Is there an advantage to attending a Senior Military Institute?

[nick4060]

Couldn't the 5% be actually attributable to the fact that there is a 5% greater chance that the average student population at the SMC will be more focused on the military than those attending a non-SMC, rather than any special benefit conferred on the enrolled student by the SMC itself? In other words, if you are a non-SMC cadet and totally focused on SFT (and would have done just fine at an SMC) wouldn't you have the same chance at the traditional college than you would at the SMC following this logic?

Spot on in my opinion. My school (VT) had a FT selection rate that was much higher than the national average. But the reason for that had nothing to do with the fact that we're an SMC. Its simply because we're an engineering school and all but a few of our cadets were tech majors.

Selections for FT, AFSCs, etc in AFROTC have to do with these factors: unit commander's ranking, academic major/GPA, PT scores, AFOQT. None of those factors are influenced by being at an SMC.

People should go to an SMC because they want the structured military lifestyle, and the experiences that go along with that. If your only goal is to get commissioned or get a pilot slot, then going to a normal ROTC school doesn't put you at any disadvantage.

 

[Pima]

AFROTC SFT/EA has a formula just like scholarships.

Certain items are masked...scholarship comes to mind.

My formula may be off, but this is what I recall
50% Command rec
15% GPA -- tech majors could bonus points because the assumption is non-tech is easie.
15% PFT.
10% AFOQT/SAT
10% EC.

SMC's are obviously going to max on the EC's because they must be in Corps. Traditional ROTC cadets may opt to be in organizations like Honor Guard, Arnie Air or Angel Flight.

Caveat: my numbers may be off because that is not the same formula for AFSC when it comes to OML.