AROTC scholarship issue....

Lovahboy222

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Mar 6, 2017
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Hello all! I just received a notification saying I won an Early Commission Program scholarship for one of the Military Junior Colleges. However, I didn't opt for that option when I applied for the scholarship? Has anyone had this issue before? I am hoping that this is just mismatch situation. Does anyone who I should contact to get this cleared? Thank you.
 
I recieved that same offer last year after the 2nd board (Also did not select it as an option). I had the choice of turning it down to try again for the 3rd board, which I did, and did not recieve a national scholarship. If it's something you're interested in, take it. If not, make sure you always have your plan B,C, and D!
 
I recieved that same offer last year after the 2nd board (Also did not select it as an option). I had the choice of turning it down to try again for the 3rd board, which I did, and did not recieve a national scholarship. If it's something you're interested in, take it. If not, make sure you always have your plan B,C, and D!
So receiving this award does not make you more competitive for the 3rd board? What were your stats, if you don't mind me asking?
 
So basically, I learned that by being offered this scholarship, I most likely won't win a 3-4 year scholarship the next board....
 
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So basically, I learned that if by being offered this scholarship, I most likely won't win a 3-4 year scholarship the next board....

Looking at the previous offers, that is probably a safe assumption, but things change every year. I would still take a bit more time now to firm up your Plan B and C.

On another note, think really hard before accepting this ECP Scholarship. Do a lot of research and read the past threads that talk about the ECP program before you make any decisions.
 
If it's true that I don't have a solid shot at the next board, then this is really upsetting. I went through some threads that had stats of winners and I have a more competitive profile than them... I don't know what went wrong...
 
If it's true that I don't have a solid shot at the next board, then this is really upsetting. I went through some threads that had stats of winners and I have a more competitive profile than them... I don't know what went wrong...

I can understand your frustration, this trend to offer these ECP Scholarships during the National Scholarship Process is fairly new, and it seems odd that they offer them to applicants that didn't request to be considered. I don't think anybody really knows how they make these selections and offers or what criteria they use. I saw some of your stats and it seemed like you would have been competitive in the National process. Not really sure if the ECP folks use the second board to try and select quality applicants to their programs or if Cadet Command somehow thinks that they are not competitive for the 3rd Board, it's anyone's guess.

When it comes to selecting applicants for a National Scholarship there are the areas that are raw numbers such as GPA, SAT/ACT, PFT Scores, Boxes checked for EC's and athletics, Then comes the part that can't be measured on a number matrix, the interview, leadership, the CBEF (250 points), and the Board score (350 points). Those last two alone count for 600 out of the total 1400 points. These are the things you have no control over.

The fact remains that you were competitive enough that they offered you the ECP Scholarship, why only that is anyone's guess.

You aren't the first or last this has happened to, When my younger son was just starting his MS2 year a new cadet came to the program that had not received a scholarship from any of the three boards. On paper he was an exceptional applicant, great GPA, high test scores and loads of athletics and leadership. The Cadre was really surprised he had not received an offer. On the first APFT he scored a 320, three weeks into school they offered him a Battalion 4 year scholarship. Point is there is more then one road to your goal, if you really want this then work hard, be ready for that first day and score high on your first APFT, put yourself in the position to take advantage of what they may have to offer, it's happened to many from this board. If you want a shot at Active Duty Army as an Officer then stick to the path of ROTC at a traditional program, not ECP.
 


I would take Khergan's comments with a grain of salt. They are comments from a new LT about peers. I can assure you after 16 years on active duty that at this point in the game and really from Captain on the differences between commissioning sources are pretty negligible. I say that also having taught graduates of all sources in BOLC and CCC. I have peers who are ECP graduates on the Active Duty Battalion Command CSL so obviously not a discriminator. My first boss was a NMMI graduate who went on to UNM. He commanded three companies in the 101st, served time in the 173rd and came back to the 101st for Battalion Command so my perspective is the guys there can and do as well as any other source.

ECP is not for everyone. You need to have a frank discussion with the program on what selection rates and paths are for both AD and NG/R components. Ask them as well about transfer rates to other universities and what are the schools most cadets end up moving to .
 
So basically, I learned that by being offered this scholarship, I most likely won't win a 3-4 year scholarship the next board....
Not true. When I was in high school as a senior. I received the same offer you had. Denied it, cause I didn’t want to go through that program.
I thought I was out of the game, but I received a package in the mail saying I won a 4 year scholarship.
 
So basically, I learned that by being offered this scholarship, I most likely won't win a 3-4 year scholarship the next board....
Not true. When I was in high school as a senior. I received the same offer you had. Denied it, cause I didn’t want to go through that program.
I thought I was out of the game, but I received a package in the mail saying I won a 4 year scholarship.
Wow! That's awesome! You just gave me the slightest bit of hope. I am still working on plan C,D, and E just in case.
 
For this year's board, 2YR MJC scholarships were offered to those projected to fall below the cutline for a 3YR scholarship. The reason for this is a fishing attempt to get better quality students at the MJCs. It is highly likely that you will not get a 3 or 4 YR offer, as you are most likely not high enough on the OML. If you are interested in sercvin on Active Duty, you should turn down the 2YR scholarship and do your best to earn a campus based scholarship. You should make yourself known to the ROO of your #1 school choice as some ROTC programs will received a 3YR scholarship to give out to the student of their choosing.

As far as competitiveness of profiles, you really won't know how competitive you are as you will never know your CBEF score or what the board rated you. Here is the breakdown of the scholarship OML scoring. The stats that people post about their GPA, SAT, etc actually only account for a small portion of the overall Whole Person Score.

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