Help: ROTC Majors.. please click

howacupcake

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Hi my name is Sarah and I am applying for the ROTC scholarships (Air Force, Navy, and Army(. The main reason I want to join is to become an officer in the military. The ROTC scholarships ask each applicant to choose 3 majors..and I have a rough estimate of what I want to do. However, I would like to research the specific majors to see which would best fit me and be most beneficial to the United States. My questions are:

Are there any sites that give description on each particular major?

What does the military need right now? (major wise..do they need engineers, lawyers, etc)

What major would you recommend?
 
All Branches are different,

Air Force majors in demand;
http://afrotc.com/scholarships/high-school/schools-and-majors/
Foreign Language Majors-see link
Aeronautical Engineering - 4AYY
Aerospace Engineering - 4BYY
Architectural Engineering - 4DYY
Architecture - 2CAY
Astronautical Engineering - 4EYY
Chemistry - 8CYY
Civil Engineering - 4HYY
Computer Engineering - 4WYY
Computer Science - 0CYY
Electrical Engineering - 4IYY
Environmental Engineering - 4HEY
Mathematics - 6YYY
Mechanical Engineering - 4MYY
Meteorology/Atmospheric Sciences - 8FYY
Operations Research - 0YEY
Physics - 8HYY


Navy majors in demand;
https://www.nrotc.navy.mil/scholarship_criteria.aspx
Aerospace, Aeronautical, Astronautical Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Naval Architecture & Marine/Naval Engineering
Nuclear Engineering
Ocean Engineering
Systems Engineering

Navy and Air Force, Some languages, engineering and technical majors, great stats and grades mandatory, change major to non-tech = loose scholarship

Army;
Open, any major, can change majors with commanders written approval
 
The major you need is the one that is good for you. If you cannot maintain the gpa for the major, the scholarship will be revoked. Not only will you lose the scholarship, but you won't be commissioned into the military.

It is also important to understand that commitments after graduation also vary, so you need to place that into the equation, along with your career desires. For example, not only is the AF the only scholarship you can take to any college that has AFROTC, but additionally you WILL serve AD after commissioning for 4 yrs.

As I stated career desires should be thought through thoroughly. If you have no desire to be on a boat for 6 months, the Navy is probably not the best choice for you. If you want to fly Helo's the AF is probably not a good choice.

Good luck.
 
1) Are there any sites that give description on each particular major?

2) What does the military need right now? (major wise..do they need engineers, lawyers, etc)

3) What major would you recommend?

1. Go to the one or two Universities or Colleges you are most interested in at this time, and go to the school's website. Then go to the Department you are interested in: e.g. go to Google, put in: "Baylor University" "Department of Biology", and you will be directed to the Biology Dept. at Baylor (or whatever college). There if you hunt around, it will tell you what the major is about, what classes you have to take (for example, at Baylor a Bio major must take 16 hours of Chemistry, 8 hours of Calculus, 8 hours of Calculus based Physics, and 4 hours of Geology, along with about 32 hours of Biology requisites and Electives.

Do the same for your second choice of major, and your third choice.

2. In general, the Military needs engineers who are physically fit and strong leaders. The Air Force and Navy both are HIGHLY Engineeering focused, with a second focus on Math, Science. Navy ROTC allocates 85% of scholarship dollars to Engineering, Science and Math majors. The Army is starting to become serious about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (aka STEM). I was told next year, that is THIS application class of FY 2016, an award winner will not be able to change majors from Engineering to Non-Engineering, or Science/Math to Non-Science/Math, without Battalion (or possibly Bridade or Cadet Command) approval. So now even Army is going to spend its scholarship dollars for STEM students mostly. However, most Army ROTC majors are currently not STEM.

3. All of the ROTC programs, when evaluating you for positions of leadership and further training, put the most emphasis on GPA. Since most students get higher grades in subjects they're actually interested in, I would suggest picking both a major, and a college, where you will feel motivated, engaged, and excited. To attempt to pick a major you're not interested in just to increase the chances of winning a scholarship is really putting the cart before the horse, and will 90% of the time end in pain and frustration. Doing poorly in a major not well suited to you will hurt your GPA (and possibly get you kicked out of that major), which will hurt your evaluation within ROTC. Currentlly only 60% of the Army ROTC grads go into Active Duty, with 40% commissioning into Reserves of National Guard -- and most of these wanted Active Duty, but their postion on the Order of Merit List, which again is mostly about GPA, was too low. In five years, it is likely, based on what we can observe now, for perhaps only 40% of Army ROTC grads to get to go Active Duty. Again, GPA will be the most important determinant in this. Bottom line -- pick a major you're actually interested in, and show some competence in, so that your grades will be high.

A 4th question which is implied by our post is: What College should I pick? The ROTC PMSs I've spoken with all agree... pick the college where you will feel the most comfortable, the happiest. Again, that's where you're likely to do the best in the classroom = higher GPA = more opportunities withing ROTC and upon commissioning.
 
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dunninla is giving great advice. To add onto that, I would suggest you visit the schools in the fall when they are in session. Visiting in the summer, will not give you a true feel of the campus dynamic, it will be empty, basically equating to visiting a park with buildings. Additionally, many of the AD ROTC staff use this time to take their leave or PCS, thus they are on skeleton crew status or new to the command and can't really answer the important questions due to lack of knowledge at that campus.

Call the ROTC unit and set up an apptmt to do a one on one with the command, ask also if it is possible to talk to some cadets (300/400 level). Have the folks with you to talk to the CoC, but ask them to meet you in 45 mins somewhere else on campus (i.e. student union) when you talk to the cadets.

There are 3 reasons I suggest this to parents and candidates.
1. Kids talk more freely without the folks around. Cadets will be more formal with parents being present, but when they are not it is peer to peer.

Every unit has a personality, and you need to see if you "mesh" with them.

2. Every unit will put their best foot forward, but the CC is going to have a different perspective than the cadet. One is the boss, one is the employee.

3. By meeting somewhere away from the ROTC building, you will walk the campus as a student and get the feeling of how you "mesh" there.

If your heart skips a beat and your cranium says in 9 months I will be one of them; that tells you something.

If your heart drops and your cranium says I guess can survive for 4 yrs; that tells you something too.

Whatever way you go it is important to understand that as an ROTC cadet it is trying to balance college, ROTC and military career when you start this process. You can't or should not say that X college has the best major for me, but not the ROTC branch I want, because you will serve in that branch upon graduation. You can't also say that X college has the best ROTC program, but not my major, because you can't get commissioned if you fail out.
 
Sarah,

One area I forgot to mention, all the services have special programs for ROTC Nurse/officers
 
The major you need is the one that is good for you. If you cannot maintain the gpa for the major, the scholarship will be revoked. Not only will you lose the scholarship, but you won't be commissioned into the military.

It is also important to understand that commitments after graduation also vary, so you need to place that into the equation, along with your career desires. For example, not only is the AF the only scholarship you can take to any college that has AFROTC, but additionally you WILL serve AD after commissioning for 4 yrs.

As I stated career desires should be thought through thoroughly. If you have no desire to be on a boat for 6 months, the Navy is probably not the best choice for you. If you want to fly Helo's the AF is probably not a good choice.

Good luck.

Thank You Pima! You always have the best information! I will definitely start to look into which colleges, branch, and majors fit me! :biggrin:
 
1. Go to the one or two Universities or Colleges you are most interested in at this time, and go to the school's website. Then go to the Department you are interested in: e.g. go to Google, put in: "Baylor University" "Department of Biology", and you will be directed to the Biology Dept. at Baylor (or whatever college). There if you hunt around, it will tell you what the major is about, what classes you have to take (for example, at Baylor a Bio major must take 16 hours of Chemistry, 8 hours of Calculus, 8 hours of Calculus based Physics, and 4 hours of Geology, along with about 32 hours of Biology requisites and Electives.

Do the same for your second choice of major, and your third choice.

2. In general, the Military needs engineers who are physically fit and strong leaders. The Air Force and Navy both are HIGHLY Engineeering focused, with a second focus on Math, Science. Navy ROTC allocates 85% of scholarship dollars to Engineering, Science and Math majors. The Army is starting to become serious about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (aka STEM). I was told next year, that is THIS application class of FY 2016, an award winner will not be able to change majors from Engineering to Non-Engineering, or Science/Math to Non-Science/Math, without Battalion (or possibly Bridade or Cadet Command) approval. So now even Army is going to spend its scholarship dollars for STEM students mostly. However, most Army ROTC majors are currently not STEM.

3. All of the ROTC programs, when evaluating you for positions of leadership and further training, put the most emphasis on GPA. Since most students get higher grades in subjects they're actually interested in, I would suggest picking both a major, and a college, where you will feel motivated, engaged, and excited. To attempt to pick a major you're not interested in just to increase the chances of winning a scholarship is really putting the cart before the horse, and will 90% of the time end in pain and frustration. Doing poorly in a major not well suited to you will hurt your GPA (and possibly get you kicked out of that major), which will hurt your evaluation within ROTC. Currentlly only 60% of the Army ROTC grads go into Active Duty, with 40% commissioning into Reserves of National Guard -- and most of these wanted Active Duty, but their postion on the Order of Merit List, which again is mostly about GPA, was too low. In five years, it is likely, based on what we can observe now, for perhaps only 40% of Army ROTC grads to get to go Active Duty. Again, GPA will be the most important determinant in this. Bottom line -- pick a major you're actually interested in, and show some competence in, so that your grades will be high.

A 4th question which is implied by our post is: What College should I pick? The ROTC PMSs I've spoken with all agree... pick the college where you will feel the most comfortable, the happiest. Again, that's where you're likely to do the best in the classroom = higher GPA = more opportunities withing ROTC and upon commissioning.


THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I am going to print out all you said, study it, and then research!
 
All Branches are different,

Air Force majors in demand;
http://afrotc.com/scholarships/high-school/schools-and-majors/
Foreign Language Majors-see link
Aeronautical Engineering - 4AYY
Aerospace Engineering - 4BYY
Architectural Engineering - 4DYY
Architecture - 2CAY
Astronautical Engineering - 4EYY
Chemistry - 8CYY
Civil Engineering - 4HYY
Computer Engineering - 4WYY
Computer Science - 0CYY
Electrical Engineering - 4IYY
Environmental Engineering - 4HEY
Mathematics - 6YYY
Mechanical Engineering - 4MYY
Meteorology/Atmospheric Sciences - 8FYY
Operations Research - 0YEY
Physics - 8HYY


Navy majors in demand;
https://www.nrotc.navy.mil/scholarship_criteria.aspx
Aerospace, Aeronautical, Astronautical Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Naval Architecture & Marine/Naval Engineering
Nuclear Engineering
Ocean Engineering
Systems Engineering

Navy and Air Force, Some languages, engineering and technical majors, great stats and grades mandatory, change major to non-tech = loose scholarship

Army;
Open, any major, can change majors with commanders written approval


Thank You!
 
majors

I would recommend some combination of foreign language and international affairs, ie major in Middle Eastern History with a minor in Arabic or Persian.
 
Marist College ROTC,

That is actually what I am interested in! International affairs and foreign language! thanks for the tip and advice!
 
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