Terrific information! Thank you very much.
Army ROTC vs. Air Force ROTC
- Thread starter brandons
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Terrific information! Thank you very much.
Things that can go wrong:
AFROTC:
- doesn't qualify for SFT and is dropped from AFROTC in August before Jr. year.
- does a civilian internship the summer after Jr. year at Google, and is offered a job upon graduation at $120k plus benefits. In AFRTOC, there is no Reserves/Guard option... he will cannot take that job.
- is awarded a Type 7, but doesn't like really like any of the In-State universities. Instead, he wants to apply the Scholarship to U of Michigan, where OOS tuition and fees add $8,000 per year not covered by the scholarship years 2-4, and possibly nothing at all for year 1 ($26,000 OOS tuition). Or worse yet, is admitted to Notre Dame but denied at Michigan, and the Type 7 transfer costs $25,000 per year more than the type 7 will pay, so that's either $75,000 out of your pocket, or $100,000 if year 1 isn't covered.
AROTC:
- Really, really wants to be assigned to Engineering, and because of a lowish position in the National OML, is assigned to Adjutant General Corps (Human Resources).
- Really, really wants Active Duty, but is one of the 15-18% (2011, 2012) that are forced to go into Reserves because of the low position on the OML
- is awarded a Scholarship to Purdue University, but didn't get into Purdue via Admissions, so has to scramble to have his Scholarship transferred to another Battalion at a school he isn't that motivated to attend.
- falls in love and gets married in Sr. year to a non-AROTC student. Army junior officers spend a lot of time (almost 50% lately) deployed overseas where the spouse would not want to/be allowed to go. That's hard on the spouse. Air Force doesn't see much of that "away from spouse" deployment, and is therefore considered more of a family-friendly service compared to Army or Navy.
AFROTC:
- doesn't qualify for SFT and is dropped from AFROTC in August before Jr. year.
- does a civilian internship the summer after Jr. year at Google, and is offered a job upon graduation at $120k plus benefits. In AFRTOC, there is no Reserves/Guard option... he will cannot take that job.
- is awarded a Type 7, but doesn't like really like any of the In-State universities. Instead, he wants to apply the Scholarship to U of Michigan, where OOS tuition and fees add $8,000 per year not covered by the scholarship years 2-4, and possibly nothing at all for year 1 ($26,000 OOS tuition). Or worse yet, is admitted to Notre Dame but denied at Michigan, and the Type 7 transfer costs $25,000 per year more than the type 7 will pay, so that's either $75,000 out of your pocket, or $100,000 if year 1 isn't covered.
AROTC:
- Really, really wants to be assigned to Engineering, and because of a lowish position in the National OML, is assigned to Adjutant General Corps (Human Resources).
- Really, really wants Active Duty, but is one of the 15-18% (2011, 2012) that are forced to go into Reserves because of the low position on the OML
- is awarded a Scholarship to Purdue University, but didn't get into Purdue via Admissions, so has to scramble to have his Scholarship transferred to another Battalion at a school he isn't that motivated to attend.
- falls in love and gets married in Sr. year to a non-AROTC student. Army junior officers spend a lot of time (almost 50% lately) deployed overseas where the spouse would not want to/be allowed to go. That's hard on the spouse. Air Force doesn't see much of that "away from spouse" deployment, and is therefore considered more of a family-friendly service compared to Army or Navy.
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Keep in mind that you will serve where the Army or AF needs you. I will relay a short career story or at least as much as I know and I am guessing there are some details about how this occurred that I don't know.
A few years ago, a young man that I know graduated as the top cadet in his AROTC battalion. He received his first choice of branches, Signal Corps. He was then branch detailed Infantry, a relatively common practice. He served the next 5-1/2 years in infantry. He is getting out in October after 6 years. This last 6 months he has served in the Signal Corps in Afghanistan. In 6 years he served 6 months in the branch of his choice.
Great comparison showing many possible scenarios. Thank you.
My personal opinion is that if your son wants to serve and do so as an engineer, the AF is the better pick. However AFROTC does have that very significant SFT hurdle. I did not serve, but did earn a BS in ME back in the stone age. I was a good HS student as is your son. I struggled with the HS to college transition and ended up with a gpa in the 2.2-2.3 range at the end of the first year. I figured things out and went on to graduate with a respectable 3.2-3.3 gpa but that first year was a big hole to dig out of. If I had been AFROTC today I would not have been selected for SFT due to me stumbling out of the blocks.
I would suggest applying for both AROTC and AFROTC scholarships. If he receives both, which is a real possibility, he can make that decision then. Right now is about creating future options. Options are a great thing to have.
I would suggest applying for both AROTC and AFROTC scholarships. If he receives both, which is a real possibility, he can make that decision then. Right now is about creating future options. Options are a great thing to have.
I notice that the University of Alabama is on your son's list of schools. You are probably already aware of this but if your son gets his ACT up to 30 he can go to U of A tuition free:
There is some logic to doing this and participating in ROTC as a non-scholarship cadet. There are things that can happen to cause one to have to pay back an ROTC scholarship. If one fails to meet standards at some point the Uof A will not require him to pay back his scholarship but ROTC might.
There is some logic to doing this and participating in ROTC as a non-scholarship cadet. There are things that can happen to cause one to have to pay back an ROTC scholarship. If one fails to meet standards at some point the Uof A will not require him to pay back his scholarship but ROTC might.
Yes, that is one of the reasons he is working towards improving his ACT. Thank you for the suggestions.
Packer, you are of course right on the money. My comments were a bit misleading when I said the type 7s were not a full ride... they are for in-state school tuitions sans room and board.
Brandon, one thing to consider is that many schools offer various types of Financial Aid that can be combined with ROTC scholarships in creative ways. Some will offer free room and board to students who come with a ROTC scholarship that covers tuition. Some will allow their own incentive offers to be used against the remaider of tuition or room and board. I don't know if any of your son's 1st choice schools do that, but might be worth digging a bit more to find out.
I would agree with Packer, your son would probably find more opportunities to use an Engineering degree in the Air Force.
Being branched detailed from the Signal Corps is something that happens, a branch detail from the Engineering Branch is not as common. The issue is that there are many jobs an officer can be placed within the Engineering Branch, some have little to do with engineering, it will not always be his choice which job he would start out with.
A lot of cadets will choose feeder branches like Signal Corps and volunteer for a Branch Detail to Infantry, sort of a back door into Infantry for those that are not high enough on the OML to branch Infantry directly.
Again I agree with Packer, the chances of being able to start out using that engineering degree in the Air Force is probably a lot higher then in the Army.
This is not to say there are not jobs within the Army that would be engineering heavy and would use that degree, it is just that there many places new officers can be assigned and something to be aware of up front.
As far as life in each of the services, the Army and AF both have their share of good and not so good base assignments, if he's looking for desirable duty stations the Navy wins that contest. The AF has better Golf Courses.
Being branched detailed from the Signal Corps is something that happens, a branch detail from the Engineering Branch is not as common. The issue is that there are many jobs an officer can be placed within the Engineering Branch, some have little to do with engineering, it will not always be his choice which job he would start out with.
A lot of cadets will choose feeder branches like Signal Corps and volunteer for a Branch Detail to Infantry, sort of a back door into Infantry for those that are not high enough on the OML to branch Infantry directly.
Again I agree with Packer, the chances of being able to start out using that engineering degree in the Air Force is probably a lot higher then in the Army.
This is not to say there are not jobs within the Army that would be engineering heavy and would use that degree, it is just that there many places new officers can be assigned and something to be aware of up front.
As far as life in each of the services, the Army and AF both have their share of good and not so good base assignments, if he's looking for desirable duty stations the Navy wins that contest. The AF has better Golf Courses.
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Trying to remember from the application - for Army, I believe it's 7 schools maximum, 5 schools minimum. And there's something, if you do only list 5, at least 3 have to be public schools ... something like that.
And for AF - it doesn't matter; remember, if you are awarded an AF high school scholarship, you can take that ANYWHERE. I still don't understand why, though, the application has you list schools
Pima
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I believe it is 3 for AF, or maybe 5. As Thompson has stated you can take your AFROTC scholarship anywhere they accept the scholarship.
The reason they want the list is two-fold.
1. To make sure that the major you select is at the colleges you select.
AND, THE BIGGER REASON
2. ADAF personnel planning. The staff are mostly military members, and they typically PCS in the summer. If one college is showing an extreme increase on the scholarships, and another is showing a drop, they may need to move people around to man the staffing at the colleges.
I have heard our DS's det will quadruple in size for freshman this yr. Typically only about 20% of cadets will be on scholarship, even in that number they will have more people, than previous yrs., thus the need for more staff, more uniforms, more everything.
The list lets them have a small early on glimpse by March for incoming numbers.
The reason they want the list is two-fold.
1. To make sure that the major you select is at the colleges you select.
AND, THE BIGGER REASON
2. ADAF personnel planning. The staff are mostly military members, and they typically PCS in the summer. If one college is showing an extreme increase on the scholarships, and another is showing a drop, they may need to move people around to man the staffing at the colleges.
I have heard our DS's det will quadruple in size for freshman this yr. Typically only about 20% of cadets will be on scholarship, even in that number they will have more people, than previous yrs., thus the need for more staff, more uniforms, more everything.
The list lets them have a small early on glimpse by March for incoming numbers.