How competitive am I for a ROTC scholarship?

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cossette2

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May 31, 2017
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I come from a non-military family, and I am at the end of my Junior year in High School. My parents are very supportive of my interest in ROTC/Military Academies, but like me, they don't really know how to navigate the process. Anyway, this summer I am going to visit most of my top choices for colleges such as: Loyola University of Chicago, American University, Boston College, Wheaton College, and Notre Dame is my reach school. I am also interested in USMA and USNA. Here's a list of some of my credentials, and I hope to get some honest feedback on how I can make my application more competitive. Thanks in advance!

1320 SAT score
4.5 GPA W/3.8 UW
Student-Athlete Award (freshmen, sophomore and junior yr.)
Varsity Girls Soccer (freshmen, sophomore, and junior yr.)
All-league(freshmen and sophomore yr)
First-team All-league (junior yr.)
Varsity Soccer Captain (junior-senior yr.)
Model United Nations Academy (freshmen-senior yr.)
MUN under director general for mentoring leadership (junior)
MUN under director general for novice committees leadership (senior)
Link Crew Leadership (junior-senior yr.)
Top 5% in class
all AP/Honors classes
Club soccer athlete (12 years)
Junior State of America Club President
National Honors Society member
Military Care Packages NHS capstone
ASB leadership (2 years)
Mexico volunteer trip (7 days)
California Scholarship Federation since Freshmen yr.
Part-time job (7 mos.) sophomore year

I am mostly interested in Army ROTC, and I would consider Navy ROTC. Also I plan on majoring in Political Science/ Government.
 
You have 0% if you do not apply. With that being said your stats are strong. The problem I do see is that for NROTC 85% of their scholarships go to STEM degrees.
 
Looks like you have well rounded resume which will help. SAT scores could be higher. Average SAT score for NROTC is ~1400.

As you probably already know, NROTC is heavily STEM oriented and the majority of the scholarship awards are to STEM majors. In addition all NROTC midshipmen take Calculus, physics and chemistry. NROTC-MO (marine option) does not have the STEM requirement, but obviously you would want to be a marine and doing well on the physical assessment is very important.

Make sure you look at all the pages on USNA, and the ROTC web sites. Also read the post here.
Best of luck and enjoy your senior year.
 
+1 to comments on stem, although NROTC Navy option midshipmen are NOT required to take chemistry, just calculus and calculus based physics. English grammar and composition are also required but those are generally core courses required by the college for graduation anyway. If you are interested in AROTC then NROTC MO should be a viable alternative. DS had your SAT score but did not receive a 4 year scholarship, but then he didn't have your leadership either. Physical fitness will be very important for Marine Option and although I'm sure you're fit, are you Marine fit? Check out the Marine PFT.

Remember, it's a competition. Keep trying to improve everywhere you can.
 
There's no guarantees and I've seen some crazy, crazy stuff occur the last few years but barring some major disturbance in the force, I think you're golden as far a AROTC goes. That being said, I'd try and get your SAT score up and of course, take the ACT when you have the opportunity.
 
One thing I would add is although I do not know the % for NROTC scholarship, I would assume it is going to be on par with AROTC and AFROTC, @ 18% of candidates boarded will be awarded a scholarship. The boards do not care what state you are from, unlike the SAs. The board is national. If 100% of the recipients are from California, so be it. A/NROTC care about your school choices, be smart when you rank out your schools.
~ A/NROTC may award you a scholarship to Notre Dame, but Notre Dame may not offer you admittance. Now you have a scholarship, but no school and forced into asking them to transfer it to another school.

I will be honest, I think Notre Dame is a high reach.
1. I am assuming 1320 is super score. My DS was waitlisted and he had a 1390 best sitting. 1410 super. His ranking in HS, and ECs were on par with you.
2. 4.5 weighted will probably be re-weighted. Again, I am assuming that your weighted scale is not 4.5, but 5.0...only way I can see 4.5 wcgpa and 3.8 uwgpa. If it is a 5.0 scale than expect it to drop.
3. They are a ROTC powerhouse. IOWs many SA candidates using ROTC scholarship will have them as plan B. Unlike AFROTC, A/NROTC tie the scholarship to the cadet and school. They have limited spots available to charge. You will be competing with them ROTC boards and SAs do not talk when awarding appointments or scholarships. An appointee at USMA can hold onto their ROTC scholarship until I Day. They can place a deposit at the school and just suck up the cost until they complete BCT.

Finally, can you afford any and all of these schools without the scholarship? The attrition rate is high for ROTC cadets/mids is not low, hence why they have that freebie year. You may assume right now you want to be an Army officer, but a year from now after getting up 2x a week at 5:30 for 6 a.m. PT you may say I hate this! What will you do at that point if you cannot afford the school without the ROTC scholarship, do you transfer to a new school that you can afford, or do you go in debt to your eyeballs so you can stay?
 
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