Is it to late to apply for AFROTC Scholarship?

C

Chas3down

5-Year Member
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Jan 9, 2013
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On the AFROTC website it says

"6. When and how will I be notified if I have been offered a scholarship?

If offered an Air Force ROTC scholarship, you will be notified in writing after the scholarship selection boards meet.

Board results are scheduled to be released on or around the following dates:

Dec 21, 2012
Feb 15, 2013
Mar 15, 2013
Apr 12, 2013
"


But it also says


"Complete your online application by December 1"

SO, I take it that it is to late to apply? I see people talking around these forums about different review boards, is December 1st just for the first review board? Or do I need to summit my online application before December 1st regardless.
 
It depends, are you a high school Jr. or Sr.? The application opens up in May of your Jr. year BUT, EVERYTHING must be completed by Dec. 1 of your Sr. year.

So unfortunately if you are a Sr, then yes it is too late for you to apply for a high school 4-year scholarship.

IF you are a Jr., then you have nothing to worry about until next May :thumb:

But, don't be discouraged, if you are a Sr. now, you still have the ability to compete for a campus-based scholarship your freshman year.
 
Thompson said:
But, don't be discouraged, if you are a Sr. now, you still have the ability to compete for a campus-based scholarship your freshman year.
Click to expand...

Provided you enroll in AROTC as a college programmer.
 
Yes it is too late.

You must submit an initial online application by Dec 1, it doesnt take long. All the additional documents that need to be sent in (i.e SAT scores, transcript, etc) and the interview can be done at a later date though. But you can still join as a walk on.
 
Thompson said:
Programmer?
Click to expand...

A college Programmer is someone who enrolls in ROTC without a scholarship. They participate in all the same activities, and have the same leadership opportunities as a scholarship cadet or midshipman. However, they cannot participate in summer training until the are contracted (Army may be a little different in that regard). Their goal is to earn an on campus scholarship. Barring that, they need to achieve Advanced Standing or approval to move to the Advanced Course by their rising junior year. Different services have different names for this stage but they all mean the same thing... you can still participate and get the stipend.
 
Not to confuse the OP even more, but there is no such thing as programmer for AFROTC.

As a sr. in hs it is too late for an AFROTC scholarship, but it is not over for getting a scholarship next yr.

You can join in the fall and apply for an IS scholarship as a freshman. They vary from 2 to 3 yrs. Not only is that option available every yr the majority of AFROTC dets offer scholarships that can be used at their college. The IS like the HSSP, it is a national competition. The det is just for those at their school. The difference is you will not be considered "contracted", and you may or may not receive the stipend/book allowance depending on their scholarships. The national will contract you.

That brings us back to kinnems post regarding "programmers" For AFROTC whether you are on scholarship or not, you all will compete for summer field training your sophomore yr. You do not need to be contracted to attend SFT.

Once you complete SFT, you become a POC, as a POC, that is when non-scholarship cadets will contract. That is when they will receive a stipend, but nothing else. IOTW there still is no scholarship like NROTC.

For AFROTC it is very possible to commission without ever having a scholarship, in actuality they are the majority of the commissioned cadets. Only 20% of all applicants will receive a national scholarship from HSSP. 2-3 yrs ago there were no ISSs, thus for that class yr., which I believe is this yrs commissioning class, there are some dets that might have 0 on scholarships.

Our DS had a total of 6 on HSSP/ISSP out of 26 cadets. I don't know how many det only scholarships, but I would guess maybe an additional 2 or 3, since typically his det only gives 1 a yr. That would mean @40% in total had a scholarship.

This has been the AFROTC system for decades. As a matter of fact Bullet earned an IS scholarship as a sophomore. He lost it as a sr., because of academics, and still commissioned with a UNT slot. He owed the exact same amount of ADAF time as those that were on scholarship. It also had no impact on his ADAF career in any manner. Once you commission AF doesn't care whether you were a scholarship recipient nor an AFA grad. It is a clean new slate.

OBTW, AFROTC CoCs do not care whether or not you are on scholarship. Nobody even discusses. That is probably because again there is no programmer program in AFROTC. All they care about is how you do there and if you are going to make the cut for SFT selection. SFT selection is not a given for anyone, so that is the closest thing to the NROTC route. As I said, even scholarship cadets must fight for a slot. Scholarships for SFT boards are "masked", that means the committee has no idea if the cadet has one, or doesn't have one.
 
Thanks for that informational post. I still have 2 questions...

I know I wont get a scholarship but can I still participate in ROTC my freshman year(i believe you said yes)?
Also, I believe you said I could not participate in any summer training, correct?
 
Last edited:
Yes, you can still join. This is not an issue at all.

AFROTC is not like NROTC or AROTC, there will be 1 summer training opportunity. That is SFT which I discussed in my prior post. Scholarship cadets aren't doing any training prior to that, so you aren't missing anything.

SFT is a selection board. This board meets @ Feb of your sophomore yr. Scholarships have no bearing on whether you go or you don't. The fact is it is the make or break yr for every single cadet. There are scholarship cadets that will not get selected, just like non-scholarship cadets. As I stated, that portion of the package submitted is masked, not one board member will ever know who is and who isn't on scholarship. It is a pure scoring system, giving a specific percentage for the following sections:

PFT
CGPA
SAT/AFOQT
CoC

Notice...no percentage anywhere for scholarship

AFROTC scholarships do not equate into 100% guarantee of commissioning 4 yrs later.

If not selected, AFROTC has the right to do 1 of 2 things.
1. Allow them to become a C500 and compete again the following yr.
2. Dis-enroll them completely. If dis-enrolled it is totally over for an AF commissioning, you can't even go OCS upon graduating college.

The one thing to understand about the AFROTC program and SFT, is a large bulk will be academic. They give an edge for tech majors compared to non-tech majors. A tech can feel safe @3.1 cgpa, a non-tech is @3.3/3.4.
It is important to understand how high that cgpa is because you will only have 3 semesters before your packet is submitted. 1 semester at 2.8, and you are fighting really hard those other 2 semesters to make the cut.

Additionally, many cadets don't realize that their SAT will come into play again as a college student. AFROTC does not use the superscore system, it is best sitting. To place that into perspective, typical recipients range from 1260-1350 in 1 sitting. If you are not in that ball park, take the SAT/ACT again this spring. IMPO, you don't want to be in college juggling AFROTC, 19+ credits, social life and studying for the SAT again...especially since they are on Sat...football games, or sleeping in after hanging out until 2 a.m. does not typically translates into doing well.

I only used the scholarship recipient scores because they will be your competition from an SAT/ACT perspective for that board, thus you already know that if 20% of the class is on scholarship, than you know they have an edge if you are below that number.

Also, the reason that you may see a higher % of scholarship recipients compared to non-scholarship is not because of the AFROTC requirements, but most of these cadets have merit from the college itself too. AFROTC requires a min. cgpa of 2.5 for a scholarship, however, many colleges will require between 3.0-3.2 for their scholarships. The cadets are striving for that cgpa to keep their other scholarship, which now bumps up the overall cgpa for selection.

Our DS was one of those cadets, he had to have a 3.2 for his college scholarship, so he kept it above 3.3 every semester not to risk that money.
 
Hi Pima. I was trying to give a general explanation for Thompson and cover my bases with differences in advanced standing, etc. But I'm curious. What do you call what the other services would call a college programmer in AFROTC? (No, it's not a riddle or a joke :biggrin:)
 
AFROTC would call them a POC. They attended and graduated SFT. Any cadet that has yet to attend SFT would be a GMC.

The thing is if I have it right NROTC and AFROTC have the same break yr.

NROTC offers a side load scholarship, and the mids must meet a board. No programmer = dis-enrollment. They than at that point can not do summer training, however, HSSP recipients are guaranteed.

AFROTC does not guarantee summer training. They guarantee AFROTC HSSP for only 2 yrs, and after that they compete for the summer training. Don't make it as a HSSP you lose the AFROTC scholarship. Make it as non-scholarship you still don't get a scholarship, you get POC and stipend.

There is no scholarship because you went to summer training.

Hope that helps regarding how AFROTC and NROTC works differently.
 
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