Thoughts on DS Chance for AROTC

BigBillNY

5-Year Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2014
Messages
91
Hi Everyone,

My DS was boarded in the first round and passed over. I thought he had a good chance; however, now after reading many of these forums I am having second thoughts. His HS does not weigh the GPA and he had a poor sophomore year due to the intensity of his coursework.

Overall, his unweighted GPA was 3.48 and he always took honors or AP coursework. He completed 9 college credits in HS and took Mandarin as his language.

He got a 700 verbal/660 math on the SAT, so you might understand why I thought he looked good.

I'm not sure how the fitness test is scored but he did 51 push-ups, 46 curl ups, and ran 6:27 mile.

In terms of athletics, he played JV and Varsity football for 4 years (1 as Captain), wrestled JV for 2 years, and JV Lacrosse for 2 years.

He is involved in community activities and has a job over the summer.
DS told me he thought the interview with PMS went well. He interviewed at one of the schools he has on the his list.

His HS does have a profile that they publish and it provides a formula if schools want to weigh the coursework. I don't expect the board to go through this process; although if they did, my DS would end up with a 3.8 GPA.

So, I have come to respect the advice that many of the long-term posters have given to many anxious parents and was wondering if you could give me some honest feedback.

Not sure if the schools matter (he listed BC, RPI, and Syracuse) or his intended major (business admin).

Thanks in advance for any advice you offer. Have a happy and healthy holiday season.
 
I wouldn't get too worried. Not many scholarships are given out by the first board and those are to people who walk on water. Hang tough and wait it out. In the meantime get plans B, C, D, and E in place. Back in 2011 we didn't get a negative reply from NROTC until early April but because we had our backup plans in place there was plenty of time to pull the trigger on them.
 
Agree with kinnem (as I often do. lol) that it's too early to worry. DS did not get his scholarship until March 28th last year. Brutal as he had his application complete by Labor Day but so worth the wait (in hindsight....at the time I lost a lot of sleep!)

Make sure you have backup plans, make sure your son enjoys his senior year (this is important!) and do your best to breath. Good luck!
 
Honestly, I think he has a good chance of getting a scholarship. That being said, nobody can really tell because nobody *really* knows what the board is looking for. After me DD received a scholarship in 2010, I was pretty confident my son would get one in 2012. He didn't end up with a scholarship from the National board but his #1 school choice offered him a direct 4 year scholarship so it all worked out.
 
College direct scholarship question adding school request

Krrider wrote:

"He didn't end up with a scholarship from the National board but his #1 school choice offered him a direct 4 year scholarship so it all worked out."

Can you explain the college "direct 4 year scholarship." Understand national 4 and 3 year scholarships, but not the college's ROTC direct scholarships. Are they something the individual colleges consider awarding on their own or require separate application? Any way to find out which school have such options?

Also anyone have input if DS should request cadet command to add additional private and state school? He only listed 5 originally for September application, but now has had more time to look at schools.

Feel NY's anxiety. Own DS has similar stats, including 7 years mandarin, lower english score, but Eagle and Boy's state.


Thanks again for all the information in the forum.
 
Campus based scholarship

I do not know if there is anyway to know how many 3 or 4 year scholarships an individual college has to offer. The general advice from past posters is to pick the best fit college for your DS (finances may be a consideration) enroll in AROTC show up in great physical condition participate in battalion activities and get good grades. You will be considered for a unit scholarship, it will be competitive.
 
@BigBillNY

I'd say your son's application is competitive for an AROTC scholarship. The schools you mentioned are all $$$$ ones though. Did he list any lower cost/in-state schools?
 
Can you explain the college "direct 4 year scholarship." Understand national 4 and 3 year scholarships, but not the college's ROTC direct scholarships. Are they something the individual colleges consider awarding on their own or require separate application? Any way to find out which school have such options?

There is no separate application process for a campus based scholarship, this is something that is handled at the battalion level based on whether they still have available scholarship slots after the national process is over. It can also depend on the budget of the individual battalions. The battalion will simply use the applicants original application.

While it happens sometimes that a battalion will offer a scholarship to an applicant before school starts, they will often wait until the start of the school year. This way the battalion can see all the new cadets, give them the APFT, and then decide who they make an offer to if they have scholarships available.

If your son does not receive a scholarship from the National Boards or from a Battalion, the best advice is to work hard over the summer and when they get to school do very well on the first APFT. If a scholarship is not offered early make sure the first semester grades are as good as possible and he keeps his APFT scores high, be involved with everything he can. All of this will give him a better opportunity of receiving a campus based scholarship.

I'll echo what others have said, most of the scholarship awards are given out over the next two boards.
 
Can you explain the college "direct 4 year scholarship." Understand national 4 and 3 year scholarships, but not the college's ROTC direct scholarships. Are they something the individual colleges consider awarding on their own or require separate application? Any way to find out which school have such options?

These are probably most commonly known as campus based scholarships. Yes, these are funds that the schools have to give out for scholarships. Sometimes money becomes available, or a national scholarship winner loses theirs, and then a school can potentially offer that to another cadet. Opportunities are pretty common for these and I've seen at least one given out each year at my school. Usually these go to the cadets that show up hungry to work and score high on their initial APFT's and participate in extra-curriculars such as ranger challenge or color guard. If any become available after the first semester then they also begin to factor in college grades. This is why it is extremely important to show up ready to work because other people will and you don't want to be behind the curve.

You can ask the ROO at the school if they have any campus based scholarships available or if they expect some to become available, since it may depend on how many national scholarships were awarded and accepted, who actually showed up to campus, and how many are soon taken (or given by the cadet) away.

This is not necessarily a route to completely bank on only because it is no guarantee, but it is likely that a cadet can get one of these scholarships if they show up and perform well. Also, and this could just be for my brigade and this year, but instead of the PMS being able to directly award a campus based scholarship to someone, they are now requiring the school to send up the names they are recommending and the brigade will hold a board to distribute these scholarships.

Campus based scholarships can be of varying lengths like the national scholarship, and this also can allow for national scholarship winners with 2, 3, or 3.5 year scholarships to have theirs upgraded.

Edit: cross posted with JCleppe. He gave great info
 
Bull brought up a good point that I neglected, regarding the fact that the Battalion PMS's now having to send the names to Brigade for final selection.
 
Requesting Cadet Command to add schools, host v satellie

Thanks again for all the info.

Another question:

Should son request cadet command to add additional private and state school? He only listed 5 originally for September application, but now has had more time to look at schools.

His top 3 schools are private, all in different ROTC battalions, State school, his 4th choice is in same battalion as 2nd choice, and 5th choice, state school is in yet a 4th battalion. Only one of top 3 schools is a host school, all others satellite schools.

Also what are your thoughts on host vs. satellite? DS had good talk with satellite cadet who really enjoyed his school, and found the travel not too burdensome. That cadet also came in w/out 4 yr. worked hard, and got a 3 yr.

Again Thanks.
 
Thanks again for all the info.

Another question:

Should son request cadet command to add additional private and state school? He only listed 5 originally for September application, but now has had more time to look at schools.

His top 3 schools are private, all in different ROTC battalions, State school, his 4th choice is in same battalion as 2nd choice, and 5th choice, state school is in yet a 4th battalion. Only one of top 3 schools is a host school, all others satellite schools.

Also what are your thoughts on host vs. satellite? DS had good talk with satellite cadet who really enjoyed his school, and found the travel not too burdensome. That cadet also came in w/out 4 yr. worked hard, and got a 3 yr.

Again Thanks.

There is no issue with adding the other schools, just make sure if your son adds them that they are schools he would be willing to attend if he were to get a scholarship.

There has been a lot of debate on Host vs Satellite Battalions. A lot depends on the Battalion, the length of travel, how the classes line up, how difficult it is to get the class times you need to be able to move between the schools with time to spare. It can also depend on the relationship between the Host and Satellite Battalion, do they make sure to include the cadets in all activities, will there be time for the cadets at the Satellite school to spend with the cadets at the Host school, are the cadets at the Satellite school offered leadership positions. How is PT handled, do the cadets at the Satellite school do their PT at their school or do they have to travel to the Host School for PT. This can sometimes be tough since PT usually starts at 6:00am, meaning they have to be there by 5:45am 3 days a week.

I think the biggest issue is class schedules. I know my son would sometimes have to be creative during registration to be able to work around the MS classes and Labs. There are times when the cadet would need to miss some classes for weekend training that would start early on a Friday. Your son just wants to make sure the the professors at the Satellite school will work with him when this happens.

The first year is not bad because they only have one MS class a week and One Lab. Following years get a little tougher because they will have two MS classes a week along with the Lab, add morning PT to this it can make scheduling classes a challenge sometimes.

These would be some of the questions you son should be asking. There are many cadets that are successful that are at Satellite schools. Just make sure he researches everything and makes an informed decision.
 
Satellite vs. host

The answer is it depends. If your host school is in a major metropolitan area traffic can be a factor even if the schools are "close." Sometimes mass transit is available sometimes not. In my DS' battalion one of the early leadership opportunities for MS3s was arranging carpooling for all cadets. Although MSIs were not allowed to have cars there were enough 3s and 4s with cars so transportation was not a problem. Most battalions have a plan to address this your DS won't be the first to make the commute.
 
Some cadets also feel that they are missing out on part of the ROTC experience.

For example, at our DSs unit (AFROTC) they had what is called GMC night in the detachment lounge. They would have it 1x a week for cadets that are the AROTC equivalent of MSI and II. The unit would order in pizza or subs and the cadets would hang for a couple of hours playing Xbox, Foosball and crud.

It might be difficult to come back at night.

At his unit many of the cadets would also hang around in the lounge between classes instead of going back to the dorm.

For some if the xtown component is small they may feel like that they are missing out.
 
Good point PIMA. Those opportunities can exist outside the host school as well. My DS' satellite school all cadets have breakfast together after PT each morning. If your crosstown school has fewer cadets, there will probably be fewer opportunities to hang with other cadets.
 
Krrider wrote:

"He didn't end up with a scholarship from the National board but his #1 school choice offered him a direct 4 year scholarship so it all worked out."

Can you explain the college "direct 4 year scholarship." Understand national 4 and 3 year scholarships, but not the college's ROTC direct scholarships. Are they something the individual colleges consider awarding on their own or require separate application? Any way to find out which school have such options?

Also anyone have input if DS should request cadet command to add additional private and state school? He only listed 5 originally for September application, but now has had more time to look at schools.

Feel NY's anxiety. Own DS has similar stats, including 7 years mandarin, lower english score, but Eagle and Boy's state.


Thanks again for all the information in the forum.

Wilco...others have already explained the process so I'll skip that. I will say that something that may have helped my son was that we travelled to Boise (from San Diego) to tour the campus and meet the ROTC cadre in person. They were able to meet my son and see what great shape he was in physically. He was crazy fit at the time because it was wrestling season. :thumb:

He was all set to attend Boise even after not receiving the National Scholarship but then received a phone call from the ROTC unit and then an official letter in July offering the 4 year direct scholarship. I don't know and didn't ask where the money came from at least one other person received a (3) year direct scholarship *before* school started as well.
 
I am a Cadet at SU, fantastic program. Also do not get worked up or worried based on what some people, mainly parents, put out these forums in regards to "chances". According to them I wasn't going to receive anything. I was strong in areas and weaker in others like your DS. Don't read into it too much, with decent scores for GPA but fairly good scores for PT and very good for SAT he should be fine if he did well on the interview. In the first board they mainly only accept the obvious stars based on where they applied. Best of luck! Hope your DS chooses to SU!
 
Most posters like me(parent) try to stay away from chancing because after walking through it and years here, we understand the unique aspects for the process. I poke my nose in, if I see something glaring. Otherwise, I typically will say, have plan B,C, D in place and start getting your medical records in order for the DoDMERB exam.
~ AROTC/NROTC school choice matters, and the big unknown is the CoC/PMS interview. Very, very few posters ever say that didn't nail it and believe that they did not get a the max. Their assumption. However, in the end many do not get max points
~ NROTC like AFROTC cares about the degree.
~ AFROTC does not super score, but A/NROTC does.

~~ Point is there is a finesse aspect and this is anonymous forum. Nobody sits on the boards. Anybody that does would never post because they know the rules....take the replies with a grain of salt.

I have said for 7 years that there will always be posters where they say you are a shoe in and you get the TWE. At the same time there will be posters that say work on plan B, C and D, probably like what you read when you were going through it, and you get the scholarship.

For the OP, you just have to sit tight and ride the rollercoaster...eventually the ride will end. But, like I said before, if you k ow of a medicals issue after the age of 13, than spend this time getting your DSs medical records in order. Have a vision issue? Have allergies? Have a history of concussions? Long term prescriptions,prescribed an inhaler, but never used?
~ They can all trigger at the very least a remedial.
~~ As the scholarships drop, more will be placed into the queue if they have medical issues, and the wait time for waivers will increase.

Good luck, but if you want my brutally honest answer this is it.
~ Sit down with your child and discuss the cost of the college.
~~ ROTC attrition rate across the board is high. It is the reason why they give the freebie year for freshmen, but let's say they decide once in the program they hate it. Can you afford them to stay without the scholarship? If no, can they say they are willing to live this for 7 more years at least?
~~~ ROTC until they graduate and at least 4 years AD. That means starting after the freebie year it is 7 years.

You have to have a heart to discussion impo regarding the what its? What if you hate ROTC, but love the school...how do you pay for that 20k loss? What if you love ROTC, but hate the college and cannot transfer the scholarship?
 
OBTW, sometimes I do call posters out.

cmccabe24,

I think you need to edit your post.

You implied that you were chanced on this forum and it came back in the negative. You have 4 posts, and not one of them is chancing.
~ Did you have a different account/moniker for chancing or did you just assume when another poster with the same stats was told have plan B, C and D in place?

Two different things ...one was chancing you, and one was you assuming something.

AROTC cares about college choices.

There are candidates with a 24 ACT that get a scholarship because of their school choices. There are candidates with a 31 that get the...At, this time we are unable...letter.

The school list matters!

This is why the results for AROTC are all over the place.
 
Is there any historical data that indicates which schools typically have "unfilled slots"?
I know AROTC programs have commissioning mission targets that impact the number of scholarships awarded to those schools.
While there is not a one for one relationship it could, perhaps, be an indicator.
 
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