Leadership credentials

gill0610

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My son's academic credentials are good: 5th in his class of over 400, 1350 on his SATS and a weighted Gpa of 4.4 (3.97 unweighted). He also plays varsity baseball, participates in volunteer club, is an honors society member,competes in DECA and works part time. Unfortunately he has never held any kind of office or leadership position. He was, however, awarded the Dwight D Eisenhower leadership award, which I understand is affiliated with Weat Point. He is interested in an AFROTC scholarship. How much will his lack of leadership positions hurt him, given all the positives? Since he's just wrapping up his junior year and plans to start his application in June not sure there's much he can do to impact the leadership aspects. Any thoughts or suggestions?
 
The AFROTC interview process specifically asks about leadership, don't know how much it factors into the scholarship board's decision. I suggest during this summer he finds a leadership opportunity or creates his own. Maybe complete a volunteer project from start to finish, thought up by him and carried out? (Idea: summer baseball instructional camp he runs) There are summer camps and other venues that offer leadership roles to young people too.
 
AFROTC is not going to look at what he does senior year, at least as I understand it... So it's pretty much in the can already. Don't know about this summer but it doesn't hurt to try. Further, they can't limit what you talk about in the interview, so to speak, so if he does take on a leadership role prior to the interview he could mention it there at least.
 
Thanks for the feedback. Any thoughts on if the Eisenhower award will help offset this gap in his resume?
I will see if there is anything he can try to do over the summer too. Just don't know how much this will affect his chances.
 
Also wondering if it will help if we can get a teachers recommendation that stresses his leadership in the classroom?
 
If he was team captain of any sports teams be sure to mention that. His other achievements look good. His class standing should help if his school is competitive.
Good luck.
 
Thanks. Unfortunately they don't have team captains for J V at his school. Playing varsity this year but captains are seniors.
 
AFROTC is not going to look at what he does senior year, at least as I understand it... So it's pretty much in the can already

This is correct. AFROTC only includes through the end of their junior year, thus it is pretty much over for the leadership/EC position.
~ Caveat: I have always been told the way to get senior positions acknowledged is at some schools they will elect/select leadership positions in the spring right before school ends.
~~ I.E. when my DS played FB, they started training 2 weeks after school ended. The captain was chosen before the school yr. ended. Thus, for their junior yr. resume they were able to say Selected captain for Varsity, June of junior yr.
~~ The same was true for certain organizations. NHS did their elections right after selecting new members in the spring, they did not wait for the fall. Several clubs also did this too.

In the case of the poster if this is the way they still do it. Than, if they get an internship in May for June-Aug. He has been officially selected in his junior year and that internship should outline his job requirements which illustrates the leadership positions he will be demonstrating during the course of the internship.
~ I.E. if they are going to volunteer to run a baseball camp get it now so that you can state you belonged to that organization in your junior yr.

As far as the Dwight D. Eisenhower leadership award that would be listed as an award.
~ I am confused how he won the award, but you state he has no leadership, just multiple memberships.

Honestly his stats look strong for a scholarship, especially, if his SAT is 1350 best sitting. I really would not worry too much. What you do need to understand impo is the following:
1. Nobody here sits on the selection committee, and if they did they would not give any insight to the selection process that occurs at HQ AFROTC.
2. Nobody knows the size or quality of the applicant pool for 2021 compared to the number HQAFROTC will award.
~ You will hear/read I got a type 1 or 2 and my stats were lower, you should be fine. The problem is their yr. group may have had fewer applicants and more scholarships, thus it skews the results compared to what your DS will be competing against this fall.
3. School profile will matter. There are over 2K HSs in the nation, that means they want to know more about the school. % that go Ivy vs 4yr Private vs 4 yr In State vs 2 yr Community vs work force. They will look at how many APs are offered, how many he took compared to the number the avg student (iows rigor). They will look at the academic weight scale (AP = 4.5/5.0/6.0?) They will look at the grading scale. 7 point or 10. From there they will do their own algorithm for the PAR (Prior Academic Record) portion.
4. He will interview with an AFROTC CoC. I would suggest you do it at his number 1 school choice. There are detachments that offer scholarships directly to the candidate. The scholarship will pay full tuition and give the stipend like the HSSP. This can be a double edge sword.
~ If offered that scholarship you will be given only days to accept or reject. Accepting means you must remove your name from the national board.
~~ The problem becomes they may offer the scholarship in Sept., and you have no idea if you will get accepted to the school. That means if the college does not admit them, than the scholarship disappears. Whereas, the HSSP scholarship can be taken anywhere, but now you risk that your number 1 college is OOS or private, which means they may not pay the full tuition. Type 2 only pays up to 18K. Type 7 has the caveat it will only pay OOS or private if they charge you what would be the equivalent to In State.
5. If he needs this scholarship to attend his dream school, sit down with him now about the what ifs.
~ What if you get it as a Tech major, and hate the major?
~~ He will need approval to switch to non-tech and keep the scholarship. Slim to no chance of keeping it is the answer. Can your family afford that financial burden, or will he have to stick it out as a tech major? He can apply as a non-tech major, but beware only about 2-3 people in the nation are awarded a Type 1 as a non-tech. I think it is about 15 -20 people for Type 2. The pool avgs. about 5K BOARDED applicants, with less than 900 awarded a scholarship.
~ What if he loves the school, but decides AFROTC is not for him and wants to leave the program after his freshmen year?
~~ It is more common than you can realize. My DS's class started with over 110 AS100s. @70 returned as an AS200. Nobody enters the program saying they will leave, but many do.
~ AFROTC scholarships are not truly a 4 yr scholarship, it is what we call a 2+2. If not selected for Summer Field Training (SFT/EA) HQ has the right to dis-enroll the cadet. Hence. loss of scholarship for the last 2 years.
~ If he selects a school and gets a type 2 or 7 (converts to a 3 yr type 2) than there is a devil in that detail too. Type 2s allow you to pay the difference if it costs more than 18K in tuition. With every year you can expect 5,7,or 10% increase.
~~ Our DS got a type 2 and when he applied the total bill was 25K for that school year. The bill as a freshmen was 28K. Still under the 18K for tuition, plus his merit = free ride. FFWD 4 yrs later and we were out of pocket several thousand dollars because the tuition bill was over 18K.

I wish you the best. Just remember that you will not hear an answer for at least 7 more months (mid-Dec), so meanwhile get all of his medical records in order. Unless he is applying to the SAs he will not take his DoDMERB until AFTER he is awarded the scholarship. I do not have enough fingers and toes in my family when it comes to candidates getting into problems with DoDMERB from remedial/DQ aspects. DoDMERB goes back to the age of 13.
~ I play baseball, but when I was 11 the doctor diagnosed me with asthma due to a bad cold or allergy season and prescribed an inhaler that I have never used.
~~ Well, according to them you have to check you have a prescription currently for an inhaler. Now you have to prove to them that it was a mis-diagnosis. That could mean remedial doctor testing or at the least sending all of his medical records.
~ I was diagnosed with ADD and took ritalin until I was 16.
~~ Well for them they want 2 yrs off the meds and maintaining the same grades off the meds.
~ Vision issues.

Depending on when the scholarship is awarded and when the exam is taken, it can be several weeks to months to clear up any DoDMERB issue. Having all of the medical records ready will mean you can turn it faster. It is like scholarships. First In First Out. The longer it takes for you to get that paperwork back to them, the more people that will get in front of you for the waiver process. DoDMERB DQs. Commissioning sources waive (AFROTC in your case).

Sorry for the novella, but the more you understand regarding the system impo, the better off you are when it comes to keeping an even keel during the next year.
 
It is not as easy as it seems to receive and hold an elected leadership position. Many people want them and compete for them, so I understand your DS with this small problem. There is a give and take in maintaining the grades when you hold those spots too. I agree with Pima and you have to be creative in finding a leadership position you can talk about at this point. In his job is he a key holder or lead person? Was he a camp counselor coach or instructor ever or can be during the summer? Does your school offer JROTC? If he has an open period maybe joining the unit his senior year may open up a small leadership position for him within the unit. I know my kid made an open period for NJROTC senior year, by taking government and civics through online college over the summer. (Studentbody president and CO senior year would have squeezed out an aero space or physics class)I don't know of any JROTC unit who would turn away a student even during their senior year. He will get a crash course on weekly uniform inspections AMI and other things which I think are helpful for anyone wanting to a place in a SA or ROTC.
 
My daughter had a similar issue, never team captain and didn't have any leadership roles. She was asked junior year to take a leadership position at church but it conflicted with other activities. So at the end of her junior year she re-evaluated her schedule, changed her work schedule and committed to being both a middle school group leader and on the high school leadership team. She was able to put that on her application, by the time she interviewed she had been active in those positions for a few months and they were central to her conversations about leadership. Bottom line, if he doesn't have time for the traditional school or sport positions, there might be options in other aspects of his life to get that experience.

If not, a job and volunteer work is seen towards leadership too.
 
No JROTC at his school unfortunately. He has helped at some baseball camps and was a junior camp counselor for a local orogram several years ago. In his job he is responsible for training new hires, so maybe we can build on that. As far as the Eisenhower award all I can say is that his school must see leadership qualities in him - perhaps a question of leading by example. I know of at least one instance where he took charge of a situation where team mates were acting inappropriately. Thanks for all the input. Seems like this is going to be a challenge for him
 
Might want to mention that situation where he took charge in an essay if it's appropriate to the topic.
 
So he just registered for a program at a local elementary school next month. He will be a leadership intern volunteer ( the program's description not mine) for their camp invention program. Mentoring elementary and middle school children. Hopefully this will help with the gap in his resume.
 
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