ROTC Application

Blake3348

USMA Appointee 2016
5-Year Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2011
Messages
67
I will be a senior at a private Christian school, Legacy Christian Academy, and have applied to Citadel, The University of Iowa, started my app. to West Point and will be applying to VMI outside of the early decision time frame. I just wanted to get some feedback on my resume that I have after filling out my Army ROTC application.

My GPA stands at a mediocre 3.5/4.0 right now with my SAT at a 1800 (1190 combined) and ACT at a 26. I take all AP and Honors Classes (AP English III, Honors Physics, AP Trigonometry, Honors Pre-Calc, AP Spanish III, AP Engineering, AP Calculus, AP English IV, Honors Anatomy) Junior and Senior year. I was a Boys State delegate, a recipient of the Gold Presidential Services Award, a member of the National Society for High School Scholars (NSHSS), the lead teen attorney in my countys Teen Court and named the top Teen Attorney in the State of Texas. I also am the youngest sales rep. for Vector Marketing, the marketing branch of Cutco Kitchenware, and am working as an independant contractor for them.

Athletically, I am the team captain for my football team which I have lettered three years in, the team captain for my wrestling team, and also track team captain. I hold all my schools weight lifting records and am actually a personal trainer for several parents and peers at my school. I will be taking my Physical Fitness Test in November so I can train aerobically as much as possible so that I can score as high as possible. (doing 40 yd sprints, power cleans, heavy squats, etc. does not help with pull ups and mile times :biggrin:).

Thanks for any insight/critiques that you guys can feedback to me! I appreciate this, and am very glad to have found this forum as it has given me great insight into the beginnings of my future.
 
Your athletics, extra-curriculars, etc. all look good, but your test scores need work. You don't mention the subscores, but those are impt. not just your composite. I would take them again (and again if necessary), after preparing by doing practice tests, etc. Many times scores will go up the second time just because you're more used to the test, wording of questions, etc. And if you study, all the better. Really focus on academics this upcoming school year to raise your GPA--you want to present the best overall package that you can, whether for USMA or ROTC. Good luck!
 
ACT/SAT counts for 25% of score for AROTC
Get yourself in a prep class or crack open the ACT study guides,
and get that score up to at least a 28.
ACT is more knowledge, SAT is more reasoning.
ACT score is easier to raise by studying (memorizing).
It takes about 6 more correct answers to raise ACT 1 point,
concentrate on getting just 12 more correct answers,
that's only 3 in each category (Math, English, Reading, Science)
Other than that, just stay out of trouble, you look good.

Read These;

http://www.alisteducation.com/sat-vs-act.html

ACT Tip Sheet

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/the-act-for-dummies-cheat-sheet.html

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/act-math-for-dummies-cheat-sheet.html

Best of luck
 
Last edited:
Since you mentioned WP and not AFA or USNA, I am assuning the ROTC you are applying for is Army ROTC.

Given that, your academics are in the low-middle range. Your GPA is in the middle, your SAT is on the lowish side... not too much, but you'd need about 100 points on the CR+M to get into the middle range for Army ROTC.

However, even if you are not able to do that, the other two measurable areas of evaluation, Physical Fitness, and Leadership, are both very strong. You have two team captaincies (more about leadership than athletic skill, usually), and you lead adults in physical training, which shows that adults will follow you willingly = strong leadership.

Those are the three legs of the evaluation: Scholastic, Fitness, Leadership. There is a 4th leg, implied, but just as important. Why do you want to be an officer in the Army? How do you know this? What have you investigated that tells you this is truly a good fit for you? Answer those questions about why and how you know you want to be an officer in the Army, and you will have 3 of the 4 legs strongly scored, with scholastic in the mid-range.

With a top of the range score in 3 of 4 areas (assuming you make a strong case for why you want to be an officer), and a middle range score in the 4th area, I'd say you have a better than a 50/50 shot of earning a scholarship.
 
The best way to see how competitive you are or need to be is to look at the previous yrs SA's incoming class. 99% of SA candidates will be like you and apply to the SAs AND ROTC. That means to feel comfortable for a scholarship you should be on par with the SA candidates.

Use that as your bar to beat. Buckle down, study and take both the SAT/ACT in the fall.

Work out so you can max the PFA.

Every point counts.
 
I will be a senior at a private Christian school, Legacy Christian Academy, and have applied to Citadel, The University of Iowa, started my app. to West Point and will be applying to VMI outside of the early decision time frame. I just wanted to get some feedback on my resume that I have after filling out my Army ROTC application.

My GPA stands at a mediocre 3.5/4.0 right now with my SAT at a 1800 (1190 combined) and ACT at a 26. I take all AP and Honors Classes (AP English III, Honors Physics, AP Trigonometry, Honors Pre-Calc, AP Spanish III, AP Engineering, AP Calculus, AP English IV, Honors Anatomy) Junior and Senior year. I was a Boys State delegate, a recipient of the Gold Presidential Services Award, a member of the National Society for High School Scholars (NSHSS), the lead teen attorney in my countys Teen Court and named the top Teen Attorney in the State of Texas. I also am the youngest sales rep. for Vector Marketing, the marketing branch of Cutco Kitchenware, and am working as an independant contractor for them.

Athletically, I am the team captain for my football team which I have lettered three years in, the team captain for my wrestling team, and also track team captain. I hold all my schools weight lifting records and am actually a personal trainer for several parents and peers at my school. I will be taking my Physical Fitness Test in November so I can train aerobically as much as possible so that I can score as high as possible. (doing 40 yd sprints, power cleans, heavy squats, etc. does not help with pull ups and mile times :biggrin:).

Thanks for any insight/critiques that you guys can feedback to me! I appreciate this, and am very glad to have found this forum as it has given me great insight into the beginnings of my future.


You will learn through this long process that there is not a set and logical criteria for gaining an AROTC Scholarship. Take a look at some of the threads from last years round and you will see a very diverse set of stats for scholarship winners.

A lot has to do with school selections, the more competetive the school the harder it is. Basically a school that has 400 scholarship applicants will be harder to get then a school with 80 applicants.

To give you an example, my son had stats that were similar to yours, his GPA was 3.5 u/w and he had an ACT of 24. He was also Captain of his sports team and was the Judge on the local Youth Court as well as an Eagle Scout. My son's leadership and athletics were very strong and he had a great interview. Try and interview at the school that is #1 on your list. My son received the Scholarship to his 5 top schools on the first board last year and will be starting this Fall.

My point is that it is very hard to give you a chance percentage on wether you will receive a scholarship. Many applicants that had much higher GPA and Test Scores then my son did not receive scholarships last year, that is why I say it is a mystery sometimes how the whole process works.

Try and get a dialog going with the top schools on your list, make a visit to the schools and talk face to face with the cadre, give them a chance to get to know you. Remember the interview sheet they fill out has a point system but it also has space for the PMS to write comments, the comments can sometimes be what sets you apart from other applicants.

Good Luck
 
Thank you all for the insight. I am not too excited about taking the ACT for a third time, but if necessary, I will. Right now The Citadel or VMI are in a tight first, so I will do my interviews with one of those schools more than likely. My transcripts are soon to be sent to Fort Monroe, VA and I am excited about completing the process and hearing back. Do you think that my resume will get me into The Citadel and/or VMI? IF so, I feel that I have good chances at applying for and receiving a 3 or 2 year scholarship to either places. As I am doing an internship in the fall with Ralph Hall, I hope to receive a nomination from him and, therefore, help my chances at getting an appointment into West Point.

I appreciate the help and encouragement!
 
So does that mean that I should resend my SAT and ACT scores to Fort Knox? All my application stuff is online, but as far as scores and transcripts go, I was planning on Fort Monroe, VA to receive the scores as I thought that was the best place to send them. Would you have the address to send or mail my transcripts to?
 
Sorry to bring this up but I got a letter in the mail from Vector and googled them to check it out and everyone said it was a scam.
 
Sorry to bring this up but I got a letter in the mail from Vector and googled them to check it out and everyone said it was a scam.

Its not a scam, I know people who have worked for them. It was a terrible job though because you had to go to random houses and talk for like an hour about knives. Its most definitely real.
 
If you applied online you will receive a letter from Cadet Command soon. In that letter you will have instructions for what needs to be submitted and what needs to be done. In that letter there should also be a point of contact at Cadet Command. If you read the blog post I linked above you will see that the train2lead@usacc.army.mil and your eamil address are the best places to scan and email your info (in my opinion). If you haven't gotten the letter from Cadet Command yet it might mean you are still missing something in your application. Until you have a complete application they don't usually take the next step. If you haven't received the letter yet don't panic. You have plenty of time. Don't try to mail off your transcripts and test scores by guessing where to send them. The letter will tell you where.

Hope that makes sense.
 
@Clarksonarmy, thanks for the great advice. I have not received a letter from Cadet Command yet, but also do not have my medical or fitness tests turned in yet. I dont know if that has anything to do with receiving the letter or not, but as far as the online application I have completed all of the required fields of information and all the responses I had to give have been written. How long would it take to hear from Cadet Command? Would there be anything that I might be missing outside of the medical, physical and transcripts?
 
you will do the physical only if you are offered a scholarship at this point. They will tell you to do the PFT, send your transcripts and test scores. If you haven't received a letter yet check you status online. If you want to send me an email or PM with your name and social I could check for you, but you might want to contact the enrollment officer at the school that you are most interested in, and see if he can see the status of your application. This will also allow you to open a dialogue with that Battalion. Always good to stay in close contact with the school you are interested in. The process is just getting rolling, so you need to be a little patient.
 
Back
Top