2-Year ARTOC Scholarship

T

trevrock

5-Year Member
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Sep 29, 2010
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Edit: Please excuse my typo in the heading. :/

Hi everyone.

Here is a quick bio/background of myself; I am currently sophomore in college attending a four year private school with an AROTC program. I always had an interest in the Army but recently realized it is something I really want to pursue. I looked on the AROTC website and found out that my battalion offers 2,3, and 4 year scholarships for qualified students.

I have an appointment with the AROTC office for tomorrow morning to discuss my interest with them further.

When I found out there was a chance I could get a 2-year scholarship and participate in the program I was ecstatic. But, the other day I was talking with one of the cadets currently in the program and they said it is very hard to get a scholarship. This was very disheartening to hear.

I know on the AROTC website it says they are given out based on merit but now I am getting bummed that they might not give any out.

My cumulative GPA is a 3.75 and I made Dean's List in the Spring '10 and I already have a leadership position on campus.

How difficult is it to receive a 2-year scholarship for the AROTC program?
 
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I'm kind of surprised no one has answered this so far. My experience (with Army ROTC) is rather dated but normally the two-year scholarships went to kids who were in the program, proved their commitment to ROTC even without the scholarship and had already demonstrated a capacity to serve as an Army officer. I don't remember ever hearing of a random guy off the street walking in and applying for a two-year scholarship.
 
My older son (not in ROTC) is a junior at University of Southern California. He just received an email from the Army PMS soliciting applicants for 2 and 3 year scholarships, including from graduate students. I know for a fact that USC does not give extra weight to freshmen applicants just because they have an ROTC scholarship in hand, so they have to recruit from within the ranks of students already attending to fill their slots. So they obviously have slots to fill. (He has zero interest in pursuing this himself)

As an aside, my other son, who is in Army ROTC at a Senior Military College, told us that the Air Force ROTC at his school just cut several cadets loose from their scholarships as part of the RIF. You know things are serious with cutbacks when that happens at an SMC as their cadets are guaranteed by Congress to have active duty positions when they graduate and commission.
 
At my battalion, there is a Junior who just completed LTC over the summer and is now a MSIII. I don't know what his involvement was before LTC, but AROTC does have LTC every summer so there must be a need. (It's also possible he isn't
Don't know if that helped at all, but I'd definitely talk to the ROTC PMS at your school.


*LTC is basically the first two years of AROTC combined into one summer.
 
So I made the trip over to the ROTC office today and it went alright. Pretty much all of my questions were answered but I am still confused on some things. I was told that I should join their program next semester so I can 'prove' myself so I have a better chance at being sent to LTC over the summer. This made sense to me and he said that the way things were looking that their battalion would have more people wanting to go to LTC than they could actually send.

I was slightly confused by this statement because I was unaware you could join in the middle of an academic year. How would that even work? I do not have any training with the battalion but I would just be able to get thrown into the mix? I honestly do not know how things work so any clarification would be much appreciated.

I also asked about scholarships - if you have to apply for them, when where and how you would apply for them, etc. It sounded to me like there is no scholarship application for college students. Is this the case? It sounded as though you join the program without a scholarship and then let your PMS know you are interested in one and then hope you get one. Do I have this wrong? He said for an Active Duty AROTC 2-year scholarship my chances are slim and I would most likely not find out until after LTC (assuming I go).

I then asked about Reserve and National Guard scholarship opportunities and the way he explained it to me it sounded like they are not difficult to get at all. He said you can get a 2 year scholarship as a Dedicated ARNG cadet and then participate in SMP. Can someone explain SMP to me a little more? Is this a popular option among cadets in ROTC programs? Why does it seem so uncompetitive?
 
You can join the ROTC program at just about any time in the first two years. You definitely need to sign up for the course next semester, and you should ask to see if they will let you sit on on some classes, or attend some labs, or come to PT this semester if you are serious.

Scholarships have been cut way back this year, and campus based scholarships are almost non existent. Your best bet is to go to LTC and compete for one of their scholarships. You got good info about campus based scholarships. There is no application process. You need to be in the program and prove yourself to be considered.

The GRFD (Guarenteed Reserve Forces scholarship) is a good option if you are OK with two things, SMPing and not going active duty when you graduate. Those two thing are what makes this scholarship less appealing to most cadets.
The SMP program allows you to join the guard or reserves while in college. You will drill once a month, attend ROTC classes, and you will be eligible to receive tuition assistance from the guard or reserves, drill pay, stipend, and possibly GI bill if you attend basic and AIT.

Hope that helps. Sounds like you got good advice, and I would say the LTC option is probably your best bet. Your story is fairly typical and you are asking all the right questions. Now sign up for that class and get ready for LTC!
 
ClarksonArmy, thanks for the info! That was very helpful.

How exactly does one 'compete' for a scholarship at LTC? Are the cadets evaluated when they attend LTC? Approximately how many scholarships are given out for LTC cadets?

Just curious...
 
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