Good ROTC programs

jrobs12

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5-Year Member
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Nov 6, 2008
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Okay, its hard to find rankings and information on how ROTC programs stack up to each other. Here are schools im looking at as of now
CU Boulder
UT Austin
Texas A&M college station
Syracuse U
USC maybe (the cali one, that tution is insanely high though)
Norwich

out of those lists, schools i would seriously go to, pretty much in order of most likely to go to to least:
UT Austin
CU/ A&M
Syracuse
USC

i've just started to look into a&m, and they seem to have a legitimate program, kind of like norwich except at a big school. Any other input on which schools have stellar AROTC
i'm also applying to usma
 
woww. Your almost identical to me.

I'm also applying to USMA and if that doesn't work out, I'm hoping to get a four year scholarship to TAMU or UT Austin.
 
The Army no longer ranks ROTC programs. The curricula is the same regardless of where you go.

Some advice in picking programs/schools:
1. Don't pick a ROTC program because you like the PMS who interviewed you. He/she may be gone by next fall.
2. Think about what you like about the school. Is the school, itself a good "fit". Would you attend if you were medically dq'd from ROTC.
3. While all ROTC curricula are identical - there are differences in size and culture. Explore both.
4. Ask questions like how many ROTC cadets got their first choice of branch? Did all ROTC Cadets get Active Duty? What summer opportunities do cadets have and take advantage of?
5. Another consideration is - does your school participate in a cross-town program? This is not necessarily bad, but may entail transportation issues.

TAMU - is not only a very well respected school but has a well respected, traditional corps of cadets. The program is a little bit more than "legitimate".
 
Just a Mom, do you know anything about the FSU NROTC Program? How do you find out how "good" the unit is?
 
crazy

ya USMA my first choice, and if that doesn't work, I'm doing ROTC, and probablly applying again to USMA.

One question about A&M: does it have any of the bad aspects that the Citadel or VMI have? (as in racism etc, over the top hazing, that type of stuff which those two undoubtedly have a reputation for)
 
I'll have to say that I've personally visited the Citadel and saw zero racism or hazing like described here as a parent. Yes, of course I didn't stay the night or semester but, I saw nothing like what's being described here or in a few other posts around this site, is hazing accepted at the Citadel still today?
 
Not to sound racist or anything but are there any asians at the cit? haha
 
Depends on your definition of 'hazing'. Not sure what you have read on this forum concerning hazing at the Citadel. I have *heard* that the culture encourages/tolerates male cadets to continue to treat women as "persona non grata". This is definietly something that would not be picked up by a parental visit.

3% of the student population at the Citadel is Asian. The vast majority of cadets come from SC and other southern states - states not known for a huge Asian population. Anyway - not sure why Daniel Lee thought it was funny.
 
ya USMA my first choice, and if that doesn't work, I'm doing ROTC, and probablly applying again to USMA.

One question about A&M: does it have any of the bad aspects that the Citadel or VMI have? (as in racism etc, over the top hazing, that type of stuff which those two undoubtedly have a reputation for)

JROBS12 has posted this twice now- I would like to know just what it is that he is passing off here as a "bad rep" which seems to imply that VMI (and the Citadel) condone Hazing or racist comments and actions. I am not particularly close to the Citadel so I won't address it specifically - but I am pretty intimately involved with VMI as both an Alum and a parent as well a classmate of several key faculty members with whom I speak pretty frequently and I don't believe that VMI either condones or looks the other way at hazing/ bigots etc... in fact I am pretty certain that they would run the offender out. Punishment is not a subject from which the Commandant shrinks.
What they do have is a fairly grueling 4th class (RAT) year in which physical demands are high and routine, and of which mental stress and severe time constraints are key components. Until around February of your Rat year you can expect to be physically and mentally tired, with limited amounts of sleep, extremely limited free time and lots of demands-academic; military; and athletic-on the time that is available to you. That is a universal truth of the system and it is pretty evenly distributed to every Rat. The Superintendant thru the Commandant and his staff have pretty specific regulations and guidelines laid out for how the Rat class is to be treated and trained and these are implemented pretty professionally by the Corps from what I can see.

So- is life hard for a RAT? Yes. Is it supposed to be? Yes. Is this approach pretty evenly applied to all Rats? Yes. Is VMI's approach different than USMA's current approach to Plebe year (as opposed to the approach of only a few years ago)? Yes it is.That is VMI's reputation- a demanding environment with a high quality academic program- overlaid with a strict and universal honor code which permeates the entire environment. If that life style and challenge isn't what you are interested in- than you will not like it at VMI -especially your rat year. There are plenty of ROTC programs available at high quality civilian colleges where you would might be happier and be successful in commissioning to your desired branch of service and as was pointed out earlier- you could also be a cadet in Texas A&M or Va Tech and be in a less rigid Corps of Cadets where you get some but not all of the above. You can also do that without slandering the schools that you didn't choose to attend. FYI- if numbers matter to you- 6.5% of the Rat class is African-American; 6.5% is Hispanic-American; 4% is Asian-American, and 2.5% are international Cadets -7 from Taiwan &1 from the PRC and 1 each from Montengro, Mexico, Thailand and S Korea. Don't know how many Females are there- but I believe it's around 7% of the Corps.
 
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Being around his age, I seriously doubt Daniel Lee was being funny. He put the 'haha' just b/c we do that, in an effort to counter future "that's a racist question" comments.
And I'm guessing from your surname you're Asian, Daniel? Then that would be the reason he asked that question...
 
He is Asian, I am his friend on facebook. I am also friends with 4 other members of this forum :D
 
I still think R. Lee Ermey as the DI put it best in the opening scenes of Full Metal Jacket haha.
 
aight, not trying to start a fight, I'm just saying what has come out of the school in newspaper reports, court cases etc (google it) and also from hearing people's personal experiences a grad from the citadel who is supposedly the norm for behavior for a lot of grads. again, there is the "it's not our fault that you wouldn't cut or/made it here" attitude that exists to respond to the above listed attacks on the schools, and hey i could be wrong. but it's not like i'm just pulling this out of thin air, and i'm sure not every attendee/grad from vmi or the citadel are like the bad examples from each school. But, there seems to be a lot of grads/attendees that give the citadel and vmi bad names. Again, i'm not just pulling this out of thin air (truth isn't slander), but okay, that's my opinion, disagree or whatever you want to do.
 
also, last thing: i haven't by any means gone out of my way to slander vmi or the citadel. i've posted a thread on a topic, for this instance ROTC and explaining that i'm not interested in the two so don't give info, and someone asked why.
 
The Army no longer ranks ROTC programs. The curricula is the same regardless of where you go.

Some advice in picking programs/schools:
4. Ask questions like how many ROTC cadets got their first choice of branch? Did all ROTC Cadets get Active Duty? What summer opportunities do cadets have and take advantage of?

Just a mom - Do you know of a list that shows ROTC results by program? I'd love to see something that showed the number of ROTC cadets graduated from different battalions and of those how many received their first, second, third etc. choice branch assignments and the number assigned to active duty.
 
Carnegie Mellon, Univ of Portland, Fordham University

Has anyone had any experiences with Carnegie Mellon, Univ of Portland or, Fordham University ROTC?
 
Here's my suggestion and then throw it in the circular filing cabinet.

Talk to the det. Ask how many cadets are in the program, how many are on scholarship, how many get their 1st pick, what do you need to do during college to get that. Than ask if you can speak to the cadets.

When DS was deciding between an SA and a ROTC program, we had him contact the ROTC office at his 1st pick university. He sat down with them and discussed everything. They spent an afternoon with him and even went as far as stating if this isn't a good fit we will support you for an ROTC nom for the AFA. In the end he decided to take the ROTC Full Ride, b/c he wanted the program tha the college offered. His det is quite large, and he is one of the few with scholarship (only @ 25% have scholarship).

Visit or speak with the ROTC dets. If you can visit talk to kids there, esp. Srs, b/c they will let you know the truth.

Good Luck
 
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