Do kids matching for NROTC at super competitive universities generally get accepted to those schools?

R

rotcrnparent

New Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
7
I noticed on here that many of the NROTC matches are for very competitive colleges (Notre Dame, the Ivies, MIT, Texas, Vanderbilt etc) that have sub 10% admission rates (or often sub 5%)
The academic standards for the NROTC scholarship, while high, are not as high as those typically needed for admission to these universities.
(and these universities routinely reject kids with perfect academic stats).

For example, let's just say a 4.0 (unweighted)/1600 kid matches to Yale for NROTC. Now if this kid was applying to Yale (without involving ROTC) he'd probably have about a 10% chance of getting in. Admission to Yale is by no means a given even with perfect stats, especially from competitive areas of the country. There are many high schools where a 4.0/1600 (or 1590, etc) is not that unusual and doesn't guarantee anything with regards to admission to Ivies or similar.

So what happens? Does NROTC give a bump at Yale? Do lots of these kids end up not getting in to their ROTC match school and having to rematch? Thank you!
 
DS got into a highly competitive school this year before he even met the board for NROTC. He was recently awarded the scholarship as well to that highly competitive school as it was his number 1 choice. He was never told that interest in ROTC would help with admissions.
 
@rotcrnparent Welcome!

I'm not sure anyone but those in Yale admissions could answer this for you in any reliable way. I would suppose that the ROTC scholarship boards are awarding those scholarships to the most competitive kids in their applicant pool and that must mean something to admissions of those most selective schools. Having gone through a couple of admissions cycles with my kids, I would also supposed (just from my experience) that anything that puts your kid into a separate admissions pile for review, whether that is because they are a recruited athlete, from a target geographical area or if they check the ROTC box (bonus if they have a 4 year awarded scholarship from the board), will be helpful to their file's review. To be clear, there will not be that many Navy ROTC 4 year scholarships awarded with Yale as an awarded school. One would suppose that kid's file will get a different look as a prospective admit who would fill a spot in the class profile as member of the ROTC community. No guarantees, of course ... just a consideration in the review process. My kid was awarded 4 year Army ROTC last year to Harvard, Michigan and UT Austin. Kid applied to Michigan and UT Austin EA and Harvard regular decision ... was admitted to all three. This is anecdotal so take it with that grain of salt .. I have no doubt that ROTC played a factor in at least one of those.
 
Last edited:
May happen but likely won't help at all. Wouldn't count on it and shouldn't change any of your actions.
If your student wants to go to Yale then apply. If they get an NROTC and get Yale great, if they get NROTC but not Yale, the odds are very high it can be moved to the school that accepts your student
 
This is why it’s recommended to list at least one ‘sure thing’ school on your application.

The answer to your question is ‘maybe’. An NROTC award may help, or it may not. Navy doesn’t have any official “pull” with school admissions.
 
This comes up a lot. The overall answer is no, it won’t help, but each Officer at their respective unit knows the relationship with admissions. A lot of times these highly competitive schools like the Ivies don’t fill up their units, so if someone does get admitted usually a transfer isn’t an issue.
 
https://nrotc.yalecollege.yale.edu/faq

See Yale NROTC FAQ page:

Q: Does acceptance by the NROTC program ensure that I will be able to attend Yale?​

A: No. Yale admissions are a separate process from NROTC admissions. In order to join Yale NROTC, students must apply and gain admittance through the normal admissions process at Yale. That said, being accepted by NROTC admissions is one more accomplishment to place in your Yale application package. If you receive an NROTC scholarship after you send in your Yale application, we can help ensure that the Yale admissions office knows that you have a NROTC scholarship.

key words: normal admissions process

ROTC scholarships aren't looked at as blue chips like recruited athletics. It's basically like another extracurricular or accomplishment to add to your resume when you apply. Probably doesn't even have as much sway as legacy status tbh...

Still apply to Yale if it's top choice. Acceptance rate was 5.3% last year, but it is 0% for those that don't apply.

If you don't get into your ROTC match school, you can transfer the scholarship to a different school. Happens to a lot of people every year.

Yale NROTC unit usually has like 5-10 midshipmen in a given class year, it's a tiny unit. Quality > Quantity haha
 
Yep, I get that it won't get you in the door at Yale.

But it's interesting that there don't seem to be many candidates who don't get into the university where they receive the scholarship (at least not many who post on here) and yet the scholarship is far easier to get than admission to Yale (or MIT, or Harvard etc) is.
(as a school like Yale has a 5% admissions rate and rejects many with a perfect transcript 1600/4.0/18 APs, etc)
So there seems to be some disconnect.

(Also--I picked Yale as a completely random example--my kid has no particular interest in Yale or likely any of these schools).
 
To put it another way, we live in DC and in this area college counselors will say that a "4.0 unweighted/4.7 weighed/1600/national level extracurriculars/2-3 sport varsity athlete application gets you a ticket in the Yale lottery." You get an entry. Then you wait to see if your number is pulled and there's probably a 10% that it will be. And often it won't because your public high school class will have 10 kids in it with similarly perfect grades and test scores and two parents who both went to Yale.

Meanwhile, it sounds like the NROTC scholarship is probably more like a 25-30% chance for anyone applying and probably even higher (50%?) if you have a perfect academic record and all the rest.

So there seems to be a disconnect between the two. I think maybe it's a bit unique in this area (and probably other places like NY) because to get an Ivy (or similar) admit you basically have to be perfect AND extremely lucky.
 
It's also possible that schools don't wish to advertise that an ROTC scholarship might help with admissions . . . probably for obvious reasons. But think of it from the school's perspective -- you're getting four years of full freight tuition from Uncle Sam. If you're comparing that to a civilian applicant from a top 1% family, then it's no difference. OTOH, if you're comparing it to your average upper middle class kid with $30k/year in demonstrated need that Ivy-Plus has otherwise agreed to meet, well, you see where this is going. . . .
 
It likely won’t help if you are also applying to USNA and therefore cannot apply early decision.
 
Listen... They're not going to tell you that it makes a difference but... It does.

Schools are interested in who can pay. Especially at these schools. A scholarship recipient is a) highly qualified and b) able to pay.

While it won't guarantee acceptance to an Ivy, etc., it absolutely helps, despite what they are going to tell you.
 
You have to still be perfect and lucky to get in, even with NROTC. And the chances definitely aren't as high as 25% with an NROTC scholarship. They (schools such as Yale) also consider the whole application not just test scores. Essays often matter way more than applicants think. Cannot stress the essays enough during college admissions.
I will say that I do know of plenty of students getting in without perfect SAT/GPA but they had darn good essays, letters of rec, and other parts of their application.


On the being able to pay point, most of the most competitive schools nowadays have need-blind admissions (Yale is need-blind for example, even for international applicants, and they tout having need-blind admissions a lot!). If Yale really wants someone to attend Yale, they pretty much make sure that that person's finances don't hold them back from doing so.

ders_dad said:
It likely won’t help if you are also applying to USNA and therefore cannot apply early decision.
Click to expand...
Not exactly correct, you can apply early decision, early action, or single-choice early action to a school even if applying to USNA because USNA is a public school. If you get in via Early Decision... the school may not like it if you decide to break your promise and attend a different school like USNA instead.
 
Edit: Probably the only case where finances would help one get into a need-blind admissions school would be if a family donates enough money for a building, endowed professorship, or scholarship fund named after them, then their kid definitely has a huge increase in college admissions at that school. But this amount is probably close to 7 figures at least, if not more...
 
ders_dad said:
It likely won’t help if you are also applying to USNA and therefore cannot apply early decision.
Click to expand...
Some of these super competitive schools will release students from ED agreements to accept an appointment to a service academy. DD was advised during her ROTC interview to apply to Cornell ED, and that she would be released if she accepts an appointment. We confirmed this with central admissions.

She was fortunate to get in ED, especially given the changes in Cornell’s ED strategy this year. We know the ROTC unit communicated with admissions that DD was an ROTC applicant. I am confident that, while she has very good academics (not perfect), very strong ECs (at national leadership level), and amazing essays (really agree with @Ivy22 on this… especially at the “lottery ticket” schools, they’re looking at the individual and not just the checked boxes), the ROTC endorsement certainly didn’t hurt.
 
Ivy22 said:
Edit: Probably the only case where finances would help one get into a need-blind admissions school would be if a family donates enough money for a building, endowed professorship, or scholarship fund named after them, then their kid definitely has a huge increase in college admissions at that school. But this amount is probably close to 7 figures at least, if not more...
Click to expand...
Yeah but think about it. Everything else equal, who's going to have a better chance of acceptance?

Someone who's got guaranteed money via an ROTC scholarship, or someone that the school might have to fund out of their own coffers because they're need blind?

That applicant who already has guaranteed money will have an edge.
 
sweetpea3829 said:
Yeah but think about it. Everything else equal, who's going to have a better chance of acceptance?

Someone who's got guaranteed money via an ROTC scholarship, or someone that the school might have to fund out of their own coffers because they're need blind?

That applicant who already has guaranteed money will have an edge.
Click to expand...
At the Ivies… there is plenty of $.
 
Ivy22 said:
Edit: Probably the only case where finances would help one get into a need-blind admissions school would be if a family donates enough money for a building, endowed professorship, or scholarship fund named after them, then their kid definitely has a huge increase in college admissions at that school. But this amount is probably close to 7 figures at least, if not more...
Click to expand...
isn't that illegal and what got a lot of celebrities and rich people arrested a few years ago? I thought they were cracking down on it more
 
sngtlm said:
isn't that illegal and what got a lot of celebrities and rich people arrested a few years ago? I thought they were cracking down on it more
Click to expand...
The illegal scheme a couple years ago was they were paying a coach for less money and then being “recruited” by the coach when they actually weren’t athletes. They were also paying the coach and an unofficial advisor guy a lot less money (6 figures) than they would have had to donate for admissions (several millions if not tens of millions…). Varsity Blues was the name of it. They weren’t going through the proper channels, taking a shortcut to pay less money.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top