AFROTC and Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M (TAMU)

RaptorDad

5-Year Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2011
Messages
53
Howdy! (Funny...I've always said that!! We live in Texas, after all! :biggrin:)

Proud parent of DS who will head off to college at TAMU this fall. Just wondered how many others on the forum were in the same situation... Maybe we can share hints and support for all the tasks and adventure that awaits our kiddos!

Here are a few questions to kick this off:

Raptor will be a part of the Corps of Cadets and I've heard they can put in some kind of "preference" for their squadron--is that true and does anyone know how to do that?

Anyone already sign up for Fish Camp and orientation? What dates did you select?

Gig'em Aggies!
RaptorDad
 
I'm headed to A&M on a Marine Corps NROTC scholarship. Your son will be able to choose his squadron when he goes to his New Student Conference in the summer. I believe fish camp registration opens in June, and fish orientation week begins on August 15th this year.

Gig 'em!
 
Dkr626--thanks for your reply and congratulations on the scholarship! Raptor has an AFROTC scholarship, but we're still waiting to hear back about the Corps scholarships, etc.--guess all new freshmen are in that same situation.

The son of a friend of mine is in his first year in the Corps at A&M. Hoping he'll be able to pass along some good advice to my DS. I'll see if I can get that info so I can post it here, too.

Gig 'em!
 
Howdy! (Funny...I've always said that!! We live in Texas, after all! :biggrin:)

Proud parent of DS who will head off to college at TAMU this fall. Just wondered how many others on the forum were in the same situation... Maybe we can share hints and support for all the tasks and adventure that awaits our kiddos!

Here are a few questions to kick this off:

Raptor will be a part of the Corps of Cadets and I've heard they can put in some kind of "preference" for their squadron--is that true and does anyone know how to do that?

Anyone already sign up for Fish Camp and orientation? What dates did you select?

Gig'em Aggies!
RaptorDad

Hey RaptorDad,

Nice to see some fellow Aggies on here. I'm pretty much in the same boat as your DS: TWE from USAFA, AFROTC scholarship, Corps of Cadets.

You can select a squadron at your NSC. Mine is July 11-13. I would have preferred earlier though, I can't wait to get down there :smile: You can check out all the outfits, including a few non-Air Force squads and other special outfits, at http://corps.tamu.edu/corps-units. Although I haven't locked it in yet, I am set on Falcon 16. It is a technical outfit (good for science, technology, engineering, and math) that also focuses heavily on military training. They have a lot of successful AFROTC cadets that are more than willing to help us younger cadets navigate the AFROTC's requirements for winning a commission.

As for Fish Camp, I picked D, which is August 8-11.

The Corps of Cadets Freshman Orientation Week starts on Monday, August 20, a week before classes start on August 27.

It would be great to swap contact information and talk about all the options available to us at A&M this fall!

Thanks and Gig'em,
iDeltaStorm

Proud member of the Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2016!
 
Howdy (boy, that's hard getting used to!). We had NSC already and the most stressful part was enrolling in classes; the sections fill up real fast. I would suggest skipping most NSC evening activities the first evening and really plan out your class schedule to hit the "Submit" button right as the site opens up at 1:30 p.m. on the second day. You have to bring a laptop and sit in your hotel room for a while to do that.

The reporting date for freshman orientation week is actually August 15. I know that somewhere on the Internet it said FOW starts a week before classes, which would be the 20th, but the reporting time is actually 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. on the 15th. If your son goes to Fish camp, the last two sessions are out because they conflict with FOW.

The Corps units have an open house at 9:30 p.m. on the first evening, and I recommend attending that. Your son can then pick any AFROTC unit the next day, or perhaps one of the mixed units.

If you are flying in, be prepared to bring pack a pair of shoes, pair of boots, and assorted clothing items. They issue those during the uniform fitting process.

Congratulations, and good luck.
 
Howdy (boy, that's hard getting used to!). We had NSC already and the most stressful part was enrolling in classes; the sections fill up real fast. I would suggest skipping most NSC evening activities the first evening and really plan out your class schedule to hit the "Submit" button right as the site opens up at 1:30 p.m. on the second day. You have to bring a laptop and sit in your hotel room for a while to do that.

The reporting date for freshman orientation week is actually August 15. I know that somewhere on the Internet it said FOW starts a week before classes, which would be the 20th, but the reporting time is actually 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. on the 15th. If your son goes to Fish camp, the last two sessions are out because they conflict with FOW.

The Corps units have an open house at 9:30 p.m. on the first evening, and I recommend attending that. Your son can then pick any AFROTC unit the next day, or perhaps one of the mixed units.

If you are flying in, be prepared to bring pack a pair of shoes, pair of boots, and assorted clothing items. They issue those during the uniform fitting process.

Congratulations, and good luck.

Howdy! Thanks for the information! That's what I originally heard, but I figured I had the wrong/outdated information. Thanks for the clarification.

About the class schedules, I was able to configure mine on myedu.com. It is a great site that has all the class information (times, courses, professors, reviews, the average GPA, etc.) for many universities across the US, including Texas A&M. It even includes the section numbers with the specific classes that I have selected. This tool came highly recommended to me by some friends currently at A&M, and I highly recommend it as well.

So the way I understand the class selection process, you can configure your schedule as if all the options are available, then on 1:30 p.m., they open up registration? :confused: How long do you have to configure your schedule before the 1:30 p.m. deadline? Can I go on my Howdy portal right now and do it, or can I only gain access to it once I am at my NSC?

Thanks and Gig'em,
iDeltaStorm

Proud member of the Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2016
 
Howdy! The department advisor also recommended that tool, myedu.com. You might have to use the official portal in order to see how many spaces are left in each section, and avoid the ones that are full. Some sections are also restricted (e.g. honors, FOCUS). On the day of registration, you can be sitting at the browser with your 5-digit course/section numbers already filled in, and click Submit right at 1:30 p.m.
 
Howdy! Myedu is a great tool. I would like to add that you might not be alone when you register for your classes. My department had a group of only 15 for our NSC so they had taken the time to reserve a University lab for us. Having the advisors there to help find a new course if one you had planned on taking was already filled was awesome.

Thanks and Gig 'Em
 
Our daughter who was from out of state just finished her Fish year. She said this in response to a question about the top ten things a new cadet should know:

1) Don’t take things too personally.

2) Try your hardest at everything, even if you know you really suck at it.

3) There are going to be bad days. Bad, bad days.

4) You might not like all your buddies, but you’re gonna have to put for effort for them if you want an easier life.

5) Puma and Lincoln > Brasso and Kiwi*

6) You’ll miss the simple everyday things but you’ll enjoy them so much more.

7) You may be jealous that non-regs get to have those everyday things but secretly, the non-regs are jealous they don’t have cool stories about how they went scavenging for Armadillos, went so hard on the O-Course they threw up and aren’t the “Keepers of the Spirit and Guardians of Tradition”. Hooah.

8) Not that I know, but those boots with the spurs seem SO worth not quitting for.

9) Don’t take yourself too seriously or in the words of our 1st Sergeant: Don’t be a tool, don’t be that guy.

10) It’s the most fun you’ll never want to have again.

*Have Brasso and Kiwi on hand though because they good at taking out the knicks in your brass/shoes

PS: Sent you a PM
 
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