Dixieland
10-Year Member
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2010
- Messages
- 1,281
It is definitely encouraged as a Plan B!
In fact, when interviewing candidates for West Point, one of our guidelines is to encourage the candidate to apply for AROTC scholarships.
I don't know how many WP applicants also apply for AROTC scholarships, but I would say that it would be a fair amount. After all - the end goal is to be an Army officer. Red flags are raised if a candidate says they want to go to WP but have no desire to enroll in AROTC. We then question whether being an Army officer is the real goal.
That was probably one of the first questions our Senator's nominating committee asked my cadet. They simply asked, "What will you do if you don't get into West Point?" and waited for his explanation. He told them with no uncertainty that he had already applied for an AROTC scholarship for University A and B and he would become an officer by that route because his goal was to serve in the US Army. (He did win the ROTC scholarship and would have followed through with his plan if he had not gotten into WP.)