ERAU,
I would look at that the true impact is not SFT for the cadets, but the promotions for the Cadre.
Posters tend to forget that many of the staff will meet promotion boards and will have their annual OPRs written while assigned to the det. Again, look at what Bullet and Flieger posted on the resume thread. A Captain or Major up for promotion will benefit under their job assignment being at a det. that is nationally ranked.
I would also think that it is "sales" tactic for recruiting cadets. 17 yos hear/read that this det has been Nationally recognized multiple times. The 17 yo torn between 1 college and another may see this as an advantage, when in reality as it has been stated if there is any value at all, it is truly neglibile. They are either going to shine or they aren't.
I have always said look at how you ask the question, and what questions you ask to get the real look or what they are saying.
For example:
ERAU states that they give out the 2nd highest amount of rated slots, after the AFA.
~~ This is true.
However, the question that should have been asked was not the amount, but the % of cadets that get a rated slot, or specifically the rated slot you want.
~~ A couple of yrs ago (11) VT had less slots in numbers, mainly due to their size. Yet, statistically they had a higher rate of slots awarded. Our DS at a nationally recognized det. had statistically a higher % than ERAU, but people heard #2 in awarding rate and translated it in their mind as best chance.
~ They purchased a sales pitch.
Had the 17 yo asked that question, they may have decided to go to VT over ERAU.
Many 17 yos never find this site, yet they get the congrats letter saying they were awarded a Type 1, 2 or 7. What they don't understand is that SFT selection is a factor.
~~ They may ask what are the stats needed for SFT selection, but what they should be asking is what is the % of the cadets selected for SFT from that det. Everyone knows the national avg. for the cgpa, but for each college the stats maybe a little different, and you want to place the cgpa and the % together when comparing schools.
The same can be said about the Right of Line award. They will tout it as being nationally recognized back to back. A 17 yo can see this as truly the best det in the nation.
However, here is the problem. Det leadership changes constantly. The CoC they interview with may PCS over the summer before they arrive. That new CoC will be different and the atmosphere in the det will change under their leadership.
I agree with non-ducor they do like to switch it up. I know for a fact that Det 330 won the best in the nation (large) in 2012 for the 2011/12. The reason I know this as a fact is when they win the big one, the guest speaker at the spring Dining Out was the guy in charge of HQ AFROTC from Maxwell. The spring dining out is also the awards night, and the sr. formal. I was there, and there was a loud noise from the crowd when he said I want to congratulate all of you for being selected as the best in the nation.
I know our DS had stated to me that night that the det had won it a few yrs earlier... I think in 08. To him this was really not worth anything at all. The parents are always more impressed than the cadets.
OBTW, before anyone flames me. I will bet my Myrtle each det. has a a sales pitch. I know our DS's det. did. They stated 95% of the cadets that carry a B avg and request rated, get rated. This is was my 1st clue that some state numbers, and some state stats. We had to decipher between the two. Best explanation I can give is one det. talks ACT and the other talks SAT. You have to convert the results so they are both the same.
At my det, there was a 100% selection last year (9 out of 9) but a couple cadets ended up being medically DQ'ed and didn't actually get to go to field training. This year there are 18 of us and ours is the biggest class at our det (even the AS 100 class is smaller). Hopefully we'll get a good selection rate. I think that the reason the selection rates are generally high at my det is because most of us are engineers. 