psychedmom,
Here is another reason why OSU may be better. OSU is a large host det., and they have lots of other things for cadets, i.e Arnie Air Society, Honor Guard, Angel Flight, Silver Wings. These meetings will occur at night, and if I read your post correctly at Cornell he will be doing PT at night at RPI, not sure when they would do LLAB, but still if he wants to join these military fraternities, it is one more night a week he will commute to RPI. At many dets they have what is called GMC night (AS100/200), the cadets meet at the lounge 1X a week, order pizza, watch DVDs, play Xbox, foosball, crud, etc. It is their way to bond.
Has your DS talked to each det. Has he talked to each det regarding how many get SFT (%) wise? 65% are typically selected. No summer field training (SFT) as a rising junior = dis-enrollment from AFROTC, and revocation of the scholarship!
~~~ Understand those fraternities have AFROTC cadre as advisors, so not only is he creating AF bonds, but he is also being seen by the cadre with more one on one time than cadets that just show up for PT and LLAB
~~~ Currently, the system is 50% CoC rec.
Has he talked about career assignments? ERAU prides their school on the fact that they give out the highest number of pilot slots after the AFA. It is a fact, what is in dispute is the statistical chance compared to other dets.
This could work against OSU. Assume they say 15 cadets TY got rated, but Cornell only got 5. That is a big disparity in numbers, but what I said 20 applied at OSU and only 5 at Cornell? Your opinion would change.
~ Just throwing out numbers as an example. I have no idea what their det break down was for FY14.
The cost is a factor, but so is the det too. Just like any college, each det. has a personality. If he really wants Cornell, but feels like he HAD TO attend OSU for financial reasons it may impact his enjoyment at college, which can impact his ADAF future.
If this is truly a financial issue, walk away from us, and sit down with him. He is an adult now. Explain the repercussions that will occur if he is not selected for SFT, and how as a family he can afford to stay for 2 more yrs. via loans, or whatever.
Discuss how involved outside of AFROTC requirements he wants to be. Does joining any military fraternity matter?
Has he thought about how long a day will be doing AFROTC 1 night a week, especially if Cornell only offers that mandatory class the next a.m. at 8?
Cornell you are not a number, OSU you will be.
All of these are factors regarding success. Kids enter thinking college will be easy, even with AFROTC because in HS they played sports or had jobs. They get there and are time warped just like from Middle School to HS. It takes time to find your footing. Unfortunately for AFROTC cadets, SFT selection only allows 3 semesters, and 1 bad semester can be the end.
He should also realize as he climbs the AFROTC ladder it is not just PT and LLAB, they will be given jobs in ROTC, that will require his presence at the det., on top of hours of work. Cadet Flight Commanders write weekly reports, they attend weekly meetings at the host det. It can be 20 hrs a week more.
I am not a xtown fan, because as I long as I have been here, the biggest complaint I have seen among AFROTC...notice AFROTC, not any other branch, is that between the commute, and inability to hang out between classes at the det., they feel they haven't experienced the real thing compared to those at the host det. See above regarding the fraternities and GMC nights.
By the time DS was a 200, if he had a 60-90 minute break between classes, he went to det lounge and hung out there with other cadets. He didn't go back to his dorm. Many times he also did that because some type of paperwork had to be submitted or checked up on with the 1st shirt. Easier to get an answer when you are standing in front of them, than waiting for them to respond to you email, especially if they have 200+ cadets invading their email container.
Long post, I know, but to me if you have to decide between two, every tiny little factor regarding their AFROTC career matters, and some of them will have a domino effect regarding their happiness/success in college and in AFROTC.