Just a question for someone with knowledge of a situation. My DS in on a 4 year national scholarship with arotc, he had chosen to major in mechanical engineering but after 2 1/2 semesters he isn't sure that is what he wants to do, he had said before that he thought he would enjoy teaching and coaching also. Long story short my question is if he chose to change his major would he lose his arotc scholarship because no matter what he chooses to do he still plans on making his first career the military.
Change of major
- Thread starter R1raceman
- Start date
Herman_Snerd
5-Year Member
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2017
- Messages
- 1,682
The good news here is that the Army is less stringent on tech v non-tech majors than AFROTC. Bu they do need to approve the change and new plan.
Recommend your son meet with his university academic advisor and work out a new plan to graduate, documented in a draft 4 year plan. This should include the new exact courses he will need to take, course he no longer will need to take, and a sequential plan to tackle the new remaining courses in the remainder of his time. He should also vet out options for using summer/ winter semesters to continue coursework/ training that would not interfere with Summer AROTC advanced camp/ other activities, and work with his AROTC advisor/ chain of command to have a new 4 year plan approved. But he should go into that meeting with his AROTC advisor well prepared. I suspect a change may mean more time in school or summer courses - he should align with the Army on whether they will pay for additional semester(s) so he can graduate with the degree he wants, and whether they want him to still find a way to do this in 4 years flat. He may be taking 18 credit semesters- the point is he needs a plan, aligned with the school and AROTC on what he can do here, and when he'll commission and serve, etc. He should also confirm student teaching options and how to work that while in ROTC.
Main first reaction here is don't get a degree you don't want -go for what he wants to do, and work out the details. GL/ hope that helps.
Recommend your son meet with his university academic advisor and work out a new plan to graduate, documented in a draft 4 year plan. This should include the new exact courses he will need to take, course he no longer will need to take, and a sequential plan to tackle the new remaining courses in the remainder of his time. He should also vet out options for using summer/ winter semesters to continue coursework/ training that would not interfere with Summer AROTC advanced camp/ other activities, and work with his AROTC advisor/ chain of command to have a new 4 year plan approved. But he should go into that meeting with his AROTC advisor well prepared. I suspect a change may mean more time in school or summer courses - he should align with the Army on whether they will pay for additional semester(s) so he can graduate with the degree he wants, and whether they want him to still find a way to do this in 4 years flat. He may be taking 18 credit semesters- the point is he needs a plan, aligned with the school and AROTC on what he can do here, and when he'll commission and serve, etc. He should also confirm student teaching options and how to work that while in ROTC.
Main first reaction here is don't get a degree you don't want -go for what he wants to do, and work out the details. GL/ hope that helps.
My DS, AROTC 4yr, had a similar realization at roughly the same time in his college career. He was a ChemE major. He loved Chemistry, could do proofs in his sleep and he carried in at least a semester's worth of credits. Well, he discovered that he hated Engineering (because of the tedium) and despite the credits he carried in, he had virtually no electives. He wanted more computer science and foreign language classes. He asked and was allowed to switch from ChemE to Chem. At that time, the Army did care and would only allow a move of 1 tier. Switching from ChemE to Criminal Justice would not have been allowed. Obviously, your DS should check. It shouldn't be a problem to switch, so long as the new major is STEM.
He ended up in a technical field, Signal Corps, and his STEM degree really has helped him differentiate himself. It seems counter-intuitive, but the Army, up to this point, doesn't seem to match Junior Officers' technical skills to the respective branches.
Wish him a good outcome!
He ended up in a technical field, Signal Corps, and his STEM degree really has helped him differentiate himself. It seems counter-intuitive, but the Army, up to this point, doesn't seem to match Junior Officers' technical skills to the respective branches.
Wish him a good outcome!