Best ROTC Battalions (Schools)?

nysegop

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Based on OML, LDAC, APFT, Branch Selection, Etc. What are some of the best schools in the nation for ROTC?

Also, can you major or minor in military science?
 
Based on OML, LDAC, APFT, Branch Selection, Etc. What are some of the best schools in the nation for ROTC?

Also, can you major or minor in military science?

I can only speak for my son's school regarding Military Science. They are able to Minor in Military Science but not Major. Not sure about other schools.

The best ROTC school is a relative question. There are battalions that win awards as the best program in each Brigade, there was a list posted on this thread a while back. Georgetown University ROTC just won an award this year as the best in the nation by a Private Gorup. That being said, most PMS and ROO's will tell you that you need to first find a school that you like, feel comfortable with, and can see your self doing well. How you do in ROTC will be in a large part on you, how you perform, the GPA you have, and your APFT scores. You can excel at any school if you work hard.

Granted, some battalions are going to be better organized and offer things others will not. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that because the school is a top university that the ROTC will also be the best, it doesn't always work out that way.

A good example; The University of North Dakota may not be at the top of a lot of peoples list when thinking of a first choice but consider this. UND AROTC had 7 cadets finish in the top 20% of ROTC this year, they had the No. 1 cadet in their brigade.

When your looking at a school you need to ask a lot of questions:

How many summer training slots do cadets get each year.
Do all cadets pass LDAC each year
What percentage receive E's at LDAC
How many cadets get one of their top 3 Branch choices. (This one also has a lot to do with how well the cadets are counseled on their choices.)
What percentage of cadets that want Active Duty get it.
How is the grading system done for MS classes
Do MS1 and MS2's participate in FTX's
What is the average GPA among ROTC cadets
A question to ask other cadets....How is the HR department, do they get their tuition, book and stipend payments on time.

All of these questions will give you a good view of how the battalion works. The biggest thing to remember is that even in the best battalions success is up to you. My 2 sons are going to a university that some here would refer to as a "Podunk U". My older son is graduating this year, he is in the top 10% on the Active Duty OML. For him the school didn't matter, he did his best and worked hard. In the end if you have a 3.5 plus, an E at LDAC, a 300 APFT, and top marks from your battalion you have a very good chance of being in the top 10%, the school or ROTC battalion won't matter at that point.

You mentioned APFT, your school selection won't have much to do with how well you do on the APFT, if your a cadet that just goes to PT when required your going to be lacking in the APFT. The APFT is something you have to want to do better, you will need to work out beyond the daily PT. Your APFT score is all on you.

Find a school you can see yourself thrive, that's the first step, ROTC will fit right into your life if your happy where you are going, it makes a good recipe for success.
 
Actually, there *is* one way of determining which Battalions have the most cadets who win awards at LDAC. However, some Battalions are very large, with over 150 cadets, and some have less than 20, so size helps a lot in the list I am going to post below.

LDAC published here: http://warriorforge.wordpress.com/ the awards for each of the 14 weeks, just missing weeks #1 and #2. The top award is given to the cadet who is #1 in the Regiment (1 award). Then three more categories: #1 in Company (A & B), #1 in Innovation (1 award), and #1 in Platoon (5 awards).

The following list shows the Battalions that produced at least three cadets who won one of the awards from the above categories from weeks #3 - #14. I could not find awards posted for weeks #1 and #2. In the case that an individual cadet won two awards, I only counted that once.

Battalion / # of cadets winning an awards

(SMC) North Georgia College & State Univ 10
Gonzaga University 5
Campbell University 4
University of South Florida 4
Appalachian State University 3
Cameron University 3
Georgia Southern University 3
Northwestern State University 3
(SMC) Texas A&M University 3
University of Texas at El Paso 3

Conspicuously absent in that list is any of the 30 or so Universities hosting Army ROTC that are ranked in the top 50 of the US News Top Universities list, and only #63 Texas A&M within the top 100 on the rankings. Hmmm... clearly being an academic star doesn't mean much at LDAC. :rant2: Bookworms beware!
 
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Dunninla, you're making a false assumption that there are no academic stars at lower-ranked universities. My DS turned down all of the top-50 schools to which he had been accepted because of financial reasons, and is a very large fish at "East Podunk U" He had a 4.0/34 act in high school, and so far has a 4.0 in college. He is also at or near the top of the battalion OML. I think a more correct interpretation of the data you provided is that attending a top 50 university doesn't provide an advantage at LDAC.
 
University of South Carolina allows minors in Military Science and Naval Science. Unfortunately the curriculum for either minor leaves out the Marine Option guys. :thumbdown:
 
LDAC performance accounts for about 15 % of your OML ranking and Academic performance (GPA) accounts for 40 %. I'm thinking the school fit will play a much bigger role in your preparation to be a future officer than whether your ROTC battalion was lucky enough to swing a couple top 5 cadets at camp.
 
Dunninla, you're making a false assumption that there are no academic stars at lower-ranked universities. My DS turned down all of the top-50 schools to which he had been accepted because of financial reasons, and is a very large fish at "East Podunk U" He had a 4.0/34 act in high school, and so far has a 4.0 in college. He is also at or near the top of the battalion OML. I think a more correct interpretation of the data you provided is that attending a top 50 university doesn't provide an advantage at LDAC.
Right. Good point. Better: "Clearly studying at a top 100 university doesn't mean anything at LDAC!"
 
Dunninla, you're making a false assumption that there are no academic stars at lower-ranked universities.
Right. Good point. Better: "Clearly studying at a top 100 university doesn't mean anything at LDAC!"
 
Dunninla, you're making a false assumption that there are no academic stars at lower-ranked universities. My DS turned down all of the top-50 schools to which he had been accepted because of financial reasons, and is a very large fish at "East Podunk U" He had a 4.0/34 act in high school, and so far has a 4.0 in college. He is also at or near the top of the battalion OML. I think a more correct interpretation of the data you provided is that attending a top 50 university doesn't provide an advantage at LDAC.

LDAC is certainly a fickle animal.

To take the point even farther, the school you go to as well as your GPA really has no bearing on how a cadet will do at LDAC.

The cadet with the highest GPA at my son's school, 3.9 received straight S's, the cadet with the lowest GPA, 2.4, received all E's, Top 5, and Recondo, the scores were enough to keep him in Active Duty.

I have to agree with Jcc123, my son also turned down a top 50 school to attend a much smaller State University, wanted smaller class sizes and a smaller ROTC battalion.

I think Dunninla's point was the same, just that being an academic star does not guarantee LDAC success no matter what school they attend. Did you also notice the absence of VMI and The Citadel. It just goes to show that a lot depends on the indiviual cadet and how they perform, no matter where they go to school.
 
LDAC performance accounts for about 15 % of your OML ranking and Academic performance (GPA) accounts for 40 %. I'm thinking the school fit will play a much bigger role in your preparation to be a future officer than whether your ROTC battalion was lucky enough to swing a couple top 5 cadets at camp.

Couldn't agree more, key line being "the school fit"

The fact that both my son's absolutly love the school they attend has played a big part in their ROTC success.
 
Wow, thanks for the help. So I guess the consensus is find the school that works for you rather than the battalion that works for you. Then make sure that school has a good ROTC program. :redface:
 
LDAC performance accounts for about 15 % of your OML ranking and Academic performance (GPA) accounts for 40 %. I'm thinking the school fit will play a much bigger role in your preparation to be a future officer than whether your ROTC battalion was lucky enough to swing a couple top 5 cadets at camp.

LDAC accounts for more than 15%. You must be forgetting that the physical fitness score includes the LDAC APFT.
 
LDAC accounts for more than 15%. You must be forgetting that the physical fitness score includes the LDAC APFT.
Indeed. Per this slide, http://www.career-satisfaction.army.mil/pdfs/Order_of_Merit_Score_Calculations.pdf LDAC (including the 9.45% APFT score at LDAC) accounts for 31.95% of the OML. So the breakout appears to be:

31.95% LDAC
40% GPA
15.75% PMS eval
5.55% on-campus APFT + sports
6.75% ROTC on-campus extras
----------
100


Or if you don't want to count APFT measured at LDAC as part of the LDAC score, then:

LDAC (pure) 22.5%
APFT (on campus & at LDAC) + sports: 15%
15.75% PMS eval
5.55% on-campus APFT + sports
6.75% ROTC on-campus extras
--------
100

Moral of story: try hard at everything, all the time. Then there will be no regrets.

Oh, and learn nighttime navigation well.
 
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Indeed. Per this slide, http://www.career-satisfaction.army.mil/pdfs/Order_of_Merit_Score_Calculations.pdf LDAC (including the 9.45% APFT score at LDAC) accounts for 31.95% of the OML. So the breakout appears to be:

31.95% LDAC
40% GPA
15.75% PMS eval
5.55% on-campus APFT + sports
6.75% ROTC on-campus extras
----------
100


Or if you don't want to count APFT measured at LDAC as part of the LDAC score, then:

LDAC (pure) 22.5%
APFT (on campus & at LDAC) + sports: 15%
15.75% PMS eval
5.55% on-campus APFT + sports
6.75% ROTC on-campus extras
--------
100

Moral of story: try hard at everything, all the time. Then there will be no regrets.

Oh, and learn nighttime navigation well.

Ok, my math could be way off here but, if you subtract 15% from the total you listed above for LDAC 31.95%, wouldn't that leave 16.95%

If you add all the %'s up in the lower breakdown it comes to 65.55%, if you add the 40% for GPA that would equal 105.55%

Oh Ok, I think I got it, in the lower breakdown you added the 5.55% for on campus APFT as well as the 15%.....

Sorry, math makes my head hurt.

So it would look like this then.

GPA 40%
LDAC 22.5%
PMS EBO 22.5%
Physical (APFT) 13.5%
Athletics 1.5%

I need an Asprin now.

Your Moral of the Story is sure spot on.
 
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Right Jcleppe, I was careless with two categories in the second example. Here is the correction on the second portion -- not counting the LDAC APFT portion as LDAC but rather as APFT:

LDAC (without APFT) 22.5%
GPA: 40%
APFT (on campus & at LDAC) + sports: 15%
15.75% PMS eval
6.75% ROTC on-campus extras
--------
100

Yes, you're right, either way doesn't matter much. A cadet has to try to max out everything, everywhere, every time.
 
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