GWU PNS (emeritus)
George Washington University Capital Battalion
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2021
- Messages
- 1,421
So yesterday I received the first of what I am pretty sure will be several frantic calls from breathless candidates, as well as one agitated parent.
The call goes something along the lines of..... "OH MY GOD......OH MY GOD...... HELP!!!!! I found out I received the 4 year scholarship thing, but then there was this note about MSI something or other, and I have to go to one of those H Bee See something. I don't want to do that, and I didn't even apply for that. Can't I just go to my favorite school instead? What do I do? Why is this happening to me?"
My first reaction is to conduct a deep breathing exercise, assume the lotus position (not easy at my age), find my inner zen happy place, and then prepare the response. I usually ask if the person actually read the application while they were filling it out? Did they know what MSISR was when they clicked the little box stating they were interested? How many colleges did they actually apply to? (In this case, they only applied to their first choice.
) Depending on those answers, I decide whether or not I can take another sip of my coffee.
And so, at the risk of sounding sarcastic, the NROTC team makes certain assumptions at the beginning of the scholarship season. And some of those assumptions are:
-- The applicant is a functionally literate person.
-- Taking the first bullet to the next step, that you have utilized your functional literacy and actually read the application as you were filling it out. *** Special note......"My mom read it, or my recruiter told me what to do........." those are not very good answers.
-- The applicant understands that while they make a list of 5 potential universities, the NROTC team is not going to apply to those universities for you. As a matter of fact, we cannot, by law, apply to any university on your behalf.
-- We assume when you state your interest in an MSISR scholarship, you understand what it is that you are saying you are interested in.
-- We assume you realize that you are not guaranteed the first choice on your list. This means you should really, really, think about applying to more than one university to ensure you meet the deadlines of the universities.
-- We assume that if you have any questions, you will employ one of several resources, which include Google, BING, your recruiting officer, this fairly extensive forum, or other possible resources as yet undiscovered.
-- Lastly, we assume that if you did none of the above, you try to understand that the potential loss of your scholarship offer is, regrettably, due, in part, to your own personal failure, rather than an institutional problem.
Ok, now I feel better. Even if no one reads this, or reads it and disregards it. (Or reads it and thinks, this is not a good time to call him and ask for help with my application)
We will now resume our regular programming..........
The call goes something along the lines of..... "OH MY GOD......OH MY GOD...... HELP!!!!! I found out I received the 4 year scholarship thing, but then there was this note about MSI something or other, and I have to go to one of those H Bee See something. I don't want to do that, and I didn't even apply for that. Can't I just go to my favorite school instead? What do I do? Why is this happening to me?"
My first reaction is to conduct a deep breathing exercise, assume the lotus position (not easy at my age), find my inner zen happy place, and then prepare the response. I usually ask if the person actually read the application while they were filling it out? Did they know what MSISR was when they clicked the little box stating they were interested? How many colleges did they actually apply to? (In this case, they only applied to their first choice.
) Depending on those answers, I decide whether or not I can take another sip of my coffee.And so, at the risk of sounding sarcastic, the NROTC team makes certain assumptions at the beginning of the scholarship season. And some of those assumptions are:
-- The applicant is a functionally literate person.
-- Taking the first bullet to the next step, that you have utilized your functional literacy and actually read the application as you were filling it out. *** Special note......"My mom read it, or my recruiter told me what to do........." those are not very good answers.
-- The applicant understands that while they make a list of 5 potential universities, the NROTC team is not going to apply to those universities for you. As a matter of fact, we cannot, by law, apply to any university on your behalf.
-- We assume when you state your interest in an MSISR scholarship, you understand what it is that you are saying you are interested in.
-- We assume you realize that you are not guaranteed the first choice on your list. This means you should really, really, think about applying to more than one university to ensure you meet the deadlines of the universities.
-- We assume that if you have any questions, you will employ one of several resources, which include Google, BING, your recruiting officer, this fairly extensive forum, or other possible resources as yet undiscovered.
-- Lastly, we assume that if you did none of the above, you try to understand that the potential loss of your scholarship offer is, regrettably, due, in part, to your own personal failure, rather than an institutional problem.
Ok, now I feel better. Even if no one reads this, or reads it and disregards it. (Or reads it and thinks, this is not a good time to call him and ask for help with my application)
We will now resume our regular programming..........
