AFROTC Chances of Scholarship

kingkong2452

5-Year Member
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Jul 16, 2011
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Hello, A couple of weeks ago I started the application process for AFROTC. I was wondering if anyone could give me a guess on my chances for getting a 4-year scholarship. I scored a 29 on my ACT and have a gpa of 4.0. I was in football my freshman year but otherwise I have not participated in sports in high school due to time. I participate in, and am the second in command of, my local Civil Air Patrol Squadron. I have 2 more tests to take until I am the rank of 2Lt. in this program as well. I am also in flight training and will have my PPL in approximately 2 months. I am currently a junior by the way. All of my courses in High School so far have been enriched except for English my junior year and by graduation I will have taken AP US History, AP Psychology, AP Calculus, and possibly AP Physics. I am 6' 3" and 210 lbs. I have slightly elevated blood pressure but nothing too serious according to my doctor. I am not in the greatest of shape but I am working on it. I can run a 1.5 mile in about 13 min. but like I say, I am still working on it. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance...
 
Nobody can give you an answer since nobody here sits on the boards.

You also left out the most important piece of info for an AFROTC scholarship; Tech or non-tech?

Do I see weaknesses? Yes, the ACT score is low, but I highly doubt that your resume only includes CAP as ECs, 4.0 would equate to me NHS. School profile, class rank, etc. also matter.

Your run time is low, I believe it is the min, because that is over an 8 minute mile. 95% of AFA cadets apply AFROTC scholarship. They do a mile run for the CFA, and the max pt for the run is 5:30 min/mile, hence they are doing the 1 1/2 in @ 8 mins.

Do yourself a huge favor, practice the PFA with the mandated breaks. In other words, if they say 2 minute rest between the run and push ups, that's what you do. Run in rain, run in heat, run in the morning. Run, run, run.

Good luck and always remember if you want to be in the AF, truly want to be in the AF, you will be in the AF. If you want the AF to pay for college, well all I can say is accepting this path to pay for college is akin to making a deal with the devil. Reason why it isn't 4 yrs of your life. It is much longer.

4 yrs college
X amount of downtime (OBTW not on salary for AF, no paycheck, no medical coverage) before you go to your career school, it can vary from weeks to almost a yr.
Payback doesn't start until you are Operational ADAF, that means add in the time for your career field school.

It could be 9+ yrs, or 27 before you can bolt. Throw in TA for Masters, promotions, PCSing and you are looking at a decade.

Want to fly, it actually would be @33-34 on the very best day.


Think about this, ask yourself are you ready to live this life for not 4 yrs, but closer to a decade? Remember every AFROTC cadet will go AD, they don't have the option to go IRR.
 
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Thank you very much for your input and yes I would be going for a tech degree (mechanical engineering). I am in NHS as you said and in fact I am the President of our school's NHS. As for class rank I am ranked number 10 out of 408. I am also the VP of our senior class. Thank you very much for the info on the service requirement. I was not aware it would be that long, not that it is a bad thing because I want to serve and plan on making the AF my career. I did think however that it was a cut and dried 4 year requirement after college.
 
I can run a 1.5 mile in about 13 min. but like I say, I am still working on it.

This is a problem. Work hard on it. PT is one of the easiest ways to make a good/bad first impression with the AD officers/senior cadets in your det. They might not talk about it openly, but trust me they notice the freshmen who come to college in shape, and those who don't. Your PT score is one of the VERY FEW things that is completely in your control. There's no excuse to show up with a bad one. Get the 1.5 mile time between 10:00-11:00 and you wont make a bad impression. Get it under 9:30 and you'll make a good impression. I don't think our det had any male cadets go to FT this year with a run time >11:00.

That said, everything else you listed looks good. Stay involved and try to get leadership positions in everything you're involved with. Good luck.
 
Thank you for your input nick4060. I am going to continue to work on pt. It will be a struggle at first, but I know if I commit myself to it I will be able to succeed.
 
I can run a 1.5 mile in about 13 min. but like I say, I am still working on it. Any thoughts?

At the time that I applied for AFROTC I was also pretty out of shape. I had similar stats to yours and got a 12:48 on my 1.5 mile. I was still awarded a Type 7 scholarship. The way it was explained to me, the results on your physical fitness test matter very, very little compared to everything else you provide them. I was told that it is more of a tiebreaker than anything else.

I'm sure people will disagree with me on what I said but that's my personal experience. Of course, if ROTC is something you're serious about you WILL get in the shape you need to be in before you show up to school, otherwise you won't activate your scholarship. You know this, they know this...
 
Thank you for your input nick4060. I am going to continue to work on pt. It will be a struggle at first, but I know if I commit myself to it I will be able to succeed.

Yes.

Like I said, my run in December of 2010 was 12:48. Since then, I took some time off and traveled abroad for 4 months so I couldn't really start a physical fitness program. I started seriously prepping when I got home on June 1st and my current 1.5 mile time is 11:10... If you commit, you will be able to improve- I promise you.
 
DS had a 27 and a 3.8? recieved a trpe 7 technical scholarship. It isnt any one thing you do or dont do. That being said you wont get it if you dont apply! Our son was very active, Student Counsel,NHS, Future Problem Solvers,AP courses etc. Also 4yrs varsity soccer,2yrs varsity Basketball and 2yrs varsity track. He did extremely well on his PFA. Work hard you can do it! What were your math and science scores? I only ask because they carry a little more weight when you are competing for a technical scholarship! GOOD LUCK:thumb:
 
Thank you very much for the info on the service requirement. I was not aware it would be that long, not that it is a bad thing because I want to serve and plan on making the AF my career. I did think however that it was a cut and dried 4 year requirement after college.

It pretty much is 4 years. For 9 years Pima included 4 years of college, 1 year of AF career school and then your 4 year service requirement. If you are to become a pilot you incur a 10 year commitment + the time for UPT - ie 11-12 year commitment.
 
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