Engineering major: four or five years?

[usafa2022]

I visited an AFROTC det recently, and a member of the cadre told me that the vast majority of engineering majors in the unit take five years to graduate. Which isn't surprising considering that many engineers--in ROTC or not--do take five years... but scholarships are only four. This doesn't make sense considering that many, if not most, of those scholarships go to engineering majors. Why would the AF offer four year scholarships to cadets who are expected to take five to graduate? Can they be extended? Or are engineers still generally expected to graduate in 4 years, and the det I visited was just an outlier?

 

[Kickback]

For the army they usually extend scholarship benefits to stem majors, but if you do summer classes you can graduate in 4 years maybe even 3

 

[cb7893]

Engineering can be done in four. As kickback said, one can do summer sessions. Also, it is possible to get AP credits. Both my DS's covered three semesters of Calc and Intro to Physics during High School, I wouldn't recommend to all. You better really know your stuff if you skip the Calc or the Science Intro classes. At the college level it is very easy to fall behind.

Best of Luck!

 

[afrotc16]

It really depends on your school and how long the engineering program there is planned to take. My school's engineering programs were a standard 4 years, so most everyone in my detachment did four years. However a lot of schools now have five year programs and I know a lot of people who did 5 year tech programs. AFROTC will extend your scholarship to cover five years if you're an engineering major on a five year plan. It's in your best interest to do it the way your school's program has it planned, since every school works differently.

 

[cajuncarrier]

DS is an engineering MSIV. His school extended his 4 yr scholarship to 5 years from the beginning. Taking 2 ROTC classes a semester in addition to a full schedule was considered when they made this decision. We didn't even ask for it. They just automatically extended it for him. Check with the school. All programs are different.

 

[MichUSNA2021hopefulparent]

DS is high school senior who was just awarded AROTC scholarship from 2nd board for electrical engineering major. His selected school’s ROO told him the other day engineering students take 4.5 yrs to graduate if ROTC. He said the Army will pay the extra semester of tuition no problem. Also, since the school pays full room and board all 4 yrs, they will automatically extend the room and board benefit for the extra semester no problem also.

 

[Norfolk63]

Ditto Navy. If you are pulling the grades, they will extend the scholarship.

 

[USMAROTCFamily]

Ditto Navy. If you are pulling the grades, they will extend the scholarship.

My daughter is on a NROTC scholarship and a Mechanical Engineering major. The expectation at her school's unit is that they will graduate in 4 years and the scholarship will not be extended. She is a junior and typically has 18-21 credit hours each semester and is a Junior this year.

 

[MichUSNA2021hopefulparent]

Wow brutal. Hope she doesn't burn out.

 

[Norfolk63]

My daughter is on a NROTC scholarship and a Mechanical Engineering major. The expectation at her school's unit is that they will graduate in 4 years and the scholarship will not be extended. She is a junior and typically has 18-21 credit hours each semester and is a Junior this year.

Yikes! What school is that?

 

[USMAROTCFamily]

Yikes! What school is that?

University of Notre Dame. I shouldn't say that they would "never" grant the extension, as they could under certain extenuating circumstances. However, when they sit down with their counselors, they are expected to map out the degree requirements to graduate in 4 years with an engineering degree. There have been midshipman, as well, who did not graduate in 4 years and the last semester, or year, had to be paid for out of pocket, but at least they were granted permission to delay commissioning in order to do this. This was a stark contrast to the conversations she had with the ROOs at the AROTC scholarship schools she applied to,who seemed to encourage engineering majors to take 5 years with no problem getting the scholarship extensions.

 

[USMAROTCFamily]

Wow brutal. Hope she doesn't burn out.

So far, so good -3 more months this semester and then her Senior year courses will actually be easier with some of her electives and university requirements. Getting it done in 4 years is doable, but it doesn't give her a whole lot of free time with NROTC commitments, etc. However, if you think about it, cadets/midshipmen at the academies are typically taking 20 credit hours a semester and they seem to manage.

 

[SpartanDM]

I was approved for extended benefits (5th year benefits) which I used to take 19 credits the summer between 3/c and 2/c year and have my 2/c cruise waived which kept my junior year credit hours at 18/semester and senior year at 15/semester otherwise I would've had to tack on an extra semester at the end. In my application to NSTC I provided degree completion plans for both cases. My main argument was the Navy was still getting their Ensign on time. Mechanical engineering btw.

 

[goirish1]

University of Notre Dame. I shouldn't say that they would "never" grant the extension, as they could under certain extenuating circumstances. However, when they sit down with their counselors, they are expected to map out the degree requirements to graduate in 4 years with an engineering degree. There have been midshipman, as well, who did not graduate in 4 years and the last semester, or year, had to be paid for out of pocket, but at least they were granted permission to delay commissioning in order to do this. This was a stark contrast to the conversations she had with the ROOs at the AROTC scholarship schools she applied to,who seemed to encourage engineering majors to take 5 years with no problem getting the scholarship extensions.

I will echo this. DS is a senior at same school and the expectation is 4 years. Your progress is mapped out. Civil Engineering major. He will graduate in May in the planned 4 years. With the additional NROTC classes and the normal course load, almost every semester required 'overload' approvals for carrying 19-21 credit hours. Not much free time. Summer study abroad (scholarship doesn't cover) and summer classes at local college (transferred credits) were needed. Strongly recommend the local summer classes and transferring the credits if you can get the approvals. 8 weeks of Differential Equations at a local juco - all Engineering majors from various schools home for the summer. Helped to have only one class of this caliber over the summer than this and others like it during the semester. You are right, senior year was better because he still had some gen. ed. electives like theology and history. 4 years is doable with a lot of hard work and time management.