NROTC scholarship app - Big Reminder/Warning!

i mentioned it before, but just wanted to say it again since ppl are getting started with Fall 2009 NROTC scholarship apps.

do not use the save feature to slowly build up your app over a period of several weeks, unless you are completely ok with your recruiter (who you may not even know yet) checking out whatever you save into your app and even taking actions on it before you're done (like calling up your references without first even letting you know).

i took almost 2 months on my app, and slowly worked on it and edited it, all the time not officially submitting it, but just using the save feature on the app to slowly build it up. in the meantime, as i found out later, not only did my recruiter check out my app-in-progress, but he went ahead and contacted the placeholder references i had, with actually a bad consequence for me (although i survived it obviously since i did get a scholarship). but now i am a spokesperson for not using the save feature in the app! learn from my mistake ppl! LOL!

after you are totally done with your app, you can use your recruiter. cut and paste all your answers and essays from MS Word into the app, use the save feature, and give your recruiter a call. ask him to look over your app BEFORE you officially submit it. he can give you a lot of advice, even on your essays. you can give everything a final edit after you get your recruiters comments and the submit it all.

final warning, after an app is officially submitted, it is almost impossible to change. i accidentally left off my app that i was on the NJROTC drill team, and even my recruiter was not able to add it to my app. so be sure you think about everything you have done already and everything you expect to do in your senior year, and put it all down. just mark all the stuff you expect to do or win in your senior year in your "details" with a comment that it is "projected" or "planned" and you should be good to go. because if you don't put it down because you think it might not happen, but then next school year it does happen, well, you'll be out of luck to get it added to your app.

GL everyone for Fall 2009!

Can you explain the whole "bad consequences" thing? I'm just nosy.

But this whole thing would explain why my recruiter got everything done so quickly.

Soylent said:

Can you explain the whole "bad consequences" thing? I'm just nosy.

But this whole thing would explain why my recruiter got everything done so quickly.

Click to expand...

well, 1st, let me explain how i know for sure the recruiter contacted my references before i submitted my app. the 1st clue was that before i submitted my app, i told my counselor i was applying for scholarship. she said something like, "oh, i was wondering what that email was about!" eh?!?! i didn't send any email! i didn't say anythng more and let it pass figuring my counselor was confusing me with some other student. the 2nd clue was that when i first starting my app, I had put down teachers A, B and C for references, but when i finally submitted my app, I had teachers X, Y and Z. after i officially submitted, the recruiter emailed me a bunch of forms, including for teacher recommendations. but one of the forms was wrong. so i contact the recruiter for the right form. i said something like: "i don't have the right form for teacher Z. can you send me the right form." his answer was, "don't worry about teacher Z. teacher C already sent in a recommendation for you." OMG! OMG! teacher C was NOT on the final app I had summitted! fortunately for me, teacher C loved me. i had only changed it to teacher Z because teacher Z could talk more about my leadership skills than teacher C. but oh well, this wasn't so bad.

this now leads into the consequence (not really a "consequence", but it was a mis-step)-

when i first started working on the app, it was just before the start of my senior year. i put down teachers A, B, and C on the form who i was going to have my senior year. at the time i first entered them on the form, i hadn't even gone to class yet! i was thinking it was no prob, because i'm not submitting the form yet. well as it turns out, teacher B was my calculus teacher-to-be. i sucked in that class during the first semester. when i went to her to ask for a recommendation, it became apparent that she was the sort of teacher that ignores effort entirely and looks only at the result (grade). you could slack off in her class and sleep, but if you were smart and got an A, you can do no wrong and she will sing your praises. but if you work your butt off, go to her at lunchtime every day for help, and ask the most questions in class, but then suck on the tests, well, you might as well be a highschool drop out so i went back on the app and changed this teacher B to math teacher Y who would sing my praises.

too late. the recruiter already contacted teacher B for a recommendation even though my app wasn't submitted.

what saved me is i sent teacher Y the recommend form anyways, and he gave me a glowing math recommendation and sent it in to the recruiter. and my stinky calc teacher (lucky for me ) IGNORED all the requests from the recruiter and did not provide any recommendation at all (good thing i didn't want her! ). so it all worked out in the end, but no thanks to me filling out the app with info and saving it before i was ready!