How disadvantaged are those who majored in non-technical fields to get an AFROTC scholarship.

S

Soap

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technical majors aren't really my thing, so how disadvantaged would I be if I majored in business?
 
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The Air Force requires 85% of all scholarships to go to technical majors: and of all scholarships given out, only the Type I covers all costs. For perspective, the Type I is only 5% of all scholarships awarded including the technical ones. So you'd be at a pretty big disadvantage. Keep in mind that you will also have to either take four semesters of a foreign language OR take 24 hours of math and science and recieve a grade of C- or better no matter your major if you get the scholarship. Source: https://www.afrotc.com/scholarships/types

Contracting and commissioning is a different story. The committee that selects which cadets go to Field Training doesn't see which ones are on scholarship, and recently selection rates have been near 90% for all majors. This can change, however: in 2012, for example, there was only a 55% selection rate for Technical and 19% for Nontechnical. It would all go down to luck. So yes, it would be easily possible for you to commission with a business degree. But the Air Force likely won't pay for it.
 
It used to be next to impossible to get a scholarship with a nontech degree but the amount of scholarships given to current ROTC students these days is nearly half tech and half nontech. Emphasis on current students. I have seen high performing cadets earn a scholarship at the end of their first year of ROTC regardless of major. This is a huge change when I started ROTC where at orientation cadre said there's absolutely no chance for non-techs to get a scholarship.
 
autokrat said:
The Air Force requires 85% of all scholarships to go to technical majors: and of all scholarships given out, only the Type I covers all costs. For perspective, the Type I is only 5% of all scholarships awarded including the technical ones. So you'd be at a pretty big disadvantage. Keep in mind that you will also have to either take four semesters of a foreign language OR take 24 hours of math and science and recieve a grade of C- or better no matter your major if you get the scholarship. Source: https://www.afrotc.com/scholarships/types

Contracting and commissioning is a different story. The committee that selects which cadets go to Field Training doesn't see which ones are on scholarship, and recently selection rates have been near 90% for all majors. This can change, however: in 2012, for example, there was only a 55% selection rate for Technical and 19% for Nontechnical. It would all go down to luck. So yes, it would be easily possible for you to commission with a business degree. But the Air Force likely won't pay for it.
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I've heard about the contracting thing, but you mind giving me a refresher? I'm privileged enough to where I don't worry too much about paying tuition, so getting a scholarship isn't too big of a deal.

I just assumed you needed to eventually get a scholarship to commission.
 
Soap said:
I've heard about the contracting thing, but you mind giving me a refresher? I'm privileged enough to where I don't worry too much about paying tuition, so getting a scholarship isn't too big of a deal.

I just assumed you needed to eventually get a scholarship to commission.
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Contracting is basically getting selected for Field Training. After Field Training, you sign a contract that is a commitment to the Air Force. Unlike scholarship, the Air Force doesn't pay anything other than the upperclassmen stipend. But you'll commission just like any other scholarship student.
 
autokrat said:
Contracting is basically getting selected for Field Training. After Field Training, you sign a contract that is a commitment to the Air Force. Unlike scholarship, the Air Force doesn't pay anything other than the upperclassmen stipend. But you'll commission just like any other scholarship student.
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Do you know a percentage on how many cadets get selected for Field Training? And how rigorous is the training itself? How's the pass rate?
 
Soap said:
Do you know a percentage on how many cadets get selected for Field Training? And how rigorous is the training itself? How's the pass rate?
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Depends on the year. 2012 had a 55% selection rate for tech, 19% nontech. 2015 & 2016 both had around 90% selection rate: in fact, I think there was several years with 100% selection rate. Field Training is tough for many cadets, but the pass rate is still high. Follow orders, don't do anything dumb, be physically fit and you will pass.
 
autokrat said:
Depends on the year. 2012 had a 55% selection rate for tech, 19% nontech. 2015 & 2016 both had around 90% selection rate: in fact, I think there was several years with 100% selection rate. Field Training is tough for many cadets, but the pass rate is still high. Follow orders, don't do anything dumb, be physically fit and you will pass.
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And upcoming sophomores and upcoming juniors apply for FT right? Or just upcoming juniors?
 
Soap said:
And upcoming sophomores and upcoming juniors apply for FT right? Or just upcoming juniors?
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Almost all rising Juniors (AS200's). Some who don't make the cut can be recommended for AS250; they'll go to Field Training between Junior and Senior years.
 
autokrat said:
Almost all rising Juniors (AS200's). Some who don't make the cut can be recommended for AS250; they'll go to Field Training between Junior and Senior years.
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but at that point you would have needed a scholarship, right? I heard that you can only go two years in ROTC without a scholarship. specifically, freshman and sophomore year.
 
some corrections.

AS250 are sophomores that did not do AFROTC as a freshman.
AS500s are juniors that were not selected for SFT AND allowed to remain in the program.
~ It is important to note that if not selected as a 200/250 it is not a guarantee that HQ AFROTC will allow you to stay. Command must recommend you. In years past if not selected for SFT it was a rarity that you would be allowed to stay. It was almost a guarantee that you would be disenrolled from the program.
~ The other importance is that they do not like to send them to SFT as a rising senior because one of the requirements is you must be a POC for 3 semesters. Secondly, it is a disadvantage to that cadet if they want to go rated. Rated boards meet the cadets AS300 yr (junior). Going as an AS500 (junior, not selected 1st time SFT) cannot meet the rated board until they go to SFT, because SFT ranking is part of their score. It is not as big of a deal for non-rated because they will not meet their career field (AFSC) until fall of their 400 yr., their rank is still part of their OML, but still they would attend before the non-rated board.

Soap,
You are also confusing NROTC with AFROTC. NROTC will not allow you to become a POC unless you are on scholarship. It is called a side load scholarship. IOWS, they did not get one out of HS and now compete nationally for an In College scholarship.
AFROTC does not care at all if you are or are not on scholarship. They only care that you are selected for SFT. SFT boards are national. The scholarship has no impact on selection since it is what the military calls masked. Masked means that the raters do not know if the cadet is or is not on scholarship.

Now that being stated as it was said earlier the selection rate for SFT as a non-tech is lower. Non-tech asking for non-rated is the lowest selection rate. There are 4 selection pools. Tech going rate/Tech going non-rated/Non-tech going rated/non-tech going non-rated.
The avg cgpa for a tech major is @3.0/3.1. For non-tech it is 3.3/3.4

FWIW my DS was a Type 2 as a non-tech major. Type 2s make up about 15% of all scholarships awarded, or about 135, but just like Type 1, only 5% of those 135 will go to non-tech. The avg ACT for these applicants is close to 31 best sitting, not superscore.
~ DS had a best sitting of 34. SAT best sitting of 1410. Just my opinion, but like the cgpa selection for SFT, if you want the scholarship as a non-tech do not aim for the avg, aim for much higher because the selection rate is lower.
 
Pima said:
some corrections.

AS250 are sophomores that did not do AFROTC as a freshman.
AS500s are juniors that were not selected for SFT AND allowed to remain in the program.
~ It is important to note that if not selected as a 200/250 it is not a guarantee that HQ AFROTC will allow you to stay. Command must recommend you. In years past if not selected for SFT it was a rarity that you would be allowed to stay. It was almost a guarantee that you would be disenrolled from the program.
~ The other importance is that they do not like to send them to SFT as a rising senior because one of the requirements is you must be a POC for 3 semesters. Secondly, it is a disadvantage to that cadet if they want to go rated. Rated boards meet the cadets AS300 yr (junior). Going as an AS500 (junior, not selected 1st time SFT) cannot meet the rated board until they go to SFT, because SFT ranking is part of their score. It is not as big of a deal for non-rated because they will not meet their career field (AFSC) until fall of their 400 yr., their rank is still part of their OML, but still they would attend before the non-rated board.

Soap,
You are also confusing NROTC with AFROTC. NROTC will not allow you to become a POC unless you are on scholarship. It is called a side load scholarship. IOWS, they did not get one out of HS and now compete nationally for an In College scholarship.
AFROTC does not care at all if you are or are not on scholarship. They only care that you are selected for SFT. SFT boards are national. The scholarship has no impact on selection since it is what the military calls masked. Masked means that the raters do not know if the cadet is or is not on scholarship.

Now that being stated as it was said earlier the selection rate for SFT as a non-tech is lower. Non-tech asking for non-rated is the lowest selection rate. There are 4 selection pools. Tech going rate/Tech going non-rated/Non-tech going rated/non-tech going non-rated.
The avg cgpa for a tech major is @3.0/3.1. For non-tech it is 3.3/3.4

FWIW my DS was a Type 2 as a non-tech major. Type 2s make up about 15% of all scholarships awarded, or about 135, but just like Type 1, only 5% of those 135 will go to non-tech. The avg ACT for these applicants is close to 31 best sitting, not superscore.
~ DS had a best sitting of 34. SAT best sitting of 1410. Just my opinion, but like the cgpa selection for SFT, if you want the scholarship as a non-tech do not aim for the avg, aim for much higher because the selection rate is lower.
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Thank you so much for the correction.
Can you explain what this means?
"Non-tech asking for non-rated is the lowest selection rate. There are 4 selection pools. Tech going rate/Tech going non-rated/Non-tech going rated/non-tech going non-rated."
 
When you go up for SFT they will ask if you will go rated (Pilot/CSO/RPA/ABM)

A non-tech major that does not want to fly historically has the lowest selection rate. Thus, if you say Business and do not want to fly you would be a non-tech/non-rated cadet. A Business major that would sign on to go rated would be non-tech/rated. An Engineer major not wanting to fly would be tech/non-rated. A STEM major wanting to fly would be the highest selection rate.
 
Yes. I know that they have historically placed limits on certain engineering majors. I don't know which ones for this year, but I have seen years where it has been EE and CEs. I can't recall the exact limits, but it is below 25% of those majors, it might be as low as 10% that are allowed to go rated.

This is why many posters warn about trying to game the system for scholarships if you want to eventually go rated. You may land up being 1 of the 75-90% of the selected stem degree that the AF has deemed critical manning and will not send to pilot training.
 
Pima,
Hope you don't mind me joining in on this conversation. My son was awarded a Type 7 scholarship and he is a non-technical major. He also does not want to fly. What would be the best way for him to help himself during his first 2 years to increase his chances of being selected?
 
Bumping because I've gotten some conflicting information about this. From most of my research, it's extremely hard to get an AFROTC scholarship unless you're a tech or foreign language major. Someone posted above that only 15% of scholarships go to non techs, and that's always been my understanding of it. But a member of the cadre at an AFROTC unit I visited today said that this is no longer the case and that many of her det's scholarship cadets were non tech majors. So now I'm kind of confused as to how much your choice of major actually impacts your chances.
 
I heard of at least one got a type 1 any major this year. It was posted here:)
 
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usafa2022 said:
Bumping because I've gotten some conflicting information about this. From most of my research, it's extremely hard to get an AFROTC scholarship unless you're a tech or foreign language major. Someone posted above that only 15% of scholarships go to non techs, and that's always been my understanding of it. But a member of the cadre at an AFROTC unit I visited today said that this is no longer the case and that many of her det's scholarship cadets were non tech majors. So now I'm kind of confused as to how much your choice of major actually impacts your chances.
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I think the shortage of AF officers is changing a lot of things. From my son and others who have posted it looks like if you're a sophomore in good standing then you're going to FT. This probably;y won't change unless Trump decides to scale down the military. :)
 
Pima said:
some corrections.

AS250 are sophomores that did not do AFROTC as a freshman.
AS500s are juniors that were not selected for SFT AND allowed to remain in the program.
~ It is important to note that if not selected as a 200/250 it is not a guarantee that HQ AFROTC will allow you to stay. Command must recommend you. In years past if not selected for SFT it was a rarity that you would be allowed to stay. It was almost a guarantee that you would be disenrolled from the program.
~ The other importance is that they do not like to send them to SFT as a rising senior because one of the requirements is you must be a POC for 3 semesters. Secondly, it is a disadvantage to that cadet if they want to go rated. Rated boards meet the cadets AS300 yr (junior). Going as an AS500 (junior, not selected 1st time SFT) cannot meet the rated board until they go to SFT, because SFT ranking is part of their score. It is not as big of a deal for non-rated because they will not meet their career field (AFSC) until fall of their 400 yr., their rank is still part of their OML, but still they would attend before the non-rated board.

Soap,
You are also confusing NROTC with AFROTC. NROTC will not allow you to become a POC unless you are on scholarship. It is called a side load scholarship. IOWS, they did not get one out of HS and now compete nationally for an In College scholarship.
AFROTC does not care at all if you are or are not on scholarship. They only care that you are selected for SFT. SFT boards are national. The scholarship has no impact on selection since it is what the military calls masked. Masked means that the raters do not know if the cadet is or is not on scholarship.

Now that being stated as it was said earlier the selection rate for SFT as a non-tech is lower. Non-tech asking for non-rated is the lowest selection rate. There are 4 selection pools. Tech going rate/Tech going non-rated/Non-tech going rated/non-tech going non-rated.
The avg cgpa for a tech major is @3.0/3.1. For non-tech it is 3.3/3.4

FWIW my DS was a Type 2 as a non-tech major. Type 2s make up about 15% of all scholarships awarded, or about 135, but just like Type 1, only 5% of those 135 will go to non-tech. The avg ACT for these applicants is close to 31 best sitting, not superscore.
~ DS had a best sitting of 34. SAT best sitting of 1410. Just my opinion, but like the cgpa selection for SFT, if you want the scholarship as a non-tech do not aim for the avg, aim for much higher because the selection rate is lower.
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As you probably know, everything that we knew as far as selection rates and GPA figures has gone out the window. They recently lowered the required GPA to go to LEAD and contract as a POC down to 2.0 so that just goes to show who they are expecting to take. At this point, it comes down to if the cadet has officer potential and if they do, they are put up for the scholarship. This year we had more scholarship allocations than cadets that should be getting them.
 
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