3 year nursing AROTC scholarship

JoeySwink

Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2016
Messages
60
I know someone who has recently asked questions about the AROTC process. She will be a freshman in the fall and she wants to become a nurse, but she is thinking about doing AROTC. She knows that she can't apply for the scholarship this year because it has already passed and because she is not yet a full citizen. She is on a visa and a green card and is currently starting the process on her own because her parents did not do it when she was younger. If she does AROTC this year(freshman) and gets her citizenship ( which I've heard can last 8 months to a year) can she get a 3 year scholarship assuming that she has a good pft and GPA? She has many athlete awards and records in high school for track and other sports and is top five in our senior class.
 
The awarding of a scholarship is dependent on a lot of different factors. Does the school she plans on attending have a Nurse mission? If yes, are they currently meeting mission? My brigade now holds boards for campus-based Nursing scholarships so the decision isn't local in some cases. As I said there are a lot of variables.
 
The awarding of a scholarship is dependent on a lot of different factors. Does the school she plans on attending have a Nurse mission? If yes, are they currently meeting mission? My brigade now holds boards for campus-based Nursing scholarships so the decision isn't local in some cases. As I said there are a lot of variables.
Yes they do have a nursing mission and the school is UNCC but I'm not quite sure what you are asking when you say are they meeting mission
 
The simple answer for you is yes, she can get a 3 year scholarship if all the cards line up like you suggest. "Meeting their mission" refers to filling all the nursing slots / quotas they have / need for a particular year. So for example, UNCC might have 5 slots available for nurses per year. If they already have 5 nurses in the class of 2020, it would be harder for her to get a scholarship. Based on what I hear from my daughter, the Army is woefully short of nurses. At least at her hospital which is the 2nd busiest in the entire system.
 
The simple answer for you is yes, she can get a 3 year scholarship if all the cards line up like you suggest. "Meeting their mission" refers to filling all the nursing slots / quotas they have / need for a particular year. So for example, UNCC might have 5 slots available for nurses per year. If they already have 5 nurses in the class of 2020, it would be harder for her to get a scholarship. Based on what I hear from my daughter, the Army is woefully short of nurses. At least at her hospital which is the 2nd busiest in the entire system.

Not necessarily short of nurses...

The Army is over strength in 66H (medsurg, jack of all trades master of none nurse). A BSN straight out of school is a 66H. The Army needs critical care, psych, and case manager nurses.
 
Not necessarily short of nurses...

The Army is over strength in 66H (medsurg, jack of all trades master of none nurse). A BSN straight out of school is a 66H. The Army needs critical care, psych, and case manager nurses.
Sorry to hijack this thread but if the army is over strength on 66H's do you think it would be easier for a 2LT coming out of ROTC to be sent to the critical care course without haveing to do a full year of med-surg prior?
 
Sorry to hijack this thread but if the army is over strength on 66H's do you think it would be easier for a 2LT coming out of ROTC to be sent to the critical care course without haveing to do a full year of med-surg prior?
Nope. 2LT Army nurses are "supposed" to be stationed at a community hospital for the first year (kind of a welcome to Army medicine tour). At the 3-4 year mark, they can apply to speciality schools (ECCN, psych, etc). At the 4-6ish year mark they can apply for APRN schools (FNP, midwife, etc).
 
Not necessarily short of nurses...

The Army is over strength in 66H (medsurg, jack of all trades master of none nurse).

Well, I guess that's your opinion. My daughter's experience & opinion is obviously different at her current assignment. She has two years experience and will be the senior nurse on her floor come November when the nurse more senior to her leaves the Army. She has looked into trying to get into a another assignment and has been told "no way, not happening....due to staffing".
 
Opinion? No...

Your daughter should have access to the AMEDD histograms. Only two clinical AOCs are at the bachelor level; nurses and dietitians. Because they're so easily accessible, they're over strength.

"Military" medical staff are always kept low at stateside hospitals and are augmented by GS and contract employees. Because many Army posts aren't in the most desirable cities, it's hard to maintain optimal levels of civilian medical staff.

If you look at OTSG mandates, they will always include a blurb about improving access to care. I'm saying all this to say...

Don't equate your daughters' "floor" being understaffed with 66H's Army-wide being under strength. Trust me, there is no correlation.

What is the location of your daughter's first assignment?
 
Don't equate your daughters' "floor" being understaffed with 66H's Army-wide being under strength. Trust me, there is no correlation.

What is the location of your daughter's first assignment?

My daughter is at SAAMC....and I probably shouldn't have generalized about the staffing but was obviously relaying what I hear from my daughter and her experiences so far and my comments stated as such.
 
San Antonio is a good place for her to learn. In another 2 years she needs to start campaigning for a BDE Nurse slot, get to a CSH, or an FST. 66H is an extremely competitive AOC. Basically nurses eat their young. If she can get to an ECCN course (aeromedical), great.
 
DS will start nursing school in January 2017. He is hoping to go CRNA, flight nursing, CSH or basically anything dangerous that you would not hope your son would want to do. Am I understanding that he will need to do med-surg for a year or two and then try to make a move into a combat unit? He gets briefed on these things but he seems a little vague on time-lines.
 
Your son will compete for graduate nursing education through a program called Long Term Health Education and Training (LTHET) or USHUS. He will not be eligible until he has 5-13 years AD at the time the school start date (LTHET). OERs, GRE score, PT scores, senior rater recommendation, AOC consultant recommendation, number of deployments, and GPA all play a factor in how competitive someone is for selection. Number of slots per program also vary per fiscal year.

Info about these programs aren't something that's pushed to cadets in college, nor 2LTs.

Keep in mind, the first few years he will be learning his job. The hospital won't have many (if any) slot allocations for "nice to have schools." If your son plans to attend all the training/assignments you mentioned, he needs to earn the EFMB first (or CMB...not a CAB).

When I was selected for LTHET in 2008, I had two platoons with the 506th IN REG (Band of Brothers), I was the MEDEVAC officer for Sadr City, a Masters in Information Technology, I was a CIO for Winn Army Community Hospital, and 4 (or 5...I can't remember) top block senior rater OERs.

He will have maybe 2-3 OERs as a floor nurse on a ward before he wants to apply...

I'm saying all this to say,

Med-Surg for 3-4 years before he can throw his hat in the ring, even then...it's closer to 6-7 before the AMEDD will take him seriously.
 
Last edited:
Can you shed some light on the reserve component of the ANC? From what I found in my research is that it might be easier to pick up an ASI (for me critical care), in order to receive the ASI one must complete a certain number of clinical hours and complete a skills check off list in their civilian workplace and then submit the paperwork to their unit's OIC. This seems like the path of least resistance to obtain a ASI opposed to working med-surg 3-4 years the applying to the course.
 
Can you shed some light on the reserve component of the ANC? From what I found in my research is that it might be easier to pick up an ASI (for me critical care), in order to receive the ASI one must complete a certain number of clinical hours and complete a skills check off list in their civilian workplace and then submit the paperwork to their unit's OIC. This seems like the path of least resistance to obtain a ASI opposed to working med-surg 3-4 years the applying to the course.

Sorry, I minimal experience with reserve and NG ANC. However when you start talking reserve and NG, you're asking your unit to fund lengthy TDY's. Aglahad is a reserve 66H, but I haven't spoken to him in a while. Send him a PM and/or look at his old posts.

http://www.serviceacademyforums.com/index.php?members/aglahad.13415/
 
San Antonio is a good place for her to learn. In another 2 years she needs to start campaigning for a BDE Nurse slot, get to a CSH, or an FST. 66H is an extremely competitive AOC. Basically nurses eat their young. If she can get to an ECCN course (aeromedical), great.

Luckily she really enjoys what she does 95% of the time and the work schedule is of course fantastic. The nurse that trained her made Captain at the 4 year mark and was immediately selected for the ER Nurse school (whatever that's called). She is ecstatic for the training opportunity but was also told she's headed for Hawaii after she finishes which doesn't excite her.
 
Hopefully it's not TAMC...

For AMEDD it's frowned upon to go from a MEDCEN to a MEDCEN. If it is TAMC, she needs to do one year then lobby for a BDE Nurse slot with DIV. I believe there are 4...ish BDE Nurse slot available there.

Fun times await!
 
Back
Top