bsherman92
5-Year Member
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2011
- Messages
- 31
Hello there. I am currently a mechanical engineering major at the City College of New York, a part of the CUNY system. This is the 2nd semester of my first year. I was actively seeking officership programs as a high schooler: West Point, USNA, USAFA, Army ROTC, you name it (I did not apply for NROTC and AFROTC). I only came so close as to getting a congressional nomination to USMA and USAFA, but I did not get accepted by academy admissions themselves. I was also denied an AROTC scholarship (4-year). Bummer, I guess. I just enrolled at CUNY City for the time being and forewent the whole plan.
An Army recruiter called me towards the end of my senior year. I enlisted mid-semester. Got a 92 on the AFQT (of the ASVAB), took the TAPAS, MEPS physical, DEP-In, etc. I chose 68W - Health Care Specialist as my MOS. It's still a few months until I ship out. Since then I've completed my 1st semester and will go on to do my 2nd here. I figured I was going to either finish the 4 year contract and get the GI Bill and whatever, try to land Green-to-Gold, or maybe even one of those 200 enlisted slots at USMA. Either way, I was pretty happy.
My cousin, an E-6 in the Navy, thought this whole thing was foolish. He saw my scores in prior academic years and my AFQT percentile and he says I should be looking into a direct path to officership, not a prior-enlisted one. He told me about a whole bunch of programs I never even knew existed: USMC PLC and OCC, Navy BDCP, CEC, NUPOC, Air Force TDSP. I'm not a stellar student (3.393 GPA during 1st semester, 1810 on SAT, 26 on ACT), but I'm hoping these are decent enough for a non-scholarship enrollment at Fordham's AROTC, which will be a pretty rough commute. I thought I would have financial troubles for school, which is why I was looking for those scholarships, but my pell grants and other aid seemed to cover me generously. And I commute too, which takes care of "housing." I met my recruiter about this. He was extremely nice about it and I thank him for understanding, but no recruiter is going to allow a DEP discharge that easily. The station commander and my recruiter were trying to tell me that with my scores, I would probably be going Green-to-Gold earlier than I would under ROTC or PLC or TDSP, and that I'd also get prior-enlisted pay. Taking the ROTC or PLC (which I'm really liking the sound of right now) path would also probably make my rents a lot happier. I have yet to give them an official answer but if I really am qualified to enroll, I'd like to request a DEP discharge so that I can seek a commission. My PT scores are... Decent? I know I'm supposed to ship out in a few months so I do keep them up for Basic. I passed the diagnostic APFT my recruiter gave me so I guess it's not really a problem yet.
I don't just want to back out of the DEP because it would certainly hurt them a lot and I do feel guilty that I've wasted their time. However, I'd like to know, can you enroll into Fordham's Army ROTC program as a sophomore without seeking a contract or a scholarship, at this time? (I know all cadets only contract in their junior year) I don't care about getting a scholarship because quite frankly, I don't think I need the aid. More preferably, does anybody know how selective the USMC's PLC program is? I love the sound of it and it is pretty ideal to me, with the whole not having to wear uniforms around campus and attending two (or one) condensed, training session in the summer. I heard that competing for a slot there is basically competing against the whole Marine Corps Reserves, all of them with prior-enlisted experience and whatnot. Also, are the admission materials for Fordham's AROTC 3-year program different if you're seeking a spot as non-scholarship as opposed to a spot with scholarship?
Sorry for the wall of text. I really appreciate the help!
An Army recruiter called me towards the end of my senior year. I enlisted mid-semester. Got a 92 on the AFQT (of the ASVAB), took the TAPAS, MEPS physical, DEP-In, etc. I chose 68W - Health Care Specialist as my MOS. It's still a few months until I ship out. Since then I've completed my 1st semester and will go on to do my 2nd here. I figured I was going to either finish the 4 year contract and get the GI Bill and whatever, try to land Green-to-Gold, or maybe even one of those 200 enlisted slots at USMA. Either way, I was pretty happy.
My cousin, an E-6 in the Navy, thought this whole thing was foolish. He saw my scores in prior academic years and my AFQT percentile and he says I should be looking into a direct path to officership, not a prior-enlisted one. He told me about a whole bunch of programs I never even knew existed: USMC PLC and OCC, Navy BDCP, CEC, NUPOC, Air Force TDSP. I'm not a stellar student (3.393 GPA during 1st semester, 1810 on SAT, 26 on ACT), but I'm hoping these are decent enough for a non-scholarship enrollment at Fordham's AROTC, which will be a pretty rough commute. I thought I would have financial troubles for school, which is why I was looking for those scholarships, but my pell grants and other aid seemed to cover me generously. And I commute too, which takes care of "housing." I met my recruiter about this. He was extremely nice about it and I thank him for understanding, but no recruiter is going to allow a DEP discharge that easily. The station commander and my recruiter were trying to tell me that with my scores, I would probably be going Green-to-Gold earlier than I would under ROTC or PLC or TDSP, and that I'd also get prior-enlisted pay. Taking the ROTC or PLC (which I'm really liking the sound of right now) path would also probably make my rents a lot happier. I have yet to give them an official answer but if I really am qualified to enroll, I'd like to request a DEP discharge so that I can seek a commission. My PT scores are... Decent? I know I'm supposed to ship out in a few months so I do keep them up for Basic. I passed the diagnostic APFT my recruiter gave me so I guess it's not really a problem yet.
I don't just want to back out of the DEP because it would certainly hurt them a lot and I do feel guilty that I've wasted their time. However, I'd like to know, can you enroll into Fordham's Army ROTC program as a sophomore without seeking a contract or a scholarship, at this time? (I know all cadets only contract in their junior year) I don't care about getting a scholarship because quite frankly, I don't think I need the aid. More preferably, does anybody know how selective the USMC's PLC program is? I love the sound of it and it is pretty ideal to me, with the whole not having to wear uniforms around campus and attending two (or one) condensed, training session in the summer. I heard that competing for a slot there is basically competing against the whole Marine Corps Reserves, all of them with prior-enlisted experience and whatnot. Also, are the admission materials for Fordham's AROTC 3-year program different if you're seeking a spot as non-scholarship as opposed to a spot with scholarship?
Sorry for the wall of text. I really appreciate the help!