Ivy League NROTC Comparison

[Swimmomstl]

That's good to hear, Rudycoon! My DD wants to be a Physics major but also interested in math/comp sci. Cornell would be an AMAZING school for her. She's applying this week, finishing up those pesky essays.

We're actually driving to Ohio on Sunday from Boston and will stay in Ithaca overnight to give us a break. Any advice on hikes we can take around the campus? It's damn hard to get to know a school during Covid, campus visits seem like they're just tours of the architecture and foilage. Still, I've never been and heard it's gorgeous, so maybe a Winter walk around will be fun, if it's not particularly insightful.

Private message me if your son would be willing to talk to my daughter!

Did your DD go EA anywhere? My DD gets her MIT decision Saturday. Best of luck to your daughter and hopes she gets all the opportunities she’s worked so hard for !!

 

[MA Homeschool Dad]

Did your DD go EA anywhere? My DD gets her MIT decision Saturday. Best of luck to your daughter and hopes she gets all the opportunities she’s worked so hard for !!

Thanks, Swimmomstl!

No, she was so busy with all the SA applications, she only went EA to RPI, a school I like a lot.

Funny, MIT is a 15 minute drive from our house. My wife works 3 blocks away in Central Sq.

So, we'll see. I've got to think a Type I AFROTC scholarship has to help. MIT is a host school, so they have to fill their ROTC slots. I think a lot of "getting in" is how you compete for the super "micro" pool of slots in your subcategory, like AFROTC. EA is probably a good idea, here. You can be pretty amazing, but if all the AFROTC slots are filled by the time you apply, it's not going to happen for you. That's why she's applying to Cornell and CMU and a bunch more.

Good luck!

 

[MA Homeschool Dad]

Did your DD go EA anywhere? My DD gets her MIT decision Saturday. Best of luck to your daughter and hopes she gets all the opportunities she’s worked so hard for !!

any news? my DD just finished applying at midnight yesterday. Now, a month wait until we hear from Congressional nominations. Then late March for colleges. SAs? April / May? Not sure!

 

[Swimmomstl]

Oh she didn’t get in. No one from her school did. It was an incredible disappointment. But then she got two congressional noms - one to usma and one to USAFA !! She has one more college app out there and then she will decide. Best of luck to you !! Fingers crossed for nom for you!!

 

[Paine1776]

Congrats! Awesome achievement. I interview candidates for Columbia (35 years now) and can tell you it is an amazing achievement to earn the acceptance letter. Columbia is now the most selective Ivy at 4.7% versus 5% at Yale. Either is a license to print success going forward. Read Paul Tough's book: The Years that Matter Most - How College Makes you or Breaks You. It has decades of statistical evidence on how "Ivy+" (the Ivy League plus MIT, Chicago, Stanford) can change anyone's trajectory in life just by virtue of graduating with one of those 10 brands. Columbia is famous for its 'Core Curriculum' (you already know this) and no one has anything which credibly compares to the experience of the first two years at Columbia (for essential learning - liberal arts). Columbia forces you to become educated based on their tradition/experience in this category while Yale gives you more freedom of movement in course selection (and opportunities to miss the essentials.) You have two of the ten most desirable brands on earth from which to choose. Flip a coin. You cannot lose. As a CU alum, I favor Columbia and would steer you to NYC. Yale is Yale - nothing short of similarly awesome. New Haven will not change your life as a city experience. NYC likely will change you in many aspects. Consider the city too. Congrats!!

 

[MA Homeschool Dad]

Best of luck to you !! Fingers crossed for nom for you!!

Stats were:
ACT 34 / Homeschooled with 40 credits at Harvard Extension (but 3.8 GPA), no huge academic awards, not a genius
Girls State, Civil Air Patrol squad commander

Elite School RESULTS:

1) Yale and Cornell - waitlisted (which means no, but made top 6% of pool)
2) UPenn and Carnegie Mellon accepted (CMU accepted 10%, college of science, last year, it'll be lower 2021. UPenn was around 4.3% this year)
3) USNA/USAFA - accepted

This is a really strong result, especially this year. I'm almost more blown away by the 2 waitlists, as that means my ROTC DD was consistently in the top 6% of the applicant pool across 4 schools there. I estimate her stats are 1 in 200, but not 1 in 500 or 1 in 1000 (like a Intel Science Fair Award finalist). Though, she interviews really well.

My takeaway: average board scores (for the elite schools) + 4 or more hard science college classes + Civil Air/JROTC or similar is a good working formula. There's also an advantage to females who are strong in STEM in some schools.

I read another poster saying her DS was accepted to many Ivies, thanks to ROTC. Others said it bears little weight, or random weight.

Our experience gives additional evidence that ROTC either helps directly OR that the things you do to get the ROTC scholarship also positively boost your chances considerably.

 

[thibaud]

My $0.02: Yale's ROTC programs are stellar, but the surrounding campus is extremely woke these days. You may find a rather different ethos prevails among your fellow students. (Yale actually fired Nicholas Christakis, one of their most honored and distinguished professors, due to The Screaming Girl. She got an award at graduation.)

If your politics skew woke, then np, but otherwise you might want to consider Columbia, which has a fair number of prominent and courageous professors (Mark Lilla, John McWhorter, Todd Gitlin and Nicholas Lemann) who continue to champion free thought and a wide range of views, regardless of whether some students find them incorrect or troubling.

Do your due diligence and decide what your tolerance level is. Good luck!

 

[MA Homeschool Dad]

My $0.02: Yale's ROTC programs are stellar, but the surrounding campus is extremely woke these days. You may find a rather different ethos prevails among your fellow students. (Yale actually fired Nicholas Christakis, one of their most honored and distinguished professors, due to The Screaming Girl. She got an award at graduation.)

If your politics skew woke, then np, but otherwise you might want to consider Columbia, which has a fair number of prominent and courageous professors (Mark Lilla, John McWhorter, Todd Gitlin and Nicholas Lemann) who continue to champion free thought and a wide range of views, regardless of whether some students find them incorrect or troubling.

Do your due diligence and decide what your tolerance level is. Good luck!

DD was very impressed by AFROTC at Yale. But, waitlisted, so not an option.

Didn't apply Columbia. NROTC UPenn has been GREAT to her, and so has NROTC CMU. AFROTC hasn't been 10% as responsive or helpful at those schools. Sucks, because I favor AF, but what can you do.

UPenn has Wharton to balance the woke-ness. My conservative college professor friend told me UPenn is the "good Ivy".