Overemphasis on the Detachment Interview for the Air Force ROTC High School Scholarship (HSSP) Progr

AROTCPMS

Former Army ROTC PMS for Claremont McKenna and USC
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Overemphasis on the Detachment Interview for the Air Force ROTC High School Scholarship (HSSP) Program?

In my contacts and conversations with several folks involved in the Air Force ROTC HSSP for this academic year, I’ve come to learn that the panel board of senior officers (lieutenant colonels and colonels) to select scholarship winners has been eliminated. This used to be 40% of the score.

What is left is a system which awards almost half of the consideration for the scholarship on the interview conducted at the detachment level (normally performed by a captain). The rest of the points are allocated for GPA, SAT/ACT and the physical fitness assessment.

In short, Air Force ROTC has “powered down” a good deal of the responsibility for selection to the detachment level. What this means is that at least for Air Force HSSP, you better do well on your detachment interview and hope you get a good interviewer who is competent and having a good day. Otherwise, you may be sunk.

Overall, you can probably surmise I don’t think this is a good idea. The Navy and Army still have their senior officer panels which serve as a quality check over interviews conducted “in the field.” This board system is needed and I predict the Air Force will go back to it after realizing their error.

Robert Kirkland, LTC (Ret)
"The Insider's Guide to the Army [and Air Force] ROTC Scholarship for High School Students and their Parents" (Amazon)
 
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I feel bad for kids who do not have the communication skills necessary to nail the interview. They can change it now since my son already earned his scholarship for the upcoming college years though.

I actually told him he HAD to do well on the interview to sell himself since he has a non technical major and not the best gpa/SAT score. I guess it worked for him ;)

On a side note: we read your book. He was very prepared.
 
This may explain why my DS got a Type 7 Scholarship as well as a USAFA appointment. The HSSP was his first interview & he is by nature a quiet, introverted guy. In all other areas his averages were above the averages for a Type 1 scholarship. I've been wondering about this for awhile, at least now we have what might be the reason. Thanks for that!
 
Whoa!

Mr. Kirkland - just making sure: Is there any formal AFROTC confirmation, be it a document or release or announcement of some sort, that you can point to?

This sounds like a drastic change.
 
I am pretty confident that a poor interview is what prevented my son from getting any AFROTC scholarship. Great stats, STEM major and awarded a 4 year AROTC scholarship. The person conducting the interview said he was the first interview she had ever conducted. He did not feel confident coming out of that interview compared to the army interview. They seemed surprised that DH who is prior Air Force dropped him off rather than sticking around for the interview. He thought he was doing the right thing by letting him stand on his own 2 feet. In the end it all worked out for the best as he loves Army and is happy that’s where he ended up..
 
Overemphasis on the Detachment Interview for the Air Force ROTC High School Scholarship (HSSP) Program?

In my contacts and conversations with several folks involved in the Air Force ROTC HSSP for this academic year, I’ve come to learn that the panel board of senior officers (lieutenant colonels and colonels) to select scholarship winners has been eliminated. This used to be 40% of the score.

What is left is a system which awards almost half of the consideration for the scholarship on the interview conducted at the detachment level (normally performed by a captain). The rest of the points are allocated for GPA, SAT/ACT and the physical fitness assessment.

In short, Air Force ROTC has “powered down” a good deal of the responsibility for selection to the detachment level. What this means is that at least for Air Force HSSP, you better do well on your detachment interview and hope you get a good interviewer who is competent and having a good day. Otherwise, you may be sunk.

Overall, you can probably surmise I don’t think this is a good idea. The Navy and Army still have their senior officer panels which serve as a quality check over interviews conducted “in the field.” This board system is needed and I predict the Air Force will go back to it after realizing their error.

Robert Kirkland, LTC (Ret)
"The Insider's Guide to the Army [and Air Force] ROTC Scholarship for High School Students and their Parents" (Amazon)
The concern has to be here the possibility of having an interviewer with an "off" day.
 
"This may explain why my DS got a Type 7 Scholarship as well as a USAFA appointment."

Wow! There is something wrong with this!
 
"This may explain why my DS got a Type 7 Scholarship as well as a USAFA appointment."

Wow! There is something wrong with this!
It could be many reasons. Depending on where one lives the competition for an appointment might be less stringent than the competition for a scholarship.
 
The concern has to be here the possibility of having an interviewer with an "off" day.

Or how about which state you interview in? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that the interviewers at Yale will be very, very different from some schools. If the interview is given that much weight, then ALL the interviewers better be trained on inter-rater reliability.
 
Overemphasis on the Detachment Interview for the Air Force ROTC High School Scholarship (HSSP) Program?

In my contacts and conversations with several folks involved in the Air Force ROTC HSSP for this academic year, I’ve come to learn that the panel board of senior officers (lieutenant colonels and colonels) to select scholarship winners has been eliminated. This used to be 40% of the score.

What is left is a system which awards almost half of the consideration for the scholarship on the interview conducted at the detachment level (normally performed by a captain). The rest of the points are allocated for GPA, SAT/ACT and the physical fitness assessment.

In short, Air Force ROTC has “powered down” a good deal of the responsibility for selection to the detachment level. What this means is that at least for Air Force HSSP, you better do well on your detachment interview and hope you get a good interviewer who is competent and having a good day. Otherwise, you may be sunk.

Overall, you can probably surmise I don’t think this is a good idea. The Navy and Army still have their senior officer panels which serve as a quality check over interviews conducted “in the field.” This board system is needed and I predict the Air Force will go back to it after realizing their error.

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


Question: Must a candidate interview at the assigned detachment based on address? Or can you select a detachment? I am seeing all sort of issues with both sides of this answer.
 
It could be many reasons. Depending on where one lives the competition for an appointment might be less stringent than the competition for a scholarship.

Possibly, but that seems very unlikely. The OP noted that the candidate was above average for the Type 1 stats so that would indicate that the interview didn't go so well. The USAFA nomination process/interviews seems like it would be much more accurate than a 45 minute interview with a single interviewer in a detachment. I am making some assumptions about the USAFA process...
 
Question: Must a candidate interview at the assigned detachment based on address? Or can you select a detachment? I am seeing all sort of issues with both sides of this answer.
For AFROTC, there is no "selecting" the detachment or interviewer. It is assigned. For AROTC, you can pick the detachment.
 
All interviewers have a checklist of questions, and more or less is standardized. Typically if a cadre member is interviewing, they know what types of cadets they are looking for.

USAFA does not have minimum requirements and is based off where you live. AFROTC is nationwide only.

We definitely receive your feedback and hopefully in the future will have more manning for better support and smoother process but in the meantime, the current process works for us in producing the goal scholarships so it most likely won't change anytime soon.
 
Possibly, but that seems very unlikely. The OP noted that the candidate was above average for the Type 1 stats so that would indicate that the interview didn't go so well. The USAFA nomination process/interviews seems like it would be much more accurate than a 45 minute interview with a single interviewer in a detachment. I am making some assumptions about the USAFA process...

Out of curiosity, what are these “Average stats for a tier 1” that you referenced?
 
All interviewers have a checklist of questions, and more or less is standardized. Typically if a cadre member is interviewing, they know what types of cadets they are looking for.

USAFA does not have minimum requirements and is based off where you live. AFROTC is nationwide only.

We definitely receive your feedback and hopefully in the future will have more manning for better support and smoother process but in the meantime, the current process works for us in producing the goal scholarships so it most likely won't change anytime soon.

So is the USAFA checklist the same as the ROTC checklist? I am confused based on what the above candidate mentioned.
 
All interviewers have a checklist of questions, and more or less is standardized. Typically if a cadre member is interviewing, they know what types of cadets they are looking for.

USAFA does not have minimum requirements and is based off where you live. AFROTC is nationwide only.

We definitely receive your feedback and hopefully in the future will have more manning for better support and smoother process but in the meantime, the current process works for us in producing the goal scholarships so it most likely won't change anytime soon.
[/QUOT

So, there is the possibility of a checklist of questions for the AFROTC candidates, but there could also be a USAFA interview that's used? That's interesting. So, does the interviewer for both the AFROTC and USAFA use the same checklist of questions?
 
That's good to know. How long was that interview?
It was 45 minutes to an hour. The proctor sent me a list of points he wanted to discuss and allowed me to brainstorm some personal examples. I sent it back to him and we FaceTimed on a Saturday and had a “formal” interview. Then for ROTC, the local detachment (about and hour away) just sent me and the proctor and email asking him to change my interview points to a different format and forward them to AFROTC. I ended up getting a type 7 from the dec. board, which I understand is crazy competitive, so I’m pretty happy.
 
It was 45 minutes to an hour. The proctor sent me a list of points he wanted to discuss and allowed me to brainstorm some personal examples. I sent it back to him and we FaceTimed on a Saturday and had a “formal” interview. Then for ROTC, the local detachment (about and hour away) just sent me and the proctor and email asking him to change my interview points to a different format and forward them to AFROTC. I ended up getting a type 7 from the dec. board, which I understand is crazy competitive, so I’m pretty happy.

Congrats on your scholarship! And thank you for sharing your experience. I will say that my DS was NOT given discussion points to preview, time to brainstorm, or coached to add personal examples. I wonder how AFROTC Admissions could consider this interview process remotely standardized?
 
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