Competitiveness/Chances/Waiting like the rest of you.

As we all wait patiently (haha) to find out if our kids have received the scholarships and/or appointments for which they have applied I can't help but wonder about my daughter's chances of receiving an NROTC or AROTC scholarship. She has been accepted to her top three school choices outside of USNA. They are Norwich University, VMI, and Seton Hall University. She can't actually afford to attend any of these schools without the ROTC scholarship, despite the nice Presidential Scholarships both Seton Hall and Norwich have offered. So, now we wait. I find it ironic while waiting, to read on the forum about students who have been awarded a four year scholarship, but now need to be accepted to their top schools. It seems to me that we have the opposite concern. She has her schools lined up and now needs the scholarship money to attend. In reality, I wonder which is more competitive, the college application process or the ROTC scholarship process. My gut tells me that if you have the scholarship in hand, you will likely not have too much difficulty getting into the college of your choice.

Her top, top choice is USNA. She has desired an USNA appointment since 5th grade. However, her SAT scores are not as competitive as she would have hoped. Her Blue and Gold officer told her that she thinks she is such a strong candidate in other areas (leadership, CFA, character), but the academy may have a couple of academic concerns; her SAT scores, and the fact that she was home educated and has not taken many AP courses. Therefore BGO is strongly recommending her for NAPS.

Aside from just writing to vent a bit, I am wondering if the veterans on the forum might chime in about a couple of things.

First, if dd has been accepted to a couple of military colleges like Norwich and VMI, do you think her stats might be good enough to get the ROTC scholarship?

Second, how much weight does the BGO's recommendation have with the admissions review board at USNA?

Watching this AROTC process over the last 7 years or so I've seen all sorts of things play out. There have been applicants that received a scholarship but were not accepted to the college and vice versa.

As far as your main question, a lot depends on the number of applicants that list the same school as the applicant, Norwich and VMI are popular schools for ROTC, they will both have many applicants list their school. This makes it more competitive for a scholarship, while the stats may be good enough for being admitted, the average stats for the scholarships that are available will be higher then whats needed to be admitted. There are a large number of applicants that are admitted to Norwich and VMI each year that do not receive scholarships.

This is one of the reasons when you compare the stats of those that receive scholarships, you may see some with lower stats receiving a scholarship for a school/battalion that is not as competitive as say Norwich or VMI, while applicants that list more competitive program and are accepted to the school do not receive a scholarship. This doesn't mean that the program is a lesser quality, it's just that there are not as many applicants that list the school/battalion.

That makes sense. She very much liked the battalion of cadets at Seton Hall when she visited. Perhaps she will end up receiving a scholarship there should she not receive one to VMI or Norwich. Norwich is top in the program she is interested in, but I know she would be happy to go to any of the schools she has listed.

NROTC works differently as they don't even look at the schools until a scholarship is awarded and then the applicant is placed in their highest preference school that still has available slots. SO it depends perhaps somewhat on when she is awarded a scholarship. Further the scholarship competition is national since the school is ignored. Doesn't mean she will get a scholarship or not but you might draw your own conclusions from knowing the process. Personally the conclusion I draw is who knows?

My only thought is to secure other plans in place. While it would be ideal to get to NAPS /USNA or a scholarship, these are reaches for everyone . Im assuming she has applied to a school she can afford in the event nothing comes through in terms of a scholarship or appointment? She can always do NROTC/ ROTC as a college programmer and try for a scholarship for the next year.

Much will depend on how much financial aid she is eligible to receive. She is applying for other scholarships as well. When all the financial packages have been distributed, she will know if she can attend one of her top schools. If she is unable to attend her freshman year without incurring too much debt, she will likely attend our community college and start the whole application process over.

NAVYHOPEFUL2019 said:

My only thought is to secure other plans in place. While it would be ideal to get to NAPS /USNA or a scholarship, these are reaches for everyone . Im assuming she has applied to a school she can afford in the event nothing comes through in terms of a scholarship or appointment? She can always do NROTC/ ROTC as a college programmer and try for a scholarship for the next year.

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+1 Navyhopeful....

My son opted to decline attending The Citadel as a non-scholarship cadet, He instead chose to attend an affordable public college close to home as a non-contract cadet. Before his first semester ended he was offered a 3 year AROTC scholarship. We would have hated having DS transfer out after two years from The Citadel, had he not earned a scholarship.

Where he is now, even if he did not receive a scholarship, we knew we could afford to pay out of pocket all four years. Plus now we have a reserve in the unlikely event that he has to pay the government back the scholarship money.

Bottom line, I recommend you think twice about attending a college that you cannot afford without the ROTC money.

gokings814 said:

Bottom line, I recommend you think twice about attending a college that you cannot afford without the ROTC money.

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Without a doubt I agree 1000%

What if she decides she hates ROTC, but loves the college? Will you say to her that without that ROTC scholarship she has to leave?
It happens that kids decide it is not a fit for them during their freshmen year.

So on board with this. Dd really liked everything about Seton Hall when she visited. Because of the academic scholarship they have offered her, there is a chance she might be able to swing going there if she doesn't live on campus the first year. While living on campus is optimal for early morning ROTC PT, if she has to commute that first year in the hopes of later gaining a 3 year scholarship, it is totally worth it.

Norwich and VMI, while very attractive are out of her price range without a four year ROTC scholarship, even though Norwich has awarded her $24,000 per year in scholarship money.

It will be interesting to see how it all pans out by the Spring. I keep telling her that four months from now she should know where she is going to college.

In order to give a better look on how competitive she is, we would need to know more such as SAT/ACT and activities