), maybe a couple of others. All are pretty competitive, but USC seems to be the surest thing (in this group). They take a lot of transfers and apparently if you have a 3.5 you should be good to go as a transfer student. I think a 3.5 is very reasonable for me to achieve as a freshman.
I am aiming for a 3.9-4.0 at Ohio State my first year.




So lets say for the sake of argument, I apply to Navy and Army and apply to all of those schools again.

And now lets says the cards are dealt and I decide to transfer to USC with a NROTC scholarship.
Regular four year ROTC kids are supposed to contract the beginning of sophomore year, correct? What if I only do NROTC starting my sophomore year, do I contract my junior year?

What about Army, say I get a 3-year scholarship? Do I contract as a junior or do I contract like a sophomore, with no experience in the program?




The only reason that I ask is because I want to cover all options and scenarios and this is just in case I hate the school I transfered to or for some reason do not like ROTC or can't handle.

Say I transfer to Georgetown, don't like it for whatever reason and transfer back to an Ohio school. Would I have contracted with the Army/Navy already?


Does Army work differently than Navy on this matter?





Again I just want to cover all options. Things will probably work out wherever I end up and I might not even end up transferring. Most people that go to OSU love it and in the end to be commissioned as a 2nd LT or Ensign, school doesn't really matter.




So the crux of my question comes down to, if I get a ROTC scholarship to start my sophomore year, am I allowed to drop it junior year? (like 4 yr winners can drop the scholarship without time commitment at the start of sophomore year)




I was just wondering and this may become a moot point but I'd like to know to fully weigh my options in the future.




Thanks!

 

[Pima]

You need to talk to OSU. They are going to be the ones to give you the true guidance.

I had a long post regarding questions, but the fact is. Talk to OSU.

 

[gojack]

danger zone,

You sound conflicted...

OSU is a great school, if you want to be an officer -
pick a program, join, work hard, do well.

If you are still discovering yourself, leave the military out of it,
and go figure out what/where/who you want to be.

Mixing the two is a recipe for certain disaster.

 

[clarksonarmy]

I'm with gojack. If you are serious about becoming an Officer (especially in the Army) you need to enroll in ROTC in the Fall and don't plan on ever getting a scholarship. You don't reapply for the scholarship, you show up on campus with the attitude that you want to be an Officer, and will do whatever you need to do to get that commission. Then if you are recognized as someone who warrants a scholarship you might get an offer. I'm getting ready to give my incoming freshman class that exact advice. If you aren't sure about becoming an Officer, take the class and find out.

Good luck.

 

[Jcleppe]

DangerZone,

Clarkson Army hit the nail on the head, as usual since he is the residence expert here.

You spent a lot of your post talking about transferring schools one you received a scholarship. I think you putting the cart before the horse on this one. Just getting a scholarship is going to be difficult if even possible. If you are lucky enough to get a 3 year campus scholarship it will be based on your performance in school and ROTC during your freshmen year. As Clarkson said you do not re-apply for the scholarship through Cadet Command, it would be a campus scholarship. If you do receive a campus scholarship it will be specific to the school that you are attending, there will probably be no chance that you could transfer that scholarship to a different school.

Clarkson again gave you the best advice, start school this Fall, enroll in all the ROTC classes, labs and PT, be active in the battalion and see how you like it, if you are scholarship material and funds are available they will come to you with an offer.

 

[goaliedad]

ROTC aside, because your first objective here is getting an education, enrolling in a school with the mindset that you've already checked out is really wasting a year of your educational life. Yeah, you'll take freshman composition (I'm of the opinion that even a 5 of the AP exam shouldn't exempt students from a college writing course) and a bunch of other core classes, but that first year is also when you have the opportunity to integrate yourself into the institution both with your peers and with the professors you will be studying with the rest of your undergrad years. Starting this over in year 2 only diminishes that potential and should only be done if you find that you cannot seem to get traction in these areas.

Honestly, I don't see enough difference in the opportunity between OSU and your dream schools to justify an immediate transfer. If you were at the local community college to save up a few bucks, I can see the obvious need to transfer, but it seems that you will be attending a school that can challenge 95%+ of all college students if they look for it. And if you were in that 5%, you probably would have been admitted to your dream schools.

I remember a story told to me about an old man who used to sit in his rocking chair on his porch on the main street in a small town. People would come into town to check the place out and ask him "How are the people here?"

He would ask them about the people in the town where they came from in response. The visitors would then complain about various things, to which the old man would say, "I think you will find the people here to be the same as you describe." The visitors would then move on in their search for a new home.

One day, a visitor when asked about the people where he came from answered, "I loved the people in my hometown. The were kind and considerate, but I needed to move on because I have other things to achieve in my life." The old man upon hearing this gave the same reply as he did to the others, "I think you will find the people here to be the same as you describe."

If you go into a new place expecting to find something, you are likely to find it. If you look for what you want out of an education at OSU, you will find it.

 

[irishwannebe]

Hi I found this thread while doing research on ROTC.
I am in a kind of similar situation as the first guy. I was waitlisted and later denied by Notre Dame. I am attending my in-state flagship to save money, the University of Iowa. Happy with Iowa, but don't want to give up on Notre Dame yet. I was pretty ignorant in high school and I thought that only the Army had a ROTC program. I don't really mind the the Army, but I've always wanted to be in the Navy, was hoping to go to OCS after college. I thought the only two routes to commissioning were through the Naval Academy and OCS.
So from what I gather from this thread, I am stuck at UI and I can't really transfer to a NROTC school (ideally Notre Dame) and hope to get a scholarship? Or is it possible that I could get a scholarship for sophomore year, albeit unlikely? Does Navy do 3 year scholarships? UI does not have NROTC, so do I have any options?




Thank you for the help.

 

[Pima]

Have you checked into see if U of I has xtown NROTC. Many colleges that do not have a branch on campus usually has reciprocal ROTC on another campus. At our DS's school they do not have NROTC, but they have NROTC cadets attending. The NROTC cadets go xtown to another university for ROTC instruction. Sim. in his AFROTC det he has cadets who do not attend his college, but are in his det., since their college doesn't have AFROTC.

The one thing to understand currently is that the DoD is going to take a drastic fiscal cut in the upcoming yrs. This will probably have a big impact on the amount of ROTC scholarships out there, add this with the economy in the tank and you can quickly surmise that it is going to be very competitive for scholarships. Additionally, USNA is following suit with the AFA and reducing the amount of incoming cadets so they can get back under the mandated 4400 number. Candidates for USNA will usually apply for an NROTC scholarship as plan B.

Not trying to be a downer, just saying that as competitive as NROTC scholarships are, I would expect them to become even more competitive in the next yr or so.

You can always transfer to ND, but what most people were saying to the other poster is, don't expect to get a scholarship, expect to find a way to pay for it yourself.

OBTW, shocked you didn't know about NROTC since ND is probably one of the largest NROTC units out there. I know that because our DS also applied to ND, but for AFROTC, and NROTC tried to get him to apply for their scholarship at ND.

 

[gojack]

Or is it possible that I could get a scholarship for sophomore year, albeit unlikely?

University of Notre Dame "NROTC College Program:
College students with 30 or more semester hours, or students who applied for, but were not awarded, a 4 year scholarship may be eligible to join the Notre Dame NROTC battalion as a College Program Student. College Program Students do not receive the financial benefits of a 4 year scholarship awardee but may join the battalion to pursue a commission as a Naval Officer. College Program Students are fully integrated in the battalion and may be eligible to compete for various other NROTC Scholarships. Please contact the Notre Dame NROTC unit if you are interested in learning more about this option."
http://nrotc.nd.edu/application_process.php

Write ND NROTC a nice email, nrotc.1@nd.edu (Navy ROTC Questions)