Advice for successful path to ROTC scholarship
- Thread starter 3girls
- Start date
Dckc88
5-Year Member
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2015
- Messages
- 1,035
Since she is open to any branch, I can only speak for Army. While AP classes might be noticed in an interview or at the board process, overall it is unweighted GPA for a reason. My daughter had a ROO (recruiting operations officer for Army ROTC at each host school), tell her that it was more important to get A’s than it be an advanced class, that since it is a national scholarship process the Army was not “sophisticated” enough in the process to delineate or weight various schools, courses etc. That straight GPA is what is calculated for that portion. That might not be true for the other branches. My biggest advice would be for her to visit as many schools and the ROTC programs at that school during her junior year as she can. My daughter did this and every visit she received incredible advice for the scholarship application process. It also helped her Dad and I understand more the process and the visits gave her great mentors from those visits as well. Usually we would attend he meeting with the ROO and then she would go and sit in on a lab or class depending on the visit day. One school invited her Dad and I to watch the lab and that was an incredible learning experience for us as well! Good luck to you and your daughter, I remember where you are at well, my daughter is now a rising MS4 (senior in Army ROTC) and it is mind boggling that she actually followed through with this big dream of hers and that it went so fast.
- Joined
- May 22, 2018
- Messages
- 5,503
Proceed with caution here. While this may be the case for winning an ROTC scholarship, it's not necessarily the case for winning admission to a college. Many schools want you to take the most challenging classes available and do look at weighted GPA.
So beware of over-gaming the system. In general, I believe one should challenge themselves and strive to excel at that level, instead of "dumbing down" to achieve a number that may achieve a result. What's the saying? "Aim high"? Indeed..that's what I would want from future military officers.
Dckc88
5-Year Member
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2015
- Messages
- 1,035
I did not mean to imply to game the system, but hang around here very long and the urban legend is that AP or IB classes are all that matters, and I completely agree making academic decisions simply for what is best for an service scholarship application is not the best idea for the student. Maybe I did not give enough info? No AP classes at my kids high school, they were at an IB school, so due to her misinformation or assumptions she thought she had to stay in IB classes for the weighted gpa and at a ROTC visit she learned junior year that wasn’t true. She elected to stay in IB chemistry and instead of staying in IB classes for her other core subjects she decided to take college dual enrollment classes. College algebra, probability and statistics, and two semesters of college writing. She also got advice from another ROO to delay applying to the first board to study and retake the ACT, so much better advice coming from him than me. I truly believe that the increased score and taking the dual enrollment classes is what allowed her to get in to what was her stretch school. That is why the specific advice is go visit and talk to the people that are working in ROTC right now, they have advice and can give it based on what they are learning from the kid face to face. I know the investment in time and travel costs ended up being worth it for my daughter, and that is coming from a place that I am looking forward to her senior year in college, it has truly gone way faster than I could have imagined!
Dckc88
5-Year Member
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2015
- Messages
- 1,035
Not for Army, scholarship is decided first, then school selection. Yes in her case on major because she was applying for a nursing scholarship which is separate as it is specifically for programs with a nursing program.
You are getting some great advice. I could only agree with all of it so instead I'll give you some info about my DS that received a type 1 AFROTC scholarship last year so you can see what successful applicants had on their 'resume':
- 4.2 GPA (3.9 UW)
- 8 AP courses (5 up through Jr year which was counted for AFROTC I believe)
- 4 year varsity swim (Cpt Sr year)
- Eagle Scout (and all the leadership and community service that comes with that)
- Maxed out on push-ups and sit-ups, and got solid run time for PFT
- Noted various accolades and awards (National Honor Scholar, National Hispanic Merit Scholar, etc)
- His school has something called Excalibur Knights which is for top performing kids not just on GPA but well rounded abilities (sports, leadership, etc). They were seen as 'leaders' of the school (had to confirm no drugs/alcohol use, and were generally role models) and went to area middle schools to speak to the kids about doing well in school. I see this as any sort of leadership position via club or other group at the HS that your DD could join in Jr year.
- SAT 1480
- Seemed to do very well on his interview
- Mechanical Engineering declared major (AF in particular wants technical majors and is a major factor for scholarships - in fact a friend/cadet of my DS, lost his scholarship when he went from MechEng to liberal arts major after his first year).
I will also add - my DS was VERY shy growing up. Sounds very similar to your DD ("demeanor is reserved though hardworking, and attention to detail"). He didn't really come out of his shell until his Sr. year. The thing we noticed is that when he began to talk about something that he was passionate about, he would light up and do very well (in presenting or speaking with/to adults). Sort of a no brainer..... He went to Philmont Scout ranch one summer during his Scouting career and was the best time of his life. He had to deal with some adverse situations there and help his crew through it. When talking about that he just loved it so much he did great so he planned to use some of that during the interview to talk about how he stepped up and lead his crew (flash flood type of rain storm while on the trail, etc). So my one piece of advice is to get your DD to find the thing that she feels the most passionate and comfortable about and begin to leverage that as a way to help her do well during the interview and answer questions about leadership and how she overcame a difficult situation. That helps make it much easier for them to talk through it and do it with confidence.
I would also make sure you look into the DoDMERB medical history regulations since that is something that you don't think about until later. If there are any possible DQ items in your DD's past, you can begin to look into adjusting things (i.e. stop the use of systemic (oral) retinoids for diagnosed acne, etc) to help ensure that medical approval is received (you need that for a scholarship). There are a bunch of threads on this and you can find the details online as well.
Sounds like your DD is well on her way. Best of luck to you both!
- 4.2 GPA (3.9 UW)
- 8 AP courses (5 up through Jr year which was counted for AFROTC I believe)
- 4 year varsity swim (Cpt Sr year)
- Eagle Scout (and all the leadership and community service that comes with that)
- Maxed out on push-ups and sit-ups, and got solid run time for PFT
- Noted various accolades and awards (National Honor Scholar, National Hispanic Merit Scholar, etc)
- His school has something called Excalibur Knights which is for top performing kids not just on GPA but well rounded abilities (sports, leadership, etc). They were seen as 'leaders' of the school (had to confirm no drugs/alcohol use, and were generally role models) and went to area middle schools to speak to the kids about doing well in school. I see this as any sort of leadership position via club or other group at the HS that your DD could join in Jr year.
- SAT 1480
- Seemed to do very well on his interview
- Mechanical Engineering declared major (AF in particular wants technical majors and is a major factor for scholarships - in fact a friend/cadet of my DS, lost his scholarship when he went from MechEng to liberal arts major after his first year).
I will also add - my DS was VERY shy growing up. Sounds very similar to your DD ("demeanor is reserved though hardworking, and attention to detail"). He didn't really come out of his shell until his Sr. year. The thing we noticed is that when he began to talk about something that he was passionate about, he would light up and do very well (in presenting or speaking with/to adults). Sort of a no brainer..... He went to Philmont Scout ranch one summer during his Scouting career and was the best time of his life. He had to deal with some adverse situations there and help his crew through it. When talking about that he just loved it so much he did great so he planned to use some of that during the interview to talk about how he stepped up and lead his crew (flash flood type of rain storm while on the trail, etc). So my one piece of advice is to get your DD to find the thing that she feels the most passionate and comfortable about and begin to leverage that as a way to help her do well during the interview and answer questions about leadership and how she overcame a difficult situation. That helps make it much easier for them to talk through it and do it with confidence.
I would also make sure you look into the DoDMERB medical history regulations since that is something that you don't think about until later. If there are any possible DQ items in your DD's past, you can begin to look into adjusting things (i.e. stop the use of systemic (oral) retinoids for diagnosed acne, etc) to help ensure that medical approval is received (you need that for a scholarship). There are a bunch of threads on this and you can find the details online as well.
Sounds like your DD is well on her way. Best of luck to you both!
I'll agree for AF as well. BUT for AF they definitely look at planned major and want technical majors (this is clearly stated on the AFROTC website about HSSA scholarships). So much so that the agreement you make (if you get scholarship) lists the intended major so if there is a change to that, you may lose your scholarship (especially if to a non-technical degree - which happened to my DS' roommate last year).
Thank you for all the excellent information. I found this particular piece very interesting... re how when passionate about something your son lights up. I have seen this with my daughter over the years. Thanks again for taking the time to advise.