The ROTC application is quite different from the Academy application process.
The Academy application process includes the direct application to the academy and the requirement of a nomination source. I will not go into too much detail on nominating sources because that information is both publicly provided and has been detailed on the forum before, but mostly because I can't promise everything I know about the process is 100% correct.
Your DS must apply through the online application directly to the Academy through their website.
During that, your DS must also aquire a nominating source from one or more of your Congressman, Senators, the VP, the POTUS, and several other selective sources (they have requirements such as being an ROTC cadet, MOH recipient's child, etc.)
The letter to your congressman can be pre-formatted and found on the Academy website. You just plug in your information.
That letter, being sent to your Congressman/Senator(s), should illicit a response from them in the form of another application packet. This is the application for their nomination. Your DS must fill it out and return it to them in a timely manner. Check each nomination source for their own deadlines.
Eventually, your DS will have to go to the nominating source and be interviewed. He will compete with other candidates for the nomination (again, I will not go into too much detail because I have not verified 100% of the information I know and I do not want to give you false info by mistake).
If your DS recieves a nomination from any source AND the Academy accepts his initial application (the two work independently of another) then your DS will receive an appointment.
There are many more details involved in this and other ways to get the Appointment in the end, but this is the general path all things follow and is what you need to begin. He must go through the entire USAFA website (well not really, but I did and it helped!) and his congressman and senators websites to get more details on each process. He must do EVERYTHING EARLY. Because dates have a habit of creeping up on you.
Good luck!
Sorry, I forgot the ROTC process.
ROTC is just one application with AFROTC through their website. If you qualify by each board meeting, they will determine if you receive a scholarship or not. They have more to offer in the beginning, so finished your application ASAP helps in the long run. There will be an interview in this process as well as the USAFA application.
Also, any times I say "you" or "your" I am referring to your DS. Parents may lend a helping hand, but nothing shows independence like your DS being able to say during his interviews, "This is my work."
