NROTC Scholarship Major?

A

aglages

10-Year Member
5-Year Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
2,651
My daughter was awarded a NROTC Nursing Scholarship back in December, however I have a question for those people that received a "regular" NROTC scholarship (not MC or Nursing Option):
Did your scholarship award letter specify your specific major or did it refer to just a "Tier" and then you had to select your major from that Tier?
For instance the AFROTC Scholarships award "Technical", "Non Technical" or "Any Major" and then you then commit (choose) to your major within those "Types" after you've received the scholarship. Are the NROTC scholarships similar?
Thanks.
 
When my son received his NROTC scholarship it was for TierII, to first his choice school. Then during last summer the paperwork from unit had the contract and again on it he had to commit to specific Major. The school (VMI) he had as first choice also had him declare a major right off the bat - so his contract actually is now for a Tier I -Mechanical Engineering.
 
Thanks larry2013! just to clarify: When your son first received his scholarship notification it did not include a specific major, but did include a Tier (Tier 2)? When he committed to his major (during the Summer) he actually chose a Tier 1 major and the Navy (and his unit) did not have a problem with him moving "up" the Tier ladder? Of course I'm sure that it is important to have been accepted into the college and major that you have selected and have been assigned. That is just the information that I was looking for...thanks again!

Anybody else have any experience?
 
My son would have probably kept with the Tier II that scholarship award said (yes I do believe all the award letter said was Tier II - I remember going back and reading what Tier II covered), but once he knew he would be going to VMI he had to abide by their paperwork. For that school, with the final acceptance letter I think, I had to list what his major was, what military branch he would do PT with. VMI hadnt gotten his scholarship award at this point, but he had received letter from Navy unit. So to fill out the forms for VMI, he looked at the catalog of classes for each major - he settled with mechancial engineering - gave him the calc, chem, etc classes he wanted for the first year (re reapplied to usna).
Then as we moved into the middle of summer, he received lots of paperwork for the Navy unit at VMI, the contract that was provided had a blank for him to indentify his major - so he put down what he had declared for VMI.
I did realize that he was changing, moving up if you will, to Tier I - I wondered what the Navy unit would say. I was worried (am a momma) about it being most difficult and what if he needed to go back to Math major -
Nothing was said from Navy - we attended an early morning meeting the first day at VMI with Navy - at that time all the paperwork was turned in and what needed to be signed and witnessed was done then.
My son's first semester gpa 3.6 - made the Dean's list, Navy people have been talking with him about field of interest for commissioning - since he was doing so well no mention has made regarding the Tier.
This semester, as with each to follow, will carry 17-18 credit hours. It looks like he will again do well, not much over 3.0 - but the Navy unit continues to tell him he is doing good. Most importantly he really loves the engineering and math classes so it would appear we were lucky with his major being exactly what he really loves.
I hope this explains - I know that he has a terrific unit, the staff is always polite and happy to answer even a parent's question - so I would really encourage you to call your child's unit and speak with them.
larrys mom
 
Last edited:
Thanks again larry2013! I appreciate you providing all the details of your son's NROTC scholarship journey. Sounds as though he is doing very well. I'm sure he'll be a fine Navy officer / ME someday.
 
Our son's letter only says Tier 1.

He plans to major in aerospace, but all engineering majors start of as "general engineering" at Va Tech.
 
Thanks CronusMom! Yours and larry2013 posts seem to confirm that NROTC scholarship awardees have some flexibility within their own Tiers or higher to choose a major. Of course you still need to be accepted at the school that the Navy approves you for and that school will need to offer your major.
 
Also, although our son indicated aerospace specifically as his major on his NROTC scholarship application, he was told that he could switch majors AS LONG AS he stuck with one listed under Tier 1. Plus, a couple of the schools on his top 5 list did not have aerospace, in which case he could study mechanical or choose another engineering major within Tier 1.

In past years it was possible to change majors from Tier 1 to Tier 2 (although not encouraged), but we were told that the Navy will no longer allow that option. We know of one young man who went from engineering (Tier 1) to geography (Tier 2) after his first semester because the math was just killing him. I believe our son will do well in engineering, but without the option to switch out of engineering, I presume one would lose their scholarship (?). Maybe not having the option to switch encourages the student to do well. :rolleyes:
 
Thanks again CronusMom! My son is considering a major in Tier 1 and a major in Tier 2. Sounds as though he should put the Tier 2 major on his NROTC application and list a college that he can get into and that has both possible majors as his first choice college.

I know that the Navy says that 85% of their scholarships are given to students majoring in Tier 1 & 2 subjects, but has anyone seen a further breakdown between those Tiers? I am curious how much of a hit your chances take by selecting a Tier 2 major.
 
My son was granted a scholarship with a Tier II major but he is in the process (as a freshman) of trying to change to a Tier I major. The challenge has been with transferring within the university, not a problem with the scholarship. My understanding is that all of the students must take a year of Calculus and a year of Physics and then they can pick their major within Tier I if that's their assigned Tier or within Tier I or Tier II if they were a Tier II student. For his college, it's harder to get into some of the colleges (in his case Engineering) than it is to change tiers for the scholarship. But he was accepted into a limited enrollment program for Architecture and he's doing great in his classes so it should be fine.
 
Thank you Centhea! I'd totally overlooked the possibility of there being a problem within the university. I had imagined that if you were already in the engineering school that movement within the various engineering specialties during the first (mostly standard classes) year would not be an issue. I did fail to consider that some of those engineering majors might be very competitive and have limited opportunities for students changing from one engineering major to another. Thanks again for the heads up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top