Way to change schools?

griffin(door)

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My son was awarded a 3-year AD Nurse Option scholarship to an out of state school. After being awarded he visited the school and his battalion commander suggested he apply to a smaller private school (as the nursing program is better and acceptance rate is much higher). It also gives free room and board, so of course I am on board. But he suggested my son turn down the 3AD scholarship and accept a STEM scholarship from him instead.

I am freaking out about this more than just a little bit. Wouldn't it be easier to change the existing scholarship to the new school? And how does one do this?

Please help!
 
For nursing I would see it as being a lot more realistic to just switch over to another school. The school I am recruiting at is ~47k a year and we can't even fill our nursing mission (Top nursing school in the state too with 800+ applicants for 80ish slots every year). The Army needs nurses so there is A LOT more flexibility when it comes to scholarship allocations.

I don't get the STEM scholarship meaning, we are talking about Army ROTC right? There are only line and nurse scholarships.
 
Thank you, do you know how he can go about changing the school successfully?

I would talk to the ROO of the other school and ask about on-campus nursing scholarships. See if he has fulfilled his mission for that FY graduating class. If he came over to my school and met the minimum nursing school requirements we could almost guarantee him a 4 yr scholarship plus entry in the school of nursing.

Disclaimer: I can't promise anything of course
 
Thank you, do you know how he can go about changing the school successfully?

If it were in the battalion, the PMS would have the authority to do so (if the $$ not too far out of line - it sounds that way between a OOS public and a moderate cost private). Within the brigade, it isn't horribly bad to transfer, but subject to balancing out scholarships between battalions. Different brigade is much more difficult.

Since it is a referral from the PMS for the specific school (from the sounds of your post and the fact that you didn't suggest it), I would think that the PMS has some knowledge/influence (same battalion?) about the situation.

Without giving away too much, can you tell us if it is within the battalion or the relationship between the PMS and this private is?

Many smaller privates will do last minute admissions (although not necessarily to nursing school - check the details) especially if you are bringing your own FA.

As to the STEM offer, it is the bird in hand. The question is whether serving is the #1 priority or nursing is the #1 priority? I'm sure you are aware that nursing has one of the higher attrition rates as majors go. A tough academic and rotational load on top of ROTC.

Lots of things to consider... I understand your situation...
 
I would talk to the ROO of the other school and ask about on-campus nursing scholarships. See if he has fulfilled his mission for that FY graduating class. If he came over to my school and met the minimum nursing school requirements we could almost guarantee him a 4 yr scholarship plus entry in the school of nursing.

Disclaimer: I can't promise anything of course

great suggestion:thumb:
 
The schools are actually part of the same ROTC unit. They PT together and do classes together. They are blocks from one another.

The priorities are BOTH nursing and serving.
 
The schools are actually part of the same ROTC unit. They PT together and do classes together. They are blocks from one another.

The priorities are BOTH nursing and serving.

Sounds like the guy is giving good, practical advice for being successful in the nursing part of the mission. I'd be checking out the situation with admissions at the other school tomorrow if your son is on board. Obviously, you should look at the specific requirements for gaining admission and keeping good status within the nursing program at that school. My guess is that this officer is one step in front on that matter.

Usually, these transfers within the battalion are simple. Clarkson or Marist will probably check in soon to confirm.
 
The priorities are BOTH nursing and serving.

Keeping a regular scholarship (even in STEM majors) is probably easier than keeping a nursing scholarship, but that is always subject to the motivation of the student in question. With the STEM scholarship, he has many options, nursing is one option with little room to wiggle. If he matches up academically well with his peers (you should be able to get stats from the admissions office or the nursing school) who make it through the program, his motivation will carry him.
 
Keeping a regular scholarship (even in STEM majors) is probably easier than keeping a nursing scholarship, but that is always subject to the motivation of the student in question. With the STEM scholarship, he has many options, nursing is one option with little room to wiggle. If he matches up academically well with his peers (you should be able to get stats from the admissions office or the nursing school) who make it through the program, his motivation will carry him.

This is all too true, most semesters are filled to the brim with classes and minoring in something else with ROTC is all but impossible at a lot of schools. Also as you said the attrition of pre-nursing is very high and gets even more compounded with students getting forced out of nursing school when a class GPA falls below a 3.0. Many of our FYs are short mission because cadets started nursing but couldn't get in or failed out. I would say that with any commissioning class we have 3-4 of line guys/gals that were once nursing track. It's that bad sometimes but hey at least they commissioned. In the future I don't think the option from switching nurse to line will be that easy though, I know when scholarship money was more plentiful all nursing cadets would start line and switch to nursing dedicated scholarships when they were granted acceptance after freshman year.
 
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