Hi,
I've been accepted into Texas A&M, but unfortunately, I didn't secure any 4-year scholarships, so right now I'm trying to plan my next move. With the Army, is it common for cadets to get 3-year scholarships while in college? My understanding with the Navy was that recent reductions to NROTC scholarship budgets has made it nearly impossible to obtain a side-load scholarship. Is the same true of the Army?
Thanks!
If you look through the ROTC threads active this week, you will find a thread exactly about a NROTC sideload scholarship. Not impossible, but very tough to get because you are competing against a lot of folks in your battalion.
As to whether AROTC is any easier than NROTC, one thing we can say is around here is "every year is different".
The same can be said for every campus for each branch. Some have more campus scholarships to award than others. The best source for this information is the cadre at the various campuses. They won't know what the situation will be in 2 or 3 years, but they do know how the last 2 or 3 years have been. If there hasn't been many given in recent years, odds are not as good as for a campus that has awarded scholarships in the recent past. Of course, past performance is no guarantee of future returns, but most cadre will give you an idea of the type of cadet who has earned a campus scholarship (college GPA, ECs, athletics, etc.).
One last note - SMCs tend to have the stiffest competition for campus scholarships as they have the most cadets and perhaps the most competitive nature (due to their programs). If you will need the scholarship to be able to complete 4 years at A&M, I would strongly suggest you try another school where you may be at the top of your academic class (hint - GPA is critical and they don't hand out A's like they do in HS). Yeah, it won't be the 24x7 lifestyle but the reality is that first you must pay the bills and don't count on student loans to carry the day until Uncle Sam comes through.
Sorry to sound harsh, but there are no shortcuts to the scholarship and no guarantees that they will be available when you need them. There are better odds and lesser odds. Choose a school where you can pay with or without scholarship and look at anything you get as gravy.
Best of luck with your decision.