Effect of acceptance of SA appointment on ROTC

If DS accepts an appointment to an SA, does that void all other ROTC offers? Specifically, if DS accepts an appointment to USMA, does that automatically void all acceptances to AFROTC and NROTC? Conversely, if a candidate accepts an appointment to USNA, USMMA, USAFA or USCGA, does that void an offer for AROTC?

I understand that an acceptance of appointment to USMA will void an AROTC offer (because they are in the same service), but does that apply to cross services as well? As I further understand it, acceptance of AFROTC does not void AROTC. But SA's are different in that DS is officially a member of the armed forced once SA appointment is accepted, so it may be different.

Any thoughts?

patentesq said:

DS is officially a member of the armed forced once SA appointment is accepted

Any thoughts?

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How are they a member of the armed forces by accepting an appointment? I would think that all SA would be the same in that your ROTC scholarship is valid until the day you show up for the first day of Indoc.

basilrathbone said:

How are they a member of the armed forces by accepting an appointment? I would think that all SA would be the same in that your ROTC scholarship is valid until the day you show up for the first day of Indoc.

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My bad. I should have modified my question to "Does showing up at Indoc automatically void ROTC?"

Do you have any idea what percentage of students get the SA appointment and drop the ROTC scholarship? Is there a last minute scramble?

I talked to Cadet Command and learned how this works for AROTC.

Acceptance of appointment to USMA does NOT void out AROTC scholarship. What happens is that DS will receive a letter in May asking him to confirm by May 31 whether he intends to accept/decline the scholarship. As of June 1, then, scholarship becomes available for others.

I personally think the AROTC deadline should be on the same day as USMA's May 1 deadline, because I don't think it is the morally right thing to do to tell USMA you're coming and still have a month to change your mind. Doing so could hurt others who are waiting for the appointment (I guess this is the reason, though, we see appointments offered in June). However, stuff happens in life that are unplanned and can affect attendance at USMA (e.g., very bad grades spring semester, unexpected family-related issue that requires the candidate to stay close to home for college, or an unplanned DoDMERB issue).

My assumption is that AFROTC and NROTC do the same thing.

My assumption is that AFROTC and NROTC do the same thing.

I spoke with CC at AFROTC in ALA yesterday on another issue but as an afterthought, I asked the above question "what happens to offered AFROTC scholarships that are declined" (usually for a SA appt but for any reason) and was told in no uncertain terms that these declined scholarships are NOT then offered to other AFROTC candidates.

I know that often you can get conflicting answers from leadership (even in the same SA or ROTC) so I'm just passing on what this particular officer stated. It seems to me a very unfortunate situation given that others who are qualified do not have the opportunity to take advantage of that declined scholarship. It really makes no sense to me. But I guess it doesn't have to!

The reason they don't offer waitlist is because they expect a certain % to decline and that is built into the system.

They also don't offer waitlist because until this yr they had IS scholarships, thus they could get them for the same commissioning yr group next yr.

In the end people need to understand that this is a business. They have a limited budget and must work within that budget. They are not like the Fed. govt writing checks that can't ever be cashed.