NROTC Marine Option Chances

Hi everyone,
I'm just making a quick thread to see if any of you can tell me how competitive I'll be for the scholarship. My recruiter says I will be, but let's see what you guys have to say about it. Anyways here's a list of my credentials, and thanks for any input you might have.


Background- white, male, 5'4", 150
GPA- 3.6 (unweighted)
4.1 (weighted)
Class rank- 52 of 533 (weighted)
85 of 533 (unweighted)
SAT- 1340, 1370 if composite (I read somewhere that the review board takes the highest scores from multiple tests, what I call composite score, could someone verify?)
AP Test- Biology- 4
Chemistry- 4
English Language and Comp- 4
Honors classes- 6 honors classes and 3 APs (grades 9-11)
Senior schedule- English 4
Physics
Spanish 4
Calc AB AP
Gov/Econ AP
Boys golf
Sports- Freshman football
Freshman/JV baseball
JV/Varsity Golf
Extracurriculars- 3 years United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps, LPO of unit, over 10 ribbons, attended Petty Officer Leadership Academy, staffed two recruit trainings, outstanding letter of rec from my CO
Work experience 10, 11, 12 (10-19 hrs./week) helped train new employees, money handling, etc.
Ran 2009 LA Marathon
Applying to USNA
NHS and California Scolarship Federation member
Awards- USNSCC Citation (twice)
Principals honor roll
Distinguished student
Scholar athlete
Excellence in Chemistry Award
Essays- my recruiter said my essays were some of the best he's seen, I really tried to convey that I want the scholarship so that I can serve my country and lead marines, and not simply for the monetary aspect of it
Letters of Rec- one from CO of Sea Cadet unit
one from English teacher (both are outstanding)
PFT- 281

Thank you for any input you might have.

Looking really good so far, I'd be surprised if you didn't get in, but it depends on how compettive your didtrict/state is. If you live in Texas or California, then it'll be harder than if you lived in Utah or Montana.

Thanks for the input. It would figure that I live in California and am apart of RS Los Angeles

Semper Fi - I think your chances are fairly good. I would say that your athletics are weak though. I don't think they're going to look at golf as the team sport that they want to see. You can perhaps make up for this by blowing the PFT out of the water... probably 270 (at least) or better. Physical Fitness is key to the Marine scholarship. Good luck!

I have edited your post to only leave what to me stand out as Strong Highlights:

semperfi50 said:

- SAT- 1370 composite
- Varsity Golf (maybe, but kind of weak as far as sports go)
- 3 years United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps, LPO of unit, over 10 ribbons, attended Petty Officer Leadership Academy, staffed two recruit trainings, outstanding letter of rec from my CO
- Work experience 10, 11, 12 (10-19 hrs./week) helped train new employees,
- Ran 2009 LA Marathon maybe, but what was your time?
- Applying to USNA
- USNSCC Citation (twice) not sure what this is, but sounds good
- Essays- I want the scholarship so that I can serve my country and lead marines,
- Letters of Rec- one from CO of Sea Cadet unit
- PFT- 281

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Almost everything I edited out from your post is good but doesn't stand out from other high quality applicants for the the NROTC - Marine Option scholarship. I've left what I think are the most important aspects of your resume. Make sure not to clutter your interview with good but common stuff (like stuff I edited out), and concentrate on what makes you different. YOu don't technically have much school leadership experience (e.g. Captain of a TEAM sport, Officer of Student Council or Editor of Newspaper, etc.), but your supervisory and training experience at work might be just as important in your Leadership potential evaluation -- depends on how you describe that.

Oh, for Marine Option NROTC, the PFT is really, really, really, really, important, especially since you did not prove those capabilities in HS with a cardio/ballistic strength sport -- football, lacrosse, basketball, or wresting team captain. Your score is very strong, but since so much focus will be on that, is it too late to work on the PFT and submit a higher score?

dunninla said:

I have edited your post to only leave what to me stand out as Strong Highlights:


Almost everything I edited out from your post is good but doesn't stand out from other high quality applicants for the the NROTC - Marine Option scholarship. I've left what I think are the most important aspects of your resume. Make sure not to clutter your interview with good but common stuff (like stuff I edited out), and concentrate on what makes you different. YOu don't technically have much school leadership experience (e.g. Captain of a TEAM sport, Officer of Student Council or Editor of Newspaper, etc.), but your supervisory and training experience at work might be just as important in your Leadership potential evaluation -- depends on how you describe that.

Oh, for Marine Option NROTC, the PFT is really, really, really, really, important, especially since you did not prove those capabilities in HS with a cardio/ballistic strength sport -- football, lacrosse, basketball, or wresting team captain. Your score is very strong, but since so much focus will be on that, is it too late to work on the PFT and submit a higher score?

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I somehow missed the PFT score when I made my initial comments. Duhhh. I assume this is an official score (if not then get one, they may be harder on crunch form that you are). This score of 281 would be good enough in DS's unit to reduce the number of times per week an upperclassman needs to PT with the unit from 3 to 2. I expect this is sufficient for scholarship standards, but if you are able to improve it by all means do so (as dunninla suggests). I think this is especially true if one area was much weaker than the others. Given the score you must have maxed pullups. If most of your lost points come either from the run or the crunches, then work on that and repeat the PFT.

For example, if you also maxed crunches then your run time was 21:10-21:20. Anything over 21:00 is considered substandard for OCS entry these days. Now, since your a scholarship applicant I think they would consider it good expecting that they'll get you at or close to an 18:00 run time, but if you prove you can improve it now then why not do so.

BTW, I think dunninla was right on with her editing. Good luck!

Sent you a PM

Thanks for the input. And even though I don't have much school leadership, I am the leader of my sea cadet unit. I guarantee if you total up all of my time in the sea cadets, I would have much more leadership experience than a team captain. Seeing as how I have spent over two months in training, and have acted as a drill instructor at two recruit trainings, not to mention twice monthly drill weekends.

semperfi50 said:

Thanks for the input. And even though I don't have much school leadership, I am the leader of my sea cadet unit. I guarantee if you total up all of my time in the sea cadets, I would have much more leadership experience than a team captain. Seeing as how I have spent over two months in training, and have acted as a drill instructor at two recruit trainings, not to mention twice monthly drill weekends.

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Good for you. Make sure you get that stuff in your application somewhere... probably essay.