Should I focus my efforts more of AF or Naval ROTC

Kdwy

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Feb 2, 2019
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I have gone back and forth on a lot of things about my future in my short life but I’ve known one thing since 8th grade: I wanted to do ROTC. I was always drawn to air force and have been a huge aviation nerd but also have a soft spot for navy as I grew up sailing and even have a HS job working as a deckhand. I’m now getting down to 9 months until I’m going to have to 100% decide which. I’m applying for scholarships in both but am not super confident I’ll get scholarships (had a super rough patch freshman year and have been digging out of that hole ever since). So I will have to decide between the two if a scholarship does not decide for me and as someone who is very bad at choosing between things I want to get some opinions of others now just as I mull it over in my head over the coming months.
Some facts about me:
-Hope to major in environmental science and the after the military work in the environmental affairs of airlines/other companies in the aviation field
-spent my summers deckhanding is HS
-looking closer at 2/3 year scholarships over 4 year as I don’t think I will be accepted and I don’t know if I will change my mind on my major during my first year (my 1# school has 4 environmental majors and I don’t know if I will change my mind and want to do one of the other environmental majors).
-I have a lot more experience being on the water over being in the air but do want to pursue a career in the aviation industry.
- I want to travel, not necessarily with my job in the military but if one branch sends more people overseas than another that would be good to know
Which branch sounds like it would be better for me? I don’t have anyone in my life who was/is in the military so I have nobody irl I can ask for opinions.
 
Focus on which branch's mission and culture resonates most with you. Don’t get caught up in flying for Air Force or sailing with Navy. Most Air Force officers don’t fly. Most Navy officers don’t serve on ships. You need to be happy if Air Force decides you won’t fly or if Navy decides you won’t sail. Needs of the military prevail.

Keep in mind that those two branches put great stock in STEM majors. NROTC gives priority to STEM majors. Guessing AFROTC does too. So this may affect your ability to get a scholarship.
 
How about both? You could go Navy with the goal of being a Naval aviator or NFO. It’s hard to get into, but it may be worth a shot. You will have to be a STEM major with excellent academics, test scores and superior leadership qualifications.

Just a fun fact, the US Navy is the worlds 2nd largest air force. The USAF is #1
 
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At this stage of the game, you could “go for it” with all branches (Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, merchant Marine, am I missing any?) And get your options in front of you for who may Offer you a scholarship. Other than the personal fitness test being re-done a couple of times in a couple of different ways, transcripts, and paperwork, and references/your guidance department Having to send information multiple times,it’s not that much more work to apply to each. If you are fortunate enough to receive scholarships from all branches, that is a good problem to have. You’ve pointed out that your grades overall may not be extremely competitive, and others have pointed out your major is not stem, so I say go for it and explore all options if it is your goal to serve, and give yourself the best chance of having an option at the end of this journey – that is your goal, Right? It is after the offers that are presented in your case, not before, that I would be picky. Unless you really genuinely only have a very narrow/ specific focus on where you want to serve. But my main point is that if that is the case you are limiting your options which is ok if that’s what you want.

Just a quick observation, you only listed a few strengths here and when you apply your strengths should be the focus of your application – all of the good stuff that you bring to the table – athletics leader ship academic achievement. SAT/AC T scores, Community / civic leadership and service, religious activity, where were you an officer or leader in a club or school organization, scouts, etc. have you excelled in school in the last two years?

Please also be aware that even if you don’t get a scholarship, you absolutely still can join ROTC as a college programmer and compete for one at the University. So if you want to train and then serve as an officer, there are still paths here.

Good luck and it’s great that you’re interested in serving your country.
 
How about both? You could go Navy with the goal of being a Naval aviator or NFO. It’s hard to get into, but it may be worth a shot. You will have to be a STEM major with excellent academics, test scores and superior leadership qualifications.

Just a fun fact, the US Navy is the worlds 2nd largest air force. The USAF is #1
I actually know more Mids that commissioned aviation that were liberal arts majors than STEM.
 
At this stage of the game, you could “go for it” with all branches (Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, merchant Marine, am I missing any?) And get your options in front of you for who may Offer you a scholarship. Other than the personal fitness test being re-done a couple of times in a couple of different ways, transcripts, and paperwork, and references/your guidance department Having to send information multiple times,it’s not that much more work to apply to each. If you are fortunate enough to receive scholarships from all branches, that is a good problem to have. You’ve pointed out that your grades overall may not be extremely competitive, and others have pointed out your major is not stem, so I say go for it and explore all options if it is your goal to serve, and give yourself the best chance of having an option at the end of this journey – that is your goal, Right? It is after the offers that are presented in your case, not before, that I would be picky. Unless you really genuinely only have a very narrow/ specific focus on where you want to serve. But my main point is that if that is the case you are limiting your options which is ok if that’s what you want.

Just a quick observation, you only listed a few strengths here and when you apply your strengths should be the focus of your application – all of the good stuff that you bring to the table – athletics leader ship academic achievement. SAT/AC T scores, Community / civic leadership and service, religious activity, where were you an officer or leader in a club or school organization, scouts, etc. have you excelled in school in the last two years?

Please also be aware that even if you don’t get a scholarship, you absolutely still can join ROTC as a college programmer and compete for one at the University. So if you want to train and then serve as an officer, there are still paths here.

Good luck and it’s great that you’re interested in serving your country.
Environmental Science is actually STEM in NROTC (idk about AFROTC). I know this because there's plenty of MIDN in my unit that are environmental science and are Tier 2.
 
How about both? You could go Navy with the goal of being a Naval aviator or NFO. It’s hard to get into, but it may be worth a shot. You will have to be a STEM major with excellent academics, test scores and superior leadership qualifications.

Just a fun fact, the US Navy is the worlds 2nd largest air force. The USAF is #1
And the US Army has a large navy. The article has ships I had never heard of. The Army's number of small craft combined with these seagoing ships makes it one of the world's largest.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/6149/meet-the-biggest-and-baddest-ships-in-the-us-army
 
Thank you for clarifying and sharing - that's good info. I see the same here, for reference: https://nrotc.duke.edu/join/requirements/academic-requirements

At this stage of the game, you could “go for it” with all branches (Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, merchant Marine, am I missing any?) And get your options in front of you for who may Offer you a scholarship. Other than the personal fitness test being re-done a couple of times in a couple of different ways, transcripts, and paperwork, and references/your guidance department Having to send information multiple times,it’s not that much more work to apply to each. If you are fortunate enough to receive scholarships from all branches, that is a good problem to have. You’ve pointed out that your grades overall may not be extremely competitive, and others have pointed out your major is not stem, so I say go for it and explore all options if it is your goal to serve, and give yourself the best chance of having an option at the end of this journey – that is your goal, Right? It is after the offers that are presented in your case, not before, that I would be picky. Unless you really genuinely only have a very narrow/ specific focus on where you want to serve. But my main point is that if that is the case you are limiting your options which is ok if that’s what you want.

Just a quick observation, you only listed a few strengths here and when you apply your strengths should be the focus of your application – all of the good stuff that you bring to the table – athletics leader ship academic achievement. SAT/AC T scores, Community / civic leadership and service, religious activity, where were you an officer or leader in a club or school organization, scouts, etc. have you excelled in school in the last two years?

Please also be aware that even if you don’t get a scholarship, you absolutely still can join ROTC as a college programmer and compete for one at the University. So if you want to train and then serve as an officer, there are still paths here.

Good luck and it’s great that you’re interested in serving your country.
Environmental Science is actually STEM in NROTC (idk about AFROTC). I know this because there's plenty of MIDN in my unit that are environmental science and are Tier 2.
 
Thank you all for the replies, I am for sure trying for both scholarships but I think I am leaning more towards navy at this point because enviro sci is a STEM major in navy rotc according to KuzNROTC and I’ve looked it up and it is not for AFROTC.
 
Thank you all for the replies, I am for sure trying for both scholarships but I think I am leaning more towards navy at this point because enviro sci is a STEM major in navy rotc according to KuzNROTC and I’ve looked it up and it is not for AFROTC.
You should verify the information that Environmental Science is considered a STEM (Tier 1 or Tier 2) major at the school you plan to attend. If you read the information in the link carefully, it is specific that this is considered a Tier 2 major AT DUKE UNIVERSITY. Environmental Science is not listed as a Tier 1 or Tier 2 major at the official NROTC website, https://www.nrotc.navy.mil/scholarship_criteria.html. It could be that the Navy has approved this major as a Tier 2 major at Duke, based on the specific degree requirements there.
 
I agree with many of the suggestions. First of all, of the two, Navy or Air Force, which would better for you if you didnt get to be an aviator. Which has the better backup plan for you? Secondly, assuming you to get to be an aviator, what do you want to fly? Air Force has way more fixed wings than the Navy. Good chance you fly helicopters if you go into the Navy. On the other hand, if you want to fly fighters, there is a good chance you wont fly fighters in the AF. For every AF UPT class of 15, maybe 3-4 get fighter/bomber. You dont need to be a STEM major in the AF to fly although you probably need a STEM major to get a scholarhsip. Dont know about the Navy. AFter that its all about lifestyle. Navy bases are located in better areas. Air Force bases seem to be in the middle of nowhere. HOwever, there is a realistic joke about the AF and it goes something like this, when the AF starts a new base, they first start with the air field, then the officers club and finally the golf course.
 
Any chance you would want to get an Environmental Engineering degree? That is a desired major for the USAF and would more likely get you into competition for an AFROTC scholarship. That major would also put you into a Civil Engineering Squadron career field which also does the environmental program oversight for the USAF. Most likely, you would do a rotation thru a role in the environmental flight as this area tends to be dominated by civilians in just about all branches of service due to having to understand the Federal/State statutes that the military has to operate under.
The other roles in a CE squadron are infrastructure maintenance and repair/operations, Readiness programs (Disaster Preparedness), and engineering support....with deployable roles in infrastructure maintenance and construction in forward operation areas.
For overseas, you can see the different major bases the USAF and the Navy have in both CONUS and overseas. For the USAF, a lot of assignments are CONUS based with deployments overseas into Southwest Asia, Central America. There are a limited number of European and Asian bases for permanent assignments.
Good luck.
 
Here are less-selective universities with ABET-accredited Environmental Engineering programs.

You would have an excellent shot at being admitted to any of these schools if you were to attain an SAT score of 1300 or more:

- U. New Hampshire
- Florida Gulf Coast U.
- Florida International U.
- U. Toledo
- Michigan State U.
- U. Wisconsin-Platteville
- Louisiana State U.
- Colorado State
- Northern Arizona U.
- Utah State
- U. Nevada-Reno
- Portland State
 
How about both? You could go Navy with the goal of being a Naval aviator or NFO. It’s hard to get into, but it may be worth a shot. You will have to be a STEM major with excellent academics, test scores and superior leadership qualifications.

Just a fun fact, the US Navy is the worlds 2nd largest air force. The USAF is #1
And the US Army has a large navy. The article has ships I had never heard of. The Army's number of small craft combined with these seagoing ships makes it one of the world's largest.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/6149/meet-the-biggest-and-baddest-ships-in-the-us-army
Army is divesting its ships
 
I'll throw a quick plug in here for the Coast Guard. There is no ROTC, but you could check out the Academy or CSPI program. The reason I mention it is because by percentage, the Coast Guard has more pilots than any other branch, and officers can apply to go to flight school for about 3-4 years after commissioning. I've talked to numerous aviators who have told me that anyone who wants to be a pilot and keeps applying will get accepted eventually. Secondly, the Coast Guard has a huge mission in preventing and responding to environmental damage, which would leave that side of the career field open, too. The Coast Guard Academy does have a Marine and Environmental Sciences major.
 
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