Biggest and Smallest NROTC units?

Ihavenoidea

Ihavenoidea

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Went down the rabbit hole..ie...didn't want to do actual work, and was trying to find out what the biggest and smallest NROTC units in the country are. Looks like Hampton Roads NROTC and VT show as one of or the biggest depending on the years( around 170ish depending on year). I haven't found anything for TAMU but I would think it is up there. Haven't seen anything about smallest, so if anyone knows some of the smaller units. It would be great.

The size of a unit really shouldn't matter to applicants looking at NROTC units. The school should be the most important factor in deciding where to go. Both have there pros and cons just like picking a large university or small private college experience.

This is just some information for anyone wondering, like me, where the biggest and smallest units are.
 
University of Kansas has a photo on their NROTC website with about 20ish Midn. That has to be pretty small.
 
My DS is at a smaller unit (compared to other BIG10 schools). I actually think it’s a bonus as the Midshipmen have access to more leadership opportunities, the opportunity to make a difference in their units & more opportunities to interact & learn from their leadership. It’s a very tight bond. He was a part of the leadership team for their school’s summer NSO as a rising 3/C & then moved to NSO XO last summer.
 
Boymomof3 said:
My DS is at a smaller unit (compared to other BIG10 schools). I actually think it’s a bonus as the Midshipmen have access to more leadership opportunities, the opportunity to make a difference in their units & more opportunities to interact & learn from their leadership. It’s a very tight bond. He was a part of the leadership team for their school’s summer NSO as a rising 3/C & then moved to NSO XO last summer.
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That is the bonus of a smaller unit. Leadership opportunities pretty quick. About how many Midn are in the unit?
 
Ihavenoidea said:
That is the bonus of a smaller unit. Leadership opportunities pretty quick. About how many Midn are in the unit?
Click to expand...
Hmm… that is a good question. I’d say about 10 for each class, except my son’s which is down to 5, so I would say between 35-40. Each class after his has had much better #s. His class was smaller to begin w/ - zero opportunity for an in person campus tour during COVID which IMO turned kids away to other schools where they could get a tour/a better feel for the school & a few have left along the way (went to USNA, enlisted, didn’t earn a side load / advanced standing the one year a bunch of 2/Cs were cut, etc)….. It’s funny how it all works out because I feel this was the best choice of school for him (despite being low on his list) & his unit is crazy strong, despite being small. Whenever they go to a drill competition they come in 1st or 2nd overall (against very large schools) & just beat Army & AF in his school’s tri-service flag football tournament. That was super fun - it was the Friday before Veteran’s Day & college game day was there & filmed part of their flag football games since they were setting up in the stadium 🏈. They ended up on National TV - as the champions 😊 🏆.
 
Excluding military colleges, I believe all these schools are over 100:
Old Dominion, Penn State, Villanova, Notre Dame, Purdue, San Diego combined
 
Can say Villanova is very NROTC dominated as Army and Airforce are crosstown. Villanova alone is just under 100 right now but the whole consortium with Penn and Drexel is over 100.
 
I'll echo some points above.

The Navy ROTC Program is available at over 160 colleges and universities that either host Navy ROTC units or have cross-town enrollment agreements with a host university.
NROTC consortiums (host school with multiple other colleges participating through that school) can amount to very large units - like the San Diego Consortium. TAMU / TAMU Galveston, Hampton Roads ODU.
Larger units: ERAU (through they capped/ are making their unit smaller starting with the class of 2027), THE Ohio State University, Penn State (who averages 180 midshipmen) to name a few.
Smaller Units by comparison: Yale, Cornell, the Morehouse Consortium.

Smaller units mean more cross-functional/ multi-hat leadership opportunities (I'm on the drill team, and.... and...) and larger units are I think easier to get A level of leadership - of course, if you are one of 150 in your commissioning class, your chances of being a triad leader go down exponentially (vs smaller units where 50% of your class may be in one of those roles).
 
We commissioned a single digit number of ensigns my year in my unit (no Marine Options my year), and pretty much every 1/C midshipman had a triad leadership position or was company commander (or both) at some point. Still had same number of staff as larger units.
 
Ivy22 said:
We commissioned a single digit number of ensigns my year in my unit (no Marine Options my year), and pretty much every 1/C midshipman had a triad leadership position or was company commander (or both) at some point. Still had same number of staff as larger units.
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Single digit commissioning is pretty cool. That has the potential to create strong bonds with your fellow Midn. Also good with dealing with different personalities to complete a mission as you HAVE to deal with each other in a unit that small.
 
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