My daughter is interested in Army ROTC, and I am trying to help her along with the process ... one thing that is confusing to me is how she goes about applying. I have been to the GoArmy.com site, but still have a few questions...
She will soon be a high school senior, and several of the colleges she likes have Army ROTC. Does she need to apply individually to each college's ROTC program, or does she apply just once for an ROTC scholarship and indicate which schools she is applying to?
Also, I read that some college programs require you to enroll only in certain majors (i.e. engineering), but I cannot find where that information is for the colleges that my daughter is interested in. Any help pointing me in the right direction would be appreciated.
Thank you.
Have her start the application and it will answer a lot of your questions to read through it, it just opened up. There is no rush to finish it. The first board meets in October giving her plenty of time to investigate, work on it over time, and change her mind about things as many times as she needs to, to get it right.
The only thing she cannot change once she starts it is the "survey". It is a type of personality test to see if she is a fit as an Army officer and tries to predict if she will be career service (I read the study prepared by the Army when they instituted the test). It is worth a lot of points, so she wants to not rush through that, take it when she is in a good state of mind and has time to start and finish it, because once you start, that is her one opportunity!
When she selects a major on the application, then the schools that allow that major will be visible in the drop down box. For example if she selects nursing (using that example because I have lived it), then when she selects a specific state, only the schools that allow a cadet to study nursing with an ROTC scholarship will show up in the drop down box (she should also verify with the ROO after she contacts them). My daughter actually started her application early too, saw what schools were eligible in the states she was interested in, contacted those ROO's (Recruiting Operations Officers) and even visited schools before she submitted her application with her school choices. She listed 4 (7 are allowed). Have her go into the school selection part of her application, put in different majors and just see what schools are eligible. After she identifies a few, she can even look at the school's websites and sometimes be able to tell if the school is a host school (where the battalion is located), a satellite school (affiliated with a host school but many times have their own PT and military science classes on campus), or an affiliate school (typically has to do MS classes and PT somewhere else). If that school is not a host school, then contacting the ROO at the host school is going to be the easiest way to get her questions answered. My daughter had zero response from non-host school staff, contacting the ROO at the host school is what I wish we knew about earlier! My daughter also chose all but one school that she absolutely knew she would get into and get academic money for without a national scholarship, so she could show up in the fall and start ROTC and then compete for a campus based as a plan B without a scholarship. Her only stretch school was the one required school to be located in our state. She was iffy as to whether she would get in (initially wait listed, then accepted later in the spring) After she received the national scholarship, she decided on attending her stretch school. It was also a stretch school for ROTC because she had been told that it was competitive for nursing ROTC, only 3 slots at that school and direct entry nursing as a freshman meant it is a popular choice. My point in telling this story is to illustrate what has been said before, getting a scholarship does not guarantee getting into a school. So picking realistic choices both for academics and to be competitive for a ROTC slot is crucial.
It is all very overwhelming, confusing, and a learn as you go process. There are many parents here, and students that have recently gone through the process. Keep posting, asking questions, and have your daughter check out the site too. Once you have 10 posts (respond to us on this thread to get your posts built up, they can be a word or two, they don't need to be detailed), then you can send any of us a personal message. I have found every parent that I have reached out to with specific questions because they had specific experiences I was interested in all very helpful!
My general advice is (and I give it often)
1. Don't be afraid to have her email Cadet Command for all things related to her application. Including but not limited to, you sent something in but it isn't showing up in her portal or is not approved yet, showing disqualified, asking for something and you don't know what it is, etc. Just email them, they are helpful and quick to respond.
2. Once she identifies a few schools and makes contacts with the ROO there, encourage her to ask them questions to. About her essay for example, or questions about what majors she can take, or can she switch, etc.?
3. If at all possible visit ROTC units, she (and you) will learn SO much at each visit. And she will gain some great contacts and a ROO or two as an ally in the process.
When in doubt, you can look here, but really need to ask the sources that are really in the process, the schools and Cadet Command are there to help, use them. Other than Clarksonarmy (Clarkson University ROO) and BAMA ROTC (Alabama ROO), and a few others, we are just parents and students!
Good luck to your daughter!