Meeting ROTC staff while on college visits

armydaughter

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My son and I are planning some college visits this summer and fall. In addition to the usual presentation and tour, he has requested to meet department facutly at the schools he is especially interested in. Is it a good idea to try to meet with ROTC cadre at the same time? I sent a couple of emails requesting meetings but have not received any responses. Did I commit a faux pas?

FWIW, his ROTC scholarship application is complete except the essay and the experience survey. He wanted to wait until after SLS to do those parts.
 
Visits to ROTC

You should have interviews with the Recruiting Officers at each college. Keep sending emails until you get through. Some colleges you might have to use the phone. The ROOs and the PMSs are often away or may even be retiring or going onto another post. You may need to talk with a civilian receptionist. Don't give up.
 
Have your son call the number listed by the university for the battalion. Have him set up a meeting/visit with the ROO or PMS. Sometimes they may not be available due to summer commitments (of the 13 cadre that work in our Army ROTC department, only 4 have been around this summer) or other obligations, but someone will be there.

Caveat- its not a bad thing you contacted them, but in the end, it's his career and it looks better if he takes the initiative to set everything up. They'll be more than helpful from there.
 
Caveat- its not a bad thing you contacted them, but in the end, it's his career and it looks better if he takes the initiative to set everything up. They'll be more than helpful from there.

I know but he's at Boys state now, home for a whole 12 hours and then off to SLS. I am picking him up at SLS and then hitting the campuses. Since I am driving the rental car, I am keeping the calendar of appointments. :smile:
 
I know but he's at Boys state now, home for a whole 12 hours and then off to SLS. I am picking him up at SLS and then hitting the campuses. Since I am driving the rental car, I am keeping the calendar of appointments. :smile:

It's ok if you contact them. It might be helpful to mention your handling it while he's tripping around to Boys State and SLS. Be persistent. Try every phone number and email address you can find. One of the cadre replied to us last summer from Afghanistan where he was doing a summer stint. They're definitely busy over the summer, but someone is there holding down the fort. The trick is to find him or her.
 
I highly recommend that you visit the colleges while ROTC is in session and arrange an overnight visit that allows you to meet Cadre and Cadets and observe the culture of the unit before making any decisions.
 
I highly recommend that you visit the colleges while ROTC is in session and arrange an overnight visit that allows you to meet Cadre and Cadets and observe the culture of the unit before making any decisions.


Marist, as always provides great advice. The overnight was key to the decisions my son made before going to Norwich. The overnight gave him a lot of contact with the Cadre and Cadets to get a real feel for what he wanted to do. He spent a lot of time with and spoke to a lot of the cadets and cadre. The Colleges are usually pretty empty in the summer. As Marist said, visit when they are in session.
 
http://goldenknightbattalion.wordpr...-i-knew-you-were-coming-id-have-baked-a-cake/

Definitely stop in and visit, and let them know you are coming. Not every Battalion has an overnight visit program, so please don't hold it against us if we don't. At Clarkson I ask visiting students to schedule their visit with us through admissions, just like they would schedule a visit with a coach or academic department. I would suggest that if admissions acts like that isn't the norm then ROTC is not an equal partner on their campus. There is supposed to be a ROO back on every campus that isn't committed over the summer (or a Gold Bar recruiter). There is someone in the Battalion there that can meet with you. But, as I say in my blog post, just don't show up and expect them to be waiting for you without prior notice.
 
I agree about "try every phone number and email address" you find for a Battalion. I also agree that your first contact will usually be with a civilian who answers tht phone.
 
I know but he's at Boys state now, home for a whole 12 hours and then off to SLS. I am picking him up at SLS and then hitting the campuses. Since I am driving the rental car, I am keeping the calendar of appointments. :smile:

That's completely understandable. I didn't mean for it to sound like its not okay for you to contact them at all, they like to know cadets have parental support. If they don't have an overnight program and you can't visit during school, see if the ROO can atleast try and have a cadet available to visit with your son. Some cadets are still around nearby the school during summers.
 
visiting ROTC offices

Thanks everybody. I successfully reached staff at two of the ROTC batallions. Once scheduled a meeting and the other gave me instructions to call back when the officer would be back from training.

Today, when DS made his pit stop between Boys State and SLS, we checked his portal for the scholarship. It says he has been selected for an interview. Can we designate one of these campus visits to be the "official" interview or is that something different?
 
If you want the PMS at the school you're visiting to conduct the official PMS AROTC interview, you need to let them know that. It takes anywhere from 20-60 minutes, and the PMS has to input his scores and comments into the official AROTC system.
 
If you want the PMS at the school you're visiting to conduct the official PMS AROTC interview, you need to let them know that. It takes anywhere from 20-60 minutes, and the PMS has to input his scores and comments into the official AROTC system.

Well, the person at the one school that they said for him to meet isn't the PMS; he's the Recruiting Operations Officer. So, that wouldn't "count" anyway.

Most of the schools he listed are out of state. However, there's a AROTC battallion in Houston, at UofH. Any advice on what to factor in when chosing where to do your interview?
 
There is definitely an advantage to conducting the interview at your first choice school, and letting that school know it is your first choice.

Interviewers may or not follow up with the interviewee after the interview. The amount of follow up will probably be related to the likelihood that you will get accepted to that school, chooses that school, and/or get the Army ROTC Scholarship. If you have made it clear that your first choice school is Western U, do not expect much follow up from the interviewer at Eastern U. If you made it clear that Eastern U is your first choice, that interviewer is more likely to track your application, inform you when deadlines are approaching, and let you know if your file is missing information.

If you interview at Eastern U, the interviewer will be unable to answer any of the difficult questions you have about the Western U program. "Is it possible to double major in Mid East Studies and Arabic ? Does Western U give academic credit for ROTC classes ? Does Western U give a discount on housing to ROTC Cadets ?" The answer will be something along the lines of "I don't know. Call Western U." When you call Western U the first thing they are likely to say is "Who are you again ?". Then they will give you the number for the Mid East Studies dept, the Foreign Language dept, the Bursar's Office, the Registrar's Office, and the Housing Office. Then will then expect you to make the calls and find out the answers. The Eastern U interviewer will know about the "secret" Alumni scholarships that are not on the school's website, but will not know about any of the scholarships at Western U.

Getting admitted to Western U might be as difficult as getting the ROTC Scholarship. The Eastern U interviewer will most likely not know anybody at Western U Admissions and will not be able to help you get in.

During my 4 years in ROTC, the only students to receive ROTC Scholarships at Marist College are students that interviewed with me at Marist College. Some of these recipients did not receive it from the National Board but rather from the On Campus Scholarship budget. By interviewing here, making repeated visits here, following up with phone calls, etc., they built up a relationship that put them at the front of the line for the On Campus Scholarships.
 
Thanks. That was very helpful advice. "Multiple" visits are out of the question unless I win the lottery. :cool: But at least he can get face-time at these schools.

He is purposely delaying the finalization of his AROTC application because he doesn't want to be locked into his school choices (and their rank order) until he finishes this round of college visits, and I support that line of thinking. He earlier visited one university that everyone, including my son, thought he would love. After the visit, it dropped off his list entirely. And another school that he visited mainly to humor me has crept into his top five after a campus visit.

A related question. Is it considered good form to send a thank you note after one of these visits if it isn't the official PMS one?
 
Emily Post would say its always good form to send a thank you note regardless of rank and position.
 
Two applicants...just about equal...I have to recommend to the PMS which one we should offer our campus based scholarship to...one sent me a nice thank you after his visits and the other one didn't...hmmmmm.

Additionally, it is possible to go back in and change your schools on your application. I recently "applied" myself, and checked to see that I could go back in and change things. Not sure why applicants in the past have had problems doing that.
 
Emily Post would say its always good form to send a thank you note regardless of rank and position.

I would presume that the type of student that takes the time to send a thank you note would be the type of Cadet that would fully apply themselves and not cause any out of class issues.

It would make a big difference to me.
 
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