ERAU and WVU are night and day differences. ROTC is only 1 part of their college life, and I always get nervous when I see such a difference. Neither of these schools are SMCs and their social life will not be 24/7 AFROTC.
I am assuming you are talking about the Daytona campus.
ERAU is not a FB college. WVU is big time. During the fall that is your social life.
ERAU is small with only 5K students total, WVU is big, with @5K in just one yr group.
ERAU is in a very big city, WVU is in Morgantown, where they even classify the town as a small city.
ERAU will not see snow, or experience 4 seasons. WVU will!
ERAU is a modern campus, and has that feel. WVU campus is that "federalist feel", obviously since it was founded 100 yrs prior to ERAU.
Don't look at the program per se, look at the school too. If your DS likes the idea of being on the beach in October, than WVU is not a smart choice. If they like the idea of attending FB games and being a number in college ERAU is not a smart choice.
When you do look at the program side by side ask the right questions.
Do not ask or accept numbers, you need to keep apples with apples. Ask %, and trust me they know the %. What is the % of AFROTC cadets that graduate 4 yrs later? What is the % of AFROTC cadets that were selected for SFT this yr and last yr? If he wants rated, what was the % of cadets that got rated who applied for rated.
ERAU without a doubt has the 2nd highest amount of UPT slots offered after the AFA. However, that rank means nothing because it is also one of the largest AFROTC dets out there, thus they will have the highest amount in the AFROTC community.
Yet, does that really matter, if they say 85% are selected, yet 100% are from WVU?
Finally, every det., like every college has a personality. Posters here can't give insight to that issue, because it is a personal feeling. I don't know where you live, but my suggestion is to visit at least one of these campuses and ask for him to meet some POCs (cadets that are jr or sr).
Remove yourself and walk the campus, get a coffee, whatever. Tell him you will meet at X time at Y place. Cadets talk more freely without the folks around. He will also have the ability to walk the campus by himself and get a feel if he can see being there next yr.
IMPO, the reason kids have an issue freshman yr academically, is in part because the dream did not meet the reality and they sabotage their future. Letting them walk the campus alone, even for 15 minutes can answer that question.
