I am a rising HS senior who is applying for the USNA, USMA, and USAFA.
I am interested in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps as an excellent alternative. I have already opened and got through half of the applications. I ran into a couple questions/thoughts.
I want to commission as an Active Duty Officer in one of the armed forces (not sure which quite yet?)
I have a few questions:
1. Say I wanted to take a gap year after HS to explore colleges and reboot, would I still have the opportunity to apply for an ROTC 4 year scholarship (to all three branches) for the class of 2024? (I would be c/o 23 if I came right out of HS) Or am I ONLY eligible to apply for a 4 year scholarship for c/o 23?
2. I want to select a major in college that is useful, and that is why I am interested in Technical majors instead of Generalist Majors. If I select a tech major, will that make me more competitive to become a 4 year scholarship winner? Also, let’s say I get the 4 year with a tech major selected and decide I want to switch to another tech major. Would that put my scholarship at risk? (I know engineering degrees are most competitive but I really don’t want to do engineering)
2b. I’ve heard the word tech major alot. I know they help with scholarship chances but can someone explain the scope of these majors? Like give me a few good examples?
3. If I get the scholarship, what college expenses would I still have to pay? I don’t want to sound greedy but I plan to pay back the military and our country with years and years of service.
4. Let’s talk hypothetically:
Let’s says I don’t get accepted into any of the service academies I apply for and decide to re apply. I want to go out-of-state for college, but what if I stayed local, attended my local state school for freshman year without doing ROTC to simply gain credits, prove myself to the academies, and reapply, this time re applying to the academies again plus apply for a 4 year ROTC scholarship to a couple out of state schools. I plan to do all four years at the out of state school. I would have a ton of credits from AP and the freshman year at the local state school to lighted the load.
Would this plan work? Any thoughts?
Thank you for your responses
I am interested in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps as an excellent alternative. I have already opened and got through half of the applications. I ran into a couple questions/thoughts.
I want to commission as an Active Duty Officer in one of the armed forces (not sure which quite yet?)
I have a few questions:
1. Say I wanted to take a gap year after HS to explore colleges and reboot, would I still have the opportunity to apply for an ROTC 4 year scholarship (to all three branches) for the class of 2024? (I would be c/o 23 if I came right out of HS) Or am I ONLY eligible to apply for a 4 year scholarship for c/o 23?
2. I want to select a major in college that is useful, and that is why I am interested in Technical majors instead of Generalist Majors. If I select a tech major, will that make me more competitive to become a 4 year scholarship winner? Also, let’s say I get the 4 year with a tech major selected and decide I want to switch to another tech major. Would that put my scholarship at risk? (I know engineering degrees are most competitive but I really don’t want to do engineering)
2b. I’ve heard the word tech major alot. I know they help with scholarship chances but can someone explain the scope of these majors? Like give me a few good examples?
3. If I get the scholarship, what college expenses would I still have to pay? I don’t want to sound greedy but I plan to pay back the military and our country with years and years of service.
4. Let’s talk hypothetically:
Let’s says I don’t get accepted into any of the service academies I apply for and decide to re apply. I want to go out-of-state for college, but what if I stayed local, attended my local state school for freshman year without doing ROTC to simply gain credits, prove myself to the academies, and reapply, this time re applying to the academies again plus apply for a 4 year ROTC scholarship to a couple out of state schools. I plan to do all four years at the out of state school. I would have a ton of credits from AP and the freshman year at the local state school to lighted the load.
Would this plan work? Any thoughts?
Thank you for your responses