Army ROTC -Reapplying to USNA

[usna_app]

As April 15 is right around the corner I’m considering my back up plans. No matter where I go if I am not accepted to USNA, I plan on reapplying next year. I have received both NROTC and Army ROTC 4 year scholarships but the NROTC is out of state (which my parents are not fans of). They’d rather send me to the in state school with the ROTC program. Obviously it would be better to be apart of an NROTC program when reapplying to the academy but if I cannot, is Amry ROTC respectable in the eyes of the admissions board?

 

[Temple17]

I had the same question a year ago. I didn’t get an appointment for the Class of 2021. So, I went to my plan B school which didn’t have NROTC. I asked my admissions counselor what he though about the situation. He told me that the most important thing to do at your plan B school for reapplication to USNA is to make good grades, and if you can handle some type of ROTC that would help. I ended up doing AFROTC, but he continued to reiterate that above all making good grades was the most important thing I could do. After a year in AFROTC I was able to get an Appointment to USNA for the c/o 2022. I wish you good luck in whatever you end up deciding to do.

 

[AROTC-dad]

Here is my issue.

If you enroll with Army ROTC, even with good grades, are you prepared to follow through and become an Army officer? If your heart is set on becoming a Naval officer, then you should do NROTC, even if it takes you out of state (Why are your parents against out of state?). That way you will commission into the Navy one way or the other.

I would rather see you become a happy Naval officer leading sailors out of NROTC, than see you become an unhappy Army officer, leading soldiers and working alongside my DS.

 

[OldRetSWO]

Do you want to be a Naval Officer? If economically possible, go to the NROTC school.

 

[Kierkegaard]

I agree with the above posts. Only go AROTC if you'd be happy in the Army. If you want to be a naval officer, do NROTC. This is your decision, not your parents'. IMO the main benefit of doing ROTC when re-applying is that if it doesn't work out, you're still on a fine path to commissioning. The additional nomination source is also helpful, but I don't think ROTC is a critical part of re-applying. Plenty of successful re-applicants chose not to do ROTC, either so they can focus on grades which are the most important part of re-applying, or because it wasn't available at the college they chose. In the case of Army ROTC, you don't have the extra nomination source to USNA, and if you don't get accepted, you've spent a year working toward commissioning into the service you didn't want as much.

 

[Old Navy BGO]

I believe NROTC also opens up another Nomination source which is not available through Army ROTC.

ROTC -- Navy or Army, is not critical. The most important thing is to take a strong STEM curriculum , and do well. USNA recognizes that not all colleges have ROTC, and if you had a strong record of leadership, athletics, community involvement in High Sch0ol, not having ROTC isn't going to be that important. That being said, a strong performance in ROTC doesn't hurt , and would suspect that the candidate that has strong STEM grades and NROTC (with good endorsement from the Skipper) may have an advantage over the candidate that just went to college. Attending AROTC would be somewhere in the middle.

 

[ArmyBuckeye2022]

I was going to follow a similar path to this, and ended up liking the Army side so much that I withdrew my application to USNA and was able to receive a LOA to USMA. As I’m sure you’ve heard many times now, everything happens for a reason.