Applying from college

Hi all,

I posted this on the USAFA boards and I would appreciate any advice from you guys as well. First of congrats to everyone who has received an appointment to the Yard! Way to go guys! I havent heard anything from my top two schools yet (USAFA and USNA). I know that there are more appointments that have yet to come out but I'm going to assume that I will not be getting one of them. I guess I just want to be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. With that being said I have a couple questions about the application process as a college freshman.

Nominations - Are my MOC's the same if I am in college out of state? Are interviews done via phone call?

Letters of Rec - Can I use the same letters as this year (updated) or should I try and get new people at college to write them?

College Choice - Does my school matter? Community college vs. 4 year school?

Classes - Should I be taking classes that mirror the SA freshman classes? Should I retake the SAT or should I just be focusing on classes at college?

ROTC - My plan is to be in either NROTC or AFROTC is this good or bad? 1) ROTC unit commander sees this as a lack of comittment to ROTC 2) SA sees this as a comittment to being a officer.

Any advice would be very helpful!

Thanks,

Kevster

kevster said:

ROTC - My plan is to be in either NROTC or AFROTC is this good or bad? 1) ROTC unit commander sees this as a lack of comittment to ROTC 2) SA sees this as a comittment to being a officer.

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I agree to both of those statements. If I were him I would also see it as a lack of commitment to the unit he's in charge of. Some people will see the "bigger picture" and understand "one team, one fight", and some will see it as a slight on the unit, or the "team". It's good to have back ups, and ROTC would certainly serve as that. During the interview for a congressional nomination, the back up questions came up, and those back ups were other academies and ROTC.

kevster said:

Nominations - Are my MOC's the same if I am in college out of state? Are interviews done via phone call?

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It depends on your district of legal residence. Most college students remain legal residents of the district/state where they lived in h.s. However, if you change your residence, your noms will change. MOCs will typically do out-of-state interviews via phone but my personal view is that, if you can get there in person, it's better.

Letters of Rec - Can I use the same letters as this year (updated) or should I try and get new people at college to write them?

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For USNA you need new ones -- from your college profs, English and Math.

College Choice - Does my school matter? Community college vs. 4 year school?

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No.

Classes - Should I be taking classes that mirror the SA freshman classes? Should I retake the SAT or should I just be focusing on classes at college?

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Do your utmost to take the plebe courses -- Calc, Chem, English, History. If you can't take Chem for some reason (occasionally it can be tough to get into the class at some schools), try Physics or Engineering. USNA says skip retaking the SAT b/c it's used as a predictor of college success. The greater predictor is how you actually do in college courses.

ROTC - My plan is to be in either NROTC or AFROTC is this good or bad? 1) ROTC unit commander sees this as a lack of comittment to ROTC 2) SA sees this as a comittment to being a officer.

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It's good. Not necessary, but good.

Thank you both very much! USNA85 & LITS how do you think I should handle the ROTC situation? Should I just go the the CO on the first day and let him know of my intentions or would this be a bad move?

Thanks again,

Kevster

Kev,

My recommendation is get a feel for the unit. I wouldn't necessarily jump to talking to the CO. They probably have a MIDN chain-of-command and normally they have military instructors that you could engage before jumping to the CO. I think it would probably be more appropriate to ask the LT or a 1/C and let them know your intentions of joining the unit to gain knowledge on the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps but intend to re-apply to USNA (and you can let them know you applied as a HS senior). The unit you are going to might have dealt with the same situation before.

Best of luck.