tier 3 majors and an NROTC scholarship
- Thread starter marjasse
- Start date
gettingmoregrayhair
5-Year Member
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2012
- Messages
- 42
Tier 3 majors in NROTC are only eligible for 15% of the total scholarships awarded, so the competition is very tough. But it can be done, as my DD received one just this past year.
You don't give any specifics about your son's qualifications. Look at some of the other threads that talk about "am I competitive" to see how he might compare to other applicants.
The best candidates seem to have a combination of great grades, challenging courses - AP level, great test scores, athletics, and leadership roles. Extracurricular activities are great, but rather than just "belonging" to a bunch of clubs, he should have a leadership role in a club or by being a team captain or co-captain on a sport's team.
Also, remember that in NROTC the applicant must be accepted to the university as well as receive the scholarship to that university.
But to misquote someone who says this all the time and it is very true --- You can't be accepted if you don't try!
Good luck!
You don't give any specifics about your son's qualifications. Look at some of the other threads that talk about "am I competitive" to see how he might compare to other applicants.
The best candidates seem to have a combination of great grades, challenging courses - AP level, great test scores, athletics, and leadership roles. Extracurricular activities are great, but rather than just "belonging" to a bunch of clubs, he should have a leadership role in a club or by being a team captain or co-captain on a sport's team.
Also, remember that in NROTC the applicant must be accepted to the university as well as receive the scholarship to that university.
But to misquote someone who says this all the time and it is very true --- You can't be accepted if you don't try!
Good luck!
sorry for not giving more detail.
He is a junior with a 3.5 GPA in a very competitive high school. His GPA suffered because he struggled in latin last year. He has some AP classes.
He is on the swim team(team captain) JV football(team captain) and golf.
He is on lit magazine and will be the leader of it next year.
He is in model un.
He is leading a project where he will be collecting donations of diapers and formula for a local non profit that helps pregnant women.
He is working on getting a nomination for boys state.
He is a junior with a 3.5 GPA in a very competitive high school. His GPA suffered because he struggled in latin last year. He has some AP classes.
He is on the swim team(team captain) JV football(team captain) and golf.
He is on lit magazine and will be the leader of it next year.
He is in model un.
He is leading a project where he will be collecting donations of diapers and formula for a local non profit that helps pregnant women.
He is working on getting a nomination for boys state.
1500 thats great, hopefully thats on 2 sections and not 3. My DS went in as a college programmer in math(tier 2) but wanted to switch to a Finance(tier 3) after the 2nd year. I discouraged it because I thought it would doom his chances of getting a scholarship. He switched anyway and he still got the scholarship. Good thing he didn't listen to me. Coming in on the national pool I think your son will need stellar stats for a tier 3. He must be happy with his choice of major but realize how difficult it will be to be of that 15%.
marjasse,
I took the liberty of having a quick look at your other posts to get an idea whether the 1500 you wrote is 2 part or 3 part. I assume it is 3 part given that your son has mild dyslexia and ADHD and that he has used extended time accomodation twice this year on in-school tests.
Given that, I think it is time for you to take a step back and weigh cost/reward. The cost of your son applying is perhaps 25 hours per Academy or ROTC program, each. Another cost is that of disappointment in failing to gain an Appointment/ROTC scholarship and what it might do to self esteem. Finally, there is the opportunity cost in that those 25 hours per Academy/ROTC program could have been spent developing some other area of possible future employment or service to country.
with a 1500 3 part SAT, and a history of recent ADHD/Dyslexia and accomodation in school, I believe your son's chances are less than 1%. True, he will certainly gain nothing by not applying, but there is also a real cost as measured in a cost/reward review. Do you want him putting in, say 100 hours pursuing two Academies and two ROTC programs with under 1% chance of a positive result? Would those 100 hours result in a better likely return in some other endeaver in his life? An example would be interning at an Architecure firm with those 100 hours. Like all HS Juniors, he is probably stressed to the max and not getting as much sleep as he really should have. Is it wise to add the time/stress of the Academies and ROTCs application processes on top of that, with an extremely small chance of success?
Regarding the ADHD/Dyslexia, those are completely different disqualifying conditions. He would need to attain a waiver for each, separately. I recommend you research this in the DODMERB section of this website. To my knowlege, he would need to show 18 months of no treatment, no drugs, no accomodation for either condition, and show that without treatment/drugs/accomodation, he is able to be toward the top of his class and toward the top of the SAT/ACT, without any accomodations.
Regarding his desire to be a Marine -- I can't think of any area of our military, save driving a plane or Special Forces, where an error in reading an Order would more likely result in lost lives. Do you want your son to ever have to face the possibility of his Dyslexia or ADHD causing him to be distracted, or misread an order, and as a result Marines lives were lost?
Oh, and in response to your initial question/concern about Tier 3... there is no such issue with NROTC - Marine Option. Marine Option has no Tier1/Tier2 targets at all.
I took the liberty of having a quick look at your other posts to get an idea whether the 1500 you wrote is 2 part or 3 part. I assume it is 3 part given that your son has mild dyslexia and ADHD and that he has used extended time accomodation twice this year on in-school tests.
Given that, I think it is time for you to take a step back and weigh cost/reward. The cost of your son applying is perhaps 25 hours per Academy or ROTC program, each. Another cost is that of disappointment in failing to gain an Appointment/ROTC scholarship and what it might do to self esteem. Finally, there is the opportunity cost in that those 25 hours per Academy/ROTC program could have been spent developing some other area of possible future employment or service to country.
with a 1500 3 part SAT, and a history of recent ADHD/Dyslexia and accomodation in school, I believe your son's chances are less than 1%. True, he will certainly gain nothing by not applying, but there is also a real cost as measured in a cost/reward review. Do you want him putting in, say 100 hours pursuing two Academies and two ROTC programs with under 1% chance of a positive result? Would those 100 hours result in a better likely return in some other endeaver in his life? An example would be interning at an Architecure firm with those 100 hours. Like all HS Juniors, he is probably stressed to the max and not getting as much sleep as he really should have. Is it wise to add the time/stress of the Academies and ROTCs application processes on top of that, with an extremely small chance of success?
Regarding the ADHD/Dyslexia, those are completely different disqualifying conditions. He would need to attain a waiver for each, separately. I recommend you research this in the DODMERB section of this website. To my knowlege, he would need to show 18 months of no treatment, no drugs, no accomodation for either condition, and show that without treatment/drugs/accomodation, he is able to be toward the top of his class and toward the top of the SAT/ACT, without any accomodations.
Regarding his desire to be a Marine -- I can't think of any area of our military, save driving a plane or Special Forces, where an error in reading an Order would more likely result in lost lives. Do you want your son to ever have to face the possibility of his Dyslexia or ADHD causing him to be distracted, or misread an order, and as a result Marines lives were lost?
Oh, and in response to your initial question/concern about Tier 3... there is no such issue with NROTC - Marine Option. Marine Option has no Tier1/Tier2 targets at all.
Last edited:
Thanks for replying and all your time and input. What I love about this forum is we have learned so much and it has helped us so much.
When we 1st started this process he was interested in the Naval Academy but because of the extended time issues and some other reasons he decided not to apply. He also looked in the USMMA and decided not to apply for the same reasons.
So his current plan is to apply to various colleges that have his major as well as applying for the NROTC scholarship. This should reduce the amount of hours that he spends on applying. While we realize that the chance for disappointment is very real he believes it is worth trying for. As his mother I will support him and prepare him for the worst. He has overcome so many hurdles in his life thus far that he is willing to take the chance of being rejected.
I realize his SAT test scores are low but his college advisor strongly believes that children with dyslexia/ASHD do better on the ACT because it does not bounce from subject to subject. He can also do the prep class in the summer.
We will see what happens.
When we 1st started this process he was interested in the Naval Academy but because of the extended time issues and some other reasons he decided not to apply. He also looked in the USMMA and decided not to apply for the same reasons.
So his current plan is to apply to various colleges that have his major as well as applying for the NROTC scholarship. This should reduce the amount of hours that he spends on applying. While we realize that the chance for disappointment is very real he believes it is worth trying for. As his mother I will support him and prepare him for the worst. He has overcome so many hurdles in his life thus far that he is willing to take the chance of being rejected.
I realize his SAT test scores are low but his college advisor strongly believes that children with dyslexia/ASHD do better on the ACT because it does not bounce from subject to subject. He can also do the prep class in the summer.
We will see what happens.
Regarding the ADHD/Dyslexia, those are completely different disqualifying conditions. He would need to attain a waiver for each, separately. I recommend you research this in the DODMERB section of this website. To my knowlege, he would need to show 18 months of no treatment, no drugs, no accomodation for either condition, and show that without treatment/drugs/accomodation, he is able to be toward the top of his class and toward the top of the SAT/ACT, without any accomodations.
he has never taken any medication for the ADHD.
Regarding his desire to be a Marine -- I can't think of any area of our military, save driving a plane or Special Forces, where an error in reading an Order would more likely result in lost lives. Do you want your son to ever have to face the possibility of his Dyslexia or ADHD causing him to be distracted, or misread an order, and as a result Marines lives were lost?
There are many forms of dyslexia. his is just that he reads a little slower(not backwards). His reading comprehension is off the charts and his IQ is also very high. Of course I would not encourage this if he would put people in danger. Also if the military feels that way they will not. his dad was in the marines for 8 years and he has dyslexia
he has never taken any medication for the ADHD.
Regarding his desire to be a Marine -- I can't think of any area of our military, save driving a plane or Special Forces, where an error in reading an Order would more likely result in lost lives. Do you want your son to ever have to face the possibility of his Dyslexia or ADHD causing him to be distracted, or misread an order, and as a result Marines lives were lost?
There are many forms of dyslexia. his is just that he reads a little slower(not backwards). His reading comprehension is off the charts and his IQ is also very high. Of course I would not encourage this if he would put people in danger. Also if the military feels that way they will not. his dad was in the marines for 8 years and he has dyslexia