Texas A&M Army ROTC

My son is pursuing an 4 yr Army ROTC scholarship and is very interested in Texas A&M. I heard that they have an outstanding reputation. Before I present my questions I will give a background of my son. He scored a 29 on his ACT and has a 3.6GPA. We are from New Jersey. He is on pace for a varsity letter in football 4 total years in the football program. He volunteers at our local hospital and V.A. and also has formed two clubs at school. He is attending Boys State next week. He is seeking a career in the US Army and would like it to be in Combat Arms(Airborne Infantry).
My questions.
Does the fact that he is from out of state up north give him a leg up in being accepted into the university and ultimately selected into their ROTC program(strictly implying that each area seeks out of state diversity)?
Is Combat Arms a much sought after branch of the Army for Texas A&M and therefore more competitive? Especially Airborne?
Finally, being that there are a larger number of cadets here than in smaller schools does that mean that there would be more slots offered for specialty training as in Ranger School etc?

Kapast74 said:

Does the fact that he is from out of state up north give him a leg up in being accepted into the university and ultimately selected into their ROTC program(strictly implying that each area seeks out of state diversity)?

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Can't speak to Texas A&M but it will make no difference to AROTC.

Is Combat Arms a much sought after branch of the Army for Texas A&M and therefore more competitive? Especially Airborne?

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Doesn't matter for the AROTC application. Their branch won't be decided until Senior year. They will be able to express their preferences, but much depends on where they are on the National Order of Merit List (how they rank nationwide) and on the needs of the Army at that time.

Finally, being that there are a larger number of cadets here than in smaller schools does that mean that there would be more slots offered for specialty training as in Ranger School etc?

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Can't speak to more slots for specialty traning. As an absolute number there will be more leadership roles available, but as a percentage it would be no more than any other AROTC unit. It's sort of a per capita thing. At best I expect the same would apply to specialty training, but that is just surmise on my part.

Thank you so much for the reply. But I thought that being out of state may help as most colleges seek to diversify. Maybe not AROTC but the college itself. But here's hoping!

Kapast74 said:

Is Combat Arms a much sought after branch of the Army

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In almost all Army ROTC programs, securing combat arms is tough due to high demand. During his MS-4 year, your DS would choose a number of branches and rank them in order of preference. Depending on his score on the Order of Merit list, he would compete for his first choice. The needs of the Army would come first of course.

He would not choose to branch "Airborne Infantry." He would choose infantry (IN) among several other choices. After commissioning a typical infantry officer would then attend the following schools.

1. Basic Officer Leadership Course (BOLC) for infantry
2. Airborne school
3. Rangers School.

kinnem said:

Can't speak to Texas A&M but it will make no difference to AROTC.

Doesn't matter for the AROTC application. Their branch won't be decided until Senior year. They will be able to express their preferences, but much depends on where they are on the National Order of Merit List (how they rank nationwide) and on the needs of the Army at that time.

Can't speak to more slots for specialty traning. As an absolute number there will be more leadership roles available, but as a percentage it would be no more than any other AROTC unit. It's sort of a per capita thing. At best I expect the same would apply to specialty training, but that is just surmise on my part.

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Thanks!

@Kapast74 - Very familiar with Texas A&M (my DS is a rising senior in the AROTC program and is at Advanced Camp right now). I am from out of state and have another son starting this fall (not in the Corps though). Unlike some state universities (in particular, my home state of CA that seeks out of state/foreign students for increased tuition), Texas public universities are fairly challenging to get into as they do a better job of reserving slots for their taxpaying families. So no....you being out of state is not going to be a "diversity boost" and while combat arms are always popular in AROTC, there's a fair representation of all branches just as if your DS were to be in a regular ROTC program. Please feel free to PM me and happy to be a resource if you'd like. I have plenty of experience .

FYI - you being a new member might make it difficult to PM. I believe a moderator like my good friend @AROTC-dad might be able to patch us together if you'd like.

AROTC-dad said:

In almost all Army ROTC programs, securing combat arms is tough due to high demand. During his MS-4 year, your DS would choose a number of branches and rank them in order of preference. Depending on his score on the Order of Merit list, he would compete for his first choice. The needs of the Army would come first of course.

He would not choose to branch "Airborne Infantry." He would choose infantry (IN) among several other choices. After commissioning a typical infantry officer would then attend the following schools.

1. Basic Officer Leadership Course (BOLC) for infantry
2. Airborne school
3. Rangers School.

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Thanks for the information!!

Being from NJ as well I'm curious why Texas A&M vs VTech as they look the same from my perspective on paper as compared to say Norwich that at times will lose that choice battle based on size and overall big school experience. My son is from a all boys catholic prep school in Central NJ and Norwich was his path especially with his ROTC Scholarship ( They cover R&B for scholarship winners ). But all it took was 1 visit to VT and that all changed. I think that was seeing the experience his sibling had at another out of state Div 1 school. I have to admit NU was nice but if you get concerned as to what to do once you walk out of the campus gates to no sidewalks you need to be ready to embrace that small small town feel. My son did talk about Texas early on but the transport eventually ended that.

AlwaysAProudParent said:

Being from NJ as well I'm curious why Texas A&M vs VTech as they look the same from my perspective on paper as compared to say Norwich that at times will lose that choice battle based on size and overall big school experience. My son is from a all boys catholic prep school in Central NJ and Norwich was his path especially with his ROTC Scholarship ( They cover R&B for scholarship winners ). But all it took was 1 visit to VT and that all changed. I think that was seeing the experience his sibling had at another out of state Div 1 school. I have to admit NU was nice but if you get concerned as to what to do once you walk out of the campus gates to no sidewalks you need to be ready to embrace that small small town feel. My son did talk about Texas early on but the transport eventually ended that.

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Totally agree..my DS was admitted to the Citadel, NU (he was recruited for their wrestling program), UNG, and Texas A&M. Each university had so many unique factors that appealed to him and it was a tough decision. There was no doubt that all would have fostered his goal to serve as an officer. At one point, my DS made a comment to the effect that he wished he could clone himself and experience all (join the crowd, right? LOL). @Kapast74 - If your DS is seriously considering A&M from out-of-state, I'd recommend chatting with current/past parents/cadets/cadre. I'd recommend the same for any SMC/ROTC program. You have a ton of resources at your discretion and here if you and your DS want to chat.

Hello, I am going to be a Freshman AFROTC cadet from Out Of State going to Texas A&M, so I can tell you some of the stuff of how it was like on my end for the Admissions Process. I however can't tell you about Army, but I know for a fact that if you look up the website and find the recruitment email/phone number, they will probably answer those questions.

First, your son more than likely needs to establish contact with the Corps Recruiting Office, especially if he hasn't gone to one of the programs down in College Station. This gives him instant consideration for one of the Corps Scholarships that is essential for out of staters.

Speaking of that, Texas A&M offers the out of state tuition waiver, which lowers the tuition from the Out of State cost down to the in state cost. Also, if he gets one of the National AROTC scholarships, he will receive a waiver that way. The waiver has a threshold of $4,000 a year of Scholarships offered by the University.

Now let's talk Admissions. He will want to apply as early as possible, and use the ApplyTexas portal. It is the one that will automatically send your scholarship application. And when I am talking about early, I sent mine in a week to the day after applications opened in July. They post the ApplyTexas essay questions in advance, use that to your advantage. Write your essays beforehand. And write it out for essay C.

Now, your son doesnt qualify for an Academic Admit. He would need a 30 on his ACT to qualify for it, so he will be a review admit. Now, I was a review admit candidate as well, so I can tell you this. My application was "Complete and in Review" for roughly 200 days. It takes a long time. It was delayed last year however, because of Hurricane Harvey, so hopefully his wait won't be as long.

If you have any more questions about Corps or A&M related stuff, dont be afraid to tag me, I however cant answer stuff about AROTC, because I dont know much about their end.

Thanks and Gig 'Em