AROTC Four-Year Scholarship Chances

[EJ16]

Hey, I'm currently a junior in a Northern NJ high school (it's public, not a highly regarded school). I've opened a file at West Point and an ROTC scholarship application page and I'm seriously interested in becoming an Army officer.

What are my chances? Here are my desired schools and stats:
1. George Washington University
2. American University
3. Fordham University
4. University of Maryland
5. Virginia Military Institute
6. The Citadel
7. Boston University

UW GPA: 90.324/100 (School uses uninflated, unweighted 100 pt. GPA)
Honors and two AP courses through junior year, taking dual-enrollment program in a university senior year.
Rank: 70-100 out of about 800 in my class.

SAT: 1300/1600, 2000/2400
(730 CR, 700 W, 570 M)

I'm looking for a career in international relations, and in college taking a prelaw track.

National Honor Society member
Boys State delegate
President of local Keystone Club (teen leadership and community service group with the Boys and Girls Club), VP, and Sergeant-at Arms through high school.

Varsity letterwinner in swimming- freshman, sophomore, junior years, All-League and All-County selection. Will be captain next year

I'm a certified EMT and Lifeguard, worked as a lifeguard down the shore.

Please give me your opinions on my chances and what I should do to better my chances at a scholarship.

Thanks

 

[gojack]

You need a good PT score
study take the SAT and ACT again, some do better on one over the other ACT/SAT scores count for a lot
Having 3 private schools as your top 3 picks is not going to help your odds
Write a great essay

 

[BlindROTC]

Your stats look pretty good! In the time available, you should try the ACT since you didn't list any ACT scores above.

Also, try to narrow down your list of schools to a clear first choice, and do your interview there. I've heard from a couple of different AROTC schools that this is very important, more so than it says on paper. The research and thinking that you do on this topic should help with the essay, too.

 

[Pima]

Being originally from NJ (central) and very familiar with UMDCP. I would def. visit the school and talk to the BN. I know AROTC is the biggest unit there, but I also know UMDCP is very competitive for NJ residents, them and PSU probably have the most NJ residents from any OOS. The problem you may have is they don't look at WR, it is CR and M, the M score hurts you.

I think without a doubt you will get in UMDCP, probably not Scholars, Gemstone or Honors, but UMDCP. The main reason I say that is because of the major you want, is one of their most competitive ones for BOS (non-tech majors); it is a great major, with tons of internships in DC, but international relation and govt/politics is highly desired, yet the citation programs are still small, thus their stats are competitive. It is all going to depend on how UMDCP re-weights your gpa, since they use a wgpa for these programs. If they re-weight you to over 4.2+, you will be good, even with the 570, since you have the 730 to offset it. If they re-weight you to under 4.0 it will be harder. If you check out their website, each citation program tells you the range, beware though, you have to remember that it varies due to the major and the demand in that major.

The question is will you be competitive enough to make the AROTC scholarship list.

As others have pointed out you have great stats, yet, in this day and age of budget crunch re:the military, having your picks being extremely expensive, can be an issue. If I am correct, GW's cost is well into the 40's. I believe American also is in the 40's. I know UMDCP as an OOS ly was @38K, IS was @ 18K, big difference for ROTC to have to pay for a cadet.

The other reason to visit these schools will be because if I am correct UMDCP is going to be the host cadre. As much as it will seem like no biggie to xtown using the metro, trust me if you have to hop lines, it can take longer than you think to commute, that means if PT is at 6 a.m. you are going to be out the door by 5 and up at 4:30. I think it is about a 30 min metro, but the station at UMDCP is a 10 min walk to the campus, and you probably would have another 5- 10 to the parade grounds, so all and all you would leave an hour earlier. This stinks even more when it is raining or snowing. Additionally many cadre's are very active at the host college, so you can find yourself commuting more often than you imagined. Metro's are cheap, but they aren't free. For some this is no biggie, for others it is a biggie. In other words when you visit use one place as your staging area, ride the metro to the other school, like you were a student, so you can get a feel of how long the commute is and how much it costs.

OBTW, there is no way in Hades that you will want to do that drive. Rush hour here starts at 5 a.m. Yes, I said 5. By 7 when you are returning, it could take you over an hour to go 15 miles, and that stays like that until close to 10. Don't even dream of getting in a car to go to MD from DC area after 3 pm until 7. Again, it is a human parking lot with 50K of your best buddies.

Good luck in your decision, throw my comments in the circular filing cabinet, it's just food for thought when you approach this decision choice.

OBTW have you used Naviance at your school to see where you fall in the acceptance rate. As I stated I am sure you will make it for the majority of your schools, I would put some like GW and VMI on the maybe reach list. This too should play into your list decision. Every yr there are many candidates that get a scholarship to the school, but rejected for admittance, and vise a verse. Matching the school and the scholarship is a biggie for AROTC and NROTC.

Good luck

PS: when you visit the BN at UMDCP ask them point blank does AROTC "talk" with admissions. I know AFROTC does not, but AROTC is much bigger there, so they may. The reason to ask is sometimes they have a voice in the process, and if they know you have a scholarship in hand and you are on the cusp for admittance, it may be what will push you over from Spring admit to Fall.(UMD does not wait list) Do the same for every unit you visit. It varies school to school.

 

[dunninla]

Good luck and congratulations for your willingness to serve.

Army ROTC this year moved away from 4 yr. scholarships to expensive private schools (tuition ranges at privates from $30,000 to $44,000). They will typically offer a scholarship award winner:

1) 4 yr. scholarship to an IN-State university
-OR-
2) 3 yr. scholarship to an "Out-of-State Tuition" Public, or Private

I'm guessing only about 5% of the scholarship awardees this year were awarded 4 Yr. to a Private. This is of course very different to 2 years ago and prior. Budget cuts.

As to your competitiveness, you're in the middle of the "maybe" pack. Your class rank might be top 10%, can't tell from your intro, and that is VERY important. Your Math SAT is lowish, and as you will see below, the Army increasingly values Math and Science capability in its officers. I would say the single thing you can do to improve your chances is to improve your Math SAT score. The second would be to work out in your own mind, and be able to describe in your application essay, why you want to be an Army Officer. why not Navy? Why not serve your country in another way? Why not join Reserves now? Why not enlist now?

Also, and this is a big change from the past, the Army will start holding scholarship winners to the Major (category) they put down on the application. There are five categories, called "Academic Discipline Mix", and they DO NOW pay attention to that, and next year will not lightly approve changes from one "ADM" to another:

Detail is here: http://www.uccs.edu/~armyrotc/docs/ADM List.doc

4) Engineering
3) Math, Physical & Biological Sciences
2) Technical other -- (what I call Pre-Professional) (Finance, Accounting, Econ, Biz Admin, Communications, etc. )
1) General (Languages, English, Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, History, Political Science, Fina Arts, etc.)
---------
5) Nursing

I'm fairly confident in saying the larger the number the more valued the Major is to the Army, and therefore ROTC. There's really nothing you can do about the fact that your major is in ADM #1 (last). It is completely counterproductive to embarq on a degree Major that really isn't your choice, just to look better on the application. YOu have to live with that major for four LONG years, and your GPA will largely determine your place in the Order of Merit List, which determines how much choice you have in your Branch placement at graduation.