A few questions re: AROTC application process

JMR

5-Year Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2013
Messages
10
Hi everyone,

Longtime lurker, first time poster here. After exhausting every link on the AROTC site that you can click on related to the application, my son (and I) have a few things that have stumped us. Hoping to find some help here!

Question 1: His 'Academic Information' tab is still yellow (Incomplete). The missing information is related to whether he has taken the "SAT/ACT". He has taken the ACT, so he checked the box (there is only one box). He has not taken the SAT, so he didn't check the box (again, only one box). It has been this way for weeks and he has contacted AROTC with this question using the "Contact Us" link while in the application, but has not yet heard back. Has anyone else experienced this problem? Perhaps there is another (better) way to contact AROTC re: application questions?

Question 2: His Fitness Test status is "Sent" (and it seems to have been this way for a while.) Would this document have been sent to him by e-mail or by mail? He has checked his spam folder and we have been watching the regular mail, as well.

Question 3: He sees that there is an option to upload letters of recommendation. Although we believe that he has reviewed all of the application instructions available, we can't seem to determine whether AROTC requires letters from specific individuals (counselor, chemistry teacher, math teacher, etc.)?

Many thanks in advance!
 
Are your son's ACT test scores showing in the application? If not, that could be why it is still yellow and not green. "Sent" on the Physical Fitness section, usually means, that the completed scores have been sent into Army ROTC. Did whomever scored your son already submit the scores? Do you have a copy of the results that you can upload yourself to the file? If so, I would do that, as well.
 
Dear USMAROTCFamily,

Thank you for your quick response. In answer to your questions:

1. Yes, on a later 'page' of the application, AROTC indicates that it has his ACT scores on file. I really do suspect there is some techno-glitch related to that 'SAT' button not being checked. But again - he didn't take the SAT, so he doesn't want to check the box.

2. I realized after I posted the question re: the Fitness Test that it wasn't the clearest query(!), so I will clarify here. He hasn't taken the Fitness Test for AROTC yet. We both assumed that the "Sent" meant that he would be sent the instructions/scoring information to give to the person administering the test. He read in one of the guidance documents that at a certain point in the application process the applicant would be sent this information...and the status is now 'Sent', but as it has been some time and he hasn't received it, he was a little concerned.

Again, thank you for your response.
 
"Sent" on the PFT means the form was sent to the person that you indicated would be doing the test. You need to contact that person and arrange to take the test, or have the results submitted.

You need to upload your ACT test scores. You can scan the forms and then use the file upload tab. Once they are processed they will indicated accepted.
 
Question 1: His 'Academic Information' tab is still yellow (Incomplete). The missing information is related to whether he has taken the "SAT/ACT". He has taken the ACT, so he checked the box (there is only one box). He has not taken the SAT, so he didn't check the box (again, only one box). It has been this way for weeks and he has contacted AROTC with this question using the "Contact Us" link while in the application, but has not yet heard back. Has anyone else experienced this problem? Perhaps there is another (better) way to contact AROTC re: application questions?

Question 2: His Fitness Test status is "Sent" (and it seems to have been this way for a while.) Would this document have been sent to him by e-mail or by mail? He has checked his spam folder and we have been watching the regular mail, as well.

Question 3: He sees that there is an option to upload letters of recommendation. Although we believe that he has reviewed all of the application instructions available, we can't seem to determine whether AROTC requires letters from specific individuals (counselor, chemistry teacher, math teacher, etc.)?

Welcome to the forum!

1. When my DS went through the process last year, he was able to upload a screen shot of his test scores directly off the ACT/SAT website. Have you tried to do that? (Don't ask me how to do it, I just know he did it!)

2. My son printed the PFT form off of the application portal (I believe in the Additional Info. tab if memory serves). He had the coach complete, sign, and date the form, and then my son uploaded the form to his application. Not sure, but I think DS emailed the form to the coach and he submitted the form, as well, since we weren't quite sure what we were supposed to do. I believe my son's upload is the one that was acknowledged by Cadet Command.

3. Perhaps the letter of recommendation thing is new this year. That has not been an option in the past. But, if it were me, I would have letters from a variety of sources (i.e. employer, coach, teacher, coordinator of where they did volunteer work, etc.).

Hope this helps!

P.S. The once or twice we had to email CC through the portal, we got a response within a day or two. Not quite sure why your DS is having a problem getting a response. That's a shame.
 
Iowa 73 & Future2ltMom,

Thank you both very much. I believe that our question related to the Fitness Test has now been resolved. Clearly that document has been sent to his coach. That makes perfect (and obvious) sense.

Regarding his ACT scores - his 'File Upload' tab status for ACT scores is green and they note that his scores were received electronically (via ACT when he took the tests) and the status is 'Approved'. So we know they have his ACT scores. It's just this other tab (Academic Information) that is causing him a problem and we suspect that it won't be resolved unless we can contact someone in charge of the AROTC online application.

Regarding the Letters of Rec - he does have letters from a variety of sources (teacher, coach, counselor), so if it is appropriate he will upload those. He just noticed that it was an option to choose Letters of Recommendation on the 'File Upload' tab/page and he wanted to make certain that he was doing the right thing. Thank you!
 
Regarding his ACT scores - his 'File Upload' tab status for ACT scores is green and they note that his scores were received electronically (via ACT when he took the tests) and the status is 'Approved'. So we know they have his ACT scores. It's just this other tab (Academic Information) that is causing him a problem and we suspect that it won't be resolved unless we can contact someone in charge of the AROTC online application.

Not to beat a dead horse, but here's something else I just thought of -- has your son uploaded a copy of his transcripts? It just seems odd that your DS application is being held up by something that doesn't apply to him (the SAT). It's either a system glitch, or they're waiting for something else from him.
 
Future2LtMom,

Yes - transcript has been uploaded and status is 'Approved'. I am certain that he will get this thing figured out :) Thank you!
 
Good news! DS just let me know that he has received a response to his inquiry submitted via the AROTC application page. It looks like 'second time' asking was the charm :) It sounds like he is on the path to getting his questions answered. Thank you for all of your help!
 
Good news! DS just let me know that he has received a response to his inquiry submitted via the AROTC application page. It looks like 'second time' asking was the charm :) It sounds like he is on the path to getting his questions answered. Thank you for all of your help!

Excellent news!
 
you already have great advice from the above posters---a couple more things

1. DS never received any responses from any of his email inquiries to CC. He ended up calling. They answered the phone and quickly fixed the techno glich and answered all questions clearly and concisely. Easy as can be

2. DS never waited for any PT test info to be send. he just printed the form from the website, had his boxing coach administer.

3. son used every method available to send every item (scan & upload, snail mail, email fax) he did throughout the process (dodmerb as well). He went with the better safe-than-sorry approach

son received scholarship on the first board to his top three schools.
 
My DD has been going through this process.

1. The "academic information" will change to approved once your guidance counselor answers the online questionnaire. You put your counselor;s email on the application. The dashboard should say "counselor feedback" - sent. Once my DD counselor finished the questionnaire it took about a day for the academic information to say "approved" and the guidance counselor feedback to say "approved". You will need to bug his counselor to get this done. They should have an email.

2. The PFT test says sent. That means the instructions were sent to the email you provided on the application. Once you complete the PFT upload the results and it should then be approved.

I hope this helps. My DD is at her interview as I am typing this response. I hope it goes well!!!
 
Vista123 & Kaylar,

Thank you both for your great advice. We are new to this process and it's nice to know that there are knowledgeable people out there willing to help point us in the right direction when we can't seem to find the answer. Good luck to your DD, Kaylar :) and congratulations to your son, Vista123!
 
Clarification

Hi Everyone,

As a former Army ROTC PMS, just wanted to clarify for the forum that transcripts can only be accepted if they are uploaded by a school official. This is the same for the fitness test.

One of the posters is correct in that copies of the ACT or SAT report can be sent to Army ROTC and will be accepted.

LTC Rob Kirkland, USA, Ret.--Former Army ROTC PMS

"The Insider's Guide to the Army ROTC Scholarship for High School Students and their Parents."
 
Hi Everyone,

As a former Army ROTC PMS, just wanted to clarify for the forum that transcripts can only be accepted if they are uploaded by a school official. This is the same for the fitness test.

One of the posters is correct in that copies of the ACT or SAT report can be sent to Army ROTC and will be accepted.

LTC Rob Kirkland, USA, Ret.--Former Army ROTC PMS

"The Insider's Guide to the Army ROTC Scholarship for High School Students and their Parents."

Last year my DS uploaded his fitness test himself; he opted to have an officer from our local Army NG armory administer the test, not a school official.
His guidance counselor filled out the paperwork that went along with the transcript, but again, DS uploaded both forms (transcript and accompanying document) from our home.
Not sure if he was an anomaly but that was his experience. He did received a scholarship.
DS's guidance counselor was a tad slow, if he had waited for her to send things to schools and scholarship offers he would have never made any of the deadlines :)
 
Transcripts

meh126: Good info but no the preferred method ROTC would like to see happen. May talk to the folks at Fort Knox about it...
 
Hi Everyone, As a former Army ROTC PMS, just wanted to clarify for the forum that transcripts can only be accepted if they are uploaded by a school official. This is the same for the fitness test.

every year things change.

Last yr

1. son downloaded form
2. son printed it out.
3. son took to coach. He used his boxing coach at his rank, disgusting smelly non-air conditioned Chicago boxing gym. In other words this was not a school official. The form asks for adminstrator's name, title and signature. under title coach wrote his name and which gym it was. It was clearly not given by a school administrator.
4. son took test
5. son faxed form AND emailed form as per the directions on the form

let's not make this harder than it is.
 
meh126: Good info but no the preferred method ROTC would like to see happen. May talk to the folks at Fort Knox about it...


I am looking at the form right now. It gives two ways to send it. 1.)fax with the fax number listed or 2.) email it with the email listed. It says no place on the form or directions anything about a school official or uploading.

Keep in mind for some sports the better teams are not the school teams (IE hockey (except for Minnesota) the better teams are the travel teams) so not everyone has school coaches.


Also, keep in mind things change every single year.
 
Interesting how each branch is different regarding even the basics of how uploading works.

I know for our DSs AFROTC scholarship he could upload the PFA, but the HS GC had to log in using their own created/assigned password. He never saw at all what was asked and required by them. She could not print it.
~ He had a great GC, so we were lucky she told us exactly what type of questions that were posed.

I also want to say as a long term poster that every year I have been here it seems something is tweaked, and yes, sometimes they come back full circle, but the point is DO NOT take anything stated here as gospel unless the poster is in a current position of being inside the process.
~ Even at that point, especially for A/NROTC remember they are going off historical data at their college. I.E how does my stats stack up? Last year you could be an easy in, but this year you could be a No because of the size of the pool and the quality of candidates.

Take everything as a grain of salt for your enlightenment and nothing more. Nobody here sits on any board, and if they did they would not say it on a public forum....especially NROTC. Just kidding...kind of! For new posters NROTC is super secretive about board dates.

Good luck to all, and remember that like a rollercoaster there are going to be moments you scream OMG and moments you scream WEEEEE! And it can happen within a blink of an eye! I?E you have been awarded a scholarship! WEEEE! Than you see it is not to your number 1 school, but the one that already decided not to admit you OMG! You find out that in the spring you can request a transfer....WEEEE! The school needs their answer before you are guaranteed AROTC will approve. OMG! AROTC approves 24 he's prior to school deadline...WEEE!

That basically sums up a lot of posters senior year.

This site is great because it is insanely supportive and typically there is someone that if you have a really unique question that google can't direct you to an answer someone can give you at least a starting point to look.

AROTCPMS, I hope you don't feel we are picking on you, but if you have been out of the system for a couple of years as a PMS they could have changed things, with your latest comment about Knox, that inisuates you are AD still and in the system. AAs a member of this forum you will be able to truly change the system, because you can illustrate that answers are flying all over the place!
~ Long ago there was MullenLE, he works with DoDMERB. He was instrumental and getting the help desk set up, because as O have said before answers fly all over the place. He is no longer here since creating that system, except to maybe check in every 6 months and remind posters that the 1st answer should be go to the help desk since every candidate application is unique. The same is true when we discuss things like chancing, or which is better to perform the PFT?
 
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Scan and upload.

Don't wait for the directions for the PFT to get back to whoever you designated. Print out the form, take it to the gym teacher/coach. Have them administer the test and sign the form, and scan and upload.

Letters of recommendation are not required, not asked for, and in my opinion not needed. Think about it. The board members will spend about a week reviewing about 1000 files. I'm going to bet they won't have the time to read a bunch of letters of recommendation that basically say exactly the same thing. Feel free to scan and upload them. There is a place on the application website.

And finally, your best bet is to try to get the ROO at your school of choice involved. If you were interested in Clarkson I would love to get an email from your son asking about the PFT or asking what his status looks like to me or seeing if there is anything missing. There are 5 or 6 people at Cadet Command processing about 12000 applications in a given year. The ROOs are the guys and gals that should be helping keep those people at Cadet Command from answering a lot of the easier questions.
 
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