Weight of Sports in ROTC Application

[nickolai77]

Hello everybody. I am a high school junior and get good grades and have gotten above-average SAT scores. I also serve my community in leadership positions. I also do theater after school as a lead role. Therefore, I have not had time to participate in any competitive sports in high school, unlike middle school. However, I am a member of the NRA and am working my way up the ladder to hopefully earn the Distinguished Expert rating through the NRA. I also plan to try out for varsity track and field in the spring. I understand this is an opinion question, but will my absence of sports before junior year be detrimental to my application, and can my leadership positions and academic achievements make up for it? I keep myself in good physical condition through my own individual fitness program and have gotten straight A's in Physical Education throughout high school. If I get a obtain a good score on the PFA, will that compensate? Any thoughtful advice is very much appreciated. Thank you again. I really appreciate it.

 

[Just_A_Mom]

but will my absence of sports before junior year be detrimental to my application, and can my leadership positions and academic achievements make up for it? I keep myself in good physical condition through my own individual fitness program and have gotten straight A's in Physical Education throughout high school. If I get a obtain a good score on the PFA, will that compensate?

Yes, the absences of sports will hurt your application. You can possibly make up for this by excellent academics and other leadership.
Maxing (or close) on the Fitness test in your application will absolutely enhance it.

For ROTC, athletics is important but not as important as for West Point. There is nothing you can do now - so work hard to enhance your application with what you have. The Army looks for scholar/leader/athletes. They know every candidate won't be strong in all three. A strength in two areas can indeed make up for a weakness in one area.
Apply early and accentuate the positive!

 

[vampsoul]

May I recommend maybe doing some type of sports camp over the summer that you can put on your application just to add some athletic attributes to it?

 

[awhin3]

You have time to train before you need to apply. Work hard this spring and summer, and try to post great scores on the fitness test for the app.

 

[nickolai77]

Thank you for the very helpful advice everybody. However, I still am curious about a few things.Will my participation as an NRA member and being qualified as a marksman and hopefully higher help my application in the sport area? Does participation in PE and the grades in that area count as well? What score do you think is necessary to compensate for lack of sports because of dedication to other cirricular activities? What percentage of the application does sports make up and exactly how heavy of an influence is placed on it? Also, I know theater does not really mean much in the military, except perhaps as a public affairs officer, but will that count for anything if I have auditioned and received lead roles in every production? We do practice teamwork in the theater as well! Thank you again.

 

[The OC Josh]

I've heard that ROTC looks at sports to see your fitness level so excelling on the PT test should help them see your level.

I did martial arts for 4 years during high school. No varsity sports at all. Because of the strength of the other aspects of my application I still got a scholarship. So work hard, but not having a bunch of sports does not mean you don't get a scholarship.

 

[aglages]

In addition to fitness, I think the military also looks at sports for a sense of teamwork, leadership and competitiveness. While not having organized sports on your resume probably won't prevent you from receiving a ROTC scholarship, having them will certainly help your application. Good luck!