AROTC college intent?

jojmarie12

10-Year Member
5-Year Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2009
Messages
19
Hi so I'm confused on how they decide which schools to offer you a scholarship to for AROTC. I logged in today and I was given a scholarship to 3 colleges out of the 7 I put in my intent list but my top was not included. Does anyone know why this is and who makes the decision? Can more be added?

One of the AROTC guys I asked said I could switch my scholarship to any school later on and no big deal. This does not seem right to me though, thoughts?
 
Hi so I'm confused on how they decide which schools to offer you a scholarship to for AROTC. I logged in today and I was given a scholarship to 3 colleges out of the 7 I put in my intent list but my top was not included. Does anyone know why this is and who makes the decision? Can more be added?

One of the AROTC guys I asked said I could switch my scholarship to any school later on and no big deal. This does not seem right to me though, thoughts?

Schools are given a fixed number of scholarships for a given year. When presented with more candidates that scholarships, they have to order their candidates. Usually, they take candidates that have a school high on their list, but often there are more students who choose a school #1 than there are scholarships for.

So, if your school had 10 scholarships left and 25 applicants, only 10 of those applicants can get an offer in this board. However, not all 10 may accept that offer. In this case, the unit can offer them in subsequent boards or allow other candidates to transfer the scholarship to that unit. Additionally, they often get scholarships returned when student turn them back in because either they didn't get accepted, or they choose to go to a SA.

You may contact #1 school and let them know that you are still interested and would like to transfer your scholarship if a chance becomes available. You will need to accept another school's scholarship this month to have one to transfer I believe, because they won't have more scholarships to offer until after your acceptance deadline.

This is my understanding of how this works, although I could have some things incorrect. I still advise contacting the ROO at your #1 with questions.
 
Jojomarie,

I can think of two reasons two why you may not have gotten the scholarship to your #1 choice school.

(1) The PMS of the battalion in that school may have felt unsure of your odds of getting admitted to that school. They don't want to give away a spot to a candidate who may not come after all.

(2) If this is a popular battalion, and there are more candidates who put this school as a top choice than they can accommodate, then they may have decided to accept candidates who they think are better match for them, even though they felt that the odds are in your favor in terms of getting admitted to that school.

Solution:

(1) above: If you DO get accepted into the school, that removes this problem. If this is a rolling admission so that you can see the outcome before April next year, then notify them as early as possible when you know you got in.

(2) above: Even if (1) above is done, you still have a problem if there is no spot opening in the #1 school battalion. So, you must "charm" your way into the battalion so that in case a spot opens up, they will take you in rather than another candidate who also got into the school. The more I learn about this whole thing, the more I am convinced that "contact sports" really matter. They need to get to know you, and they need to like you.

Either way, I think goaliedad already gave you terrific advice. Contact the PMS at the #1 school. Try to build a "relationship" if you haven't done so yet.

I even heard from a couple of PMSs that for candidates who have the target range stats (GPA, SAT, etc) for the school and are well regarded by the battalion officers, the PMS will "put" in good words and work with the college admission officers. This does not work in all colleges, but it works in some colleges. One PMS told me that among the four schools that the battalion serve, with one, he has NO influence. With the remaining three, he has A LOT of influence.

There are a lot "soft" issues going on here beyond the numbers like SAT and GPA, etc. You need to "work" the right people to work for you.

Good luck.
 
I second all that goalie dad and educateme said. Contact your first choice school. They will be the best people to help you.
 
Son just emailed two school's ROTC scholarship officers to ask some questions about shuffling the scholarship to different schools. we'll post when we hear any news.

Son received scholarship to a school to which he he has already been admitted and to another that he won't hear back until March.

To the school on the list that he hasn't heard back from admissions: Should he accept 'admitted school' now and can he transfer later to 2nd school?

To a school not on the list: If he accepts his 'admitted school' now, can he transfer scholarship to that school in March?

Might be after the holidays that we hear back, but we'll share info when we do.
 
One of the AROTC guys I asked said I could switch my scholarship to any school later on and no big deal. This does not seem right to me though, thoughts?
This may have been true in the past, but with the supposed reduced number of scholarships this year it is hard for anybody to know for sure how easy or how may slots will be available. The bottom line (I believe) is that it is possible. You need:
1. Talk to the PMS at your #1 school and let him know they are your first choice and ask him if you get admitted to the college whether he "thinks" he can transfer your scholarship into his battalion. Maintain communications with him while you are waiting for your admittance letter
2. get accepted (and acceptance letter) to the #1 college on your list
3. Bring your acceptance letter back to the PMS at #1 and pray there is a slot for you.

Good Luck!:thumb:
 
Now we have an AROTC scholarship offer (hooray), but not to the #1 choice - to which DS has been been accepted and seemed to have a favorable interview (DS has been corresponding via email w/SMP since then). From previous posts, it looks like he needs to reach out to the SMP at #1 choice to let him know what's going on. Should DS even apply to the school to which the scholarship offer was tendered? Any suggestions would be wonderful - thanks.
 
Contact PMS at #1 Choice. Others on this forum have been successful at adding/changing schools this year. Get it added if possible. If not possible to change by the PMS in the required 30 days to reply follow the guidance of the PMS at the #1 choice school. They may tell you to accept a specifc alternate at about the 30 day mark until they can update your choices. Were you granted 5 choices or less?
 
Contact PMS at #1 Choice. Others on this forum have been successful at adding/changing schools this year. Get it added if possible. If not possible to change by the PMS in the required 30 days to reply follow the guidance of the PMS at the #1 choice school. They may tell you to accept a specifc alternate at about the 30 day mark until they can update your choices. Were you granted 5 choices or less?

So far, only one choice was listed online. Letter has not arrived yet - will the school choices in the letter include the other schools or just it depend on how the scholarships are filling up at the other choices?
DS listed three choices for AROTC. He applied and was accepted to #1. The PMS at #1 will be contacted tomorrow. Thanks.
 
some colleges have no available scholarships to give out

I just heard back from a representative at one of the AROTC programs my son was hoping to receive a scholarship at. He said that one of the schools on my son's list was awarded zero scholarships this year. So no one who had this school would get an offer from them. Nor did they have any to award last year. It is a considered a high cost school so that has a big factor in the process.
 
Scholarship availability

I just heard back from a representative at one of the AROTC programs my son was hoping to receive a scholarship at. He said that one of the schools on my son's list was awarded zero scholarships this year. So no one who had this school would get an offer from them. Nor did they have any to award last year. It is a considered a high cost school so that has a big factor in the process.

The school to which the scholarship was offered is an in-state school; the #1 choice is not. The PMS at the preferred school mentioned that he'd been in contact with several out of state hopefuls who didn't get their first choice and were trying to get the school changed. We have reached out to Cadet Command with 'next steps'.
I don't know if any scholarships have been handed out for this school, either in or out of state. That's a good question we need to ask the PMS.
Hope your son gets his choice worked out.
 
Folks, here’s one more family with the same problem. I’m glad to see we’re not alone.

Son received a scholarship from the second board. He listed 7 schools on his application and had 5 (2-6) come back approved from CC. Following the great advice on this board – thanks to all of you! – I contacted the PMS at #1 school. I’m really looking forward to seeing what that PMS says to do prior to the 30-day decision point. Considering that son was accepted as early decision applicant at #1 school long before the second board met, it’ll be interesting to see how the ED gamble plays out.
 
ROTCmom said:

I just heard back from a representative at one of the AROTC programs my son was hoping to receive a scholarship at. He said that one of the schools on my son's list was awarded zero scholarships this year. So no one who had this school would get an offer from them. Nor did they have any to award last year. It is a considered a high cost school so that has a big factor in the process.

Is this "high cost school" one of the affiliate schools served by a single battalion? If so, I can understand it. However, if this is a one school-one battalion arrangement, I don't understand how this is done unless they intend to close down the battalion.

Any insight?
 
information we received

Found out from a friend in ROTC recruiting that they are not giving any campus based scholarships this year, only national scholarships.
 
Found out from a friend in ROTC recruiting that they are not giving any campus based scholarships this year, only national scholarships.

That must be on a school by school basis. I do know of at least one school that has a couple of campus based scholarships for next year.
 
Back
Top