Offered Army ROTC Scholarship in Lieu of Appointment?

c.long

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I just received an e-mail saying that since I was not offered an Appointment to West Point, but fully qualified, I was being offered an Army ROTC scholarship. Is this common? I didn't apply for the Army ROTC program at all either. Just curious to see if this has happened to anyone else?


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Unless it has changed from 2 years ago, those are two exclusively different application processes.
 
I think the ROTC recruiting officers on campus get a list and reach out to qualified candidates. It doesn't hurt to ask.


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This is what the e-mail said that was sent to me excluding my name and the ending where it asks where I am planning to attend college and things like that. It sounds like I was given the scholarship (provided the ROTC unit isn't full).

I want to thank you for seeking service to this great country by applying to the United States Military Academy at West Point. I regret that although you are fully qualified, West Point was unable to offer you a seat for the upcoming freshman class.

I am contacting you on behalf of the United States Army Cadet Command (USACC), Reserve Officers’ Training Corp (ROTC). Due to your outstanding qualifications, Cadet Command would like to offer you a Three Year Army ROTC Scholarship.

Your qualifications to attend West Point also qualify you for a conditional 3 Year Army ROTC Scholarship while you are pursuing your degree and ultimately, a commission as an Officer in the U.S. Army.

We have 275 host ROTC programs, over 1,000 partners and affiliate schools to choose from. If you are interested in a more traditional West Point like college experience, we also have Senior Military Colleges and Military Junior Colleges. (Norwich University, The Citadel, Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, Virginia Military Inst., Georgia Military Inst., Marion Military Inst., New Mexico Military Inst., North Georgia College, Valley Forge Military College, and Wentworth Military Inst.)
The scholarship covers full tuition and fees, $1200 a year for books and supplies, and a monthly stipend of $350 per month beginning your sophomore year. The stipend increases each year after that (Sophomore year: $350, Junior year $450, Senior year $500). You may also use the scholarship to pay room and board in lieu of tuition and fees.


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Thank you Bandaid!


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I read an official document somewhere recently (can't remember where - maybe the Board of Visitors report) where West Point was talking about how they work with ROTC to find scholarships for applicants for which West Point does not have a seat.

They are two different application processes, but that doesn't mean USMA can't just give your application details to Cadet Command and see if CC is interested in you and has Scholarships available.

Congratulations.

eta - I found it - it was the 2012 BOV report - here is the verbiage in a section where they are talking about the Nomination slots and NWL - "c. National Waiting List: Historically we have between 300-600 fully qualified candidates on the National Waiting list who did not receive an offer to West Point. With the Class of 2016 we had over 1000 fully qualified candidates not offered admission. We coordinate heavily with ROTC and Accessions Command to help integrate these fully qualified candidates into their Army Accessions Programs if we are unable to offer them admission due to class size restrictions."
 
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My DS received the same email today. We are over the moon excited, as he didn't apply for the ROTC scholarship. Congrats to you as well!
 
Congratulations ! ! !

The light at the end of the tunnel was NOT an oncoming train!
 
I just received an e-mail saying that since I was not offered an Appointment to West Point, but fully qualified, I was being offered an Army ROTC scholarship. Is this common? I didn't apply for the Army ROTC program at all either. Just curious to see if this has happened to anyone else?


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Congratulations, this does indeed happen and you and mom3boy's son were a couple of the lucky ones to receive this offer.

From the email you posted it sounds like you are able to find a school that has an available slot, of course you would need to either apply or have applied to that specific college and be admitted.

Even though the scholarship is a 3 year, if you decide to accept and attend a college with ROTC, show up ready. Score as high as you can on the APFT, hit the books hard the first semester and you will put yourself in a position to have your scholarship up graded to a 3.5 or even a 4 year. A few cadets at my son's battalion were up graded this year, a couple received a full 4 year.

This is a great opportunity for you, you can still decide whether to reapply to WP or you may decide to stay with ROTC. You've been given some great options. Congratulations.
 
Are these transferable? My son was planning on 2 years at UNG, then transferring to GA tech to finish the engineering degree...we have calls into tech and rotc to get valid info, but wondered if anyone online had experience.
 
Our DD also received the same e-mail today. We have a lot of questions, but there isn't even a web page to look at. What is the service requirement after graduation? Is it active duty or in the Reserve or NG? I assume they need to participate in the ROTC program during their first year of the three year scholarship?
 
Our DD also received the same e-mail today. We have a lot of questions, but there isn't even a web page to look at. What is the service requirement after graduation? Is it active duty or in the Reserve or NG? I assume they need to participate in the ROTC program during their first year of the three year scholarship?

It's the same as any other AROTC scholarship. If memory serves 4 years AD (if fortunate enough to get AD) and 4 years Reserves. Or it could be 8 years Reserves. You can check online to confirm. Yes, they participate in AROTC the first year, including academic classes.
 
Our DD also received the same e-mail today. We have a lot of questions, but there isn't even a web page to look at. What is the service requirement after graduation? Is it active duty or in the Reserve or NG? I assume they need to participate in the ROTC program during their first year of the three year scholarship?

Scholarships normally imply active duty with a 4 years ADSO. Yes, they would need to participate in ROTC their first year as well. Best source of information will be the ROTC department at the school your DD (or DS in others' cases) will attend. There usually is a contractor or officer in charge of scholarships and recruiting that is a wealth of knowledge on these topics.
 
Our DD also received the same e-mail today. We have a lot of questions, but there isn't even a web page to look at. What is the service requirement after graduation? Is it active duty or in the Reserve or NG? I assume they need to participate in the ROTC program during their first year of the three year scholarship?

The above posts pretty much covered it, I would only add a couple things.

Active Duty through AROTC is not a guarantee, cadets will be placed on an OML at the beginning of their senior year. Depending on how many AD 2LT's the Army needs will determine who gets AD. Each year there are cadets that fall below the AD line that are forced Reserve/National Guard. If a cadet goes AD the commitment is 4 years Active and 4 years Inactive Reserve.

A cadet can also request Reserve or National Guard duty in place of Active Duty. The commitment would be 8 years for either. There are many cadets each year that choose the Reserve/National Guard because they want to begin their civilian career right away.

GPA counts for 40% of the OML
APFT and Athletics 15%
LDAC 18%
Battalion 27%

A 3 year scholarship cadet is required to take all MS1 classes, Labs, and PT their first year. Do very well the first semester and there is often the opportunity to have the scholarship upgraded.

The cadets have the first year with no obligation, even if the scholarship is upgraded and they contract the first year. The obligation begins the first day of their sophomore year if they have a scholarship.
 
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I'm really glad to hear that some of us got some other great opportunities! I will admit that I'll be attending USAFA next year, but I think it really shows a lot about the good people at USMA how they try to work in candidates into ROTC if not offered a spot. Congrats to everyone who received the Scholarship, and thanks to everyone else for the information!


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Thanks for the good info! This was a huge surprise, DD is very pleased. We definitely didn't expect such a great offer after the TWE. Her plan B school has a great program and she already called a friend who is in the AROTC there now.

Our DS graduates USMAPS in a few weeks and will start at WP with the class of 2018 and it now looks like they will both be commissioned at about the same time.


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Thanks for the good info! This was a huge surprise, DD is very pleased. We definitely didn't expect such a great offer after the TWE. Her plan B school has a great program and she already called a friend who is in the AROTC there now.

Our DS graduates USMAPS in a few weeks and will start at WP with the class of 2018 and it now looks like they will both be commissioned at about the same time.

Congratulations! That will, indeed, be a busy May!
 
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