Take ROTC Scholarship offer to different college
- Thread starter gmgb
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Pima
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If you are talking about the web offer, others will tell you the letter you receive may include other schools too.
If it doesn't have others your option is to ask for it to be transferred in the spring. This may mean you place 2 deposits down. 1 at the school he has the scholarship to and 1 at the school he wants to go to in hopes that it will be transferred.
As others will also tell you, remember if the only way they can afford to attend is the scholarship think long and hard about it, because there will never be 100% of ROTC cadets that enter as freshmen and commission 4 yrs later. Sometimes reality doesn't match the fantasy that they have made in their mind...especially when they are running in the rain at 6 a.m.
Congrats and good luck.
If it doesn't have others your option is to ask for it to be transferred in the spring. This may mean you place 2 deposits down. 1 at the school he has the scholarship to and 1 at the school he wants to go to in hopes that it will be transferred.
As others will also tell you, remember if the only way they can afford to attend is the scholarship think long and hard about it, because there will never be 100% of ROTC cadets that enter as freshmen and commission 4 yrs later. Sometimes reality doesn't match the fantasy that they have made in their mind...especially when they are running in the rain at 6 a.m.
Congrats and good luck.
EDelahanty
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Wait for the offer to arrive in writing. It's possible that there will be more than one school listed.
Even if his last choice school is the only one at which he is being offered a scholarship, it may be possible to transfer the award. To preserve his options he should accept the offer within the deadline. Accepting an offer does not commit him to attend the school. In his written acceptance of the offer he will state that he is seeking to transfer the scholarship. Cadet Command can advise you on the proper way to word this if he does not yet know which schools have accepted him.
Although transfers of initial scholarship offers are not assured. they have occurred frequently in the past. For example, your son's first choice may be another awardee's fifth choice. Or the highest ranked scholarship recipients at his second choice school may accept appointments to USNA, USMA, etc., leaving slots open at that school. One obstacle to this would be if your son's higher choice school is more expensive.
He may want to contact the ROO's at higher choice schools to let them know he is still interested in their programs. But until he knows where he has been accepted, a full court press may not be worthwhile.
HopefulMom13
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If you apply for a transfer to your first choice school (which is private and more expensive) and you don't get it, will you still be able to attend the original school the scholarship was for? Just want to make sure that once you request a transfer you don't lose the original scholarship.
Also, does anyone know how long the transfer request process takes? Would we hear before May 1st?
Also, does anyone know how long the transfer request process takes? Would we hear before May 1st?
Make sure you first accept the scholarship to the school offered.
If the transfer does not go through he can still attend, with scholarship, the school that was offered.
If you received a 4yr there may be a possibility to transfer to a more expensive school by taking a 3yr.
the transfer will have a better chance if it is to a school in the same brigade.
Transfers can take a while, May 1st may be pushing it.
It is true that we have not received the actual letter yet but only found out by checking the Army ROTC scholarship status website. The problem is that this college that is listed on the site was his last choice and unfortunately he never actually applied to the college and now the admissions deadline has past. I'm hoping when the letter actually arrives it will have some of the other colleges listed or I may have him call the ROTC office up at the college. Maybe they can help out. Does anyone know how long it will take from the board date to the actual letter showing up?
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You are correct in saying no one has received the letter from CC yet. Recent posts suggest that CC mailed letters Friday, possibly arriving Monday.
And no - from what I have read, the scholarship portal only posted ONE school (some people are suggesting that out of the schools that your son received the scholarship to, the first one in alphabetical order is listed --> but no one actually knows the method CC uses to post the one school on the portal ...) - that does not mean that was the ONLY school that son received the scholarship at. The letter that you receive should hopefully contain more than one school listed. You could always try calling the ROO at the school to find out if you son got a scholarship there if you don't want to wait.
EDelahanty
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You should get the letter within a week but you still need to find out where he has been accepted. Similar to your situation, my son was awarded a scholarship to a school he had not applied to. Although he succeeded in getting it transferred to the one school he had been accepted at (months earlier via Early Action), we were in panic mode for a while.
This is where guidance counselors earn their $$$. Some of them have relationships with admissions offices and can get strings pulled after deadlines have passed.
Thank you all for your posts. You have helped to get my blood pressure back down. I had to look up the acronym ROO (Recruiting Operations Officer) being what my son would call a NOOB about ROTC. Just have to play the waiting game until the letter arrives. I'll update later.
Transfer of scholarship
My DS was awarded a 4 yr scholarship at first board. He accepted to his first choice. Once I was able to make travel arrangements to get visit it was after deadline. The visit was helpful and DS realized this university was not for him. He has submitted his transfer letter and LOE to his preferred in state university. He has been in contact with the very helpful APMS at preferred in state univ and is optimistic . Transfer makes sense as it's cheaper as well as academically diverse. We're very supportive even though the private - plane ride away university covered R & B.
The only thing we're worried about is that it's a different brigade.
My DS was awarded a 4 yr scholarship at first board. He accepted to his first choice. Once I was able to make travel arrangements to get visit it was after deadline. The visit was helpful and DS realized this university was not for him. He has submitted his transfer letter and LOE to his preferred in state university. He has been in contact with the very helpful APMS at preferred in state univ and is optimistic . Transfer makes sense as it's cheaper as well as academically diverse. We're very supportive even though the private - plane ride away university covered R & B.
The only thing we're worried about is that it's a different brigade.
Letter finally arrived
We finally received the letter. It's a 3 year scholarship but only to the college where the admissions window is already closed. There are procedures for requesting a transfer but failing to apply to the college is not a reason that you can use. What it specifically says is "If the request is based on the applicant not being admitted to the indicated school, a copy of the letter from that college indicating admission was denied must be submitted". I'm keying in on the "if" in the statement which leads me to believe that there may be other valid reasons for requesting a transfer. Unfortunately I've not be able to find anything on the internet about it. He has to accept the scholarship offer by 3 March but then has until 12 April to submit a request for transfer. If anyone has more sage advice on this it would be welcome.
We finally received the letter. It's a 3 year scholarship but only to the college where the admissions window is already closed. There are procedures for requesting a transfer but failing to apply to the college is not a reason that you can use. What it specifically says is "If the request is based on the applicant not being admitted to the indicated school, a copy of the letter from that college indicating admission was denied must be submitted". I'm keying in on the "if" in the statement which leads me to believe that there may be other valid reasons for requesting a transfer. Unfortunately I've not be able to find anything on the internet about it. He has to accept the scholarship offer by 3 March but then has until 12 April to submit a request for transfer. If anyone has more sage advice on this it would be welcome.
The first step is to go ahead and accept the scholarship, you can't start any transfer process until you accept.
Contact the ROO/PMS at the school you want to attend and talk to them about the transfer. A couple things to look at, is the school he wants to attend in the same brigade as the one with the scholarship, what is the cost difference between the two schools?
Once you accept the scholarship you can start the transfer process, first talk to the Battalion at the intended school and get some guidance from them as to how to approach the transfer request.
Note for all applicants waiting for the final board. If you have schools on your list that you have not applied to and the application deadline has not passed, you might want to get your application in now. Only list schools you are willing to attend, transfers are not a guarantee.
I don't know what your reason for not applying (and thus not being admitted) is, but I would hope that you would be able to articulate it in the letter to CC. It may be as simple as, I visited X school after the date for updates to my ROTC application and my family decided that area around the school was not safe enough and so I did not complete my application.
The fact is that a lot of students change their minds about schools they list on their ROTC application. IIRC, my daughter did so as well.
The difference is that she changed her school list (not that it mattered, she ended up getting a campus-based scholarship to what was her #2 school before her name came up on the OML).
Your difficulty is that it sounds like you just didn't do the update and now it has come back to bite you. It sounds kind of awkward, but it is what it is.
BTW, I know you looked at the application deadline, but have you actually called the admissions department, explained your situation, and asked for an exception? I don't know anything about your academic profile, but if you are above average for the institution, have a scholarship in hand that is only good at that school, and can give an on-the-spot acceptance, you might be surprised what happens. The worst they can say is, thanks but no thanks.
If you were a blue-chip athletic prospect, I wouldn't be surprised if they'd find a way to get you in...
Of course you have to really want to go to this school, which it sounds like even for free (with the scholarship) it is not acceptable to you.