Accepting the ROTC Scholarship

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ThinkingRed

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Question regarding accepting the scholarship: I was offered both an arotc and afrotc scholarship and am very excited about both. However, I’d prefer commissioning into the air force and have been speaking with the afrotc detachment at my top choice school but am waiting to hear back about admission and dodmerb.

I’m concerned about potentially not getting into my top school of school or not passing dodmerb for the afrotc so I want to have rotc just in case.

Given that I only about a couple weeks to make a decision about rotc, should I accept that anyways and then withdraw it later or let the rotc scholarship expire now? Would accepting the arotc scholarship forfeit the afrotc one? Would letting my arotc sit for a bit take a spot away from someone else?

Thank you all in advance!
 
There may be some differing opinions on this, but I see absolutely nothing wrong with accepting both scholarships and would encourage you to do so. You do not forfeit AFROTC by accepting AROTC. They are completely separate processes and you have earned each scholarship. You are not taking away a scholarship from someone else by accepting it. All the services offer more scholarships than they actually expect to fill. They know there will be a number of applicants who are also applying to service academies and will ultimately attend those. They also know applicants are often applying to multiple ROTC programs; some will not pass DODMERB and some will choose to accept other types of scholarships.
 
ThinkingRed said:
Question regarding accepting the scholarship: I was offered both an arotc and afrotc scholarship and am very excited about both. However, I’d prefer commissioning into the air force and have been speaking with the afrotc detachment at my top choice school but am waiting to hear back about admission and dodmerb.

I’m concerned about potentially not getting into my top school of school or not passing dodmerb for the afrotc so I want to have rotc just in case.

Given that I only about a couple weeks to make a decision about rotc, should I accept that anyways and then withdraw it later or let the rotc scholarship expire now? Would accepting the arotc scholarship forfeit the afrotc one? Would letting my arotc sit for a bit take a spot away from someone else?

Thank you all in advance!
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What are the very exact deadlines on each scholarship offer?

Yes, you can accept one ROTC scholarship offer if it has a deadline and later decline it in favor of a Service academy or other branch ROTC offer. It is not binding.

No, accepting one does not forfeit the other scholarship. Opinions vary but I would not accept more than one at a time but respect that you probably can and not get caught or penalized. Let me ask this- is there a reason you’d have to? Does one of the offers, Army, need an answer soon and the other doesn’t? I was already typing this and see the post above. Not incorrect and I’ll just share a partially differing opinion respectfully. One part I agree on is to play protective ball on your scholarships until DODMerb clears and you’re ready to make a decision, as long as you don’t have two that need a decision soon.

The results of both DODMERB physical and eye exams will be considered for all ROTC offers. Your ROTC scholarship offers are contingent on passing those and maintaining standards. The criteria per branch may vary like for color blindness but there’s a lot of commonality in where a dq would be a dq for both.
Congrats and Good luck.
 
One other general piece of advice is to think about potentially having to fund your schooling, should something ultimately not work out (ie:clearing DODMERB is a common one). So if that affects your choice at all, it’s something to consider.

This comes up every year, where a student doesn’t pass their medical, or academics, and they are faced with figure if out how to pay for a school they cannot afford, or change schools.
 
Herman_Snerd said:
What are the very exact deadlines on each scholarship offer?

Yes, you can accept one ROTC scholarship offer if it has a deadline and later decline it in favor of a Service academy or other branch ROTC offer. It is not binding.

No, accepting one does not forfeit the other scholarship. Opinions vary but I would not accept more than one at a time but respect that you probably can and not get caught or penalized. Let me ask this- is there a reason you’d have to? Does one of the offers, Army, need an answer soon and the other doesn’t? I was already typing this and see the post above. Not incorrect and I’ll just share a partially differing opinion respectfully. One part I agree on is to play protective ball on your scholarships until DODMerb clears and you’re ready to make a decision, as long as you don’t have two that need a decision soon.

The results of both DODMERB physical and eye exams will be considered for all ROTC offers. Your ROTC scholarship offers are contingent on passing those and maintaining standards. The criteria per branch may vary like for color blindness but there’s a lot of commonality in where a dq would be a dq for both.
Congrats and Good luck.
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AFROTC’s deadline is May 31, 2023 and while there isn’t an official deadline for ROTC, I got an email from the commander of the detachment at my top choice university (and have seen other posts about needing to reply within 3 weeks). I cannot official accept an AFROTC scholarship until I get into a college so I technically wouldn’t be accepting two at the same time. I was just concerned about the line from AFROTC “Should you enroll or enlist into any service academy or sister service ROTC program, your AFROTC scholarship will be forfeit and cannot be recovered at a later date.”

Other than that my question is whether I should be upfront with the ROTC commander that AFROTC is my top choice but still accept the ROTC scholarship, not mention it, or ask a local detachment not connected to my top choice college.

Thank you all for the advice!
 
Well, "enrolled" means you showed up the first day and signed on. It does NOT mean you've merely accepted an offer. You will NOT lose a chance at an AFROTC scholarship if you accept a ROTC scholarship.

Your choice on mentioning scholarships and choice placement in interviews. Entirely up to you but I don't see how mentioning it can hurt.
 
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