NROTC+football+engineering

F

fjocheese

New Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2015
Messages
5
Hi all,
I have a slight dilemma when it come to what I will be doing in the Fall of 2016. I will be entering my senior year in HS, and I am very interested in doing ROTC (probably Navy). I have a 2200+ on the SAT and a high weighted GPA, and I love engineering. I am also pretty good at football, and getting recruited will solidify my chances of getting into a top university. The football recruiting process has gone well so far and will likely stay that way. I've done some research on this topic, but everyone playing a sport as time consuming as football while also doing rotc seems to not be engineering majors. I'm just wondering if anyone had advice for me (or if anyone has done it) regarding my situation. Thank you!
 
My son doesn't think that's possible. He's never heard of anyone playing division sports and NROTC...adding in engineering is over the top. I love how ambitious you are and congrats on the football recruitment. I guess the question I have is....why do you want both football and NROTC? Both can give you scholarship money....but if your goal is NROTC and becoming an officer, why play football?

I think you need to seriously think about what your goals are, and that's not easy to do as a 17 year old high school kid. I think it's a lot to ask of one so young, but that's what NROTC does. If your career goals involve military service...then NROTC and engineering are a great way to go. If your love for football is greater than anything else, then something may have to give (either NROTC or engineering....NROTC-MO does not care what about your major.) The other consideration would be USNA where they are used to having guys play football, major in STEM degrees and work to become officers.

Best of luck to you!
 
fjocheese said:
Hi all,
I have a slight dilemma when it come to what I will be doing in the Fall of 2016. I will be entering my senior year in HS, and I am very interested in doing ROTC (probably Navy). I have a 2200+ on the SAT and a high weighted GPA, and I love engineering. I am also pretty good at football, and getting recruited will solidify my chances of getting into a top university. The football recruiting process has gone well so far and will likely stay that way. I've done some research on this topic, but everyone playing a sport as time consuming as football while also doing rotc seems to not be engineering majors. I'm just wondering if anyone had advice for me (or if anyone has done it) regarding my situation. Thank you!
Click to expand...
You have solid numbers and may not need to play football to get into a decent school. I haven't heard of an nrotc doing varsity football before but that doesn't mean it hasn't occurred. Doing engineering your looking at 18 credits per semester plus your nrotc time commitment. Varsity football I'm sure will take 20 hours per week. I'm not sure how you could do well in everything. Remember, for service selection your grades and oml are very important-a few C's could cost you your dream job.
 
To clarify, I do want to serve my country and go through ROTC. But I am being recruited by top 10 universities (academically), and that would be a huge opportunity that I would not want to pass up. I love to play football, and there is the added bonus of the coach helping me get into the school. Math really does come easy to me, and I am very diligent in my school work. It seems that I only have three choices: ROTC+top 30 school+engineering, Football+top 10 school+engineering, or ROTC+football+top 10 school+engineering. I just need to see if the latter seems plausible for someone like me.
 
If you can get assistance from the coach to get into a top 10 school (and I assume financial assistance) then why not do OCS after you get your degree?
 
I am not in NROTC, I am an incoming freshman in AROTC scholarship. I am an electrical and computer engineering Major, and I'm also playing baseball. The only advice I have is contact you're schools ROTC branch and ask them how well they cooperate with collegiate athletes in the program. I am going to Oswego State (8,000 people) and they have no problem working around baseball and the coach as well knows ROTC FTX's and labs take priority over practice.
 
I would suggest talking to someone at the NROTC program you want to attend. I have a feeling they might work with you in some ways. For instance, missing some PT sessions. However, you will still have to spend the extra time doing your navy classes. You know what you are capable of. We don't. But if you do all that, you will be extremely busy. Is that what you want? Sounds very stressful. As mentioned above, OCS after graduation might be a good choice. And for Marine options, many take the path of PLC over 1 or 2 summers.
 
OP, I was a D1 recruited athlete for basketball. I chose USNA over other options because of this dilemma. Not sure what level of football you are looking to play. You say Varsity, but is that D1 or D3? The time commitment tends to reduce at each level because you have less athletic scholarship players, players who have to work, etc.

The bottom line is what are your priorities, time management skills and what do you want to get out of college. For me playing a sport was something that was a requirement for my college experience. But that was a personal preference. The key is going to be talking to your coach and LT and ensuring they understand what your requirements, what is the priority and constant communication. Remember coaches and LTs change also while in school. So be prepared when changes happen that the new guy might not be okay with the situation. Remember you must maintain a certain GPA for certain scholarships, NROTC, engineering major, football, etc. Each will have their own requirements so its key to understand them.
 
A couple of years ago, the battalion commander at MIT played varsity soccer while double-majoring in nuclear engineering and physics – and picked up a Truman Scholarship along the way. I believe they have other battalion commanders who have played varsity football. If you want to major in engineering and have the opportunity to go to MIT, I wouldn’t turn it down. The battalion is pretty flexible in working with athletes.
 
If you are an athlete you will be excused from PT sessions. You'll still have to take your branch's fitness test every semester, but since athletes have their own training sessions you will be exempt from PT. I go to a big engineering school and we've had a cadet who played basketball and studied AE, I know a cadet that studies ME and plays lacrosse and a football player who studies engineering, he's not in ROTC though. Our Army battalion has also had cadets that play D1 sports. Really it's up to you. You will have to be motivated, disciplined, and very organized if you want to play football and do well in engineering as well as ROTC. It's possible to do though and has been done before. Many cadets/midshipmen complete STEM degrees while participating in time consuming EC's or hold jobs.

When you do that many things though, something has to give. Whether that's sleep, grades, etc. is up to you, but realize beforehand that you cannot do everything perfectly, and that's ok. A hard thing for overachievers to come to grips with when they go to college is that they're no longer the best...and you don't have to be. Set reasonable goals for yourself and make sure you maintain them. If you're being recruited I'd say go for it. If things become to much, figure out what the most important thing to you is and give up whatever's putting that in jeopardy.
 
I know some commanders will waive PT requirement for those participating in collegiate athletics.
 
When I talked to my local navy recruiter, he said that you can apply to the ROTC program, and if you get in, you can say yes or no to it. I'm wondering because if I get into schools where NROTC credit is not given (the case with a surprising amount of top colleges), and no top engineering schools where NROTC is given, then I could say no to ROTC and probably do OCS after getting an incredible education.
 
There was a 2015 AROTC cadet in my son's unit who played football (D1 Ivy League) and majored in engineering. He branched AD as a combat engineering which was his first choice.
 
Last edited:
fjocheese said:
Hi all,
I have a slight dilemma when it come to what I will be doing in the Fall of 2016. I will be entering my senior year in HS, and I am very interested in doing ROTC (probably Navy). I have a 2200+ on the SAT and a high weighted GPA, and I love engineering. I am also pretty good at football, and getting recruited will solidify my chances of getting into a top university. The football recruiting process has gone well so far and will likely stay that way. I've done some research on this topic, but everyone playing a sport as time consuming as football while also doing rotc seems to not be engineering majors. I'm just wondering if anyone had advice for me (or if anyone has done it) regarding my situation. Thank you!
Click to expand...
 
I have 2 daughters at MIT in NROTC & softball (plus other commitments). Open communication is the key to making it work.
One point is that it is a D3 college, where they are not financially dependent on their athletics - they do it because they enjoy it which adds to their college experience.
Every school is different, these issues are part of what frames the best "fit" for each individual. It has been great for my daughters, but may not be for the next person.
 
My advice is to not listen to what society says is hard. Too many people think engineering degrees should take 5 years, as well as insisting easier degrees should take 4 years. I am on track to finish my undergrad in a hard science field this semester in less than 2.5 years, while having a wife and son, in addition to many other responsibilities. It involves a lot of hours but I have never felt "burnt out". If you want it, you can do it.

If your stats are a measure of your intelligence, I'm sure you can do it. Doing so will only help you to have a better mindset once you become an officer.
 
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...evils-c-marshall-plumlee-join-army-graduation

First off...do not count on doing OCS after you graduate. OCS is not a given, and when you graduate there may not even be any OCS slots available. And if for some reason you don't complete OCS you will serve as an enlisted soldier.

You need to evaluate your priorities. When you are talking to the schools and the coaches make sure you include ROTC in the conversation. If you are finding that the coaches and the ROTC cadre aren't on the same page expect it to be difficult. On the other hand, if you are finding that there seems to be a good relationship I think you are going to find it is doable (note I didn't say easy).

Here's what it's like in our program.
 
I can tell you it is possible. My friends husband played at Rice and was in engineering. He had a team mate who played, on ROTC scholarship but not an engineering major. My daughter spoke with the Commandant of a certain conglomerate and he actually had about 5 doing this. He said it was hard but the individuals were very driven.

IT is not common and many DI, II, III programs can give you the stink eye. What I have found with my dd was:

Research your college and look at the roster. Look at the players bio, most will list their major. NOT many with engineering as a major. This will let you know before hand if your coach will work with you.

Talking with several people at different colleges with NROTC they are always willing to work with the athlete. Not so much the other way around. If we mentioned NROTC it was one thing, once we mentioned engineering it was like the kiss of death. Same goes for Nursing and other lab heavy majors.

We have had coaches and players tell us their program is all about the sport. I just spoke to a young man about 3 weeks who was fortunate to play and start all four years the player retention rate has a high turnover.
 
This is complete second hand knowledge, but there's a cadet in NROTC at Norwich who is #1 in our class in terms of GPA and plays football. I'm not entirely sure what his major is, however. It's a good chance it's an engineering degree.

He did football, NROTC, Rookdom and kept his grades stellar.


Like the above comments say, don't let your dreams be crushed because people say it's impossible.
 
My kids were DivI at USAFA for fencing, one a Physics major and the other OpsRes. The time constraints are unbelievably difficult, and your grades will probably suffer some, just from lack of time for labs (traveling will be a big part of your life!). One semester, my son carried 27 credits with four lab sciences, and the fencing was the straw that broke the camel's proverbial back. He bowed out his senior year.

Of course, he did not have an athletic scholarship on the line, which may make things even more stressful. Think carefully before you leap here.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top