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tp3208

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How likely do you think I am to get the AROTC Scholarship on a scale of 1-10? I'm a junior in HS right now, but my extracurricular stats are updated as of next year and my GPA's are predicted by college and school counselors. I'm interested in a Mechanical Engineering major with a possible minor in Business.

Academic Stats:
- Weighted GPA: 3.85
- Unweighted GPA: 3.65
- Weighted GPA (UC/CSU): 4.05
- Unweighted GPA (UC/CSU): 3.75
- ACT: 32
- SAT: 1450
- SAT Chemistry: 780
- SAT Math II: 760
- SAT Physics: 740

Extracurriculars:
- Boy Scouts of America (Eagle Scout, Junior Assistant Scoutmaster, Leadership for 4 years, Member for 6 years)
- Taekwondo (1st Dan Black Belt, Student Instructor for 5 years, Student for 10 years)
- Robotics (VEX) Club (Qualified for States and Nationals 1 year, Officer for 3 years, Member for 4 years)
- Marching Band (Leadership for 1 years, Member for 4 years)
- Entrepreneurship (LaunchX) Club (Founder, Officer for 2 years)
- Engineering Club (Officer for 1 year, Member for 4 years)
- Startup Company relating to Engineering (Founder, President, CEO) We have a product, but are still debating whether to start a company.

Physical Fitness Stats:
- 1 mile run time: 6:49
- # of pushups in 1 minute: 15
- # of situps in 1 minute: 17
 
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tp3208 said:
Physical Fitness Stats:
- 1 mile run time: 6:49
- # of pushups in 1 minutes: 15
- # of situps in 1 minutes: 17
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I know my fitness stats aren't the best but I've started working on them. I got my mile time from a 8:30 to 6:49 in the past 2 months, but my goal is 6:30. My goal for pushups and situps is 30, and I've just started doing some work on them.

Do you think my goals are good enough, or should I aim for better? I don't have the most time, because I have a pretty ****ty APUSH teacher, so I have to self teach myself everything for the AP Test (I'm going to start right after the March SAT) while studying for the SAT Physics and SAT Math II retake in June.
 
As everyone always says, you have no chance if you do not apply.

That being said, you look pretty well rounded academically and in leadership. However, you're somewhat lacking athletically (Blackbelt is good). You will be competing against varsity athletes / team captains so you need to do as best as you can. I only know NROTC standards for the application, but I'd say your mile time improvement is very good, so keep going with that and improving it further. You definitely need to work on those pushups and situps though. Do them often and you will have a great increase. There are many good training plans online. Aim for higher than 30, more like 60 pushups and 90 situps. This might be a daunting number but you can and will get there eventually! Good luck
 
ppooba said:
As everyone always says, you have no chance if you do not apply.

That being said, you look pretty well rounded academically and in leadership. However, you're somewhat lacking athletically (Blackbelt is good). You will be competing against varsity athletes / team captains so you need to do as best as you can. I only know NROTC standards for the application, but I'd say your mile time improvement is very good, so keep going with that and improving it further. You definitely need to work on those pushups and situps though. Do them often and you will have a great increase. There are many good training plans online. Aim for higher than 30, more like 60 pushups and 90 situps. This might be a daunting number but you can and will get there eventually! Good luck
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Wait... 60 pushups in 1 minute? And 90 situps in 1 minute? Do you mean two minutes?

I've also decided that I'm definitely going to apply. So I definitely have chance :biglaugh:
 
Academics:
Your academics are doing pretty good. I am most impressed with your standardized test scores, so definitely keep it up. I do recommend applying for National Honor Society if you do get the chance. It will definitely boost your chances up higher.

Extracurriculars:
I like how you chose extracurriculars that actually interested you and your career option. Seeing how you also participated in a combat sport, you'll definitely be more prepared for the combat courses during basic.

Physical:
Your mile time right now is very impressive, so do keep that up and definitely aim for a much faster time to ensure a max score for your PFT and CFT for the Army. I am concerned about your push-ups and sit-ups due to a low amount of reps completed with a somewhat large timeframe. I recommend you start maxing out your push-ups and abdominal core exercises around every day to increase that score. Maxing out your reps for push-ups and focusing more on core exercises for your abdominal region will let you see more gradual results in your physical endurance. I also recommend you also work on pull-ups if you haven't as well as getting used to weights, as the new ACFT will require you to do deadlifts, medicine ball throws, and I believe a fireman's carry (correct me if I am wrong).

Overall, your chances are definitely high to earn you the scholarship. The only thing I recommend you dedicate more time with is your physical performance. The Army will require you to do at least around 55 push-ups, 70 sit-ups, and 10 pull-ups by the time you take your fitness assessments for the ROTC program. Best of luck in applying and I do hope this helped!
 
There are other threads in the past that show the max for the 1 minute. Keep in mind what is required when you show up on campus, for the current APFT. You will need 42 push-ups in 2 minutes just to pass, 60 to max (for males). For sit ups you need 53 to pass, 78 to max (male or female) and that is in two minutes. So you definitely don’t need 60 pu in a minute or 90 sit-ups in minute for your application! But Ppooba is spot on that you want to do as many as you can (correctly of course). Female standards are lower for push-up (19, 42 respectively). To give you an example, my daughter had 25 PU, 44 sit ups and a 7:01 mile and in her PMS interview she was told “that is a solid score”. If she was male it would need to be higher to be the same level of “solid”. At another ROTC visit, the cadre member meeting with her (no ROO there), told her to keep working before showing up on campus and to mentally train to max the test. He told her “if you train to max you will always pass”. She took it to heart, and consistently has one of the highest scores at her school. She regularly maxes The sit up and pushups and either maxes the run or just loses a few points.

Basically, they want to see in your application that you have a good enough fitness level so you can pass the test, not that you are super human, or that you can crush it right now. Also those super high scores in the one minute can be suspect of having poor form. Good news is, if you literally spend 10 minutes a day on pushups and sit-ups, by the time you need to test end of summer, you should be able to crush it. Watch some YouTube videos, clear a space on your floor, and make a little time each day and you will amaze yourself.
 
Ok thanks guys. As is evident, my physical fitness definitely needs work. My plan is to just do the max amount of pushups in 5 minutes and max amount of situps in 5 minutes I can everyday before I go to bed. I'm also going to alternate run 2.5 miles and during the max amount of pull ups I can in 5 minutes everyday.

One other question: Should I contact an Army Recruiter and express my interest? Will that help me in any way?

Thanks for the help and if you have any other tips or suggestions, please let me know. I'm ready to learn about anything from anyone, especially a topic I know very little about!
 
As others have said your athletics are a little bit lacking. It would have been nice to see a team sport in there, but it is what it is. Knocking out the mile, sit ups, and sit ups with outstanding scores will go a long way to alleviate any concerns others may have about your athleticism and endurance.
 
I’ve got some insight for you based off my experience:

I’m a senior in highschool and got picked up for a four year NROTC MO scholarship on the early board and I had very similar stats to you. I got a 1460 sat , 32 act, ME major, and 3.9 gpa. All this said, academics are only one part of the equation. I see that you’re in band and I did marching band (center snare) for three years but decided to drop it to do cross country because it would benefit me and my application more.

Your physical stats are very low and with those numbers you will be very lucky to get picked up right now. Good thing is is that your a junior and have time to prepare. It’s good you got your mile time down but most likely you will be running 1.5 mile or 2 miles for the fitness test. Keep up the good work running. Shift your focus to the pushups and sit-ups. Start doing 100 of each a day for as long as you can. Push ups and sit-ups increase dramatically with enough reps trust me. I had terrible fitness scores but dedicated myself to it from junior year to now and managed to do 18 pull-ups, 100 sit ups 2 min, and a 20 min three mile.

If you want this scholarship you need to show interest and the best way to do that is with killer fitness scores. I’m not saying you need to quit band like I did but if you can join a sport do it. At the minimum put in a hefty amount of time into fitness outside of school.

Your academics are superb and will be plenty. With those scores and a greatly improved fitness level, all you have left is leadership potential.

Feel free to ask me anymore questions because I’ve been exactly where you are
 
tp3208 said:
One other question: Should I contact an Army Recruiter and express my interest? Will that help me in any way?
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Are you looking to enlist or to go ROTC? Because the recruiter’s job is to find enlistees, not future officers. If you visit a recruiter and like his/her pitch, you may find yourself at basic training on the way to becoming a private. Nothing wrong with that at all — unless your intent was to become an ROTC cadet.
 
Take notice that the different services handle the ROTC applications differently. For Army, a recruiter at a recruiting office is not involved in ROTC. The better bet would be to visit some colleges you are interested in and make sure to arrange to meet and talk to the ROO at that school. The ROO is the Recruiting Operations Officer and is a civilian employee that works within ROTC at anArmy ROTC host school. They can help you with the process and get your questions answered.
 
Dckc88 said:
Take notice that the different services handle the ROTC applications differently. For Army, a recruiter at a recruiting office is not involved in ROTC. The better bet would be to visit some colleges you are interested in and make sure to arrange to meet and talk to the ROO at that school. The ROO is the Recruiting Operations Officer and is a civilian employee that works within ROTC at anArmy ROTC host school. They can help you with the process and get your questions answered.
Click to expand...

Oh ok cool. I'll be visiting some my instate schools soon (UC's), so I'll ask them all of my questions.
 
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