Interesting "problem"

N

NavyUMO

Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2020
Messages
244
I solicit the input from this esteemed group as my DS (who has wrangled with this for sometime) now has all of the information to make his best decision on where to go next year. He has worked very hard and has put himself in a position to have a plethora of choices that I realize really come down to his heart, gut, service preferences etc.

He has all 3 service ROTC scholarships, appointments to all 4 service academies, and a full 40 Acres Scholarship (no ROTC or academy commitment) which is a full 4 year ride to the University of Texas at Austin. He has acceptances to Princeton, Duke, UCLA, UNC, UVA, UTA, and William and Mary.

He has to decide on the 40 Acres scholarship by next Monday and the rest NLT 1 May.

Would love to hear pros/cons from this esteemed group that perhaps we haven't considered in our lists.
 
Well, what branch does he want to serve in? That should eliminate 2 ROTC scholarships and 3 of the service academies right off the bat based on that answer.

After that, I’d look at what his top choice school is. Go to admitted students’ weekends and get a feel for how life is as a student at that school.

Does he want a more normal college experience? Or does he want to attend a service academy? Remember, everyone commissions as an O-1 and gets paid the same…

If leaning towards ROTC, which schools host the unit? Which schools are cross-town? For example, Princeton hosts Army on campus (it’s a fantastic program for sure), but Navy is at Rutgers. If you want to do NROTC at Princeton, just know you’ll have to commute some for NROTC activities.

Intended major could be something else to consider as well.

I’ve heard great things about NROTC at Duke, UCLA, UNC, UVA, and UT Austin. Princeton Army is amazing too.
 
@NavyUMO, there's no "problem" here whatsoever. With all due respect, there's really no point in soliciting pros/cons here. You and your son know what they are and nothing said here should affect the decision. He just needs to make the choice based on what's most important to him. Whether it's a good decision or not will depend on what he does when he gets there, not on what any of us think. Best wishes to him.
 
Oh, that we would all be so burdened. He'll be in great shape no matter what he chooses. Every possible path is fantastic.

Agree with others who said there is little we could offer. Best of luck to you and DS!
 
That is great to have that many options and congratulations to him, but if he doesn't even know what branch he wants to serve by this point. The "problem" is not having too many options, it's a inability to make choices. I understand applying for everything when the cycle started last summer. It is now April, he should at least have a branch he has chosen and that will eliminate most of the options. It's hard to provide pros/cons when the option list is so long. Good luck!
 
Your kid makes my kid look super lazy! DS applied to only 6 schools and 2 academies. Good luck to your son. I have a feeling whatever choice he makes he won't regret it.
 
@NavyUMO If you don't mind me asking, are you/were you a Navy Undersea Medical Officer?

Thank you.
 
It’s not a problem. It’s a decision. Suggest your son, alone in his room, make a list of pros and cons of each. Agree with @Ivy22 that it should be relatively easy to knock out a military branch, or two, to align with his military career goals. Then, decide if he wants a military academy structure, or not.

And sometimes we have to whittle down to desirable options, and throw a dart 🎯

I see you are a USNA grad and Navy physican, so you can certainly lend valuable info to the academy life.

But my biggest piece of advice is to let him 100 pct make the decision, on his own, so he has no ability to blame you when he wonders what he has gotten himself into.

He can decide. Have faith in him! Then, jump in with both feet and don’t look back.
 
Holden100 said:
Your kid makes my kid look super lazy! DS applied to only 6 schools and 2 academies. Good luck to your son. I have a feeling whatever choice he makes he won't regret it.
Click to expand...
DS applied to 3 schools and 2 academies. Attending academy is once in a lifetime opportunity -- so as soon as he secured his West Point appointment -- all other schools except USNA don't matter to him. During his CFA training in an army base, someone applied to all 5 academies. DS was approached by USMMA for swimming team recruit but he felt USMMA was not military enough -:)
 
gniyji said:
DS applied to 3 schools and 2 academies. Attending academy is once in a lifetime opportunity -- so as soon as he secured his West Point appointment -- all other schools except USNA don't matter to him. During his CFA training in an army base, someone applied to all 5 academies. DS was approached by USMMA for swimming team recruit but he felt USMMA was not military enough -:)
Click to expand...
Hoping your DS hears something soon from USNA, good luck to him!
 
Bottom line… does he without a doubt want to serve? What service does he prefer? Will he thrive in a SA 24x7 environment or a civilian school environment? These answers should lead to his decision.

A few other items to consider; major, which school has that. If he isn’t 100% on serving he has 1 year in ROTC before commitment, 2 for a SA. Training opportunities can vary, generally SAs have more opportunities and options.

At the end of the day he needs to decide which service and environment he will thrive in. Go there, commit to it and go all in.
 
Why go through the intense application processes for all those schools, each military academy and each service scholarship program and not have any idea what you want to do….so you ask a forum? Seems like a disingenuous question, IMO.
 
Olmec111 said:
Why go through the intense application processes for all those schools, each military academy and each service scholarship program and not have any idea what you want to do….so you ask a forum? Seems like a disingenuous question, IMO.
Click to expand...
I tend to agree with this sentiment. The most important question is does he want to serve or not. Then what career path/branch is he most interested. That clears the path. I don't understand people that apply to multiple academies, ROTC programs and numerous colleges without having a forward-looking plan about what they want to do. Listing off all those acceptances seems like more of a status symbol thing than a genuine commitment to service. This forum is not the place to choose pros and cons. Your son should have already thought through that long before now.
 
I'm actually working now but . . . anyway, I'm in my Biotechnology class with a handful of brainiacs, a student who is looking at photos of her six month old daughter, a student trying to stay awake, another sleepy one who has two jobs, a West Point appointee, a boy with an academic full ride offer from a Virginia Ivy plus other prestigious offers, and the happiest of them all ???????????

A girl who just "committed" to a mid-ranked state school. She's happy she got in and doesn't have to fret over it anymore. Her biggest problem today is figuring out the mysteries of FAFSA. I whispered to the West Point girl, "Not your problem, huh?"

Just thought I'd provide a deck plate view of happenings in a high school classroom today. It's a stressful time of year for some, others are thrilled to have these "problems," and others are just passing through.

Me? Well, I'm working on my grade book. Grades are due tomorrow.
 
What strings are attached to that full ride? Does he need to keep a specific gpa, for example? What are his career goals?
 
NavyUMO said:
I solicit the input from this esteemed group as my DS (who has wrangled with this for sometime) now has all of the information to make his best decision on where to go next year. He has worked very hard and has put himself in a position to have a plethora of choices that I realize really come down to his heart, gut, service preferences etc.

He has all 3 service ROTC scholarships, appointments to all 4 service academies, and a full 40 Acres Scholarship (no ROTC or academy commitment) which is a full 4 year ride to the University of Texas at Austin. He has acceptances to Princeton, Duke, UCLA, UNC, UVA, UTA, and William and Mary.

He has to decide on the 40 Acres scholarship by next Monday and the rest NLT 1 May.

Would love to hear pros/cons from this esteemed group that perhaps we haven't considered in our lists.
Click to expand...
damnnn what does someone's stats even look like for this. this is insane
 
This decision should have already been made using some kind of decision tree, but here is my opinion.
#1, don't go to a SA unless 100% dedicated to serving the USA and in that branch
#2, don't go to a SA if you want the "college experience"
#3, don't turn down a full-ride to a top 10 state school

All military branches are having recruiting issues, so there may be more OCS options in four years than exist today. If he wants to serve when he is 22, there will be options. From what I have seen on this forum, ROTC is much harder than it was in the 90s. If he has a chance to get a free degree, not wake up early 4-5 days per week, and not owe 8 years after graduation, then do it.
 
I'm sure there will be plenty of good advice in terms of which may be better.

As an aside, if he really isn't feeling committed to NROTC, responding back soonest can allow NSTC to give that quota to an alternate candidate. Otherwise, the unused quota shifts into the bank for sideload scholarships this spring/summer.
 
@NavyUMO - I understand from glancing at your previous posts that you are a USNA grad and this is your DS #2 journey as DS #1 ended up in ROTC. If I have that right, I would suspect you have all the pro's and con's of each path covered by personal experience.

It really seems that this decision needs to fall on your son and what HE desires. Just be careful to make sure he isn't pursuing military service to please you or for some status/ bragging rights. He has to genuinely want to serve his country as a part of the military. If he has any doubts, that 40 Acres scholarship sounds like a great choice for him.

By the way, I saw you are 100% disabled. Thanks for your personal service and sacrifice.

Best wishes for your son.
 
GWU PNS (emeritus) said:
I'm sure there will be plenty of good advice in terms of which may be better.

As an aside, if he really isn't feeling committed to NROTC, responding back soonest can allow NSTC to give that quota to an alternate candidate. Otherwise, the unused quota shifts into the bank for sideload scholarships this spring/summer.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this remind --- DS is about to giving up his NROTC but in the form -- he has to state the reason which is to attend a SA (at this point, he is more likely to USMA but USNA has not sent him TWE yet. He will do so as soon as he gets back from USNA
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top