Remaining NROTC Boards

There is no NROTC national 3-year. It is a 4-year. BUT ..... if someone applied as a college programmer (Freshman), and was awarded a national one, it really is a 3-year deal - as my son and I have learned the hard way.

Sideloads are 3 or 2 year, depending on the candidate's class/credit level. They are competed only against those in college and associated with (or requested to be associated with) an active NROTC unit. Much smaller pool. And the CAPT will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the amount of those offered (along with Advanced Standing status) vary each year based on the needs of the Navy and available billets not taken up by already-scholarshipped-candidates and Academy mids.
 
And per the CAPT in another thread, college programmer applicants will no longer be considered in the future for the national one. So they would have to compete under the sideload only.
 
IronmanDaremo said:
And the CAPT will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the amount of those offered (along with Advanced Standing status) vary each year based on the needs of the Navy and available billets not taken up by already-scholarshipped-candidates and Academy mids.
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Because I am such a nice guy, I would never correct you......I simply guide you toward an aura of increased "rightness".....

One advantage NROTC has over the academies is we can bring people along in the sophomore and junior years. This helps keeps our numbers steady for commissioning each year.

So the number of side loads can and does shift from year to year. When those applicants are recommended by the PNS, some are "must picks", some are solid "maybe", and a few are just not going to make it. If we have the money, we try to give every must pick and most of the maybe's a scholarship offer. If we don't, we try to offer Advanced Standing. That's similar to OCS where a student is paying their own tuition but we offer a commission at graduation.
 
Please help! My daughter has 3 weeks to decide the path she will take for the next 4 years! Proudly she was accepted to USNA (a dream and why wouldn't she just take it an run?!?!) but unexpectedly was also offered a four year full tuition scholarship at USC. She did not apply for ROTC 🤦🏻‍♀️

After looking at these boards and then actually speaking to an Air Force Academy recruiter (don't judge!!!) at a recent event - we discovered the sideload option. So she can essentially walk on and participate with the ROTC unit and then apply for the 3 year scholarship.

So now the questions...if she already has a full tuition scholarship from a university, can a sideload scholarship be used to pay for the remaining cost (housing, board, books, medical/health insurance etc)? Is the commitment time after graduation different with a 3 year scholarship vs the academy? Should she be reaching out to USCs unit now or wait till she starts next year?

Ultimately She wants to major in aerospace engineering and possibly be a military pilot, maybe one day an astronaut. Everything at USNA is amazing to her but now suddenly a traditional college experience seems appealing. As a female the draw of USC is that the gender parity in their engineering department is 50/50 vs 25/75 at USNA (as a whole, not sure with engineering so could be less) but we heard there is a preference for academy students over ROTC for service assignments, esp pilots (please tell me this is misinformation!!!) And should she be pursuing Air Force rotc if space force is something she'd like to pursue or would being in NROTC or USNA be just fine (we've watched too much top gun)

Thanks for listening - appreciate any feedback!!!! These are some tough choices!!!
 
botello said:
My son accepted the NROTC and AROTC scholarships and is still waiting on USNA. From what we were told, there is no penalty later declining the ROTC scholarships if you receive an appointment. But you don't want to miss on both.
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Curious - why accept two ROTC scholarships concurrently? Would both ROTC branches be copacetic with this if they found out?
 
Herman_Snerd said:
Curious - why accept two ROTC scholarships concurrently? Would both ROTC branches be copacetic with this if they found out?
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I would assume for two reasons
1- Options, maybe they aren't 100% sure on which branch they want to go into

2- Not all colleges offer all scholarships. There are more than a few schools that may only have AFROTC and not NROTC or vice versa. Accepting both means that college options are more open if they 100% want to do ROTC.
 
JRDinIL said:
It is true that it doesn't lock you in -- if you decide to attend the Academy you just don't use the scholarship and it presumably would go to someone else. My son is trying to choose between NROTC and USNA right now (but after researching it to be sure, we timely accepted the NROTC scholarship to preserve that decision opt
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Herman_Snerd said:
Curious - why accept two ROTC scholarships concurrently? Would both ROTC branches be copacetic with this if they found out?
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We were advised to accept all scholarships in the event he was unable to fully accept one...for example some medical disqualification in one branch that might be waivered in another. Plan B, C...everything we read showed that accepting doesn't commit you to actually taking the scholarship. Hopefully we were advised correctly!
 
Aerogirl22 said:
So now the questions...if she already has a full tuition scholarship from a university, can a sideload scholarship be used to pay for the remaining cost (housing, board, books, medical/health insurance etc)? Is the commitment time after graduation different with a 3 year scholarship vs the academy? Should she be reaching out to USCs unit now or wait till she starts next year?
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Sideload scholarships, just as the National 4 year scholarships, can cover tuition OR room and board. (Not both). Stipends help offset book fees. I don't know about medical insurance but I am thinking no because that would vary quite a bit.

Commitment time is the same for 3 year side loads. I have to go back into the regs to see about 2 year sideloads because I haven't had one in a while.

You had also asked about aviation opportunities between USNA and NROTC. While I am not an aviator I know USNA offers more overall numbers of aviation spots but there are NROTC units that tend to over perform. Last cycle, I had 10 Mids ask for aviation. 9 got it and the one that didn't was volun-told they were a nuke.

The Air Force or Space Force question is best batted over into their forum threads.

As to who to reach out to, and I imagine there would differing thoughts, I think DD should reach out to her BGO first and get some advice. Then check with the NROTC unit, and if there is an AF unit there, I'd ask as well.
 
GWU PNS said:
Sideload scholarships, just as the National 4 year scholarships, can cover tuition OR room and board. (Not both). Stipends help offset book fees. I don't know about medical insurance but I am thinking no because that would vary quite a bit.

Commitment time is the same for 3 year side loads. I have to go back into the regs to see about 2 year sideloads because I haven't had one in a while.

You had also asked about aviation opportunities between USNA and NROTC. While I am not an aviator I know USNA offers more overall numbers of aviation spots but there are NROTC units that tend to over perform. Last cycle, I had 10 Mids ask for aviation. 9 got it and the one that didn't was volun-told they were a nuke.

The Air Force or Space Force question is best batted over into their forum threads.

As to who to reach out to, and I imagine there would differing thoughts, I think DD should reach out to her BGO first and get some advice. Then check with the NROTC unit, and if there is an AF unit there, I'd ask as well.
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Thank you for this!!!!!!
 
It would be a no-brainer for me. Guaranteed full ride, and if she does what SHE needs to, has an amazing shot at flying for the Navy (as long as she is medically qualified for flight). Offers the best and clearest opportunity to reach her goals.

But I'm not your daughter .......
 
GWU PNS said:
It's not over until your DS or DD gets a letter in the mail or the portal reflects non select. They are working through the list and selecting alternates as they go. But this one will trickle out a bit because the worst thing to happen is to overpromise via email and have to send a reclama if someone miscounted.

And add to the potential chaos that USNA is in the process of their announcements.

So, keep checking over the next day or so. And if you selected MSI, that's still going on.
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My DD portal still says “ no decision has been made.” However I read on the forum decisions are out. Does her portal indicate that she should be expecting a decline? She will be running as well as NROTC and coaches are asking her to commit to a school. So happens her number 1 on her list on the Scholarship list is recruiting her as well. She meets with that coach& team tomorrow. However due to the 75k plus a year tuition she doesn’t want to commit to that school unless she has the scholarship as $ for running at that school won’t be a full ride. She is very thoughtful and doesn’t want her parents shelling that much cash out when she has full rides elsewhere in the same consortium and will join as a college programmer if declined the scholarship. Should she email the contact listed on her portal? I’m clueless so I appreciate any guidance.
 
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Jimdlt19 said:
"It ain't over til it's over". "No Decision has Been Made" at this point means ALTERNATE. Keep checking the portal right up until next Friday, April 22nd.
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So April 22 is the final decision day for the NROTC scholarship- nursing option?
 
Raredoughnut said:
So April 22 is the final decision day for the NROTC scholarship- nursing option?
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My understanding is that it may go past that date. As decisions get made by those that have been offered it may open up opportunities for alternates if those that received offers turn them down. Please don't hold that as gospel truth. It is just my understanding of how it works.
 
txseccoach89 said:
My understanding is that it may go past that date. As decisions get made by those that have been offered it may open up opportunities for alternates if those that received offers turn them down. Please don't hold that as gospel truth. It is just my understanding of how it works.
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Thanks!
 
A 3/C told DS today he had never heard of anyone in their battalion that was rejected for the sideload, assuming the CO wanted that person in the battalion, which was a message the CO delivered directly to DS when informing him of being passed over for the National. Not sure I would put stock in this coming from another MIDN but wanted to share nevertheless.
 
With smaller battalions that may very well be true.

The percentages of acceptance are much better for sideloads. But there are a few that don't make. Usually, the reason is either poor grades, poor physical fitness, or other disciplinary problems.

My percentages last year were around 90%.
 
GWU PNS said:
With smaller battalions that may very well be true.

The percentages of acceptance are much better for sideloads. But there are a few that don't make. Usually, the reason is either poor grades, poor physical fitness, or other disciplinary problems.

My percentages last year were around 90%.
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Thank you sir. Encouraging.
 
My DS has DECLINED his Navy NROTC Scholarship- NURSE Option. If you are a Nurse Option alternate check the portal repeatedly today.
In another thread I will post our Navy ROTC - Nurse Option journey.
 
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