Chances at NROTC Marine Option Scholarship?

griffeymac

5-Year Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2011
Messages
2
Hey everyone,
I am going to be applying for a Marine Option scholarship within the next year and just wanted to see you you all thought of my current stats. I am currently a HS Junior.

GPA: 3.0 unweighted :frown:
3.51 weighted
(my GPA is slowly going up though, thankfully)
I take all accelerated classes except for math which is academic.
I am also in Latin 3 and have taken 1 year of Spanish

Haven't taken SATs yet but took the PSATs twice. I havent recieved my Junior year scores yet but my scores as a sophomore were:
Math: 55
CR: 57
Writing: 57
(Scores said i was above the 90th percentile in each)

Sports:
Football - freshman and sophomore years
Golf - junior and will be senior years
Rifle Team - junior and will be senior years
Baseball - will have played all years of HS

ECs:
Student Council Representative
JSA Officer (Director of Debate)
FBLA member

Went to the National Youth Leadership Forum on National Security

I was also chosen to represent my school after an essay and interview process at the Hugh O' Brian Youth Leadership Seminar (HOBY) for Central PA at Millersville University

I am apart of Campus Life for my school district (Youth Group)

I also play American Legion baseball during the summer

Jobs:
I am a lifeguard at a local resort during the summer. I average 40 hours of work time per week.

I also work at a batting cage during the winter. My duties there are taking calls, scheduling times for customers to come in, performing maintenance on machines when they break, and keeping the facility clean and orderly.

Community Service:
I help out a few days per month at a farm owned and operated by a family friend. This allows him to spend more time with his 4 year old son who he does not see very much due to the fact that he is at the farm working from very early to very late at night.

I am going on a mission trip to Ghana this summer with the youth group I am apart of. We will be spending 2 weeks in the country performing jobs such as building a church for the local residents.

I am also planning at volunteering at the local VA Hospital for a few hours per month


Misc.:
I workout at the local Marine Corps Recruiting Station once per week.

I currently score in at 212 out of 300 on the Marine Corps PFT but that is continually getting better
(100 situps, 12 pullups, 26:00 3 mile run)



Any input (tips, comments, personal experience) you guys could give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
 
I applied for a Marine Option NROTC scholarship this year (I'm a h.s. senior).

Make sure you start taking the SAT and ACT (do both -- usually you'll do better on one than another) ASAP your junior year. M.O. NROTC doesn't superscore like the academies, so you'll likely need to try multiple times to get the score you want.

Your ECAs are decent and the time you spend working is great, but your PFT is weak. You really need to get above a 225 to even be looked at, and I've heard the scores usually aren't forwarded onto the board until it's above a 240 (though I can't confirm that).

Ideally you should get at least around a 280 to be competitive. The Marines value fitness and it shows in who they award their scholarships to. You said you work out at your recruiter's station once a week. Are you working out on your own additionally? You NEED to in order to achieve the results you need. Once a week simply doesn't cut it.

The good news is that you have plenty of time to work on your competiveness. If you do well on your SAT/ACTs and improve your PFT significantly, you will be in the running for next year. Too late to improve GPA by very much, so make sure those SAT and ACT scores make up for that.
 
You don't need a 225 to even be looked at or a 280 to be competitive. I was doing getting in shape for the Army PFT, which is substantially less, when the recruiter I went to told me I had less then a week to complete my PFT to get my application in early. I had never ran a 3 mile before either and I got around the same score as OP. His sit ups and pull ups are fine. His 3 mile isnt good though. The Marines can help you with the cardio.


They know that most people going into ROTC in college arent going to be world class athletes so they can condition you in the program. It is better that your mile is lacking then pull ups and crunches though.
 
Griffeymac: No one can really know your odds of success - although you can certainly get some insight from others who have been successful. The only 100% guarantee we can tell you is that you won't get a NROTC scholarship if you don't apply!

You will read of people with "better" records who didn't get a scholarship and others with "weaker" records that do. The board's decision is based on your application, your grades, your test scores, academics, demonstrated leadership, essays, interviews, physical fitness test and the needs of the Marine Corps. That last category (needs of the USMC) is the one that can really swing things from year to year.

Keep doing what you are doing. Constantly seek to improve your grades. Take and retake the SAT/ ACT. Look for leadership opportunities in your activities. Work out hard and often. And most importantly...

Start working on your application as soon as it becomes available. Work hard on the essays. Use your contacts at the Recruiting Station for information and guidance. Get it submitted as soon as possible. Prepare for your interview (there are some good threads on this subject in this forum). You will take an official Physical Fitness Test as part of the application process - nail it. Then sit back and wait for the results while enjoying your senior year.

Thank you for your interest in serving your country. This alone makes you stand out from many of your peers.
 
Pilot2b:
Yeah I have heard the same thing about the PFT scores. And I do work out more than once a week with the recruiter I was just highlighting that one haha. I usually workout 3x on my own as well. But thankyou and goodluck with your scholarship. If possible let me know how things turn out.

USMCgrunt:
Thank you very much for your insight. It is much appreciated.
 
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Good-luck with the scholarship! I also applied for the MO scholarship and am anxiously waiting for some news. Remember also, if you want to be a Marine, there is also the PLC route to consider but you can't start applying until after you have graduated from high school. It doesn't fund as much but it's another method to contracting and it's very competitive as well. Keep working on your PFT and keep your grades up. Good-luck!
 
Don't forget other sources of scholarships either. Some schools charge in- state tuition to ROTC participants. Some provide room and board. Some provide nothing DS is NROTC MO college programmer at #1 choice out-of-state school due to academic scholarships he received. Good luck!
 
You don't need a 225 to even be looked at or a 280 to be competitive. I was doing getting in shape for the Army PFT, which is substantially less, when the recruiter I went to told me I had less then a week to complete my PFT to get my application in early. I had never ran a 3 mile before either and I got around the same score as OP. His sit ups and pull ups are fine. His 3 mile isnt good though. The Marines can help you with the cardio.


They know that most people going into ROTC in college arent going to be world class athletes so they can condition you in the program. It is better that your mile is lacking then pull ups and crunches though.

Your answer may be a bit misleading.

With the competitive climate for scholarships this year a PFT above 225 will be more important. THE PFT is very important in the application process for the NROTC MO scholarship, do not under estimate its value.

The PFT for the Army scholarship application may be less then the Marine PFT, the APFT once you are in AROTC is not.
 
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