NROTC and USNA

OP didn’t mention athletics, so will stay away from that topic.

Initial thoughts, nothing wrong with wanting USNA as your primary, but you mention your strong desire to be a Naval Officer. I would suggest you to apply for NROTC and here is why.

• What if you don’t get in to USNA? Maybe you just don’t make the cut, don’t get a nom, maybe break your arm and need surgery and are not qualified.
• Even if you don’t need the money to do NROTC you should apply. This sets you on the path to commission as a Plan B. If you aren’t on scholarship then you compete for advanced standing. The needs of the Navy win here. It’s hard to predict what those will be in coming years, but some years those numbers are low. Why not apply for the path that would provide a ‘guarantee’ to commission instead of gambling and seeing how many spots the Navy needs. Advanced standing doesn’t happen over night. Read the recent thread about NROTC side loads and AS from this week. Many of these guys and gals have worked hard for 2 years and had to wait until nearly the start of their junior year to know if the Navy would be their future.
• You won’t get to do summer training until you get a scholarship or earn advanced standing. You might be saying that you will reapply to USNA and will have 4 years of training there. True, but what if? Why not take advantage of every opportunity out there. Why not lock up the path to your commission and take every training opportunity out there.
• You mentions your desire to be a Naval Officer, wonderful. So approach this like one. Plan for every scenario you can think of, have a back up to the back up. Weigh your pros and cons, risks, how do you mitigate them. Remember the 7 Ps... prior proper planning prevents piss poor performance. Why not pursue every path possible that gives you every advantage to achieving your dream... and notice I didn’t focus on the $ part. It’s not about that. It’s about opportunity and securing the path to your goal.

NavyHoops said:

OP didn’t mention athletics, so will stay away from that topic.

Initial thoughts, nothing wrong with wanting USNA as your primary, but you mention your strong desire to be a Naval Officer. I would suggest you to apply for NROTC and here is why.

• What if you don’t get in to USNA? Maybe you just don’t make the cut, don’t get a nom, maybe break your arm and need surgery and are not qualified.
• Even if you don’t need the money to do NROTC you should apply. This sets you on the path to commission as a Plan B. If you aren’t on scholarship then you compete for advanced standing. The needs of the Navy win here. It’s hard to predict what those will be in coming years, but some years those numbers are low. Why not apply for the path that would provide a ‘guarantee’ to commission instead of gambling and seeing how many spots the Navy needs. Advanced standing doesn’t happen over night. Read the recent thread about NROTC side loads and AS from this week. Many of these guys and gals have worked hard for 2 years and had to wait until nearly the start of their junior year to know if the Navy would be their future.
• You won’t get to do summer training until you get a scholarship or earn advanced standing. You might be saying that you will reapply to USNA and will have 4 years of training there. True, but what if? Why not take advantage of every opportunity out there. Why not lock up the path to your commission and take every training opportunity out there.
• You mentions your desire to be a Naval Officer, wonderful. So approach this like one. Plan for every scenario you can think of, have a back up to the back up. Weigh your pros and cons, risks, how do you mitigate them. Remember the 7 Ps... prior proper planning prevents piss poor performance. Why not pursue every path possible that gives you every advantage to achieving your dream... and notice I didn’t focus on the $ part. It’s not about that. It’s about opportunity and securing the path to your goal.

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If I could give 10 likes to this post, I would.

Forget the dollars. That’s a side issue. If you want to commission, ignore no path.

If you want to be a Naval Officer, you set yourself up with a flexible plan that keeps you moving toward that goal.

Get into USNA, great, no alternate path needed - oh - but no guarantees, even if you have an appointment. As Hoops noted, you could get injured right before reporting, and with no solid alternate, you’re losing a year. Every year, there are medical turnbacks.

If you end up at NROTC, you are moving on a parallel path at the same pace as if you were at USNA, with opportunities for similar summer training, depending on your status. I believe scholarship status allows you to participate in more summer training - why deprive yourself of that?

If you apply to USNA again as a re-applicant and get in, you’re that much better prepared for military knowledge, vocabulary, culture, customs, uniform prep and wear, if you come from NROTC. And - NROTC is an additional nom source.

Or, you love your Battalion, find your home, and cheerfully let USNA go.

No downside. And you get to say things at SA interviews such as “While I am most interested in the Naval Academy, I am so focused on a career as a Navy officer that I applied to NROTC, and have explored the units at Duke, George Washington, Maryland and Notre Dame” and NOT have to explain why you didn’t bother to apply, whatever your reasons.

As for OCS, other posters have discussed that. You don’t just “go to OCS.” There are tests, interviews, detailed applications, physicals. That option is absolutely a “needs of the Navy” in terms of slots available, and is highly selective, choosing only those whom it needs to round out a fiscal year’s crop of new Navy officers. You could have a stunning college résumé, but if they don’t need you, they won’t pick you. Stellar college seniors who blossomed late in a desire for a Navy career, talented prior enlisted who were 3 days too old for USNA or who already had a college degree, those who have a dependent, those who bring maturity and corporate skills (OCS age limit is higher) - it’s a large and competitive pool. Everyone knows their designator (warfare specialty) before going in. So, Navy Air may only need 50 more from OCS. If those 50 are found and recruited into the early classes of the FY, that could mean few or no additional aviation slots in remaining classes.

For fun, I looked up the staffing directive for FY2018, Officer accessions. See the last page of the cover letter, where OCS leadership is directed to prepare for a max capacity of 1202 BUT also directed to plan for fewer seats due to “decreased accession goals.” It’s an adjustment valve.




https://www.public.navy.mil/netc/NS...s/NSTCNOTE 1500 - FY18 Officer Accessions.pdf

My son is one of many "Annapolis Rejects" for the class of 2022. His Plan B was a NROTC contract for Norwich, the birthplace of ROTC and #2 in The country for his major. No contract obtained, so he is still NROTC but pursuing the contract for a commission. Even if he doesn't obtain a contract, on occasion, Norwich and other programs get permission to commission a NROTC midshipman that worked the program and succeeded.

Will he re-apply for USNA? No, he decided the culture, climate, campus and education is more solidly "his" at Norwich. But his goal of cyber warfare engineer and promoting on up can still happen.

Many great posts here. I think Severnriver already knows the answer. Based on your thought out personal assessment, USNA/Military College NROTC are equally strong commissioning platforms to Ensign because they provide the best naval/military experience and training in college. And I also believe these schools will give you a better head start for few years compared to other NROTC units. When choosing NROTC Programs, unless it is USNA/Military Colleges, I would not choose the program over schools. I would pick the school then the NROTC unit. I would take full advantage of the NROTC Scholarship by attending a college that has on-campus NROTC unit rather than cross-town. Cross town I don't recommend because it is another stress and distraction you could do without with a busy college life you will have. OCS is really for folks who realized they want to go Navy in their Senior Year or post college. You already know what you want now so I would stick with USNA/NROTC military college as my principal.

Awesome points for applying to NROTC. If I read this post a year ago, I would probably had lots of conflict with my son since he didn't want to hear anything about other options. Just like OP, my son only wanted USNA and never considered NROTC, other academies or colleges. He is an 'all eggs in one basket' kind of guy which can hurt him of course, but he knows what he wants and go for it. In addition to USNA, he applied to only one university. I know that BGO asked if he would go to prep school if offered, but that's about it. I never heard if someone advised him on applying to NROTC. His goal was USNA and plan B was to reapply. he is class of 2022 now. if USNA wants you, not applying to NROTC shouldn't hurt your chances for admission.

I admire your determination and a well thought out path! I know you will go far in life as a leader!

I’m glad I read your post because I think I will be able to provide another perspective, since my DS just went through the amazing journey. My DS became committed towards his journey when he visited USNA as an eighth grader. He lived and breathed it, and knew deep into his core that was his destination. After two more visits during high school, that solidified his desired path. However, we all knew of students/friends/friends of friends that had put all their eggs in one basket, which led to devastation and the unknown regarding college plans. He thought about this long and hard and approached the college application process very realistically, and most importantly, he analyzed his long-term goals....To be a Naval Officer and serve in the U.S. Navy. Once he took a broader look at the long term, it opened up his thought process. We visited numerous universities, yet he still knew USNA was his destination. NROTC became a heightened path, and from all his discussions with wonderful USNA alumni, they all encouraged the NROTC path as well. Well, we are so grateful for incredible people that took their time to encourage along the way. This is why I am writing you. Fast forward through the senior year...you don’t actually know what the outcome may be. You don’t know if circumstances will change during your senior year or if there will be other candidates that will exceed your file. My personal motherly advice is to plan for anything, speak with multiple alumni, visit universities, re-visit universities, visit NROTC units and speak with their leadership and staff. Be wise and realistic about the long term goal and select multiple paths to achieve that goal. (You will likely feel this process is a full-time job.) Where my DS is headed this fall is where we believe he was meant to be planted. No one could have predicted it, not even the family. DS is over-the-top thrilled towards his path. NROTC is such a fantastic fit for him! He will also be at an exceptional, highly-ranked university. We couldn’t be happier for him.

Best wishes to you!

My daughter was usna or bust last year until August, when someone suggested nrotc if her goal was to be a naval officer. She remained steadfast about usna, but applied for nrotc and limited her other school choices to ones which had nrotc programs.

Fast forward one year, this Sunday she is finishing up training in Newport with the Boston consortium nrotc. She was accepted to the academy but after careful, gut wrenching thought she felt the correct place for her was MIT. (One of the biggest factors was the breathe of majors.)

I think it’s not a bad idea to keep your options open, you never know how you will change in this year. And as someone else stated, she’ll still be an ensign like a usna grad, she’ll just have a brass rat on her hand.

Breadth (wide range)

I know, kind of strange seeing a Marine take the grammar nazi position, but I just could not let this one go.
Put down the knife.