ROTC Questions Help!

Jacobi

5-Year Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2012
Messages
4
Hello everyone,

Sorry for the length of this post but I have a lot to learn about this. I am currently a junior in high school in Texas and I'm going to apply for an NROTC Scholarship. I'm not sure if I want to do Marine Option or Navy Option yet. I'm going to apply for AFROTC and Army ROTC also as a backup plan if you're allowed to do that. I have a 4.0 GPA (3.4 unweighted) and I'm in the top 25% of my graduating class. I'm in Key Club (community service), and run varsity track. I took the SAT sophomore year and I think I got a 1600. I passed the AP history test last year so i have that college credit. I can meet all of the physical requirements. I plan on majoring in either Business Management or Chemical Engineering. With these qualifications, what are my chances of getting an NROTC Scholarship? I also have a few questions about ROTC in general.

-When is the best time for me to apply?
-Do I need to join more clubs?
-Are most ROTC cadets on scholarship?
-And What else can I do to increase my chances?

Thanks for any answers!
 
A great resource for you, since you are in Texas, is to call the Corps of Cadets recruiting office @ Texas A&M. Even if you have no interest in attending A&M, they were incredibly helpful to our family in answering specific questions about scholarships, resources specific to Texas (Texas Armed Services Scholarship), and basic "ROTC in college" questions. Here is the contact info:

1-800-TAMU-AGS
aggiecorps@tamu.edu

Good luck!:thumb:
 
Hello everyone,

Sorry for the length of this post but I have a lot to learn about this. I am currently a junior in high school in Texas and I'm going to apply for an NROTC Scholarship. I'm not sure if I want to do Marine Option or Navy Option yet. I'm going to apply for AFROTC and Army ROTC also as a backup plan if you're allowed to do that. I have a 4.0 GPA (3.4 unweighted) and I'm in the top 25% of my graduating class. I'm in Key Club (community service), and run varsity track. I took the SAT sophomore year and I think I got a 1600. I passed the AP history test last year so i have that college credit. I can meet all of the physical requirements. I plan on majoring in either Business Management or Chemical Engineering. With these qualifications, what are my chances of getting an NROTC Scholarship? I also have a few questions about ROTC in general.

-When is the best time for me to apply?
-Do I need to join more clubs?
-Are most ROTC cadets on scholarship?
-And What else can I do to increase my chances?

Thanks for any answers!

The best time for you to apply is the spring semester of your junior year. They open up the online application in early April as I recall. This will let you get your teacher recommendations in prior to summer as its difficult to do over the summer. You should be finishing up your application by late August or early September. I think the first board meets in September and you want to try to get before that board.

On clubs go for quality vs quantity. As a former Key Club member I think that's a great club. Being on track team is great. Shoot for team captain or president of Key Club to demonstrate leadership (where I would say you are weak based on what you stated).

Most freshman NROTC Midshipmen are NOT on scholarship. My DS did not get the scholarship and joined NROTC anyway as he's determined to be a Marine Officer. After you're first semester as a NROTC college programmer (without scholarship) you can re-apply for a sideload (in school) scholarship. There aren't many of them but there are some available. I think last fall they awarded 22 such scholarships for Marine Options. DOn't know the number for Navy option but it was probably > 100. Scholarship and non-scholarship midshipmen are treated exactly the same and are given the same opportunities in any ROTC program. DS is on his second semester as a squad leader.

To increase your chances take the hardest class load you can carry while still maintaining a good GPA. Seek out leadership opportunities. Learn as much as you can about Navyy and Marines and think about which course you want to pursue. This will help you with the interview in any case. If pursuing Marine Option prep for the PFT which you can find info about online. Cultivate good relationships with your Math, English teachers and coaches. Work closely with your guidance counselor and let them know you want to pursue ROTC. This will mean a lot of work for them too and you want them on your side working for you.

Think about your major carefully. Navy has a Tier system and some majors have a better chance of scholarship than others. For example the engineering major you mention would be desireable by them. I'm not so sure about Business Management. Nevertheless, pursue the major youwant and not one that will "get" you the scholarship so you succeed in college which will be important to success in NROTC. BTW you can apply to AFROTC and AROTC as well, but you must decide between Navy and Marine option as you cannot apply to both.

Good luck! You're wise to get started this early. :thumb:
 
Just a quick and dirty so you can get a person's first impression.

There are 3 areas of evalution by just about every ROTC and Academy, but each area is weighted differently according to the service community. And remember, you're not being compared to all of your High School peers... you are being compared to the quality of Student/Athlete/Leader that is applying to five Service Academies, and the Scholarship Programs for the four ROTCs (Navy, Navy-Marine Option, Air Force, Army). My grades below are in comparison to this strong group of applicants:

-Leadership: You are not yet strong here: B-
-Scholarship: YOu are above average but not top 10%: B+
-Athlete: Not sure...you say "Varsity Track"... are you ranked in District, State, etc? Probably an A-

- Navy and Air Force: Both value Math/Science majors heavily. Academics have to be top 10% in most cases, with most scholarship winners being closer to top 5% in GPA, Class Rank, and SAT or ACT. It doesn't do any good if you were your school's President, and a star athlete, if you are at risk to not excel in Calculus and Physics in college.

- Marine Option: Values Leadership and Athleticism as much as Scholarship... you have to be very strong in all three areas, but Scholarship can be top 25% instead of top 10%., so long as Leadership and Athleticism are top 5%. Marine Option doesn't care if you are not a math/science/engineering major. You do NOT have to take Calculus and Physics in college to be part of Marine Option NROTC.

- Army: Similar to Marine values but since there are WAY more scholarships to go around, you can also be top 25% in scholarship as long as the other two areas are very strong. Marines values the PFT more than Army does, and prove this by personally administering the PFT at your inteview, rather than accepting a score report from a coach or gym teacher. Like Marines, Calculus and Physics are not requirements to participate in ROTC.

Honestly, you could use some boosting in all three areas. You can only control what you can ... so don't worry about cum GPA, and just focus on getting straight As if you can this year. Also target, and work toward a Leadership position at your school: Captain of the Track Team, President of the Key CLub, or an Student Council Pres/VP, or Yearbook or Newspaper Editor in Chief. Lastly, work hard on situps, pushups, pullups (Only for Marine Option NROTC) and 1 or 2 miles runs, since a high PFT score can get an otherwise on-the-bubble applicant into the Scholarship category.
 
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Just a quick and dirty so you can get a person's first impression.

There are 3 areas of evalution by just about every ROTC and Academy, but each area is weighted differently according to the service community. And remember, you're not being compared to all of your High School peers... you are being compared to the quality of Student/Athlete/Leader that is applying to five Service Academies, and the Scholarship Programs for the four ROTCs (Navy, Navy-Marine Option, Air Force, Army). My grades below are in comparison to this strong group of applicants:

-Leadership: You are not yet strong here: B-
-Scholarship: YOu are above average but not top 10%: B+
-Athlete: Not sure...you say "Varsity Track"... are you ranked in District, State, etc? Probably an A-

- Navy and Air Force: Both value Math/Science majors heavily. Academics have to be top 10% in most cases, with most scholarship winners being closer to top 5% in GPA, Class Rank, and SAT or ACT. It doesn't do any good if you were your school's President, and a star athlete, if you are at risk to not excel in Calculus and Physics in college.

- Marine Option: Values Leadership and Athleticism as much as Scholarship... you have to be very strong in all three areas, but Scholarship can be top 25% instead of top 10%., so long as Leadership and Athleticism are top 5%. Marine Option doesn't care if you are not a math/science/engineering major. You do NOT have to take Calculus and Physics in college to be part of Marine Option NROTC.

- Army: Similar to Marine values but since there are WAY more scholarships to go around, you can also be top 25% in scholarship as long as the other two areas are very strong. Marines values the PFT more than Army does, and prove this by personally administering the PFT at your inteview, rather than accepting a score report from a coach or gym teacher. Like Marines, Calculus and Physics are not requirements to participate in ROTC.

Honestly, you could use some boosting in all three areas. You can only control what you can ... so don't worry about cum GPA, and just focus on getting straight As if you can this year. Also target, and work toward a Leadership position at your school: Captain of the Track Team, President of the Key CLub, or an Student Council Pres/VP, or Yearbook or Newspaper Editor in Chief. Lastly, work hard on situps, pushups, pullups (Only for Marine Option NROTC) and 1 or 2 miles runs, since a high PFT score can get an otherwise on-the-bubble applicant into the Scholarship category.

+1 on that great summary Dunninla!
 
^ These awesome people have given you great advice. Might I add one more thing...if you`re not sure whether you want to do Navy or Marine-option, consider this: It`s easier to switch from Navy to Marines than it is the other way around, if that helps any.
 
I can`t exactly remember where, but I read it somewhere and was also told by someone...I`ll try and find where I read it...sorry if I am wrong about it, but I know I just read it recently...
 
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Ah, so, I figured out what I heard/read :eek:....it was from a few months ago, so I didn`t remember correctly: If you want to switch from Navy option to Marine option and vice versa it`s possible, but to go from Navy to Marine, you would have to get a higher PFT score, and they have different requirements than Navy (I got it mixed up when I wrote it first). But for going from Marines to Navy, you`d have to catch up with the extra requirements Navy has regarding math and sciences. So, neither is necessarily the easiest, but if you already have the requirements that the Marine-option one requires, and can get a high enough score, it might be easier than Navy....but Marine-option is highly competitive too. But it could be hard to catch up with the extra classes if going from Marines to Navy. Sorry for the discrepancy! :redface:
 
?? what do you mean?

People usually mean this in an academic sense. Navy requires a couple semesters of calculus and I think 2 semesters of calculus based physics. When people say that Marines have no fear, do not believe them. Many Marine Options, including my own DS fear both Calculus and Physics. More difficult PT requirements look like child play compared to these academic subjects. :smile:
 
Thank you, kinnem, for summing up what I tried to say in a paragraph! I meant that while it`s no means any easier switching from Navy to Marines, it`s easier academically. Thanks again!
 
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