ISR for MIT

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WCGuy

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May 8, 2023
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Hi all, currently a junior nearing the end of my school year, and I recently started my application for AFROTC and Navy ROTC. A few days ago, I was on a call with my NROTC scholarship coordinator, and he offered me to apply to the NROTC ISR program based on my profile and SAT. I've looked through a bit of what's on the forum here, but the one thing that worries me is how late the ISR thing comes out. Based on what I'm reading (and I could be misinterpreting it, not super knowledgable about ROTC) it comes out late November/early December at the earliest, compared to the October/November/December boards for regular ROTC? My top choice is MIT, and I've heard that anecdotally getting the scholarship and either emailing the ROTC program at MIT or sending an email to admissions could slightly bump your chances of getting in, but if I'm giving up a chance to get the scholarship in October and potentially getting in December when it's too late to make much of an impact I'd rather just take the normal scholarship. I think I'm pretty competitive for MIT (4.0, 1590, training camp for a small olympiad, captain of varsity sport + another normal varsity sport etc) but obviously, schools like MIT are insanely hard to get into, so I wanted clarification on the timeline and if it would help my chances to get into MIT if I get the scholarship. I have a brother at the USNA but based on what he says there, I'd rather try to do ROTC at a normal college because I'm not really sure what exactly I want to be exactly besides faint dreams of astronaut, but then again doesn't everyone wants to be an astronaut ;).
 
My daughter was offered an ISR and she went to MIT (but did AFROTC). She also did EA at MIT (decisions come out in mid December). But she didn’t have to do a special app, she was called in and offered it. The NROTC app was done in summer and she got the offer in September. So your statement that they come out in Nov seems odd. Plus, we understood it to be a local decision, not a board decision.
Go for it though and go for MIT. If you do get the ISR. You can always call the school and update your application.
Hope this helps. There are NROTC posters who will have better insights. But MIT is a great school and they have excellent ROTC programs. Plus you can’t beat Boston as a place to go to college. Good luck!
 
In my DS' case, he was awarded the ISR in September, but did not receive the official award until November. The ISRs are awarded by the regional NTAG commanders, but still go before a board for review and final approval. This just involves reviewing the file and ensuring all qualifications are met. Some ISRs are awarded earlier and some later, so there is no way to know for sure how long it would take for yours to be processed, assuming you are awarded an ISR. You say you were invited to apply for the ISR, not that you were offered it. It seems awfully early in the process to actually be offered an ISR. Some NTAG commanders will select who they want to offer the ISR to then ask them to apply. Some will invite several people to apply and make it a competitive process to receive the award.

You also seem to be assuming you will be offered a regular scholarship on one of the first two boards. That is a bold assumption. A 1590 is an impressive SAT. Is that 4.0 your unweighted GPA or weighted? What is your school's academic profile? You say captain of one varsity sport and participate in another. What is your role in the training camp you mentioned; are you a leader there? What is your intended major? Etc. Keep in mind you will be applying for the scholarship alongside and competing against other similarly qualified people. For reference, my DS had a 4.0 unweighted GPA, captain of two varsity sports, Eagle Scout, leader of a STEM club, 34 ACT and other various qualifications. And the tangible "stats" are not everything. How did you do in the interview? How was your AFA? You very well may be offered a scholarship on the first or second board. Then again, you may never be offered a scholarship. Each year, many highly qualified applicants do not receive a scholarship.

My advice would be, if you are invited to apply for the ISR, pursue that. If you are awarded the ISR, it is the sure thing. If you are not awarded the ISR, your application is then submitted for consideration by the regular boards. The main application is the same. The ISR just has, I think, a one page checklist for the qualifications for ISR consideration. DS also had to complete the drug questionnaire and a couple other forms as I recall.
 
ProudDad17 said:
In my DS' case, he was awarded the ISR in September, but did not receive the official award until November. The ISRs are awarded by the regional NTAG commanders, but still go before a board for review and final approval. This just involves reviewing the file and ensuring all qualifications are met. Some ISRs are awarded earlier and some later, so there is no way to know for sure how long it would take for yours to be processed, assuming you are awarded an ISR. You say you were invited to apply for the ISR, not that you were offered it. It seems awfully early in the process to actually be offered an ISR. Some NTAG commanders will select who they want to offer the ISR to then ask them to apply. Some will invite several people to apply and make it a competitive process to receive the award.

You also seem to be assuming you will be offered a regular scholarship on one of the first two boards. That is a bold assumption. A 1590 is an impressive SAT. Is that 4.0 your unweighted GPA or weighted? What is your school's academic profile? You say captain of one varsity sport and participate in another. What is your role in the training camp you mentioned; are you a leader there? What is your intended major? Etc. Keep in mind you will be applying for the scholarship alongside and competing against other similarly qualified people. For reference, my DS had a 4.0 unweighted GPA, captain of two varsity sports, Eagle Scout, leader of a STEM club, 34 ACT and other various qualifications. And the tangible "stats" are not everything. How did you do in the interview? How was your AFA? You very well may be offered a scholarship on the first or second board. Then again, you may never be offered a scholarship. Each year, many highly qualified applicants do not receive a scholarship.

My advice would be, if you are invited to apply for the ISR, pursue that. If you are awarded the ISR, it is the sure thing. If you are not awarded the ISR, your application is then submitted for consideration by the regular boards. The main application is the same. The ISR just has, I think, a one page checklist for the qualifications for ISR consideration. DS also had to complete the drug questionnaire and a couple other forms as I recall.
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Hmm yah in that case I may have misheard my coordinator, he said that we get our ISR stuff early in September but that the "official" stuff may come out as late as December? Although I guess if the ISR scholarship is confirmed in September I could just talk to the cadre and the unit at MIT to ask them to talk to admissions earlier than December anyways, so that's reassuring. My school is a very competitive public school (top 650 nationally), and so far I've had a 4.0 UW (we don't do weighted).

So the training camp is like an olympiad training camp in preparation for the international one, similar to the MOP but for a much smaller olympiad, and I'm a competitor (not coach or anything). Most of my extracurriculars are focused on Atmospheric Sciences/Applied Math, which is the field I'm hoping to major in.

I haven't actually done the AFA or any of that yet, this was my first call with my coordinator a few days after starting the online application. And yep, I wasn't actually offered the ISR, I believe it's usually 6 candidates for 4 spots or something like that so not a lock at all. Thanks for the advice! I'll pursue ISR and hope for the best.
 
I really don't see a downside to pursuing the ISR. It sounds like your coordinator is being conservative with their time estimates to give plenty of time for the board approval. Best of luck to you.
 
I'm not sure what the situation is with MIT admissions and NROTC scholarships, but I can tell you what it was at my university. Going to be honest here, ROTC is not a golden ticket to admission to an Ivy League or other top-ranked school like being a recruited athlete can be (which I was not). You still need to have competitive GPA, test scores, extracurriculars, letters of rec., etc. And do NOT forget about your application essays! These can truly make or break your whole package. Both college and ROTC applications. Write them yourself so it's coming from you and spend a lot of time on them. It's true that some units at these schools have relations with college admissions committees, but (at least at my university) not to the extent where they could ask to admit a specific applicant just because they had an ROTC scholarship. I would say ROTC is more seen as something that could give you slight edge over others who have similar stats and packages because it sets you apart from them, but it doesn't mean you can slack off in other areas of the application. I don't know what goes on behind the closed doors of admissions committees, but when they say "whole person", they mean it.

As to your question about applying for NROTC early, I would say it doesn't hurt to apply as soon as you have a good package to submit for review. EA/ED is also great for a school you really want to go to. Lastly, I realize that college admissions have become way more competitive since I applied. Same with ROTC applications. I would say for this, don't count yourself out. If you don't ask, the answer is always no, so at least put in apps to places and programs, you never know what may happen :)
 
Ivy22 said:
I'm not sure what the situation is with MIT admissions and NROTC scholarships, but I can tell you what it was at my university. Going to be honest here, ROTC is not a golden ticket to admission to an Ivy League or other top-ranked school like being a recruited athlete can be (which I was not). You still need to have competitive GPA, test scores, extracurriculars, letters of rec., etc. And do NOT forget about your application essays! These can truly make or break your whole package. Both college and ROTC applications. Write them yourself so it's coming from you and spend a lot of time on them. It's true that some units at these schools have relations with college admissions committees, but (at least at my university) not to the extent where they could ask to admit a specific applicant just because they had an ROTC scholarship. I would say ROTC is more seen as something that could give you slight edge over others who have similar stats and packages because it sets you apart from them, but it doesn't mean you can slack off in other areas of the application. I don't know what goes on behind the closed doors of admissions committees, but when they say "whole person", they mean it.

As to your question about applying for NROTC early, I would say it doesn't hurt to apply as soon as you have a good package to submit for review. EA/ED is also great for a school you really want to go to. Lastly, I realize that college admissions have become way more competitive since I applied. Same with ROTC applications. I would say for this, don't count yourself out. If you don't ask, the answer is always no, so at least put in apps to places and programs, you never know what may happen :)
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Good advice all around! I'm definitely grinding the essays this summer on top of working on my sport, I agree that ROTC can tip you over but only if you worked to get your foot in the door, so I'm doing my best to not drop the ball this last few months before apps are due. Thanks for all the advice and help!
 
Take the ISR.

My DD was notified that she was selected for the ISR in mid-September, but it wasn't finalized until December. And even if the ISR doesn't pan out, your application is still up for review in the boards. @Ivy22 said it right, an ROTC scholarship is not a golden ticket and I concur with @ProudDad17, there are a lot of heavy hitters out there. We are out of Covid - competition will become fierce. And despite what you may think, MIT (or any other university of that caliber) doesn't give a darn if you have the ISR or any other kind of full ride scholarship. My DD was not accepted to Northwestern (7% acceptance rate) and she had all the same qualifications you listed, plus Girls State, huge amount of community service, NHS leadership blah blah blah. Good luck, train hard, Go Navy.
 
Partly why MIT and Ivy League schools don't care about if applicants have full scholarships is because a lot of them offer full financial aid if you qualify for it anyways. They are willing to front full tuition and the like themselves to get students they really want to matriculate to their school.

(they also offer no merit or athletic scholarships, only financial aid)
 
WCGuy said:
Little late, but I got in! Thank you to everyone here, I did end up taking the ISR scholarship and am contacting the unit now. :yay:
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That's amazing, congratulations!!! Did you contact admissions or the unit at all before decisions were released? Mine was placed at an Ivy (but I had MIT on my list), and I'm not sure whether I should let admissions know or not.
 
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orca05 said:
That's amazing, congratulations!!! Did you contact admissions or the unit at all before decisions were released? Mine was placed at an Ivy (but I had MIT on my list), and I'm not sure whether I should let admissions know or not.
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Yes, I had some contact with the unit before decisions, November ish? I didn't let admissions know separately, they should have asked during the application process (there was a place to check ROTC interest and whether you had a scholarship or not). Assuming you did that, talk to the individual units at MIT and they'll send a message to admissions. I also don't really know much about how it works cuz I just applied, so take everything with a grain of salt
 
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