Pima
10-Year Member
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2007
- Messages
- 13,900
Educate,
Thank you for the compliment. Honestly, internet forums are difficult because people can mis-read the intention of the poster since intonation does not exist.
I don't want to dis-sway any candidate, but I do want them to understand they will have to step up to the table. ROTC should not be viewed as a MERIT scholarship, where your gpa is the only thing that matters. ROTC demands that cadet show academic and leadership ability.
Hate to offend JROTC cadets, but ROTC at college is ampped up. ROTC is not an elective like JROTC. You could be like our son in the university Scholars/Honors program, which requires an internship for the citation, plus, seminar classes on top of your traditional courses, AND ROTC. That means as a freshman you could be carrying 20-21 credit hours per semester at least. Engineering and you could be looking at 24+. For HS avg credit hours are 15 per semester. On top of the 20-21 credit hours add in PT and formation, you could be looking at school being a full time job. Heck, be like our son and join a military fraternity, and now as a pledge you are looking at 21 credit hrs., 3 hrs/wk for PT, 20 hr per week interning, and 5 hrs per week for the fraternity...tally it up and that is 49 hrs before downtime...add in studying and it isn't pretty!
Candidates really need to talk to their dets to comprehend the big picture. Don't walk in thinking no biggie, I will do ROTC lab 1 hr a week and that's it, because you will be sadly mistaken when you realize you have to do PT 2x a week, and if you get an ROTC det job, you will spend more hours. Finally, you will also learn that when you come up for your career field the det commander (AD COL) will submit a review/recommendation, and they can make or break your dreams.
ROTC seems like an easy way to get your college education paid for, but once you know the facts, you will quickly understand that it is a career for the avg student. AND most importantly don't do this route for a *free* education or a way to pay for college.
Best of luck
Pima
Thank you for the compliment. Honestly, internet forums are difficult because people can mis-read the intention of the poster since intonation does not exist.
I don't want to dis-sway any candidate, but I do want them to understand they will have to step up to the table. ROTC should not be viewed as a MERIT scholarship, where your gpa is the only thing that matters. ROTC demands that cadet show academic and leadership ability.
Hate to offend JROTC cadets, but ROTC at college is ampped up. ROTC is not an elective like JROTC. You could be like our son in the university Scholars/Honors program, which requires an internship for the citation, plus, seminar classes on top of your traditional courses, AND ROTC. That means as a freshman you could be carrying 20-21 credit hours per semester at least. Engineering and you could be looking at 24+. For HS avg credit hours are 15 per semester. On top of the 20-21 credit hours add in PT and formation, you could be looking at school being a full time job. Heck, be like our son and join a military fraternity, and now as a pledge you are looking at 21 credit hrs., 3 hrs/wk for PT, 20 hr per week interning, and 5 hrs per week for the fraternity...tally it up and that is 49 hrs before downtime...add in studying and it isn't pretty!
Candidates really need to talk to their dets to comprehend the big picture. Don't walk in thinking no biggie, I will do ROTC lab 1 hr a week and that's it, because you will be sadly mistaken when you realize you have to do PT 2x a week, and if you get an ROTC det job, you will spend more hours. Finally, you will also learn that when you come up for your career field the det commander (AD COL) will submit a review/recommendation, and they can make or break your dreams.
ROTC seems like an easy way to get your college education paid for, but once you know the facts, you will quickly understand that it is a career for the avg student. AND most importantly don't do this route for a *free* education or a way to pay for college.
Best of luck
Pima
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