educateme,
My son's formal interview was with PMS of 3rd choice school which is also his brother's ROTC unit. Decided to switch from local unit scheduled to brother's school since we were visiting. He has received the crucial help via email from #1 school which he visited informally. During other informal visits to ROTC units he was able to get a few official questions answered...they would jump up, leave the room and come right back with an answer.
In the course of the last 7 months, son visited 5 schools, plus USAFA summer seminar, and Texas A&M for AFROTC interview (7 schools total). He will visit USNA next week. All but A&M have involved flights, hotels and car rentals.
As we narrowed his list from 20 to 7 and then to 6, we realized that he needed to visit with these schools and make arrangements to meet ROTC units for all branches, so he could make a better decision. At some schools he met with scholarship officers, or PMS. Since he was interested in all branches, he tried to meet with Army, Navy and AF. These were informal chats to 'interview' them to see if Son wanted to attend that unit and apply to that school.
Every officer was very receptive, informative, and helpful. Since son was going to put them on his top 5 list, they were more than happy to help.
IF you can visit your #1 school, I say Go For It! we scrounged air miles and hotel points to make it affordable. It's invaluable to make that connection with the PMS and Scholarship officer. However, if you cannot make the trip, try another route. Send an email introducing yourself. Include your resume and ask for more inforation regarding their battallion. make the battallions want you! Never hurts to have someone on your side during this entire process. Son has received emails from other AROTC battallions asking him to apply. He always emails them back....creating a relationship, just in case.
If your application is complete, you might be able to coordinate the interview with the 1st choice school during your visit. But I don't know what the timing is regarding these interviews. Get the application done as soon as the process opens again and you might be able to kill 2 birds with 1 stone.
Son spent at least 1 full day at each school. Admissions session, AROTC, AFROTC, NROTC, Math, Chinese. Depending on the school, he skipped one of the above if necessary. Many school applications ask who you have met, it's great to have a long list of names to put on the app.
Good luck!