ROTC Scholarship Advice Requested

Packer

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My son has been very blessed by receiving multiple opportunities that are service and non-service related. He has received and accepted AFROTC and AROTC scholarship offers. He is still thinking about his options and I am encouraging him to take as much time as he needs as he earned the scholarships and the privlege of making these decisions. I think the AROTC option is going to be his lowest ranked option.

If he notifies Cadet Command that he would like to withdraw his acceptance will this offer go back into the pool to be awarded to somebody else?

What are the cons of releasing his offer this early?

I look forward to reading everybodys comments on this.
 
My son has been very blessed by receiving multiple opportunities that are service and non-service related. He has received and accepted AFROTC and AROTC scholarship offers. He is still thinking about his options and I am encouraging him to take as much time as he needs as he earned the scholarships and the privlege of making these decisions. I think the AROTC option is going to be his lowest ranked option.

If he notifies Cadet Command that he would like to withdraw his acceptance will this offer go back into the pool to be awarded to somebody else?

What are the cons of releasing his offer this early?

I look forward to reading everybodys comments on this.

If your son informs CC early enough, before the next board, the scholarship will be available for them to award to a different applicant.

No real cons in releasing it early unless he changes his mind after he releases it. News that the AF will be cutting EA or SFT or whatever it's called, down to 20 or 30% in the next 2 years, that news coming just after he releases the AROTC scholarship. Really I think you and your son are the only ones that know this for sure. If he has his mind set on another path then there is no Con in releasing early.

Just for informations sake, what were the factors that made up his mind for one path over the other.

Good luck to your son.
 
If your son informs CC early enough, before the next board, the scholarship will be available for them to award to a different applicant..
j... how do you know this? I have read both that the budget can be used elsewhere, and that it cannot, but I believe that is for cadets who fail in first semester... it is confusing.
 
j... how do you know this? I have read both that the budget can be used elsewhere, and that it cannot, but I believe that is for cadets who fail in first semester... it is confusing.

During the 2 times we have gone through this process we were told that they give the 30 days to accept so that those that don't can free up the scholarship for the next board. The ones that decline after the final board used to be used more for Campus Scholarships.
 
Just for informations sake, what were the factors that made up his mind for one path over the other.
To be clear I don't think he has completely made up his mind yet but I think he is close. I will be putting words in my son's mouth a bit but these are the reasons I think. At this point he believes he wants to make a career in the service.

1) He would like to fly and would prefer fixed wing.
2) If he can't fly he is interested in developmental engineering and this door would not open in the army until several years down the road.
3) Length of deployments tend to be shorter in the AF and therefore more compatible with family life.

Those, I believe, are his top three reasons for choosing AF over Army.
He also has a CG opportunity in the mix but when he compares it to the army he comes up with similar reasons.

I know he hasn't completely decided if his ranking is correct for him but he doesn't want to keep someone else from receiving an opportunity that he decides he will not use.
 
He also has a CG opportunity in the mix but when he compares it to the army he comes up with similar reasons.meone else from receiving an opportunity that he decides he will not use.
Off topic, but I find the more I learn about Coast Guard, the more I like. It seems to be an interesting combination of Boats and Rotary Wing stuff ...
 
Off topic, but I find the more I learn about Coast Guard, the more I like. It seems to be an interesting combination of Boats and Rotary Wing stuff ...

Being an Old Coastie myself I have a very warm place in my heart for the Coast Guard, go figure, I have two son's going Army....Where did I go wrong!! Just kidding, I am very proud of them.

One big difference with the CG in regard to flying, The CG does not have a Warrent program for Pilots. All the pilots in the CG are commissioned. I would sometimes be in the cockpit with Commanders is the big chair. The commisioned officer fly all the missions throughout their careers unlike the Army Helicopter program. You used to see a lot of Army pilots leave after their time served and switch to the CG so they could continue to fly, it is getting harder for them to do that these days.

I loved my time in the CG and would always recommend the CG to anyone. The ships are older, it is a smaller service, underfunded and has small bases some on very cold Alaska Islands, I would do it all over again.

We used to always say, unless we are in an overseas conflict, the other service train for what might happen, the Coast Guard is always doing what it trains for.

Ok enough of my plug for the CG. If you ask me Packer, the choice is clear.

BTW, very well thought out reasoning by your son. He should hold on to all offers until he is very comfortable with his choice, he has earned that right.

Semper Paratus!!
 
We used to always say, unless we are in an overseas conflict, the other service train for what might happen, the Coast Guard is always doing what it trains for.

My son has picked up on this. He states it as in Army/AF you train for what you hope you never have to do but the CG trains for what they are doing.

He has spoken with a retired Coastie that flew for 8- 9 years in the Army before going to the CG. You indicate that this was fairly common. Interesting.
 
My son has picked up on this. He states it as in Army/AF you train for what you hope you never have to do but the CG trains for what they are doing.

He has spoken with a retired Coastie that flew for 8- 9 years in the Army before going to the CG. You indicate that this was fairly common. Interesting.

It used to be, it is getting much harder for Army pilots to do this now, but still possible. The fact that warrents don't fly in the CG leaves the door open just a bit for commissioned pilots to make the switch.
 
Jcleppe, Were you a CG officer or enlisted? How long did you serve?
 
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