Ideal time to send in AROTC scholarship app?

Hello, I'm a junior in High school wanting to apply for a ROTC scholarship. I graduate in the spring of 2012, so i would be going to college as a freshman in the fall of that year.

What would be the best time to apply for my scholarship? (ex. my senior year September, late my junior year)

And should I apply for a scholarship first or to the schools i want to get accepted to?


One more thing.. How competitive would I be?

My gpa is 3.7 unweighted
I'm in the debate and speech club
member of Junior steering (they do junior class events)
I'm a PASS volunteer
I also play spring and fall season inline hockey
haven't taken my ACT yet (i have a date set up though)

Not gonna weigh in on competitiveness, but you should work on the online app sometime around June or July of 2011 (the summer between jr and sr year).

GOOD LUCK!

Stamkos said:

Hello, I'm a junior in High school wanting to apply for a ROTC scholarship. I graduate in the spring of 2012, so i would be going to college as a freshman in the fall of that year.

What would be the best time to apply for my scholarship? (ex. my senior year September, late my junior year)

And should I apply for a scholarship first or to the schools i want to get accepted to?


One more thing.. How competitive would I be?

My gpa is 3.7 unweighted
I'm in the debate and speech club
member of Junior steering (they do junior class events)
I'm a PASS volunteer
I also play spring and fall season inline hockey
haven't taken my ACT yet (i have a date set up though)

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Thanks for the fast reply


Anybody else have tips on the application process?

You need to get the Army ROTC application completed before the deadline.
(This yr it was mid Oct)
This includes an interview and the PT test.
Leave your self plenty of time to resubmit documents if there are any issues.


Carefully look over the interview form: Link it will give you an idea of what they are looking for.

Thanks, that form is very useful.

Do i apply to the colleges of my choice first or send in my scholarship app first?

Stamkos said:

Hello, I'm a junior in High school wanting to apply for a ROTC scholarship. I graduate in the spring of 2012, so i would be going to college as a freshman in the fall of that year.

What would be the best time to apply for my scholarship? (ex. my senior year September, late my junior year)

And should I apply for a scholarship first or to the schools i want to get accepted to?


One more thing.. How competitive would I be?

My gpa is 3.7 unweighted
I'm in the debate and speech club
member of Junior steering (they do junior class events)
I'm a PASS volunteer
I also play spring and fall season inline hockey
haven't taken my ACT yet (i have a date set up though)

Click to expand...

Hey awesome, a fellow debater

As gojack said, look over the interview form to understand what they're looking for, and if you're not there yet, don't sweat it, you've got nearly a year to make yourself the most competitive applicant you can be. Plan it out, think ahead, and keep your eye on the prize. Seems like you're on the right track, especially with regards to thinking ahead, just keep it up and you'll be fine

Thanks for the advice!

Also.. I know you have to take some sort of a physical fitness test for the scholarship process, and that it's different from the army apft.

What are the times and exercises required for the scholarship test, not the real army test?

There are no "minimums," but you want to perform as well as you can. Look at the APFT standards, and just be reasonable about what you think you can do on it and strive for that. This PT test is the president's challenge-the APFT is not accepted for scholarships.

I would say you're a competitive applicant. I'm going to assume you have multiple advanced classes under your belt, and I'll guess that this will help your SAT/ ACT scores, too. You only have one varsity sport, which will only get you "meets expectations" on the interview, as will your leadership characteristics. You will want to try to get a leadership position in SOMETHING, no matter what it is. If your school has NHS, I suggest you join that, as it may win you points on academics (plus, colleges like it).

The application process opened this year in mid-summer. It took me until mid September to finish it (about a month in advance of the 1st deadline), so START EARLY, well before you apply to or are accepted to the colleges themselves. This process takes a long time and has many pieces to it, so get going as soon as it opens.

I would advise you to apply for AROTC, AFROTC, and NROTC to maximize your chance of winning a scholarship, as you're probably not going to be a TOP applicant. If you want to major in something technical, you may get a nice offer from the Air Force or Navy (Army cares less about this than the other 2).

This process can be stressful, but when you win that scholarship, it will all be worth it As a recent AROTC winner, I can definitely attest to that...

Scholarship

The best time to complete the application is before OCTOBER. The scholarship board meets three times, in October, December, and February to choose their selection. If your application is in before October, you will be considered for the October board. No sweat if you are selected. Its similar to the early application process for most universities, they pick the best first and deffer the rest. The board will meet and award points based on different parts of the application, the better the application, the more points you get. You get points for grades, extracurriculars, APFT, basically anything in your application. They choose a cut-off, everyone above gets the scholarship, everyone below is moved on to the next board. If you don't get it by Feb. you just don't get. Having it in as early as possible makes you more competitive, especially when a lot of kids don't do applications for college and scholarships till late first semester. The application itself comes out, I think, in July or August so that gives you plenty of time to complete it. Make sure you make your application, don't leave anything out about yourself, you want to make yourself the best, better than all the other applicants. Work on the PT test. Its a little easier than the standard Army one, only a minute of both push-ups and sit-ups and a one mile run. All of those events, you should be able to max if you work at it. The interview is pretty simple. The ROTC instructor will take notes on your high school achievements, clubs, AP/Honors Classes, etc. He/she will then ask you a few questions about scenarios involving leadership, integrity, or something similar, really simple stuff.

Wow thanks everyone!

Very useful advice. I do plan on joining NHS when my school gives out the applications.

Anybody else have an idea on things i could join/do sports or leadership wise? Most sports for the spring have already finished recruiting and started practicing, and clubs are usually closed to joining after the start of the year, although i'm sure i could find one to join.

Stamkos said:

Anybody else have an idea on things i could join/do sports or leadership wise? Most sports for the spring have already finished recruiting and started practicing, and clubs are usually closed to joining after the start of the year, although i'm sure i could find one to join.

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First choice for sports- Varsity Track, you need to be getting ready for a PT test anyway. Think distance running, 1/2 mile, mile or 2 mile.
Run track in spring, cross country in fall if you can manage it.

Second choice - what do you want to compete at? Remember it is any competitive sport, so even competitive cycling, golf etc., will count.
(can be club sport - does not have to be varsity) Again think endurance sports - double duty to get in shape.
If you have competitive orienteering available that is also great, the army loves running and map reading.

Leadership - Get involved - get elected as a leader, or volunteer to lead something, school blood drive etc., then lead it well.

Look for opportunities to learn and show leadership, not to pad your resume, but to be a better leader, so look for where you can improve your school and community. If you are passionate about something look there first, if not - look for something you can get passionate about. You will be judged on your leadership skills.

I definitely agree with gojack. I had a few things that I used for leadership points, and academics were no issue for me. I play NO sports at all, yet I still managed to squeak 20 points, so there ARE ways to do it.

I definitely do not think you have to have something REALLY stellar to win the scholarship; just make sure that you run for class officer, try to get a position within a club (debate club, something like that), go for team captain. You get the idea.

Check this out. This will definitely help you see what you need to score your highest. Note that this interview is 200 of your 1000 points.

http://www.armyrotc.msstate.edu/benefits/forms/cc159-R.pdf

Roger, thanks for all the help.

Let's say i apply for rotc scholarship and colleges at the same time.. i get my scholarship offers in before i get accepted to colleges, don't you have 30 days to accept your scholarship? So what do you do if you are given a scholarship offer but admissions have not gotten back to you yet?


And are scholarships given out nationally? or are they given out a certain amount to each school?

There are a certain amount per school. You put down seven colleges are your application for the scholarship, ones that you plan on applying to that have ROTC. They will choose which school they want you to have the scholarship at. I would imagine that you have 30 days after the last board, putting you in the time frame from the end of March to the beginning of April. I have gotten four college acceptances without hearing from ROTC.

As far as leadership goes, the board REALLY REALLY likes academic clubs. National Honors Society is a HUGE one for them. At my school, we have National Math Honors Society, National English Honors Society and National Honors Society. If you can get into one or all three, go for it. It would awesome to be a leader in one of those clubs. Even Beta Club is a great club to be in a leadership position.

These scholarships that you're talking about here are national. There are SOME campus-based ones that are given by the battalion, but most are national. They offer you SOME choice in terms of schools (I got 2 options, but most people seemed to get more), but in the end, it's the Army's money, and if you want it, you MAY have to go somewhere where they want you.

There are ways to strategically plan this stuff out, but it gets complicated. Talk to someone smarter than me on how to maximize your winning potential and how to make sure it can go to a school that you want.

Stamkos said:

And are scholarships given out nationally? or are they given out a certain amount to each school?

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Yes. They are awarded nationally with each school getting a certain amount from Cadet Command. In addition, some schools also have campus-based scholarships for their students.

jasondavid92 said:

I would imagine that you have 30 days after the last board, putting you in the time frame from the end of March to the beginning of April.

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Unfortunately, this is incorrect. You have 30 days from the actual date on the scholarship offer to make a decision. While there is a generally chance you can switch the scholarship later on(April/May), you need to consider your application status when deciding where to accept the scholarship. The Battalion can sometimes help with this.

My strategy was a little different from some argued on here. I accepted the scholarship to my reach school, knowing it was a tough battalion to get an offer to. I was willing to risk having to go to maybe #3 or #4 on my list instead of having a sure shot at #2 because I really wanted to go to #1. Eventually, it worked out and now I love it here. It was risky, but for me it paid off.

Ok so i put in 7 choices, each school has a certain amount of scholarships, i compete against other people who put that school choice? And if i win one from multiple schools, i am given those offers as well?


So if i do accept one from a school, and get denied from admissions, what would happen to the scholarship then?

At that point, you would try to transfer it to the school that you now want to attend. Depending on many factors, CC may or may not allow this. If they do, then that's good for you. You will now get the $$ at another school. If not, the cash is comin' from you.

Stamkos said:

Ok so i put in 7 choices, each school has a certain amount of scholarships, i compete against other people who put that school choice? And if i win one from multiple schools, i am given those offers as well? So if i do accept one from a school, and get denied from admissions, what would happen to the scholarship then?

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-First you compete to be considered for a scholarship. (ranking on Order of Merit list)

-Second you compete for the slot at each school against applicants to that school.

If you get a scholarship but do not accepted, you may be able to get a empty slot somewhere else. You would be picking through the 'leftovers'.

If you accept a scholarship, and do not get accepted, you forfeit the scholarship unless the PMS at the awarding school, and the PMS at another school (where you have been accepted) agree to the transfer. Current budget make this is rather unlikely.

IMHO; (opinions vary, this is mine, I am assuming you need the scholarship and want to be a career officer, if you are doing this for sh!ts and giggles, shoot for the moon)

Put a school as your #1 choice that you are certain of being accepted at. Many schools have rolling admission, if you can get accepted before the board deadline, even better, note it on your app. Talk to the ROO and PMS at that school, visit, overnight etc., Work for it.

If you intend to be a career officer, there is also a pretty good case to be made for going to a school where you can excel, the Army will rate you on your GPA and extra-curriculars, not how hard the school/program is. From the Army point of view, a 4.0/honors/Magna Cum Laude history major from State U trumps a astrophysics/exobiology double major 2.0 GPA from Ivy U. Also recognize that ROTC is time consuming, making a school that is difficult for you - that much more difficult, and cuts into your time to get involved in all the other things that makes college educational. The Army also wants you to be a well rounded individual, involved in sports, student government,extra-curriculars etc., Picking a school where all you can handle is the coursework will hurt you in getting your Army branch choice as well. If you are mostly looking for someone to pay for your schooling, but still want to serve your country (sort of) go the SMP NG route.

I think being a 'top applicant' (top 1/3) at your first choice school increases you chances of getting a scholarship offer.

Put you dream schools as #2-6, You will probably (but not necessarily) get offers to more than one school, giving you a choice. Put choice 7 as a school you may want to transfer to, if you end up hating your school, study/work like a dog, ask for a transfer after 1st yr. It is easier to transfer into many very competitive schools than to to get in as a freshman, although transferring ROTC scholarship is tough. You can be accepted as a transfer student after a yr of college to a school you would not dream of being accepted at as a high schooler. Most colleges only look at your college coursework after you have completed a yr or more of college.

If you stay in the Army, you will probably go to grad school, you want it to get promoted.

If you serve 4+ years, and get out, your degree can be stale, and you may want to go to grad school as an entry to the work force. Consider this when selecting a degree, a computer science degree will get stale very fast, a mathematics degree, much less so.

So think of your undergrad as a way into a graduate program. Where you go to grad school is more important than your undergrad.
(Someone who got a BS from Kent and a MS from Harvard looks better than a BS from Harvard and a MS from Kent)

Best of luck.