I had a few conversations with several PMSs. Since I learned so much from this board, I would like to share what I learned.
*** 4 year scholarship vs. 3 year advanced designee scholarship.
I asked them who decides whether a candidate gets 4 yr or 3 yr scholarship. Well, it sounds like though CC has the last say, the local det has a lot of influence. , After the CC sends downs the initial list to the local PMS, if the local PMS feels that the candidate is sort of a borderline, he/she can say "we recommend 3 year scholarship" to the CC. Sometimes, if the local PMS does not "recommend" the candidate, CC puts him/her down for a 3 year scholarship. One PMS told me "Oh, we won't recommend 3 yr scholarship for your son. From us, he is going down for 4 year" (he said this while he was going over my S's application he downloaded). Of course, ultimately, it's the CC's decision, but we all know, there is a wide margin for "local" influence.
I asked them if 3 yr scholarship is for the candidates who did not look like thoroughly committed, the answer was NO. It's all about the candidate's qualification and fit for the school.
*** Expensive school vs. inexpensive school
If your S or D is gunning for a private school, the odds are much better if the school s/he chose is NOT a cross town affiliate school while a majority or the hosting school (where the battalion is located) are public. This was an important factor for us. On my S's school list, except for a state flagship, every school is a private school. I was worried that since he is going to be a such an "expensive" candidate, CC will decide not to humor him.
I point blank asked one PMS "the school you are at is a private school. Then there are bunch of cross town affiliates that are public. Won't CC allocate most of the scholarship headcount to the students from public schools?" She said, "all of my scholarship cadets of this freshman year are from this school (pricey one). You must realize that this school invested a lot to host the battalion, and continues to provide direct and indirect support. We (Army) "respect and appreciate" that". Given that majority of the scholarships are awarded to the public school cadets, after giving scholarship to private school cadets going to the hosting school, there may not be enough room to "accommodate" the scholarship candidates wanting to go to a private cross town affiliate school of a battalion drawing a majority of cadets from hosting public school.
After this conversation, I advised my son to drop any expensive private school that is not a hosting school from his school of intent list (with one exception: a cross town affiliate school where every school of the battalion is a private school, and this cross town affiliate has the largest number of cadets in that battalion).
***** Admissibility to the school and scholarship odds
I thought in this tough competition year, you have to be at the upper end of the general admitted student population in a given school to be a viable ROTC scholarship candidate. I was wrong. All three PMS (all private schools in the top 30-70 range) told me that the 4 year scholarship cadets they have now this fall as freshmen all have about mid range stats (GPA, SAT, etc). they also indicated that a borderline candidate in terms of admissibility into the school benefit from the fact that s/he won a ROTC scholarship (no surprise there).
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I was pretty amazed by the level of candid feedback and insight they shared with me. They all downloaded my son's application packet, and went over several points. I even got feedback on how my S2 might benefit from rephrasing some part of the personal statement, since S can still make changes before the file is closed on Oct 18. One of them was already familiar with my S's application since he read it several days before, even before I called, and said "I am glad that your son upped the priority for my school, since I saw the change this morning". Another one told me that so far among the candidates who put their school on the list, S is within top 10% in terms of desirability from their perspective. Of course, none of this matters if the CC does NOT choose him as one of the initial list of candidates they send down to the local battalions.
Moral of the story: call the local battalion officers. They are in general very helpful bunch. Don't worry about looking like a helicopter parent or making your S/D look like a passive passenger. The kind of discussion like this os way above the pay grade of a teenager. I don't think they would have been so candid and open with a teenager with this kind of information sharing and conversation. And they know that unlike applying to a tippy top school under duress and parental pressure, most kids apply to ROTC because of their own determination - so it does now go down as "lazy kid and over bearing parent".
(I apologize for any grammar error or typo. I am doing this on the go)
*** 4 year scholarship vs. 3 year advanced designee scholarship.
I asked them who decides whether a candidate gets 4 yr or 3 yr scholarship. Well, it sounds like though CC has the last say, the local det has a lot of influence. , After the CC sends downs the initial list to the local PMS, if the local PMS feels that the candidate is sort of a borderline, he/she can say "we recommend 3 year scholarship" to the CC. Sometimes, if the local PMS does not "recommend" the candidate, CC puts him/her down for a 3 year scholarship. One PMS told me "Oh, we won't recommend 3 yr scholarship for your son. From us, he is going down for 4 year" (he said this while he was going over my S's application he downloaded). Of course, ultimately, it's the CC's decision, but we all know, there is a wide margin for "local" influence.
I asked them if 3 yr scholarship is for the candidates who did not look like thoroughly committed, the answer was NO. It's all about the candidate's qualification and fit for the school.
*** Expensive school vs. inexpensive school
If your S or D is gunning for a private school, the odds are much better if the school s/he chose is NOT a cross town affiliate school while a majority or the hosting school (where the battalion is located) are public. This was an important factor for us. On my S's school list, except for a state flagship, every school is a private school. I was worried that since he is going to be a such an "expensive" candidate, CC will decide not to humor him.
I point blank asked one PMS "the school you are at is a private school. Then there are bunch of cross town affiliates that are public. Won't CC allocate most of the scholarship headcount to the students from public schools?" She said, "all of my scholarship cadets of this freshman year are from this school (pricey one). You must realize that this school invested a lot to host the battalion, and continues to provide direct and indirect support. We (Army) "respect and appreciate" that". Given that majority of the scholarships are awarded to the public school cadets, after giving scholarship to private school cadets going to the hosting school, there may not be enough room to "accommodate" the scholarship candidates wanting to go to a private cross town affiliate school of a battalion drawing a majority of cadets from hosting public school.
After this conversation, I advised my son to drop any expensive private school that is not a hosting school from his school of intent list (with one exception: a cross town affiliate school where every school of the battalion is a private school, and this cross town affiliate has the largest number of cadets in that battalion).
***** Admissibility to the school and scholarship odds
I thought in this tough competition year, you have to be at the upper end of the general admitted student population in a given school to be a viable ROTC scholarship candidate. I was wrong. All three PMS (all private schools in the top 30-70 range) told me that the 4 year scholarship cadets they have now this fall as freshmen all have about mid range stats (GPA, SAT, etc). they also indicated that a borderline candidate in terms of admissibility into the school benefit from the fact that s/he won a ROTC scholarship (no surprise there).
**********************************
I was pretty amazed by the level of candid feedback and insight they shared with me. They all downloaded my son's application packet, and went over several points. I even got feedback on how my S2 might benefit from rephrasing some part of the personal statement, since S can still make changes before the file is closed on Oct 18. One of them was already familiar with my S's application since he read it several days before, even before I called, and said "I am glad that your son upped the priority for my school, since I saw the change this morning". Another one told me that so far among the candidates who put their school on the list, S is within top 10% in terms of desirability from their perspective. Of course, none of this matters if the CC does NOT choose him as one of the initial list of candidates they send down to the local battalions.
Moral of the story: call the local battalion officers. They are in general very helpful bunch. Don't worry about looking like a helicopter parent or making your S/D look like a passive passenger. The kind of discussion like this os way above the pay grade of a teenager. I don't think they would have been so candid and open with a teenager with this kind of information sharing and conversation. And they know that unlike applying to a tippy top school under duress and parental pressure, most kids apply to ROTC because of their own determination - so it does now go down as "lazy kid and over bearing parent".
(I apologize for any grammar error or typo. I am doing this on the go)
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