AROTC Vs. NROTC

Jareddwright

Jareddwright

New Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2018
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6
Long time listener, first time posting....

I am in sort of a dilemma... I received notification today that I received the NROTC 4 year scholarship to my first choice college. This came after I found out last week I received the AROTC 4 year to my dream school.

I am not sure what to choose. I am very excited that I will now be fulfilling my dream of one day being an officer, and that I will be going to school for free (my parents are very excited for that too). I am still waiting response back from USNA and USAFA, if I get into one of those I will be accepting the nomination, but if I don't get in, I have no idea which way I should go.

I want to be a pilot (jets), and I know, for the most part, Navy is the way to go for that, but I have the AROTC to my dream school and I have a chance at being a helicopter pilot through that.

Thank you in advance!
 
Congratulations! No small feat to earn both 4 year scholarships.

However, have you been accepted to both colleges? (I assume that your Army "first choice" college is not the same as the "dream school?"

Also consider the possibility that you might not win a pilot slot for reasons out of your control (e.g. medical flight exam). Would you prefer to serve in the Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer on a ship at sea? Or would you foresee yourself as an infantry officer leading soldiers?

Try to envision which you would prefer as part of the decision making process.

Good luck!
 
AROTC-dad said:
Congratulations! No small feat to earn both 4 year scholarships.

However, have you been accepted to both colleges? (I assume that your Army "first choice" college is not the same as the "dream school?"

Also consider the possibility that you might not win a pilot slot for reasons out of your control (e.g. medical flight exam). Would you prefer to serve in the Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer on a ship at sea? Or would you foresee yourself as an infantry officer leading soldiers?

Try to envision which you would prefer as part of the decision making process.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for the quick response! I have been accepted to both schools, my army first choice is my dream school. Navy did not have a unit at my dream school, but my secondary school did have an NROTC unit and that is what I got into!

I have grown up around the navy, and have a navy family, so I gusss the path kind of seems chosen for me haha. I have a lot to think about, thank you again!
 
You need to look at this a couple different ways.

First the Aviation side of things.
Army and Navy Aviation is quite different. In the Navy you will be a pilot first, you will spend more years in the cockpit as a pilot. In the Army you are an Aviation Officer, which encompasses quite a bit, not all of it flying. In the Army you start out as a Platoon Leader in charge of a troop or unit with Warrants under you. You will fly but it won't be your primary duty and you will spend less time flying after your PL time.

Choosing between Navy and Army.
The best way to look at this is which service would you rather be in if you do not get Aviation. Would you be happy as a Surface Warfare Officer or in Subs with the Navy. Would you be happy as an Infantry Officer or a Transportation officer or any of the 16 officer branches in the Army.

Realize that Aviation is not a guarantee in either the Navy or the Army, so you need to decide where you best fit if you don't get Aviation.
 
+1 Jcleppe...

The other angle to look at this is to ask yourself "why is X school my "dream school?."
  • Is the difference between "Dream" school and the NROTC school really substantial?
  • Are the majors offered from both schools similar?
  • Will a degree from "Dream U" make you more marketable after you leave military service?
  • Or are they close enough in quality that there is little or no impact career-wise?
Oh yes, one more thing....will your family shun you if you go Army? :eek:
 
Just have to correct this although I am sure you know. You will not be attending college for free.... you'll be attending college tuition free. Thank your Mom and Dad for continued room and board (unless the school you attend gives room and board for free too).
Keep in mind it won't matter where you went to college while in the Army or Navy.... and it almost certainly won't matter after serving your commitment either. What people are interested in is results.... not where you went to school.
 
Question how isnt your Dream school your first choice? Putting that aside if you went on just pro and cons, you would have two positives, first it is your first choice and second it has NROTC. Your dream school has a pro and a con. Pro, its your dream school but con, it doesnt have NRotc. None of our business, but what is your dream school and your number one pick. Is like Univ of Michigan as first choice and dream school is Yale
 
Humey,

NROTC requires a ranked list of NROTC schools to accompany the scholarship application, so I believe that the OP is referring to the school that is #1 on the NROTC list but that is not his #1 pick or "Dream" school.
 
Jareddwright. Here is another point of view and I would like to strongly encourage you to visit the schools that you have been placed with your ROTC Scholarships. There is no substitute but to actually experience being a Cadet and Midshipman for a day or 2 attending classes and leadership labs and doing the early morning training with the Cadets, and be Army, Navy, Air Force with the schools you have been accepted or placed with scholarships.

My DS and I are going through this dilemma as well. So we decided to evaluate all programs in this order of importance. Of course your order can be different from ours, but this is how we decided to order them.

1. School, Fraternity, school and program culture*, and Implied Value of that Alma Mater
2. Service (since you are ok with either service options)
3. Career choices in Service: do you have more than 1 career area you can be happy to pursue. You may want to 2 or more areas.
4. Other things but maybe less important: cost of attendance, location of the school, and post graduate educational opportunities from that service

* School and program culture can be a major decision factor. We are learning that there is clear difference in ROTC culture and by schools, and the service culture difference is the biggest, in many ways. My DS is in progress going through his Cadet / Midshipman experience. He's been visiting schools since Feb 2 and will be done in March. He's visited 7 schools and academies experiencing AFROTC, NROTC, AROTC, USNA, USCG/USCGA, also did USMA, USAFA. He actually went out on a 3+ hours Aviation mission with the Coast Guard on UH-60. We thought that was very cool. He also attended couple of Branch nights with the Army and that was also very informative. During the visits, you will get to live with take classes with and talk to student/cadets/mids, NCOs, LTs, Captains, LTC, Colonels, and Navy Captain. Speak with school Admissions Counselors and Dean of Admissions. Meet with college coaches in charge of Varsity and Intramural Sports in select sports you have interest and may want to continue in college. It is most helpful to get the experience yourself and get many people's point of view during your visits. I am very curious which direction my DS will eventually decide in April.
 
One more thing about ROTC Programs. Your summer training is very different by ROTCs. Army seems to have the most flexible and liberal summer training options. Your only required summer training is between your Junior-Senior Summer, Advanced Cadet Leadership Training. All other summers, you can go to Army schools to qualify in Air Assault, Jump, etc. Air Force seems to have many technical training summers and also qualification schools such as research opportunities with NASA, Lincoln Lab, language immersion summer. Navy seems to have the best area rotation training summers. 1st summer you shadow a sailor on a ship, second summer you shadow NCOs while on a cruise, Submarine, Marine Corp, Aviation. 3rd summer, you shadow an Ensign on the job. This is an important one in that this can be you after graduation. All ROTCs offer the GO program which allows you to spend the summer paid by DoD to go to another country to learn a language or become better in one you are already learning. All ROTCs support study abroad if you like to experience being student in another country for a semester. You can do this at most any countries including attending a service academy abroad.

After graduation, we were told you will go on SWO training for 6 months in the Navy. If Naval Aviation, about 22 months. If AF Aviation, 13 months upon graduation. If CG Aviation, about 18 months of schooling and qualification. Out of all services, you will get to command a ship or command something fastest in CG, within 1 year. CG has a smaller force, total force of 40,000 in CG Service and 5,000 officers. So you will get to own more collateral roles while filling your primary job. CG Jobs are all real and less training. When you are under way, you are actually going out on missions. So missions are filling in as part of their training. CG underway for 3 weeks vs. Navy under way for 6 months. Both make port calls, of course during under way, in different countries and different cities.

This is all from my DS recent interactions with each services so I hope this paints more color to what you can anticipate from different services. Good luck!
 
Humey said:
Question how isnt your Dream school your first choice? Putting that aside if you went on just pro and cons, you would have two positives, first it is your first choice and second it has NROTC. Your dream school has a pro and a con. Pro, its your dream school but con, it doesnt have NRotc. None of our business, but what is your dream school and your number one pick. Is like Univ of Michigan as first choice and dream school is Yale
Click to expand...
My dream school is University of Las Vegas (I grew up there) and I received the AROTC scholarship there. navy does not have a unit at UNLV, but they do at my second school, SUNY Maritime. I received the NROTC scholarship to Maritime and the AROTC to Univeristy of Las Vegas. I think I have made my choice as to what is best for me. I have to think long term not just the next 4 years...
 
CrewDad said:
One more thing about ROTC Programs. Your summer training is very different by ROTCs. Army seems to have the most flexible and liberal summer training options. Your only required summer training is between your Junior-Senior Summer, Advanced Cadet Leadership Training. All other summers, you can go to Army schools to qualify in Air Assault, Jump, etc. Air Force seems to have many technical training summers and also qualification schools such as research opportunities with NASA, Lincoln Lab, language immersion summer. Navy seems to have the best area rotation training summers. 1st summer you shadow a sailor on a ship, second summer you shadow NCOs while on a cruise, Submarine, Marine Corp, Aviation. 3rd summer, you shadow an Ensign on the job. This is an important one in that this can be you after graduation. All ROTCs offer the GO program which allows you to spend the summer paid by DoD to go to another country to learn a language or become better in one you are already learning. All ROTCs support study abroad if you like to experience being student in another country for a semester. You can do this at most any countries including attending a service academy abroad.

After graduation, we were told you will go on SWO training for 6 months in the Navy. If Naval Aviation, about 22 months. If AF Aviation, 13 months upon graduation. If CG Aviation, about 18 months of schooling and qualification. Out of all services, you will get to command a ship or command something fastest in CG, within 1 year. CG has a smaller force, total force of 40,000 in CG Service and 5,000 officers. So you will get to own more collateral roles while filling your primary job. CG Jobs are all real and less training. When you are under way, you are actually going out on missions. So missions are filling in as part of their training. CG underway for 3 weeks vs. Navy under way for 6 months. Both make port calls, of course during under way, in different countries and different cities.

This is all from my DS recent interactions with each services so I hope this paints more color to what you can anticipate from different services. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Thank you for all this information! There is a lot to think about...
 
Jareddwright said:
Humey said:
Question how isnt your Dream school your first choice? Putting that aside if you went on just pro and cons, you would have two positives, first it is your first choice and second it has NROTC. Your dream school has a pro and a con. Pro, its your dream school but con, it doesnt have NRotc. None of our business, but what is your dream school and your number one pick. Is like Univ of Michigan as first choice and dream school is Yale
Click to expand...
My dream school is University of Las Vegas (I grew up there) and I received the AROTC scholarship there. navy does not have a unit at UNLV, but they do at my second school, SUNY Maritime. I received the NROTC scholarship to Maritime and the AROTC to Univeristy of Las Vegas. I think I have made my choice as to what is best for me. I have to think long term not just the next 4 years...
Click to expand...
I wish you good luck on your school and your military service and whatever comes after that
 
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