ROTC Chances

jeffreyjohnson

5-Year Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2012
Messages
4
Hey so I was wondering what my chancs were at an AROTC scholarship would be.
I am A Junior in high school and have a 3.56/4 GPA, multiple honors and A.P. classes.
2 years of wrestling (j.v.), 3 years of Cross Country(j.V.), 3 years of Lacrosse (2 on varsity) and 1 year of mock trial.
I participate in youth group consistently.
I want to go into the service as a judges advocate.
THanks for the help.
 
Hey so I was wondering what my chancs were at an AROTC scholarship would be.
I am A Junior in high school and have a 3.56/4 GPA, multiple honors and A.P. classes.
2 years of wrestling (j.v.), 3 years of Cross Country(j.V.), 3 years of Lacrosse (2 on varsity) and 1 year of mock trial.
I participate in youth group consistently.
I want to go into the service as a judges advocate.
THanks for the help.

As many here like to say, it is zero if you don't apply. Knowing your chances should not affect that action.

That being said, there is still a lot of missing information critical to CC's decision on you as a candidate, first of which is SAT/ACT score.

GPA is a misleading indicator, as there are schools where that is top 10 material and others where that isn't even in the top 20%. Part of the requirement of your transcript request is to find out your rank/percentile in graduating class.

Lastly and more recently important is your choice of school. If you go back a few months and look at the ROTC threads, you will find a discussion on the change to the mix of scholarships available to public vs. private schools. If you are applying exclusively to a list of expensive private schools, your chances will be significantly less than if you are applying to a list of in-state publics.

And of course, there seems to be changes every year to the whole process as the requirements for officers will be undergoing changes in the next few years.

Best advice is to concentrate on what you can improve (prepare for your ACT/SAT tests). It is a large component of the Scholar part of Scholar/Athlete/Leader.
 
Thanks, yeah I had a 1920 SAT score and am taking both the ACT and SAT in the upcoming months, my ACT should be around a 29. I am looking at public universities between 10000 and 20000 undergraduates. So far my top choices are Miami University (Oxford) and James Madison University. I am also in the top third of my class (89/276)
 
So far my top choices are Miami University (Oxford) and James Madison University.
Ahh, good to clarify then that ROTC does take COST into account -- I believe there are two categories: High Cost, and Low Cost.

Low Cost = is in-state public, our Out of State but with In-State tuition offer.
High Cost = "Out of State Tuition" Public and Private.

You have a better chance with a Low Cost university.
 
Thanks, yeah I had a 1920 SAT score and am taking both the ACT and SAT in the upcoming months, my ACT should be around a 29. I am looking at public universities between 10000 and 20000 undergraduates. So far my top choices are Miami University (Oxford) and James Madison University. I am also in the top third of my class (89/276)

From an admissions standpoint, you should have no problem as an in-state applicant for either, better chances than not for OOS. Would you be in-state for either?

From an ROTC perspective, your SAT score (based upon previous year's experiences) should be good enough for 2nd or at worst 3rd board (3 total boards lately). Not sure if you go to a highly competitive HS, as top 1/3 is not consistent with the scores presented (a little low) for many schools, unless your school ranks without regard to weighting. Probably not a deal breaker though.

Mind you, each year seems to be getting more competitive, so no guarantees here. Also don't know how popular those 2 schools are for scholarship applicants.

I would also advise you to talk to the cadre at your top schools and get to know them now and use them as a resource to learn about the particulars of the school's ROTC program. They like to get to know the kids who are interested early on. Once you have established a relationship, you can bring up the topic of how many scholarships they've had awarded recently and what the stats are for the recipients. Not only do you have to be competitively nationally, but you also have to be competitive with the pool for that particular battallion. You will also want to interview with one of these this summer. Schedule it before they go off for summer duties.
 
my H.S. is one of the highest ranked public schools in Ohio, I would get in state for Miami but not JMU.
 
Thanks, yeah I had a 1920 SAT score and am taking both the ACT and SAT in the upcoming months, my ACT should be around a 29. I am looking at public universities between 10000 and 20000 undergraduates. So far my top choices are Miami University (Oxford) and James Madison University. I am also in the top third of my class (89/276)

Don't know anything about James Madison, but check into Miami's AROTC - when DS looked into this school(its 45 minutes from our house) he wasn't thrilled with having to travel to Xavier for AROTC(Miami at that time only had AF and Navy programs on campus). The drive from Oxford to Xavier would clock about 1 hr with little traffic and good road conditions, no public transportation available between the two either. Are you a Cincinnati kid? With your stats, St. X high school would make sense.

Cross posted with you - you are an Ohioland kiddo.
 
Looks good

Don't know anything about James Madison, but check into Miami's AROTC - when DS looked into this school(its 45 minutes from our house) he wasn't thrilled with having to travel to Xavier for AROTC(Miami at that time only had AF and Navy programs on campus). The drive from Oxford to Xavier would clock about 1 hr with little traffic and good road conditions, no public transportation available between the two either. Are you a Cincinnati kid? With your stats, St. X high school would make sense.

Last year DS (from Ohio) was awarded a 4 yr AROTC scholarship to an OOS State school with very similar credentials to yours. He was top 20% of class (strong public HS) and has strong ACT as well. Many AP classes. Two sports - one hs with captain and two club with captain as well. Also Eagle Scout. Miami was on his list but for reasons above did not want to go there for AROTC. He also has very strong Leadership (Scholar Leader Athlete = all three are important). I would encourage you to make sure you are team captain/co-captain of your athletic teams and HS clubs and organizations senior year. Otherwise, I would say your credentials are in-line at least with what we saw last year. good luck!
 
Don't know anything about James Madison, but check into Miami's AROTC - when DS looked into this school(its 45 minutes from our house) he wasn't thrilled with having to travel to Xavier for AROTC(Miami at that time only had AF and Navy programs on campus). The drive from Oxford to Xavier would clock about 1 hr with little traffic and good road conditions, no public transportation available between the two either. Are you a Cincinnati kid? With your stats, St. X high school would make sense.

Cross posted with you - you are an Ohioland kiddo.

Important point about transportation issues. If you cannot supply your own, definitely understand the situation at any non-host school on your list. Talk to the cadre. In our case, schools were eliminated from consideration if it required a car to commute for ROTC activities. In the end, she ended up on-campus and we are very happy with the situation.

There are other states with inexpensive OOS tuitions - New York and Wisconsin (except Madison) come to mind here.

Besides a campus of 10,000 - 20,000 students, what other factors make a school desirable (majors, size of city, distance from home, sports, etc)?
 
For JMU, there are a couple of things to realize.

1. It is a state school, and in VA they top their OOS to @30%, so you really do want to get that SAT up. For IS 1920 would be okay because of your academic class course load, but I really don't know if it would be strong enough for OOS.

2. JMU is located in a very rural area. If you want a large town than this college should not be on your option list. The town exists to support the college and that is about it.

It is a drop dead gorgeous campus and it is easy to fall in love with it until you start to realize that it is really out there.

Good luck.
 
For JMU, there are a couple of things to realize.

1. It is a state school, and in VA they top their OOS to @30%, so you really do want to get that SAT up. For IS 1920 would be okay because of your academic class course load, but I really don't know if it would be strong enough for OOS.

2. JMU is located in a very rural area. If you want a large town than this college should not be on your option list. The town exists to support the college and that is about it.

It is a drop dead gorgeous campus and it is easy to fall in love with it until you start to realize that it is really out there.

Good luck.

JMU sounds a lot like Miami - the town of Oxford exist to support the college, 30-45 mintues away from major areas...drop dead gorgeous campus....another 10-15K population school OP might want to consider is OU, the party reputation is pretty spot on, but it has a lot of the same physical/location characteristics plus host AROTC and offers room grant to ROTC cadets.
 
Our nephew went to OU, and loved it there, he was baseball scholarship, so partying wasn't his thing.

I know OU has that rap for being a partying college, and I actually feel for them because our DS goes to UMDCP, which has a rap for being an unsafe area (off campus). Yes, they have issues, but as our son has stated, if you use common sense you will never be in a predicament. I am sure OU is the same. Yes, there are kids who party, but I highly doubt that all of the dorms are filled with kegs 7 days a week.

I think sometimes the media and people make more out of it than what is really occurring on campus...sensationalism.

JMPO of an AFROTC cadet for the past 4 yrs., I would rather him be at the host campus than commuting 30 mins away, esp. as they enter their POC yrs (jr/sr) where they have bigger leadership positions, and require more interaction within the det.
 
other factors for me would be any kind of political science or nternational studies major. I am looking for a small college town, definatley not in the city. Sports really are not a concern for me. OU is on my mind but more of a back up school right now as their admission requirements are not as high as Miami or JMU.
 
I'd suggest doing a search at the college board web site. I don't think they allow you to select for ROTC but they should allow you to search by a combination of your other criteria.
 
Hey so I was wondering what my chancs were at an AROTC scholarship would be.
I am A Junior in high school and have a 3.56/4 GPA, multiple honors and A.P. classes.
2 years of wrestling (j.v.), 3 years of Cross Country(j.V.), 3 years of Lacrosse (2 on varsity) and 1 year of mock trial.
I participate in youth group consistently.
I want to go into the service as a judges advocate.
THanks for the help.

With only what is listed above, you are an average candidate.

If you are the Captain of one of your athletic teams, President of Mock Trial Club, score 1400 or higher on the Math + verbal of the SAT, pass your AP Exam, become a member of the National Honor Society, and ace your interview, then you would be a very strong candidate.
 
other factors for me would be any kind of political science or nternational studies major. I am looking for a small college town, definatley not in the city. Sports really are not a concern for me. OU is on my mind but more of a back up school right now as their admission requirements are not as high as Miami or JMU.

Lots of places with that.

I would not necessarily consider difficulty of admission as the best measure of quality of education in the particular field you are studying (that tends to work better for hard sciences).

And with your major, the first couple years at 10K - 20K student schools will contain many large lectures. What will differntiate the best schools is the progams for the last 2 years and your access to professors.

I might recommend casting a wider net (consider lesser schools) where you find specialized programs for their top students in a department because that is where you will get that additional professor time those last couple of years. Being among the top students is a critical thing in these larger schools, so if you can put yourself in the top 20% of the entering class, your odds of getting into one of these programs greatly increases.

Plus these "less selective" schools are not typically on the lists of ROTC scholarship candidates selected in the first board (this is where the 30+ ACT 3.8+ GPAs are selected for the top level schools) meaning that you will have a better shot at them when they get to your spot on the OML.

Bottom line - look at the programs at a lot of schools, not just the school as a whole.
 
With only what is listed above, you are an average candidate.

If you are the Captain of one of your athletic teams, President of Mock Trial Club, score 1400 or higher on the Math + verbal of the SAT, pass your AP Exam, become a member of the National Honor Society, and ace your interview, then you would be a very strong candidate.

I agree that this level of candidate would definitely get a scholarship on an earlier board. Given his ranking I don't think NHS is going to be an option.

Just picking on schools in your neck of the woods, would he fit the profile of a scholarship recipient at SUNY Albany in a later board? Trying to help him find a school profile where he might be more successful finding available scholarships when they get to his position on the OML. Not trying to put you on the spot.
 
Given his ranking I don't think NHS is going to be an option.
You might be surprised. I know of schools that have a 3.5 cut-off and have heard of schools that supposedly have a lower cut off than that. NHS, varsity letters, etc are not exactly a standardized deal.
 
other factors for me would be any kind of political science or nternational studies major. I am looking for a small college town, definatley not in the city. Sports really are not a concern for me. OU is on my mind but more of a back up school right now as their admission requirements are not as high as Miami or JMU.

DS is a polisci/pre-law major at OU - if you'd like to contact him off forum(he doesn't hangout here anymore) private message me. He also was considering Miami for its prestige, but found the whole traveling for AROTC to Xavier too big of a burden and now that he's PT'ing 3 mornings a week is VERY glad he didn't pursue it, even with his own car available.

Consider the Honors Tutorial College(the polisci can be done via that program rather than the straight Arts & Sciences path). Also, if the AROTC scholarship doesn't pan out, with a ACT of 32 or higher, merit money is in-state tuition and fees, AROTC will grant the room fee...leaving you with the meal plan and books only. SMP is a big program via OU and is what my DS chose to do when his AROTC scholarship dream died last spring(32ACT, 3.8unweighted and tons of leadership & APs, no athletics...that was his fatal flaw).

Keep looking at schools and visit the cadres at each one when you make your campus visits -- he found physically being on campus(overnight if possible)to be the biggest help in finding the right spot.

Really try to get the team captain role and/or president of an organization you've been involved with - look up the interview threads on here and there should be links to the form PMS will use to score you. This will help you find what they are looking for and what the point values are.
 
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