Is an in-state public required?

Roughrider

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Deep breath: Himself is beginning to start the application process for the ROTC scholarships. As I understand his plans, he will be applying for marines as well as army.

I believe I have read here that he is required to list at least one in-state public school on the scholarship application, but he's telling me that the online app for AROTC does not specify that.

His top 3 choices are out-of-state private schools and his next 2 choices are out-of-state publics. He has different lists for AROTC and NROTC-MO, but neither list includes an in-state public as one of his top 6 choices.

Should I advise him to put our in-state fallback on his applications regardless? Or is his eye-rolling justified (this time)?
 
Roughrider: Historically, the NROTC MO application requires one in-state public school. It could have changed this year but I doubt it. So you may want to recheck that.

There are lots of opinions and commentary on this forum regarding the strategy of school selection and order. Recomemend you search out old threads on the subject.

Good luck!
 
Deep breath: Himself is beginning to start the application process for the ROTC scholarships. As I understand his plans, he will be applying for marines as well as army.

I believe I have read here that he is required to list at least one in-state public school on the scholarship application, but he's telling me that the online app for AROTC does not specify that.

His top 3 choices are out-of-state private schools and his next 2 choices are out-of-state publics. He has different lists for AROTC and NROTC-MO, but neither list includes an in-state public as one of his top 6 choices.

Should I advise him to put our in-state fallback on his applications regardless? Or is his eye-rolling justified (this time)?

You'd have to double check, but if memory serves regarding AROTC, one in-state public has to be on the application. I don't remember where I saw that, though. Also, I can't remember if it could be any one of your seven possible choices, or if it had to be one of your top 5 picks. I'll see if I can find where I saw that.
 
Deep breath: Himself is beginning to start the application process for the ROTC scholarships. As I understand his plans, he will be applying for marines as well as army.

I believe I have read here that he is required to list at least one in-state public school on the scholarship application, but he's telling me that the online app for AROTC does not specify that.

His top 3 choices are out-of-state private schools and his next 2 choices are out-of-state publics. He has different lists for AROTC and NROTC-MO, but neither list includes an in-state public as one of his top 6 choices.

Should I advise him to put our in-state fallback on his applications regardless? Or is his eye-rolling justified (this time)?

OK, I just logged into DS application portal from last year. If this year's application portal is set up the same as last year's, go to the Additional Information tab once you're logged in. Once you're on that tab, there's a link to Application Checklist. Scroll down until you get to School of Intent. It states, "No more than 7 schools chosen, prioritized as desired. At least one choice is a college in my home state of residence." Therefore, your DS should minimize his eye-rolling. :shake:
 
My DS applied for and received an AROTC scholarship. He listed 6 colleges. The only in-state public was listed #6.

Last year you could list no more than 7 colleges, prioritized, but at least 1 college had to be "a college in my home state of residence" (I just found this on the application checklist).

Edit: cross-posted with Future2LtMom
 
My son applied for and received an Army ROTC scholarship. He listed 5 schools. He listed a in-state private school, an out-of-state private school, and three out-of-state public schools.

He was awarded the scholarship with the choice of three schools, the two out-of-state public schools and the out-of-state private school.
 
for army rotc son did not list any instate schools. He only listed overly expensive out of state public or private schools. Out of the seven he listed he was awarded 4 yr scholarships to his top three choices (Washu in stl, U Mich, Georgetown) which were by far the most expensive schools on his list.
 
In addition to the above info, if you list 7 schools, 3 must be public schools, one of which is an in-state public (I'm not sure how Vista123 DS got away with not listing an in-state public, as this is clearly stated in the instructions. Go figure). DD listed her bottom 3 choices as publics (one in-state). AROTC gave her the scholarship to her top 3 choice schools.

We were very surprised that the in-state public was not chosen as this was a MUCH cheaper option for the Army.
 
Two words of advice...don't rely on what happened last year and read all the instructions on the application carefully. Things change from year to year. There is an "additional information" tab on the application website that is very helpful.

From the 2015 Army ROTC application site...
on the checklist page under the school of intent
___School of Intent-no more than seven (7) schools chosen, prioritized as desired. At least one choice is a college in my home state of residence. If Nursing or Engineering, the university or college is accredited.

Here are the instructions right from the page where you list school of intent on the application:

School of Intent

•When requested below, select the name of the college or university offering ROTC you wish to attend. Please specify a minimum of one school choice, but a maximum of seven.
•If you are applying for a scholarship in the Nursing field, ALL selected school choices must be Accredited Nursing Program schools.
•If you are applying to a Historically Black College or University and you have indicated above that you desire to compete for a scholarship to attend a Historically Black College or University and are awarded an ROTC Scholarship, then you MUST attend a HBCU. When choosing schools below you must have the very 1st priority pick as an HBCU.
•Only schools with active ROTC Scholarship programs will appear in the list below.
•To add a school choice, select the school choice drop down box, State and School Name and the press the UPDATE LIST button.
•When selecting school choices, the application process requires that at least one of your choices is a college in your home state of residence.
•To Delete a school choice, click the red X next to the school choice that you wish to remove.
•After pressing the UPDATE LIST button, your selection will appear in the list below.
•School choices are listed in priority based on the preferences of where you wish to attend.
•To change the priority order of the selections that you have made, remove the items, then select them in the order you wish them to be in.
•When selecting school choices, the application process requires that 3 of your 7 choices are public colleges or universities. If you select fewer than 6 schools, then 2 of the 5 choices must be public colleges or universities. 3 or fewer choices, 1 must be a public college or university.
•Continue with this process for the school choices and prioritize as you desire. After reviewing your list, press the Save button.

Hope that helps
 
In addition to the above info, if you list 7 schools, 3 must be public schools, one of which is an in-state public (I'm not sure how Vista123 DS got away with not listing an in-state public, as this is clearly stated in the instructions. Go figure). DD listed her bottom 3 choices as publics (one in-state). AROTC gave her the scholarship to her top 3 choice schools.

We were very surprised that the in-state public was not chosen as this was a MUCH cheaper option for the Army.


I did just double check with DS and he said he may have listed his bottom choice as instate but didnt even recall. honestly I didn't even think about it, To be honest, we weren't really worried about getting his bottom choice so I didn't even register it in my brain.

He was completely done with everything by mid summer and had high stats. So he was told that he would go in front of the first board.

They take the applicants from the first board and put them in order of points based on scores for different things (IE act, GPA, PFT, etc), order the applicants.

Once the applicants are ordered Cadet Command goes through your college choices.

The colleges that you selected have previously marked whether you are a probably going to be accepted (very loose criteria here!)

If the college marks you as probably going to be accepted and there is a scholarship offer left you are awarded it.

I dont recall seeing anyone (maybe one or two exceptions) of those who went though on the first board who did not get their three top choices.


I want to strongly agree with clarksonarmy in that things change every single year.

I would also not only rely on this (awesome) forum but call CC or your future PMS to ask questions. In getting to where you want to be, this forum was a great road map, but a couple of times my DS had to stop and ask for directions.
 
NROTC (not sure if MO is the same) requires 5 schools and in our state (IL) one of the top 3 had to be an in-state public school. DS did not get accepted to his first choice school (IS private) and switched up the order of his remaining schools on the application and had the scholarship to his new 1st choice school in a week. He will be attending an OOS public school.

However, his paperwork was done by Labor Day and he did not receive his scholarship until March 28th. So it was a LONG wait!
 
Don't list any schools that you would not consider attending, there are always applicants every year that are selected for a school they really did not want to attend (a back up), they ten had to go through the transfer process, some are successful, some are not.

It's also a good idea to select a school that you can afford without the scholarship. There are several ways to lose a scholarship during your four years, if that happens you would be stuck paying back your scholarship at the school's highest rate.

While they call it a scholarship, it is actually a loan. The loan amount is forgiven if you complete the program within the requirements, otherwise you are required to pay it back.

Don't forget that the obligation does not end when you graduate, you are required to complete your service obligation as well, if you don't then there can still be some pay back due.

Choose the most expensive school you can and the bill can be pretty high.
 
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