AFROTC Majors

[CtAnge]

I'm still in high school right now, but i'm planning on applying for an AFROTC scholarship. I've been doing a lot of research, but there's one thing that has been causing me trouble. The majors. What can i major in?

On the AFROTC website, i know they have a list of majors they accept and i have looked at it, and well I really couldn't see myself going to college for some really science-y type of major nor a foreign language - though i am thinking about minoring in one. Anyway, under All Other Majors they list things like Sociology, Psychology and I also saw Public Relations. Now something i'd like to do is maybe International Relations.

Now i know they don't have that listed, but what got me confused was that on their interactive Q & A it says that while the majority of their scholarships are awarded to technical majors , 25% are awarded to any academic major.

So on the scholarships can I apply for any major or only the ones listed on their site? And yes, i know, i'd have a better chance of getting a scholarship with a technical or foreign language major, but i just can't see myself going to college for that.

Thank you in advance and i hope that made sense

 

[Jacobryan10]

Hi there,

I think the best thing you could do is just give the AFROTC office a call.

But if you don't want to do that, just know that they do offer scholarships to non tech majors (I have a poli-sci friend and a history major on scholarship), but the competition is tougher. It does not end there either, you must compete against the engineering majors in a national pool to continue in the program via Field Training during your sophomore year. Two of my friends going this year are a music and a Agricultural science major, so it is definitely possible for a non-tech major to do well. Best of luck

 

[Pima]

You should also understand that there is a scholarship TYPE system. Overall it is closer to 80% in the past few years that go to tech majors. Pool size LY for scholarship applicants was over 5K, and only 911 were awarded

Type 1:
Pays any amount of tuition
85% go to tech majors; avg SAT is @1360
5% of all scholarships awarded are this Type --- @45 nationally, and only @2 or 3 went to non-tech

Type 2:
Pays up to 18K for tuition
Cadet can pay the difference if it is over 18K
85% go to tech majors; avg SAT is @1310
15% of all scholarships awarded are this Type --- 135 nationally and only about 20 went to non-tech

Type 7:
Pays the cost of IS tuition up to 18K
Cadets cannot pay the difference over 18K
Cadet can convert a 4yr Type 7 to a 3 yr Type 2.
75% go to tech majors; avg SAT is @1260
80% of all scholarships are awarded this Type --- 730 nationally and about 180 went to non-tech

So as you can see the bulk of non-tech scholarships are Type 7 and even than it is insanely competitive from the original pool.

Many candidates think they can game the system by applying for a Tech and converting to non-tech once in college. AFROTC highly frowns upon this and to deter cadets from doing this action, they must get AFROTC HQ's approval or risk the loss of the scholarship.

DS commissioned last week as a govt and politics major with a minor in International Relations and a core concentration in military history as a scholarship recipient.

A few things to remember. AFROTC does not superscore the SAT/ACT, it is best sitting scoring. That score will than be placed into your file for SFT selection, aka EA, thus it is to your advantage to take it multiple times, and preferably both tests since some students do better on one than the other.

As Jacobryan10 stated you will need to attend SFT. If you do not attend SFT AFROTC may dis-enroll you which will mean the revocation of your scholarship. If attending your dream college can only occur with a scholarship, you need to have a plan B in place in case you are not selected.

Yes, this yr had a 93% selection rate, but that was due to the fact many dets. had "mini boards" and informed cadets that they would not get the CoC's support, thus they voluntarily disenrolled.

You also can't bank on that high number from a historical perspective. From 2009-2011 the selection rate was in the 55-60% marker. This yr it jumped to 93%, but only 100 more slots were made available, which if you do the math is not enough to explain @35% selection rate increase.

I am not trying to scare you at all. I just believe the more information you have now before you start the process the more comfortable you will feel once you are on the scholarship roller coaster ride.

Good luck

 

[Nateman15]

The simplest way it can be put is that you can literally do any major, but you have a much higher chance of getting a scholarship if you have a technical major (engineering, etc) or medical major. There are the critical majors that have even better chances.

As one of the two freshman to get ICSP's this year in our detachment out of 30 freshman, I am mechanical engineering and the other was civil engineering.

Another thing is that when your GPA in college starts to matter, technical majors get a break compared to non-tech. The average tech major at field training is close to a 3.0, while the average non-tech (history, poli sci) GPA is in the high 3's. They understand that technical and medical majors are much harder to get A's in rather than those history majors.