Opinions on Chances

NROTCHOPEFULDAD

5-Year Member
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Feb 8, 2012
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My S is applying for the NROTC scholarship college semester fall 2013.
-SAT 1280 (640 Math, 640 Verbal)
- Unwieghted GPA 3.9
- College and AP classes taken
- JROTC ( multiple years and a few leadersip positions in a Distinguished Unit)
-VArsity CC 3 year letterman
- Federal Service Foriegn Launguage Academy
- Decatur County Youth Leadership Coincil
- Interact Club, NHS, And SADD clubs
He wants to be a mechanical engineer.
Where does he stand as far as chances for scholarship.
His first choice school right now is Auburn if that makes a difference.
 
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You stated fall 2013. If that was not a typo, meaning you meant 2012, I think it would be unrealistic to chance him at all.

I am betting it is a typo because you state he is a 3 yr Varsity winner. Fall 2013 would mean 2014 HS graduation, and that equates to him being a soph now, which means he cannot have 3 yrs as a Varsity winner.

If you are assuming he will have 3 yrs next yr., life gets in the way.

Right now he looks great, but as a parent who had a child from 10-15 yo was Duke, Duke, Duke I would be ready to flip on a coin. At 16 as a jr it was Notre Dame, Duke who? At 17 summer into fall sr yr it was AFA, Notre Dame maybe. Winter (feb) sr yr it was UMDCP, AFA maybe, and I just want Notre Dame to accept me, but I am not going.

Auburn is a great school, and his stats appear to be a match to his stats, just saying be prepared for them to change, and come from left field.

Not only did DS change colleges, but until he was 17 all he wanted was to be a JAG in the AF. 18 the flying bug bit him and his career goals changed too. We really did get whiplash because every time we thought we were on his page he took a hard turn without warning us, which meant we had to re-adjust too.

Good luck
 
My S is applying for the NROTC scholarship fall 2013.
-SAT 1280 (640 Math, 640 Verbal)
- Unwieghted GPA 3.9
- College and AP classes taken
- JROTC ( multiple years and a few leadersip positions in a Distinguished Unit)
-VArsity CC 3 year letterman
- Federal Service Foriegn Launguage Academy
- Decatur County Youth Leadership Coincil
- Interact Club, NHS, And SADD clubs
He wants to be a mechanical engineer.
Where does he stand as far as chances for scholarship.
His first choice school right now is Auburn if that makes a difference.

Pretty good stats. Not that their necessarily insufficient the best way to help himself is to bring the SAT scores up. If he wants Marine Option (which I doubt) have him work that upper body for the PFT.
 
kinnem, brings up a good point the SAT is good, but not strong.

I did not address this at all because my assumption is he is a sophomore, and with another yr taking SAT/ACT and academic classes those scores will go up a lot because the foundation will be stronger.
 
PIMA He is currently a HS junior and will be starting the Application in april. He will grad HS in 2013.He went to visit Auburn in the past month and was very impressed mech eng. facilities and campus but will be going to Ga Tech and Vir. Tech in next couple of months.
 
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So you meant to say Fall 2012, not 13 as you posted.

GT and VT are amazing colleges, but remember a couple of things.

1. Just speaking as A VA resident with a non-ROTC student there.
VT is a state college.
Acceptance rate is dictated 70/30 IS/OOS on a good day to 75/25 on a bad. I am guessing you are not a VA resident.
1280 may be a bit low. DD non tech IS was deferred from ED to RD and she had 1290, 29 ACT. AICE, Cambridge, tons of AP/IB, Magna, top 7% from PW county. Key here as an IS she was not going tech, and tech is much more competitive.

VT also is an SMC, Auburn is not. Big factor. VT will require all ROTC cadets/mids to be in the Corps. If they decide to drop out prior to VT's guideline VT for the Corps can revoke them. It is somewhere around mid-terms.

I love, love, love VT. This school is IMPO the best of everything. It has a close knit community, it has great academics, it has 4 seasons, great football team, and for our kids that grew up with Harry Potter it looks like Hogswart.

The downside is summed up with the t-shirt my DD has...Blacksburg a college town with a football problem. There is nothing in that area, but VT.

Auburn as an ISS means VT and GT are OOS.

GT is also an amazing college for any ROTC program. Again if I get you right this will be OOS.

These 2 colleges are highly competitive, and NROTC may elect to offer scholarships to IS applicants over your child.

Best wishes, hopes and thoughts.

Remember there is only 1 100% certainty. Don't apply and you have 0 chance.

FWIW when DD was accepted by VT, her letter stated in 10 they had over 31K applicants.
 
If the OP's son will graduate HS in the spring of 2013, then he would be starting NROTC and college the Fall of 2013. Unless I read it wrong.
 
If the OP's son will graduate HS in the spring of 2013, then he would be starting NROTC and college the Fall of 2013. Unless I read it wrong.

That's the way I read it too. He'll be finishing his junior year this spring/summer and presumably starting his application soon.
 
You are correct, I read applying for college fall semester 2013. My eyes and mind didn't connect.

Read college, 2013, fall and missed the important part he would be in college 2013.

Either way it still ends up the same. NROTC is the most competitive ROTC scholarship out there. SAT for VT is not a shoe in from an OOS perspective when it comes to NROTC. It is an SMC. That means it has more competition.
 
Either way it still ends up the same. NROTC is the most competitive ROTC scholarship out there. SAT for VT is not a shoe in from an OOS perspective when it comes to NROTC. It is an SMC. That means it has more competition.

Got that right, VT is a tough one.
 
GT too!

I am not trying to antagonize, I am just saying, that you need to look at the college selection rate from an OOS perspective and understand with limited funds NROTC will place that in the equation when awarding scholarships.
 
OP --

Schools of Engineering tend to focus much more on the Math part of the ACT or SAT, with 700 being a good benchmark. 700M/600CR is OK, better than 650/650. Incidentally so does the NROTC Scholarship Selection Board.

I would suggest your son retake the SAT in four weeks (regular registration deadline is Friday), again in early May, and again in October, focusing on the Math portion, since he already has the 640 in CR.

Engineering schools tend to also want to see one or more of: Math2 , Physics, or Chem SAT Subject test scores.

They will also want to see that your son has taken / is taking Chem, Physics and Calculus in HS, preferably at the AP or IB level, if offered in your school.
 
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Should have mentioned

We live in Ga but are closer to AU than GT but Georgia Tech is our in-state. He has a spend the night planned at VT so he can get a small feel for the COC there. He is registered to retake SAT and will also take ACT. HE also is currently taking or has finished ENG 101, 102 and CHEM 101 at local college.
 
We live in Ga but are closer to AU than GT but Georgia Tech is our in-state. He has a spend the night planned at VT so he can get a small feel for the COC there. He is registered to retake SAT and will also take ACT. HE also is currently taking or has finished ENG 101, 102 and CHEM 101 at local college.

He'll have fun there. My DS didn't want to go to an SMC but he loved the overnight with th CoC. Go figure. :biggrin:
 
IS School

IS school is GT. In Georgia, engineering majors have three basic choices.
1. Georgia Tech
2. Southern Poly
3. Out of State

Southern Poly is a crosstown school for GT.

He just like Auburn the most and it is closer to where we live down by the FL border.
 
IS school is GT. In Georgia, engineering majors have three basic choices.
1. Georgia Tech
2. Southern Poly
3. Out of State

Southern Poly is a crosstown school for GT.

He just like Auburn the most and it is closer to where we live down by the FL border.

What is the cost differential between GT in state and Auburn out of state? It's got to be huge.

GT is damned near free for in staters. Just to get into GT means you hit all the marks (GPA,Clas Rank, etc.) to get the HOPE Scholarship/Zell Miller Grant deal, which is merit, not need based. The Scholarship person we spoke to at GT ROTC told us that ALL the in-staters take Room and Board, since net tuition is small to non-existent.

My son got 4yr AROTC to GT as an out of stater. Ended up transferring it to Big 10 State U. He had his heart set on Ga Tech. We were very impressed with Ga Tech facilities and the people we met with in ROTC were first class.

However, there was a real "air" to the place. It is an elite school and the faculty/administors let us know it. We met with the undergrad chair of the School of Chemical Engineering for 1/2 hour. He never asked my son, who was already accepted, a single question. Not one.

I have often wondered if the "air" of the place was related to a wide gap between the academic credentials of athletes and non-athletes.

The student body has a large number of brilliant kids of parents in the $200K+ income range who would be paying full freight at the Ivies, Duke, Vandy, Stanford, but pay litle more than room and board at Ga Tech. Given the focus on in staters, it could be a great fit for your son. Let me repeat, the ROTC folks were great.

Would my son have ditched Ga Tech and ROTC if the scholarship wasn't transferred? Glad that decision didn't need to be made.

One last thing, son needs to get his SAT's, particularly math, higher. If you have a solid test prep course close by, spend the $ and do it. SAT and ACT are tests of test-taking abilities, not just knowledge.

Best of luck to your son.
 

They must feed them pretty well at Auburn, or there is a single one lane road to get food into the area, making it pricey. I can see why in state xROTC scholarship winners would take the room and board option. Of course OOS would go with the tuition. It's probably worth OP listing it as a choice but he needs to make sure the in-state schools are on the list unless DS wouldn't attend them in any case.
 
They must feed them pretty well at Auburn, or there is a single one lane road to get food into the area, making it pricey. I can see why in state xROTC scholarship winners would take the room and board option. Of course OOS would go with the tuition. It's probably worth OP listing it as a choice but he needs to make sure the in-state schools are on the list unless DS wouldn't attend them in any case.

Yes it is! If my son uses his T7 at AU, his tuition, books, fees, and Honors College additional costs would barely equal the R & B amount. They do feed them well though, the student dining hall and Union has some great eats + the majority of the dorms are new - some are actually 3 bedroom apartments rented by groups of students - NICE but with a PRICE!

:shake:
 
GT is really his third choice, because he is thinking AFROTC or NROTC he will not be able to transfer funds to room and board. HOPE grant money can only be used for tuition as well and HOPE is being reduced almost every year.

Yes the difference between IS GT and OS Auburn tuition is HUGE but R&B is about the same.

We are waiting on ACT scores and he actually decided to spend a week preparing for the ACT and spend a week preparing for SAT math in March instead of just walking in and taking the test like he did the first two times when he took SAT as a sophmore.
 
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