Observations of the Army ROTC Scholarship Board Member

Hi Everyone,

As a Professor of Military Science at the University of Southern California, I had the opportunity a few years back to sit a scholarship board for Army ROTC at Fort Knox, Kentucky. I wanted to give you my observations about the board in order to understand from one member’s perspective what we are looking for.

The Army ROTC board counts for 350 out of 1400 points or about 25% of the overall candidate score. Each board members looks at hundreds of files of candidates on a computer where we see the person’s SAT/ACT scores, interview score and narrative from the Professor of Military Science (or other officer/ROO who interviewed the candidate), GPA and high school transcripts, Civilian Background Experience Form (CBEF) score, physical fitness test scores, and personal essays.

We only have a couple of minutes to look at each candidate file so we didn’t have a great deal of time to spend on each candidate. We were then asked to rank the candidates on a numerical scale.

Here is what I keyed in on when I rated candidates (my observations here are generally in line with my fellow PMSs who sat these boards):

ROTC interview narrative. This is the most important element in my opinion. If the interviewing officer gave a strong, well written narrative that recommended a scholarship, I gave this a heavy weighting in my overall rating. I also gave more weight if I knew the interviewer was a PMS. I also looked at the overall interview score.

SAT/ACT. Was (fortunately or unfortunately) a quick way to separate candidates and rank them. Higher the score, the better. Mentally for me, if the candidate had a super score over 1300 it made an impression on me. Same if a candidate could push into the 30s on some ACT sections with a super score of 28 or higher. Obviously, 1400 SAT/30 ACT or higher composite made an even greater impression on me.

Unweighted GPA. Higher the better and another way for me to rank candidates. I took a quick look at the rigor the courses to make sure it was a “legitimate GPA.” I didn’t weight GPA as much as SAT/ACT because of the vast number of different high schools and their differing grading standards.

Athlete, Leader Activities. Quick check of all activities. Tended to look for “vigorous” high school varsity sports that would indicate success in the athletic demands of Army ROTC and significant outstanding leadership accomplishments such as class president and Eagle Scout/Gold Award. I also paid attention if the person had done activities like JROTC, Civil Air Patrol, or Sea Cadets that indicated military propensity. I also noted if the candidate’s parents served in the military (again military propensity).

CBEF and PT Score. Checked briefly to see if it was out of tolerance or there was anything out of the ordinary.

Candidate Essay. Briefly looked at it.

Takeaways for you:

The interview is the most important thing to do well on. Prepare for the interview and see my previous advice (and others on this forum) on what to do to get ready for it: https://www.serviceacademyforums.co...rmy-rotc-professor-of-military-science.67205/

A good SAT/ACT score is a way to separate yourself from other candidates. Since the Army ROTC super scores your SAT/ACT, there is nothing to lose to retake the test if you think you can realistically raise the score.

Try to get as high a GPA as you can while ensuring sufficient (but not necessarily extreme) rigor.

Work to make a significant leadership accomplishment in high school that would draw the board members attention away from the “static” of a laundry list of activities. Look to participate in activities like Civil Air Patrol which show a propensity for the military.

Athletics. Participate in a “vigorous” varsity sport and do your best on the PT test.



I wish you all the best of luck as you prepare for the 2019-2020 application year and future years.



Robert Kirkland, LTC (Ret)
"The Insider's Guide to the Army [and Air Force] ROTC Scholarship for High School Students and their Parents" (Amazon)

Very nice write up. Is it safe to assume the Navy board members would act similarly?

I'm sure the point system for NROTC is a bit different. They are also going to take a good look at the major the Navy option applicant plans to pursue.

AROTCPMS said:

Unweighted GPA. Higher the better and another way for me to rank candidates. I took a quick look at the rigor the courses to make sure it was a “legitimate GPA.” I didn’t weight GPA as much as SAT/ACT because of the vast number of different high schools and their differing grading standards.

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@ARTOCPMS, thank you for the wonderful information. One thing I have been slightly concerned and also confused about as my son embarks on the process of applying for SA's and ROTC national scholarships is - the use of unweighted GPA and the various ways schools calculate it. For example, my son is ranked 11th in his class of 450 and has a 3.6 unweighted GPA (4.47 weighted) - which our registrar says is a 96 average. A 90 in a class would be a 3.0 the way our school calculates, a 91 is a 3.1, etc. He has never gotten a B. However, on this forum, I have heard people reference a 3.6 as a "mixture of A's and B's." It seems the different high schools are calculating in different ways. Hard to remember but I guess that is the way our colleges calculated GPA - where any A is a 4.0. I hate for folks possibly reviewing his application to think a 3.6 is a mixture of A's and B's when it really represents an overall 96 average. Am I missing something here? Anyone else have the same issue?

Great info! Thank you for sharing your insights.

williamsdr3 said:

AROTCPMS said:

Unweighted GPA. Higher the better and another way for me to rank candidates. I took a quick look at the rigor the courses to make sure it was a “legitimate GPA.” I didn’t weight GPA as much as SAT/ACT because of the vast number of different high schools and their differing grading standards.

Click to expand...

@ARTOCPMS, thank you for the wonderful information. One thing I have been slightly concerned and also confused about as my son embarks on the process of applying for SA's and ROTC national scholarships is - the use of unweighted GPA and the various ways schools calculate it. For example, my son is ranked 11th in his class of 450 and has a 3.6 unweighted GPA (4.47 weighted) - which our registrar says is a 96 average. A 90 in a class would be a 3.0 the way our school calculates, a 91 is a 3.1, etc. He has never gotten a B. However, on this forum, I have heard people reference a 3.6 as a "mixture of A's and B's." It seems the different high schools are calculating in different ways. Hard to remember but I guess that is the way our colleges calculated GPA - where any A is a 4.0. I hate for folks possibly reviewing his application to think a 3.6 is a mixture of A's and B's when it really represents an overall 96 average. Am I missing something here? Anyone else have the same issue?

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GPA's are calculated differently at every high school. Most colleges understand this and recalculate every applicants GPA based on their own scale. I would assume SA's and ROTC scholarships do the same

USMA told us at SLE that GPAs weren't as important as Class Rank and size of school (#__ out of ___) because of the variation of GPA with schools. As a homeschooler, SAT/ACT scores were weighted higher since a class rank 1 of 1 is not helpful.

williamsdr3 said:

AROTCPMS said:

Unweighted GPA. Higher the better and another way for me to rank candidates. I took a quick look at the rigor the courses to make sure it was a “legitimate GPA.” I didn’t weight GPA as much as SAT/ACT because of the vast number of different high schools and their differing grading standards.

Click to expand...

@ARTOCPMS, thank you for the wonderful information. One thing I have been slightly concerned and also confused about as my son embarks on the process of applying for SA's and ROTC national scholarships is - the use of unweighted GPA and the various ways schools calculate it. For example, my son is ranked 11th in his class of 450 and has a 3.6 unweighted GPA (4.47 weighted) - which our registrar says is a 96 average. A 90 in a class would be a 3.0 the way our school calculates, a 91 is a 3.1, etc. He has never gotten a B. However, on this forum, I have heard people reference a 3.6 as a "mixture of A's and B's." It seems the different high schools are calculating in different ways. Hard to remember but I guess that is the way our colleges calculated GPA - where any A is a 4.0. I hate for folks possibly reviewing his application to think a 3.6 is a mixture of A's and B's when it really represents an overall 96 average. Am I missing something here? Anyone else have the same issue?

Click to expand...

Hi Williamsdr3,

It's just important to keep in mind that the PMSs who sit the board are not experts in evaluating high school transcripts and are not trained college admissions folks. It was difficult at times for me to make heads or tails of the variations in the transcripts that I saw (and I saw hundreds). Even high school rankings don't give the entire picture because of the differing rigor of schools and of applicants who are home schooled. The takeaway is the importance first of the PMS interview and write up and second the SAT/ACT scores over the transcript.

@AROTCPMS, thank you for additional clarification.

LTC, thanks for sharing.

@AROTCPMS

This confirms what I long suspected and that is the boards sound very similar in nature to how promotion and command boards work in the Army. Vast numbers of files, limited time to review and candidates who in many respects are very similar in background and credentials. I think what you said about the interview has some applicable strategy to how a candidate could look the interview process.

1. Don't undersell the interview or the interviewer. In other words if I was a savvy candidate I would look for PMS to be the interviewer. ROOs do great work but for most of us (I too am an Army LTC) we would probably place consciously or subconsciously higher judgement in a peer and if the boards are PMS then that is who they will best relate too.

2. Many folks think because they have "people skills" they are rocking the interview. I would definitely treat this interview like any job interview where you have 30 to 45 second elevator pitch on why you want to be an Army officer. As a note most PMS are MAJ/LTCs at the non military colleges who are not graduates of said institution so their loyalty is to the Army and they would be looking to see if they could see the interviewee as a candidate in their last or next formation. It would help in the elevator pitch if it shows the candidate did research on ROTC, the Army and the program if that is a program you are interested in. It would probably help also to demonstrate a desire to lead as well any past experiences which show a propensity for leadership.

Again, great comments here by the OP.

I can tell you from first hand experience both PMS's, LTC's that interviewed my DS, said he 'Rocked it' and his PFT was 100% - he maxed it out. They nominated him for a 4 year. My DS's entire portfolio is outstanding top to bottom. NHS, Varsity Football and Lacrosse, Captain(s), State, GPA, etc. Accepted to top 20 colleges nationally. Both the Army and Navy requested him to apply to the Academies. Not interested. He received a 4 year NROTC MO scholarship to a HBCU - not, and in no way, was he interested in that. Did not align to his degree (Engineering or School Choices) and he was pissed. Finally, on the 3rd AROTC board he received a 3 year AD scholarship to his #1 school - he was 100% blown away - completely caught off guard. My point is, any selection for any role or promotion is a full dress down and add in a speed dating element. You have to be on top of your game - always. Not just the interview but the CBEF, PFT, Grades, etc. It really is a 'Whole Person' approach. You have no idea who you are going up against. Similar to officer ranks/promotions, etc. you are going up against some of the finest men and women in the nation. You *always* have to be on your 'A' game, know your 'you know what', have great demonstrable case studies and experience of your capability and always want to be pretty close to the tip of the spear - in all facets. I love to think about Military Officers as the premium 'Utility/Swiss Knife' of the United States. Welcome to 'Real Leadership' and being 'Focused' not only on you but the men and women you will lead in a Military Branch. Each person that is offered an ROTC scholarship should truly comprehend the opportunity they have at their hands. What a great opportunity to each recipient.

SomeGaveAll said:

USMA told us at SLE that GPAs weren't as important as Class Rank and size of school (#__ out of ___) because of the variation of GPA with schools. As a homeschooler, SAT/ACT scores were weighted higher since a class rank 1 of 1 is not helpful.

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I was told the same by a former admissions officer at USMA.

By itself, GPA has become all but meaningless due to grade inflation, inconsistent application of teaching methods, and the botched rollout of Common Core across the country. There is absolutely no consistency to high school transcripts that would allow any evaluator to make a decision on an applicant in the absence of detailed, specific knowledge of that applicant's school, program, and teachers.

Which is to say, it's a fool's errand to try to compare one GPA to another - and this even applies to the same school!

Does the evaluator know which teachers at that school are harsh graders? Which are the gut courses? If not, how can he or she reliably judge the difference between a 3.6 student and a 3.8 student?

We have a local school that has 70 valedictorians! Obviously, the grading there is a joke.

Even if you look at college acceptances, that too is a flawed basis for comparison. Schools that send most students to Ivies aren't necessarily better than other high-achieving schools that don't send students to expensive private schools, because one of the biggest advantages in admissions is whether the high achiever's family can and will pay full-freight.

For evaluating academic achievement and intellectual promise, the only really valid, consistent, reliable benchmark for comparison today is the SAT/ACT.

It doesn't surprise me that GPA is not considered as heavily given homeschooling and the different standards of high schools across the country.

It's very interesting to hear the observations of a person who has sat these boards in the past. Invaluable information!

It's refreshing and encouraging that our military, at least, still values objective, standardized measures of academic promise and cognitive ability.

By contrast, the highly selective college and university admissions process has become a national joke. Academic merit is at best a secondary factor for the admissions committees.

They're really just engaged in social engineering at this point.

Not just social engineering but also financial engineering:
- "building the class" [official BS for their weirdly predetermined admitted-student social outcomes] and also
- "optimizing for revenue" [the behind-the-scenes financial reality which their admissions yield management consultants help them manage].

thibaud said:

It's refreshing and encouraging that our military, at least, still values objective, standardized measures of academic promise and cognitive ability.

By contrast, the highly selective college and university admissions process has become a national joke. Academic merit is at best a secondary factor for the admissions committees.

They're really just engaged in social engineering at this point.

Not just social engineering but also financial engineering:
- "building the class" [official BS for their weirdly predetermined admitted-student social outcomes] and also
- "optimizing for revenue" [the behind-the-scenes financial reality which their admissions yield management consultants help them manage].

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Something new I learned that should have been obvious to me is that the ROTC scholarship and college admissions are a completely separate process!

Realtor10 said:

Something new I learned that should have been obvious to me is that the ROTC scholarship and college admissions are a completely separate process!

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Well, not always. Some of the private universities that depend critically on a large pool of full-pay applicants are said to coordinate admissions with ROTC leaders in order to give a "tap" or preference to those applicants whose tuition will be paid, in full or in part, by the US military. This makes sense, as it frees up money for other students and also ensures the private college gets a highly motivated, high achieving applicant.

thibaud said:

Realtor10 said:

Something new I learned that should have been obvious to me is that the ROTC scholarship and college admissions are a completely separate process!

Click to expand...

Well, not always. Some of the private universities that depend critically on a large pool of full-pay applicants are said to coordinate admissions with ROTC leaders in order to give a "tap" or preference to those applicants whose tuition will be paid, in full or in part, by the US military. This makes sense, as it frees up money for other students and also ensures the private college gets a highly motivated, high achieving applicant.

Click to expand...

In the two schools I was the PMS at: Claremont McKenna College and the University of Southern California, admissions were interested in giving some admissions help to ROTC scholarship winners but it was due more to wanting a successful ROTC program on campus rather than the reasons you give. I have started to explore this issue with other schools, particularly the Ivys and schools like Georgetown and Vanderbilt because most top end ROTC applicants are interested in knowing if these schools give any admissions "push" for ROTC applicants. What I have found from my initial exploration is that most give little or no push to ROTC scholarship winners. The schools you are referring to may be more your "middle of the pack" private schools. In these cases, a scholarship winner probably doesn't have as much of an issue getting admission there and doesn't need any such preference.