Is scholarship ROTC considered "work"?

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VAMOM2015

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A bit of a strange question, I know. On one of DS's medical school applications it asks how many hours have you worked each year during the school year. He does not have a part-time job during the academic year, but ROTC is a significant time commitment, and he does receive his scholarship and stipend, and is considered in the reserves. (His school also does not give any course credit for ROTC courses).

How should he answer the question--only allowed to enter the number of hours each school year (no opportunity for explanation). Should he enter "0" or should he enter a number of hours for his ROTC time? If yes, how many hours a week?

I hope someone can shed light on this unusual question. If not he will go with the safe answer of zero hours work and hopefully get a chance to elaborate if he gets an interview.
 
If "considered in the reserves" means he does SMP and drills one weekend a month then I would consider that a job. He gets paid and has taxes withheld.

ROTC by itself is not a job, even though he receives a stipend, it's considered an extra curricular activity. People that do not receive the stipend or scholarship can do it also.

My opinion.:smile:
 
When our DS applied for his internship with a Senator on the Hill he asked the same thing, and they informed him to include his ROTC program as work. It was not considered as an EC because they saw it as a part of his scholarship requirements like if he had a financial aid packet that had work study as part of the aid. For him to retain the scholarship he had to attend all PT and mandatory volunteer hours, plus within the program he had leadership positions which required additional paperwork (peer reviews), Cadre weekly meetings and mentoring of cadets. If he failed to do so, his scholarship could have been revoked, just like if the student on work study did not show up for work they would lose the job.

Thus, to them it was equivalent. He placed @ 15 hours weekly. Did not include LLAB in the number, just the outside of the class hours. He felt that LLAB was a class and should not be placed into the equation.

Personally, I would have him call an admissions advisor at the Med school and ask for guidance on how they would want him to approach this aspect. Putting 500 per year when they see ROTC as a merit scholarship can hurt him just as much as putting 0 down when they see it as a job.
~ I would call all of the schools individually and not assume University of ABC does, thus XYZ College does too. A few hours of his life is worth asking for confirmation from the institution impo.
 
If he didn't have a part time job he should put 0...Didn't know there was a requirement to work a part time job to get into med school.

Is there not some other place on that application where he can indicate he was an ROTC scholarship winner and participated fully?
 
Just being in ROTC is NOT the reserves and even SMP in a lot of instances would be a stretch to call it reserves.
 
My son is a contracted non-scholarship cadet. He used the “work/activities” section of the primary app to thoroughly speak to his AFROTC experience. He individually addressed his ROTC commitment in general, experiences at Field Training (incl. Top Gun, Warrior recognition), his DET wing staff responsibilities and even what he was looking forward to as being a CTA at this summer's FT.

He is not listing ROTC as work on any of his secondary apps but he does have other work experience to include...teaching assistant, tutor, lab assistant. He felt that there is more than enough opportunity to cover ROTC in other places.

I imagine there is no right or wrong answer here...it is up to the applicant to to use the application as a “canvas” to paint a picture...

My son gets back from FT this weekend...he has ALOT of essays to write...I think just finishing the apps should get you into med school...:biggrin:

Good luck to your son...
 
Thanks for all the replies--pretty much what I thought, but its always good to get other opinions!

Irv--Yes, I agree they have so many essays to write they should definitely get in somewhere--otherwise it was a huge time and money drain! Remaining secondaries are on hold because DS is at Ft. Knox. I think it will work out since he got a lot of them done before he left, and others that have come in will only be about 3 weeks old when he returns. I've been monitoring them for DS and have sent him a few essays to ponder that he hadn't received when he left. I hope he at least thinks about what he will write for them when he returns!

He did a good job explaining ROTC commitment elsewhere and he also tutored but that was also volunteer and is mentioned elsewhere in his applications. Since it's only one school that has asked specifically, I don't think its any type of requirement, but another way they can see how you spend your time when not in classes.
 
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