Applying to the Academy/AFROTC Scholarship

Hello, I am currently a college student. I'm applying for USAFA. I was wondering how does the process work after checking the box in the PCQ that you would also be interested in an AFROTC scholarship. Would it help if I also applied for an AFROTC scholarship on my own separate from the USAFA application?

What yr in college are you?

There are two paths for the scholarship and it depends on how many credits you have. HSSP and ICSP.

As far as it helping in chances, to me it would be a def. no.

AFROTC and AFA operate separately. AFA boards do not take into consideration if the applicant applies for AFROTC. They have no clue if they are awarded or denied. AFA boards are held in CO, and start to meet weekly in Oct. AFROTC boards are held at Maxwell and start to meet 4 times (@ monthly) beginning in Dec.

JMPO, the reason they do this is to reduce duplicate paperwork, which can speed up the process.

I.E. DoDMERB exam is valid for both, so if they know that you are applying for both, the 2nd one to request it can just pick up the results from the 1st.

ALO's also can do the interview for AFROTC.

I do not know for sure that is why, but it is something that would make the most sense to me.

After transferring to my local Penn State school I am now a Freshmen based off of credits. I will be a Sophomore either at the end of this summer semester or at the end of the FALL 2013 semester.

I think I should have worded my question differently. I checked the box saying, yes I would also be interested in AFROTC scholarships. My question is towards the scholarships not USAFA. Even though I checked that I'm also interested in AFROTC scholarships, should I also apply for the AFROTC scholarships on my own behalf?

I will leave that to someone newer to answer because every yr the system is tweaked.

I believe it is still you have to apply on your own for AFROTC, since it is a different system (paperwork) regarding boarding.

You will take a PFA instead of a CFA.
AFROTC does not take into consideration SR. yr. academics/ecs, AFA does.
You will list the colleges you want to attend (it is not like A/NROTC....the scholarship is not tied to the school), they want it for more manpower needs at each det. Also to verify that the school is part of their system.
You will inform them of your intended major. Tech majors are given an edge. @80-85% of all scholarships are tech. This is part of their decision making factor.
You will not necessarily be assigned an ALO. Your interview can occur with det, CoC, but for AFA it will be an ALO.

Yrs ago, our DS had to do both, AFA and AFROTC apps.

For you, I would contact the college because if I believe correctly you are not eligible for an HSSP. You will need to go ICSP due to credits. They can really help you more than the majority of us here.
~~~~ Reason why is simple. Many cadets that did not receive an HSSP, will apply for an ICSP. Some of these cadets did their interviews with them last yr. as a HS sr. You will want to be on the cadre's radar as soon as you start. They can help you now if you have any shortcomings.
~~~ Additionally, since you are applying for AFA, AFROTC can give you a nom. You want them to know that this is your goal. They will not hold this against you at all. Their goal is to train future officers for AF. You would not be the 1st one they had that was trying for AFA as an AFROTC cadet. Nor will you be the last.
~~~Other posters are more informed regarding ICSP, but I believe it is 2 boards. Fall and spring. See getting on the radar soon reason. I think fall results are released early Dec., not a long time to get them to know/support you.

Hope that helps somewhat.

Pima said:

For you, I would contact the college because if I believe correctly you are not eligible for an HSSP. You will need to go ICSP due to credits. They can really help you more than the majority of us here.
~~~~ Reason why is simple. Many cadets that did not receive an HSSP, will apply for an ICSP. Some of these cadets did their interviews with them last yr. as a HS sr. You will want to be on the cadre's radar as soon as you start. They can help you now if you have any shortcomings.
~~~ Additionally, since you are applying for AFA, AFROTC can give you a nom. You want them to know that this is your goal. They will not hold this against you at all. Their goal is to train future officers for AF. You would not be the 1st one they had that was trying for AFA as an AFROTC cadet. Nor will you be the last.

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Pima has given you some excellent advice. IMHO -your first step step should be to contact the AFROTC Detachment at PSU. If your goal is to become an AF officer they can give you the guidance necessary to accomplish it.....including help with your USAFA application. At this point I would not worry too much about applying for an ICSP Scholarship, if you stay with AFROTC you'll receive all the information you'll need. Just check the box that you are interested and concentrate on the USAFA application for now.

Good Luck!

I would also contact them about enrolling this fall, because you may be a 100, or a 250.

Freshman yr is 100, but you are saying you don't know yet where you stand academically. If you are a sophomore 1st day of classes, than I would assume you will be a 250, since you were not in AFROTC as a 100. If you are still a freshman, than they may enter you as a 100. They may decide to enter you as a 200.

Big difference because a 200/250 will be up for SFT come Feb/Mar. You would be SFT14. 100 will be SFT15, and not meet their board for @18 more months.

CoC ranking is 50% for SFT. SAT/ACT/AFOQT is 20%, CGPA, and PFT are the remaining 30%.

BoyerPA said:

After transferring to my local Penn State school I am now a Freshmen based off of credits. I will be a Sophomore either at the end of this summer semester or at the end of the FALL 2013 semester.

I think I should have worded my question differently. I checked the box saying, yes I would also be interested in AFROTC scholarships. My question is towards the scholarships not USAFA. Even though I checked that I'm also interested in AFROTC scholarships, should I also apply for the AFROTC scholarships on my own behalf?

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in order to go for an AFROTC scholarship, you need to be either a rising high school senior, or a current cadet at your college's detachment. If I am understanding you correctly, you have already graduated HS so the 1st method is out, the only way you can recieve an AFROTC scholarship now is if you enroll in ROTC in the fall and compete for an in college scholarship and there is no application for you personally to fill out for that as whether or not you are put up for one is dependent on the cadre.

I knew someone in AFROTC currently would have the answer.

Now Non Ducor here is the twist:

Will he be a 100, or 250 because if he follow the line out he may be a Dec grad. "I will be a Sophomore either at the end of this summer semester or at the end of the FALL 2013 semester. "

If not by the end of the summer he is still a freshman come fall, but would graduate earlier. and the 3 semester rule could make him a 250.

Just curious if you or anyone knows that answer. It can be a factor for SFT, AFSC boards.

Pima said:

I knew someone in AFROTC currently would have the answer.

Now Non Ducor here is the twist:

Will he be a 100, or 250 because if he follow the line out he may be a Dec grad. "I will be a Sophomore either at the end of this summer semester or at the end of the FALL 2013 semester. "

If not by the end of the summer he is still a freshman come fall, but would graduate earlier. and the 3 semester rule could make him a 250.

Just curious if you or anyone knows that answer. It can be a factor for SFT, AFSC boards.

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That depends entirely on his program of study. If he is already doing a 5 yr program and has just completed his 1st year, he might as well enter in as a 100 since he has 4 yrs to go anyways. If he is on a 4yr program, he would go in as a 250, that is, unless he decides to stretch his studies out for an extra year. There are plenty of 2yr students that wanted an extra yr before FT and entered in as 100s. As long as he can come up with a degree plan that fits the time span, whether he will be a 100 or 250 is up to him.

Interesting so you are saying a Dec grad can go either 100 or 250 and HQ doesn't play into the equation.

That can become a big risk financially since SFT is always going to be a factor, and college doesn't get cheaper with time. Going 100 gives the OP more time for support for SFT, but maybe more debt. Going 250 reduces the debt in the long run if they don't get a scholarship, but they would only have 1 semester in AFROTC to make a mark in the unit since Jan. is when they start finalizing paperwork for the board.

Basically, it could be choosing between a rock and a hard place.

Nope, all HQ needs is assurance that you won't graduate before finishing the AS400 curriculum or stay in ROTC longer than 4 yr (5yr for certain majors).

Basically, it could be choosing between a rock and a hard place.

Essentially, but sometimes the rock is a little comfier than the hard place .There is probably a little over 1/3 of Fall 2012 100s and 250s left at my Det. After experiencing the amount of extra work that comes with being a 250, alot of ppl decided they couldn't handle it and either disenrolled or dropped rank and became 100s, which turned out to be a great strategic move for them considering how competitive EAs were this yr. You are right though, it would seem to increase the competition for the next year. But with the retention rate being so low, really all they are doing is replacing the 100s that quit, so I don't think that this trend would affect the predicted amount of cadets going up for EAs any given year very much.

Some extra information. I was previously a cadet in a detachment in Florida. I completed one semester, and during the second semester I got MDQ'ed after being awarded a scholarship. I'm not sure if I completed the standards for the 100 year or not. The whole back story is in the DoDMERB forum under "Medically Disqualified ADD/ADHD Peanut Allergy AFROTC Scholarship."

Thank you all for the information so far.