Here are a few things:
1) Contact your closest university offering NROTC, and speak with the Recruiting Officer, or if you can , the Professor of Naval Science, more commonly known on the NROTC website as the "Commanding Officer" of the Battalion (usually a LT. COL). You'll find them on the website for that school... just google "NROTC XXX school".
2) The Recruiting Officer or CO will help you locate the NROTC recruiting officer for the zip code in which you currently reside. THIS IS NOT THE LOCAL NAVAL RECRUITING OFFICER trying to recruit enlisted sailors into the Navy. NROTC has its own dedicated recruiting officers, This is your 2nd best contact. I believe the name of your NROTC Recruiting Officer is also populated into the on-line NROTC Scholarship Application once you start your Draft applicaiton. Different cities/zip code ranges have different NROTC recruiting goals for hispanic, asian, black, nurse program, and other. Some recruiting offices can even offer a scholarship to their #1 ranked target (I forget what this is called) than only needs to be stamped by the Pensacola committee, but it is effectively a shortcut to the Scholarship. The goals of each Recruiting Region pertain to the number of completed applications, not final selections. This NROTC recruiter will go over your in-progess Application with you to make sure it represents you in the strongest light. After the recruiters review of your applicaiton, and any strengthening of it, you will then submit your online NROTC Scholarship Application via the website. Once this is done, your NROTC recruiter will then arrange your NROTC scholarship application Officer Interview. Once your scholarship app is completed, and the Officer Interview is completed shortly thereafter, the NROTC recruiting Officer has zero input, and zero knowledge of your status at the Pensacola, FL. located NETC/NSTC (goes by both names), which is the office that works with a committee to stack rank all applications and select awardees. The NETC/NSTC office then matches the awardees that come out of Committee to 1 (ONE) college from the list of five on the scholarship application, generally in the order in which you listed them, or contact you if all five of your choices on your application are already full and into wait list. The schools filling up first (October in a normal year) are the 5 Sr. Military Colleges offering NROTC (Norwich, VA Tech, Tex. A&M, VMI, the Citadel) along with Embry Riddle, and University of San Diego.
3) Once your scholarship application is complete and at the NETC/NSTC in Pensacola, the staff there becomes a critical contact. If you change your mind about the 5 schools on your app, or have updated information, it goes there. You can also phone them there. However, they WILL NOT DISCUSS your chances of getting a scholarship... only the committee members know that, and they don't discuss that with the NETC/NSTC staff.
To consider: the problem to be avoided if at all possible is that of being awarded a scholarship to X University, and you don't get into X University through the Admissions office. This means you have to give a lot of thought about doing ED applications to your #1 choice, and/or not listing colleges on your list of 5 that you are not likely to get into. A scholarship Awarded to NROTC at Notre Dame, for example, because you listed ND as your #1 choice, is risky because you have a 75% chance of not getting into ND through ND admissions... then what do you do with THAT NROTC scholarship? You can't use it. You would then need to go to Pensacola in mid/late March and ask for help finding Battalions that have openings... no fun.
Lastly, as you say you don't necessarily need the scholarship money, but want to be a commissioned Naval Officer, know that you can participate in NROTC at any college offering NROTC as a non-scholarship midshipman. It is called the College Program. By Junior Year, the CO or XO will tell you if you have qualified to continue into NROTC Advanced Standing, meaning you will get your commission just like any Scholarship mid will. Entering Advance Standing, you sign a contract just like the Scholarship midshipmen did, and are treated the same on campus and at the time of Service Selection. You will also receive the same monthly stipend the scholarship mids do once you Contract.
