Awarded NROTC MO scholarship... but no college acceptances?

Side note: I made a mistake about USD... I was WAITLISTED, not DENIED. I actually misread the letter, and will have to follow up with my OSO tomorrow about the best course of action to take about that.
 
pullups4chesty said:
theroyz71 said:
Where did you apply?
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USD, USC, SDSU, and all the UC’s... It seems everyone is extremely shocked except for me. I’m taking ownership for what I know I could’ve done better in: GRADES AND TEST SCORES!
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It’s tough in California especially if you are from here...my DS only listed one CA school on his NROTC-MO application for that reason, and only because he had to. He did not get in to USC either. :). Hopefully your waitlist status at USD will change. If not, you should be able to find a late deadline school that would be happy to have you. Congrats on the scholarship and good luck!
 
Did you try CSU San Marcos?

I believe they offer NROTC through USD via cross town affiliation.
 
There are some good schools listed above. You may want to apply regardless of the waitlist. It may take a month or 2 to clear. If/when you apply to other schools, you might want to leave the politics and the 501c(3) (if it's politically affiliated) off the application. Unfortunately it's a polarized world today and may be a turn-off with some schools. Your application is likely strong enough without it - you have Boys State and volunteer hours, etc. Also, cast a wide net with the individual school you're applying to within the university/college instead of a Quant Economics. Those programs many times are small and you could be competing with applicants with higher GPA or test scores. And they may be already filled up by now. The NROTC-MO doesn't require a STEM major so you can have a more wide application, get into the school, and narrow your major down after Year 1 or 2.
 
pullups4chesty said:
thibaud said:
Either:
a) you applied for super-competitive STEM esp Engineering programs, where the competition is fierce and is largely driven by scores & grades, OR
b) you did not apply to STEM programs but applied to super-competitive schools, OR
c) you applied to moderately-competitive schools that didn't like something they saw in either your essays or your ECs are both.

I hope it's not c), but in the current political climate, I have to wonder whether some super-politicized admissions officers saw red (as in red flag/red-you-know-who-supporter) in your Young Republican activity and your 501c3 organization. That organization's not connected to guns or breitbart.com, is it?

Again, hoping this is not the case, but something clearly doesn't smell right here.
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Thanks for your time and insight!

a & b) I applied for econ or quantitative econ, depending on the school
c) My dad thinks it’s C... Personally, I attribute my lack of acceptances to what I had control over: my test scores and grades. If a school didn’t like my politics, that’s their loss. Ideological diversity isn’t easy to come across these days.
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Aha. At all of the UCs, Economics is a "capped" major in which demand outstrips supply of available spaces by 10:1 or more. It's nigh-impossible to get into a capped UC major with anything less than straight A's. (Btw, the terminology's confusing, so you may have missed this - they used to say, "Impacted"; UC Berkeley now uses the term "High-Demand," and UCLA has shifted to yet another term - just to increase confusion, uncertainty and doubt....)

I don't think it's a stretch to assume that in 2018, a college applicant to southern California schools who
- has scores and grades that place him in the middle of the applicant pool, and
- is politically active in conspicuously conservative circles and activities, and
- is not an Under-Represented Minority (URM), and
- seeks to study an extremely popular major such as Economics,

... is very unlikely to meet with much favor from admissions committees.

In southern California especially, they are desperate to increase the % of admits who are URMs. The population in Southern California is now majority latino, and the universities are embarrassed that this majority population lags so far behind all the other groups when it comes to educational achievement, so the elites in California are doing everything possible to give them a leg up in admissions. The latest trick (or end-run around the state's ban on considering race in admissions) is to consider "first-generation" status as a positive factor in admissions decisions.

Middle-range, middle-class, non-URM applicants have a long shot at best when it comes to gaining admission to "impacted" or high demand majors at selective southern California universities.
 
pullups4chesty said:
kinnem said:
I'm beginning to think OP left the building since there has been no reply since the initial post. Oh well! A lot of good advice down the tubes without even a thank you.
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So sorry for the late response! Haven’t checked the forums until just now. Everyone’s been such an amazing help. I seriously appreciate it and will check more frequently (I usually don’t get this many responses!) and keep you guys updated! Thanks again!
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Personally, if I were in your shoes, I’d apply to AZ. The deadline is May 1st. We know of a couple students that attend there, and they are very happy. Just a thought, if you do decide, you might want to reach out to Admissions to let them know that you’ve been awarded an NROTC scholarship and you would like to apply. But, probably also a good idea to contact their NROTC unit first to see if they have space available. If Admissions can give you some idea of your chances and NROTC has space available, it might be good to go ahead and initiate the change form to get designated to that unit. Regardless of whether AZ is the school of choice, you could also apply these steps to other universities. Best wishes and act quickly.
 
pullups4chesty said:
Side note: I made a mistake about USD... I was WAITLISTED, not DENIED. I actually misread the letter, and will have to follow up with my OSO tomorrow about the best course of action to take about that.
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I would definitely let the school and the unit know you got the scholarship. This may be all you need to get off the list - but you have to notify them.
 
pullups4chesty said:
NavyLady64 said:
Totally agree with the advice by @USMAROTCFamily to reach out to the schools that declined. Not saying it's for sure, but they will definitely want to know in case you were a border-line decision. Also, of those schools, the less selective ones are more likely to respond to this and possibly change their decision so keep that in mind. Finally, there are schools still taking applications. Take a second look at the NROTC site to see which schools have units and then cross reference against those that are on rolling admission basis. Good luck to you!
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Thank you so much for your time and insight! Checking late deadline day schools isn’t something I thought of before!
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If you can do East coast - Jacksonville University has a great NROTC unit (and it is in a Navy superbase town) --- and they offer an economics major. The deadline is May 1 for apps although I would not wait that long as the class is almost full. Full disclosure - I work at JU and know the unit well. JU is on Common App. https://www.ju.edu/nrotc/index.php . Good luck to you!!
 
GHTeam said:
pullups4chesty said:
kinnem said:
I'm beginning to think OP left the building since there has been no reply since the initial post. Oh well! A lot of good advice down the tubes without even a thank you.
Click to expand...

So sorry for the late response! Haven’t checked the forums until just now. Everyone’s been such an amazing help. I seriously appreciate it and will check more frequently (I usually don’t get this many responses!) and keep you guys updated! Thanks again!
Click to expand...
Personally, if I were in your shoes, I’d apply to AZ. The deadline is May 1st. We know of a couple students that attend there, and they are very happy. Just a thought, if you do decide, you might want to reach out to Admissions to let them know that you’ve been awarded an NROTC scholarship and you would like to apply. But, probably also a good idea to contact their NROTC unit first to see if they have space available. If Admissions can give you some idea of your chances and NROTC has space available, it might be good to go ahead and initiate the change form to get designated to that unit. Regardless of whether AZ is the school of choice, you could also apply these steps to other universities. Best wishes and act quickly.
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Try Arizona State as well. Outstanding Economics department, one of the best in the nation.
 
max5757 said:
There are some good schools listed above. You may want to apply regardless of the waitlist. It may take a month or 2 to clear. If/when you apply to other schools, you might want to leave the politics and the 501c(3) (if it's politically affiliated) off the application. Unfortunately it's a polarized world today and may be a turn-off with some schools. Your application is likely strong enough without it - you have Boys State and volunteer hours, etc. Also, cast a wide net with the individual school you're applying to within the university/college instead of a Quant Economics. Those programs many times are small and you could be competing with applicants with higher GPA or test scores. And they may be already filled up by now. The NROTC-MO doesn't require a STEM major so you can have a more wide application, get into the school, and narrow your major down after Year 1 or 2.
Click to expand...

Very interesting. Seems I didn’t put enough thought into my major selection.
 
thibaud said:
Aha. At all of the UCs, Economics is a "capped" major in which demand outstrips supply of available spaces by 10:1 or more. It's nigh-impossible to get into a capped UC major with anything less than straight A's. (Btw, the terminology's confusing, so you may have missed this - they used to say, "Impacted"; UC Berkeley now uses the term "High-Demand," and UCLA has shifted to yet another term - just to increase confusion, uncertainty and doubt....)

I don't think it's a stretch to assume that in 2018, a college applicant to southern California schools who
- has scores and grades that place him in the middle of the applicant pool, and
- is politically active in conspicuously conservative circles and activities, and
- is not an Under-Represented Minority (URM), and
- seeks to study an extremely popular major such as Economics,

... is very unlikely to meet with much favor from admissions committees.

In southern California especially, they are desperate to increase the % of admits who are URMs. The population in Southern California is now majority latino, and the universities are embarrassed that this majority population lags so far behind all the other groups when it comes to educational achievement, so the elites in California are doing everything possible to give them a leg up in admissions. The latest trick (or end-run around the state's ban on considering race in admissions) is to consider "first-generation" status as a positive factor in admissions decisions.

Middle-range, middle-class, non-URM applicants have a long shot at best when it comes to gaining admission to "impacted" or high demand majors at selective southern California universities.
Click to expand...

Very interesting insight. I should have made this clear however: 1) I’m Asian 2) I’d fall in the upper-income bracket.
 
NavyLady64 said:
If you can do East coast - Jacksonville University has a great NROTC unit (and it is in a Navy superbase town) --- and they offer an economics major. The deadline is May 1 for apps although I would not wait that long as the class is almost full. Full disclosure - I work at JU and know the unit well. JU is on Common App. https://www.ju.edu/nrotc/index.php . Good luck to you!!
Click to expand...

Doing some research now . Thank you!
 
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