Yes, my son has been scanning the school websites. That said, some schools put a lot of in depth information about ROTC on their websites and some have very little information at all. He doesn’t want to “judge a book by its cover” so to speak, so he’s hoping for some insight on other ways to assess the program strength and quality.
I've had three kids go through the same process (and applied to two of the schools in your list, but in the end did not choose either).
As mentioned, look at the school first. That is the most important. For instance, UCLA stands out academically and in other areas in your list. But it also depends on the major and how strong that school is for the major. Also, is he looking for a small school or a large school environment? Is he looking for a more urban setting with a lot of things to do like a UCLA, or a more suburban setting with access to skiing like the CO schools? If there is a school that's by far the first choice, go with it.
But your son does want to enjoy his ROTC experience and get a lot out of it. So, if one school does not stand out, you can try to compare the cadres in some ways because not all are created equal.
First, you can visit the schools in person (which you're probably doing) and also the cadres. This is a great option to gain insight into the cadres in terms of personnel, the energy level, activities for the cadets, etc. For instance, you can ask about summer activities such as Project Go. A good cadre will have info on summer activities and be presenting these to the cadets. Or are there cadet-run fun activities like a ski club or surfing club?
You can also look at the websites and social media accounts (FB, Instagram). To us, this provided interesting insights. For instance, one of the schools you listed had a terribly out-of-date website with very little info in comparison to other schools being looked at. That sent up a red flag - is the command not energetic, why aren't they trying to sell their cadre to potential students, is the commander in a soon-to-be-retired mode, why doesn't the command realize this generation is active on social media, etc?
(The schools my kids chose all had current websites with excellent info, and active social media sites that detailed activities, etc. Plus these were cadet-run sites which to us was positive.)
Another way to get some insight is to phone or email the cadres to set up appointments for visits. For us, some were very enthused in their responses. Others weren't or didn't even reply to the email.
There was a noticeable disparity among cadres that my kids looked into. That came into play in my kids' decisions because they did not have one school that stood out as their clear top choice (except for my daughter I should add).
In sum, the school should be the first factor. But you can do some things to look at the different cadres in the vent your son has multiple schools he'd be happy attending.
Good luck!
