College Applicant Questions !

[Santie50322]

Good evening SA Forums, I have a few questions that need answers and just observations and advice of what to do! I put them in bullet points so that they are easier to answer.

If you do not know, I am considering applying to USNA in college. I am high school senior who is nowhere near a competitive applicant and it would be quite comical for me to apply. I know I have a LOT of work to do and have already started coming up with a plan of action. But, the first step in this plan of action is what I need help and guidance with. College and ROTC. There are only 3 colleges in my state offer Navy ROTC and a majority of others offer Army ROTC. I am Navy all the way (maybe a bit biased because of family). College A is in the top 1% of colleges in the country, so there's no way I'm going there. College B's application deadline is passed, so no consideration there anymore. College C is my last option. It has a cross town program with College A and has a pretty high acceptance rate (82%). I am going to apply there soon, but if I don't get in here, I will have no more NROTC options. Only Army ROTC and possibly Air Force ROTC. Now, after some background, here are my questions.

- Will doing Army ROTC affect my chances of getting a nomination/ appointment to USNA?

- Will it show them that I am more knowledgeable or gungho per se about Army more than Navy or something along those lines?

- Would it be worth it to explain to them (admissions or whoever I would explain to) that my options are limited?

- Would it be better to just not do ROTC at all and apply to USNA (if I am at a school that offers it or no)? Or would it be better to do ROTC in a branch that I'm not too excited about? Because I don't want to leave the Army ROTC program because I didn't get into the academy, that wouldn't be fair to anyone, so would it be better to not do it at all and just focus on other areas of improvement (academics, leadership, athletics, and volunteering etc.) instead of ROTC? (Sorry I asked that question twice in one bullet point)

- Finally, would I lose that edge from doing ROTC instead of not doing it?

As you can see, I am in a bind. I know I want to serve in the navy and that there are many ways of doing it. Heck, I could even like NROTC better than the academy. But for me personally, the academy fits me more, so part of my goal is attend there. Thank you everyone for taking time out of your day to read this post and comment. Any advice, answers, and observations are more than welcomed. Thanks again and have a wonderful rest of your day!

 

[Dragomir]

I don't think it makes a difference either way to USNA whether or not you do another branch's ROTC. I am a college reapplicant and my university offered AROTC and AFROTC but no NROTC. I decided not to do either and still received an appointment. @moho is a college applicant who is in AFROTC and received an appointment. As you can see, the two routes led to an appointment.

With that being said, I'd advise you to only do either AROTC or AFROTC if you are actually interested in serving as an Army or Air Force Officer, cause if not, it's not going to be a fruitful experience for you. You'd be wasting your own time and those around you. Only join if you actually want to be there and can see yourself being an officer in either branch.

Though, you should definitely do NROTC if you have the chance as that can help you obtain an appointment by showing that dedication to wanting to be a Naval Officer and opening up another nomination opportunity for you.

 

[MidCakePa]

USNA will not ding you for participating in AROTC or AFROTC. At the same time, you should see those programs as a stepping stone to an officer’s commission in those branches, not merely as a stepping stone to USNA. In other words, do it because you’d be satisfied with the Army or Air Force if USNA doesn’t work out.

Of course, all college programmers can leave ROTC at any time. Many do. Many are simply kicking the tires. But if you’re serious about serving — regardless of branch — then you should take ROTC seriously.