I really want to apply for a National Army Scholarship, but I have a problem. I'm a senior in hs, and my GPA is only a 2.2. I go to a competitive prep school (since 10th grade). It was really hard for me and I did really badly my first year. I've improved a lot, but because of that one year, I only have a 2.2. My ACT score is 31. I'm captain of the football and wrestling teams (lettered in both) and have a ton of community service and leadership awards. Am I completely SOL or does the Army ever make an exception?
Any Chance for me?
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I have seen some people on this board post their GPA's as weighted and un-weighted. I would guess that your GPA is un-weighted. My son's school does not weight the GPA so I have little experience with it. The GPA's seem to be weighted based on Honor's and AP courses taken during high school. I'm not sure if you can use a weighted GPA on the scholarship application, on the form to be filled out by your school advisor thete is a question asking if the GPA is weighted. You would need to talk with your advisor to see how the GPA is listed on your official transcript. If you transcript shows the GPA as 2.2 then I am afraid that you would not meet the minimum standards of 2.5 required for the scholarship. I would doubt that the Army will make any exceptions.
There are other ways to attend College and participate in the ROCT, you can just sign up for the classes as a non-contracted cadet and then apply for a 3 or 2 year scholarship as you progress through school.
You can also look into the SMP program, just search for Army SMP and you will find a great deal of information. Go to a school with a Army ROTC program and discuss your options with them. They will give you all the information you need and help you to find the best path for you to reach your goals. Good Luck.
There are other ways to attend College and participate in the ROCT, you can just sign up for the classes as a non-contracted cadet and then apply for a 3 or 2 year scholarship as you progress through school.
You can also look into the SMP program, just search for Army SMP and you will find a great deal of information. Go to a school with a Army ROTC program and discuss your options with them. They will give you all the information you need and help you to find the best path for you to reach your goals. Good Luck.
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The requirement is a minimum of 2.5 GPA. I don't think you can even start an application unless you meet the minimum. And, frankly, even a 2.5 GPA would not be very competitive against the other applicants. You can email Cadet Command directly and ask (train2lead@usacc.army.mil), but I would think the answer is probably no.
In my humble opinion, your best bet at this point is to go ahead and enroll in ROTC at the college you end up attending, work very hard to improve your academic performance there, and then apply for a campus based scholarship your sophomore year.
In my humble opinion, your best bet at this point is to go ahead and enroll in ROTC at the college you end up attending, work very hard to improve your academic performance there, and then apply for a campus based scholarship your sophomore year.
I also go to prep school. To my knowledge, none of the New England Prep Schools have a weighted GPA. I don't know where you are from, but I would venture to say that your school does the same. It is a sad fact, as GPA's for prep students would be higher at a public school. I went to public school for a while, and my GPA was about 0.5 higher than it is now. I know that the work is more demanding at prep school, and that your GPA has gone down, but I would echo the opinions of previous posts who have told you about the SMP program, or simply joining the ROTC branch at the school of your choice. Chances are you are competitive against other applicants, but the regulations call for a 2.5. Good luck
I also go to prep school. To my knowledge, none of the New England Prep Schools have a weighted GPA. I don't know where you are from, but I would venture to say that your school does the same. It is a sad fact, as GPA's for prep students would be higher at a public school. I went to public school for a while, and my GPA was about 0.5 higher than it is now. I know that the work is more demanding at prep school, and that your GPA has gone down, but I would echo the opinions of previous posts who have told you about the SMP program, or simply joining the ROTC branch at the school of your choice. Chances are you are competitive against other applicants, but the regulations call for a 2.5. Good luck
Goaliegirl's NE prep school calculated GPA with weighting. In fact, it was quite a complex formula with the amount of boost from Honors/AP classes dependent upon how many you were taking simultaneously. Strange thing is that they only use weighted GPA to determine val and sal (no ranking beyond that, except they actually calculated it for goaliegirl's application - it was quite time consuming).
I agree though that NE prep schools cost students at least .5 on their GPA.
More importantly, CadetMom777 gives good advice. OP may be out of the running for a scholarship, but it doesn't mean that he cannot participate.
My apologies, goaliedad. I shouldn't have generalized like that. But I can totally agree that the class rank thing is very, very long. My school does not calculate it either. Again, ROTC, I'm not sure where you are from. If you go to school in Western MA, then I can help.
That's what I was afraid of. Yeah, I am sure my GPA would have been a lot higher at my public school, but I wouldn't have had the opportunities I had by going to this school (small class size, many leadership opportunities, and just a chance to really challenge yourself) so, I guess I still got the better deal in the long run. I'm not a big fan of standardized tests, but was hoping that my score would show them I have what it takes --especially since my grades kept improving with each consecutive year.
I will definitely do ROTC at whatever school I go to, it will just be a little harder finding the money to pay for the school.
I will definitely do ROTC at whatever school I go to, it will just be a little harder finding the money to pay for the school.
I think it is unanimous with regards to the choice to attend prep school. I can already see the benefits of boarding school with how goaliegirl is dealing with all of the challenges in college life, from handling school administrative issues to managing time and scheduling conflicts between ROTC and athletics to not getting caught up in the drama of dorm life.
Getting back to the issue of class rank and GPA, without going into specifics, goaliegirl's UW GPA would have put her around the 50th percentile of the local suburban HS where she was close to being in the top single digits in actual rank (1st through Nth) in her graduating class at boarding school.
Point here to ROTC is to hold your head high for what you have achieved.
And if cost is a major concern (I can completely understand), remember the quality of a college experience is not necessarily correlated to the retail price of that experience. Make sure to have a couple of solid (hopefully in-state or in a state like NY where OOS tuition is more managable) publics on your list where your desired field of study has a strong program.
Getting back to the issue of class rank and GPA, without going into specifics, goaliegirl's UW GPA would have put her around the 50th percentile of the local suburban HS where she was close to being in the top single digits in actual rank (1st through Nth) in her graduating class at boarding school.
Point here to ROTC is to hold your head high for what you have achieved.
And if cost is a major concern (I can completely understand), remember the quality of a college experience is not necessarily correlated to the retail price of that experience. Make sure to have a couple of solid (hopefully in-state or in a state like NY where OOS tuition is more managable) publics on your list where your desired field of study has a strong program.