Dual-enrollment?

Hey guys. I'm applying for both an Air Force and Army ROTC scholarship for Fall 2011... and on the Air Force ROTC website it says, under eligibility, that you must not have been enrolled full-time at a college prior to Fall 2011 unless it is a joint high school/college program. Does dual-enrollment fall under this category?

Also, on the Navy's ROTC site, it says that an applicant must not have more than 30 credit hours in college... do they make exceptions for dual-enrolled students? I'm currently dual-enrolled and will have 36 hours by the time I graduate.

Thank you!

I am dual enrolled as well. I'll have exactly 28 hours by the time I graduate. The way dual enrollment works is that if you take the class for credit at your high school it doesn't count towards college credit (it may exempt you at some colleges, but won't count towards your credit--this varies by school). So lets say you take calc through dual enrollment because you need calc at your high school, this won't count at most colleges (again may exempt you). However, if you take a class that is outside of your high school requirements it will count towards credit. For example I'm taking Abnormal Psychology, and this will count towards college credit because it is outside of my high school requirements.

This is the way it was explained to me (for NROTC, I'm not applying for AF and Army, so not sure how it works with them) but go ahead and verify with your recruiter/coordinator. Once you turn in your application for NROTC, you will immediately be assigned a recruiter/coordinator. Call this person and ask the question.

Hmmm... I think I see what you're saying. Thanks for the response, and I'll check with a recruiter as soon as I put in my app.

My son's NROTC recruiter explained that any college credit (dual enrollment or otherwise) earned BEFORE high school graduation does not disqualify you from 4 year NROTC scholarship.

Ahhh OK, that makes sense. Thank you!

For AROTC, that was one of the things I highlighted on my application. Because I went to a hs that offers no AP/IB, I used college classes to show I was challenging myself.

Good to know it can't hurt, then. I'm homeschooled, so I guess you could say my school offers no IB/AP as well. x]

Having college credit could cause a problem if it causes you to attend college for less than 4 years. You need 4 years to complete all the military science classes. I saw applicants get disqualified this year because they didn't verify that they had four full years of college. Be prepared to explain your academic plan, and be prepared to not be eligible for the high school scholarship, but to compete for a campus based 3 1/2 or 3 year scholarship if you are going to graduate early.

clarksonarmy said:

Having college credit could cause a problem if it causes you to attend college for less than 4 years. You need 4 years to complete all the military science classes. I saw applicants get disqualified this year because they didn't verify that they had four full years of college. Be prepared to explain your academic plan, and be prepared to not be eligible for the high school scholarship, but to compete for a campus based 3 1/2 or 3 year scholarship if you are going to graduate early.

Click to expand...

i.e. don't get agressive with your load at college. 12-13 units per term should keep you on course to use 8 semesters before hitting 120 units while remaining full-time (another requirement for the scholarship) if you are starting with 28 units. Will make it a bit easier to keep ut the high GPA.

Of course, you should have talk with an advisor, get a degree audit report and have a plan in place, and of course get your cadre to sign off before you start classes freshman year.

I applied and got an Air Force ROTC scolarship last year!! Oh Yeah!! Good luck to everyone trying this year! Nothing about my dual-enrollment credit ever came up. I only had 21 hours of dual-enrollment but I don't think it really matters how much you have. The question is asking if your a full time college student, you are not. To be full time college student you have to take at least 12-16 credit hours a semester. I am really sure you are not doing this.

So, I've read elsewhere on this forum (but can't find it now...) that one can still apply for the 4-year scholarship AFTER you graduate - IF you haven't taken more than 30 semester hours of college credit.

My DS is interested in healthcare, applied for the Nursing option but wasn't selected - did get offered 3-year scholarships at a couple schools, but we can't afford Year 1 without the scholarship. SO...Plan B is to go to local community college and take pre-requisite courses for a nursing degree (UNDER 30 hours), improve SAT / ACT scores & show strong college-level GPA to improve his chances, and apply again for the 4-year program - and just have a lesser courseload for the next 4 years because he took these classes this coming year.

He's interested in walking on to the wrestling team also, and that plus ROTC on top of the BSN curriculum could be a VERY demanding load, so taking this year for pre-requisites so the next 4 aren't so heavy seems smart.

Any feedback? Thanks!

goaliedad; I assume that by units you mean credit hours? I'm actually going to have about 36 hours by the time I graduate, not 28, but I see what you're saying. And is the 120 hours/8 semesters a requirement of army, air force, or both?

Runningman; Congrats! Yeah, I'm going to have a bit more than that, because I'll be full-time this Fall, but I'm starting to think it won't be a problem.

Hwt; I don't really know a lot about the scholarships yet, but that seems like a good plan to me. Sorry I can't offer much more feedback than that, like I said, don't know much about this yet.

Pahndah said:

goaliedad; I assume that by units you mean credit hours? I'm actually going to have about 36 hours by the time I graduate, not 28, but I see what you're saying. And is the 120 hours/8 semesters a requirement of army, air force, or both?

Runningman; Congrats! Yeah, I'm going to have a bit more than that, because I'll be full-time this Fall, but I'm starting to think it won't be a problem.

Hwt; I don't really know a lot about the scholarships yet, but that seems like a good plan to me. Sorry I can't offer much more feedback than that, like I said, don't know much about this yet.

Click to expand...

You are correct about the reference to units and credit hours.

The 120 number is the number of hours generally required for MOST undergraduate degrees (BS, BA, BFA, etc.). It is my understanding that the ROTC scholarship will pay for 8 semesters of tuition (on a 4-year scholarship) only as long as the student has not completed the requirements for the undergraduate degree (no paying for second degrees or graduate degrees on this scholarship).

So as long as the cadet has not completed the university's degree at the end of the 7th semester (119 hours out of 120), they will pay for the last semester of 12 hours (required for full-time status) that will complete the degree.

There are many degrees (architecture comes to mind here) that require much more than 120 hours. And many universities make it difficult to take all the required courses for some degrees in any less than 8 terms because of sequencing of courses (this is often the case in engineering type degrees). So, I wouldn't worry too much about having too many credits until you actually get to discuss the situation with an advisor at the university.

The issue of 8 semesters by the military (all branches I believe) is the sequence of course work (8 classes) that all cadets must complete. Generally the last 4 classes must be completed in the last 4 terms of enrollment, whereas the first 4 classes can be compressed (typically for 3.5 or 3 year cadets on that lenght of scholarship) and completed before that time.

I hope this makes things clearer.

That makes a lot of sense, thanks.

Pahndah, I sent you a pm.