Best way to do schools of intent

sg1fan93

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I just recieved my first acceptance from University of Vermont, but on my school of intent page of my AROTC scholarship app it is currently 4th. My school is Northeastern, but I am not sure I will get into it. So would it be better to put UVM in the first slot, and then if I get accepted to NE change it? or leave it as is? Any help would be greaty appreciated.
 
I assume you are gunning for the second board in Jan. When will you get your admission decisions for NE? If it's before the end of the year, you will have an easy decision.

(a) acceptance: of course you should keep NE as your #1. You should also inform the PMS that you got the acceptance from school.
(b) rejection: remove this school from your list
(c) deferral/wait list: I would still keep the school as #1. If you get the scholarship, this could work as a major hook and help secure an acceptance from NE for you as long as your stats are halfway reasonable by their standard.

If you don't get the admissions decision by the end of this year, I would still choose the option (c) above. Meanwhile keep the schools that have already accepted you pretty close to the top of the list.

Just my two cents..... That and $2.04 will get you a Venti regular from the local Starbucks in our town.
 
Simplistic question...

Are you saying if you were Boarded the October Board, receive a scholarship offer but find you are offered a school(s) other than your first choice, you can throw your name back into the hat for the January Board?
Son has been accepted to his first choice school by the university - but may not land the ROTC scholarship there. Without it, he will be unable to attend.
Where is there information regarding this possibilty??
 
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I was assuming that OP was not boarded on October. If he was boarded but did not get a scholarship, it's just like not having been boarded.

If he was boarded in October, and get a scholarship, but not to his first choice school, my recommendation would be to take it somewhere and work to transfer the scholarship later by staying in VERY close touch with the PMS of the preferred school. Of course, I may be completely off the mark, but this is the consistent advice I got from all the officers my son met/talked with.

Regarding your case, if it is a non binding acceptance, you have nothing to worry about. Even if it was an binding acceptance, note that schools release you from the ED commitment if you demonstrate that you cannot wing it financially. Hence, if your son's ability to attend the school (financially) was predicated on the ROTC scholarship, you have a legitimate cause for a release from the binding ED commitment, and then your son can go to a school that he has a scholarship for.

However, there is a rub. Suppose the school's cost of attendance is $50K a year. Further suppose that according to THEIR formula, your EFC (expected family contribution) is $30K. So, they give you $20K as a financial aid. In this condition, from the school's perspective, you have NO reason to request a release from the binding ED commitment.

In theory, this sounds fair enough. The problem is, in many cases, the school's EFC calculation is very much higher than the family's view of their financial resources. A very frequent source of such a discrepancy is the assets such as the house. Some schools consider these when they determine the family's financial resources. Some schools don't.

So, if you have equity in the house to the tune of $300K, the school may think "great. you can now use that asset to get a home equity loan, etc" However, you may think this is absolutely not a doable option for you for whatever reason.

There are many sources of such discrepancy which leaves the parents with no financial resources they can/or willing to tap into, while from the school's perspective, the family should be easily wing $XXX that they calculated.

I don't know your situation, so I can't say which way. You need to sit down and calculate the EFC using the "school's formula" and see whether you have a cause to ask for a release from the ED commitment.

One last piece of input for you to consider. My son's #2 school's PMS said he has a quota for 2 campus scholarships that are entirely up to him. He plans to make his selection in January. Another PMS of a school on his list said, she will only make her selection for campus scholarship in the fall among the students who have already enrolled in her schools.

I don't know where my S2 got the scholarship in this board (I know he got one, don't know where yet). If he does not get a scholarship to his top two choices, I am going to recommend that he contact the PMS of the #2 school immediately, and see whether he can get a campus scholarship in his school (swap his national scholarship with the campus scholarship).

Another thing to consider: if your son's top choice school is the kind of school that takes students with caliber good enough for USMA, there is a good chance that some of the scholarship awardees will eventually opt for the USMA. If that happens, that scholarship quota will have to be filled in April/May, and I would bet it will go to the student who already got a scholarship to somewhere else but REALLY, REALLY want to come to that school and transfer the scholarship. You need to show a LOT of love to make this happen.

My son's #1 and #2 schools are kind of schools where top 25-50% of the admitted students are good enough/competitive enough for all the service academies. As such, I think there will be some spots release in April/May when the students who were accepted into the service academies will jump ship. In fact, the PMS of the #2 school told me that last year, out of 6 national scholarship winners, 2 jumped ship in favor of the USMA and he filled those positions with students who won the scholarship to somewhere else and wanted to transfer their scholarship to his school.

Good luck.
 
Are you saying if you were Boarded the October Board, receive a scholarship offer but find you are offered a school(s) other than your first choice, you can throw your name back into the hat for the January Board?
Son has been accepted to his first choice school by the university - but may not land the ROTC scholarship there. Without it, he will be unable to attend.
Where is there information regarding this possibilty??

No.
After being awarded a scholarship and the schools that came with it you will not be boarded again.
 
OC Josh is right, you will not be "boarded " again. In plain English, your application will not go before another board. Your application has already been assigned a score and the only thing that will change that score is an increase in either an ACT or SAT score.

What will happen is the application will be brought forth to the next round of scholarships that will be given out after the next board. All of those that are boarded at the second board and all of those who were carried over will be looked at again for the next round of scholarships. Again, the scores will matter.

If you were not fortunate enough to have been picked by this last board, don't give up hope. There are 2 more boards and more scholarships will be given out.

Wishing you and everyone else the best of luck!
 
I posted this reply in a different thread, but I think it's more relevant on this thread.

*******************************

I think one of the important "strategy" pieces of Army ROTC scholarship application is putting together the school of intent.

My S got the scholarship in the October board. The schools where the scholarship were granted really confirm to me again how important it is to put together this list thoughtfully and strategically.

For those who are gunning for the second board, there is another consideration. You need to call around Dec 20th the PMS of the schools you are interested in, and find out whether there is still spot left in his school/battalion. A good chunk of many competitive schools/battalions's quota may be already filled from the first round. So, say, a school is a competitive school and the battalion is popular. Suppose they now have only 2 spots left. In such a case, you had better be an OUTSTANDING applicant in all dimensions. If your GPA, SAT are not at the top range of the school's admitted class, the odds are not good, and you may be wasting a spot on the school of intent list by putting down a school where you really don't have a good shot at.

Those going for the second board should consider this carefully.

That's why I was really concerned that my son may not get selected out of the first board - because it really throws in a lot more complication into the whole equation.
 
Let me just reiterate that you want to make sure you will enjoy the school you're applying to. Just like you shouldn't do a science major to get a scholarship if you hate science, you don't want to have to go to a school that you won't enjoy at all.
 
I posted this reply in a different thread, but I think it's more relevant on this thread.

*******************************

I think one of the important "strategy" pieces of Army ROTC scholarship application is putting together the school of intent.

My S got the scholarship in the October board. The schools where the scholarship were granted really confirm to me again how important it is to put together this list thoughtfully and strategically.

For those who are gunning for the second board, there is another consideration. You need to call around Dec 20th the PMS of the schools you are interested in, and find out whether there is still spot left in his school/battalion. A good chunk of many competitive schools/battalions's quota may be already filled from the first round. So, say, a school is a competitive school and the battalion is popular. Suppose they now have only 2 spots left. In such a case, you had better be an OUTSTANDING applicant in all dimensions. If your GPA, SAT are not at the top range of the school's admitted class, the odds are not good, and you may be wasting a spot on the school of intent list by putting down a school where you really don't have a good shot at.

Those going for the second board should consider this carefully.

That's why I was really concerned that my son may not get selected out of the first board - because it really throws in a lot more complication into the whole equation.

You can call the school on December 20th, but the majority of colleges are closed for Christmas/winter break so I would think getting a hold of the PMS via phone would be hard.

I do know that the PMS of my son's choices very great at answering emails.
 
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