January 4, 2011 AROTC Board

[Ohio2015Parent]

Last year was talking to a newspaper reporter about a sports record DS had set and how ten years ago the competition was such that the new record would not have happened. His reply, "You can't choose when you were born." Sometimes birth year bites you and other times it is a blessing, need to be able to see both sides of this coin to be successful in life.

100% agree. DS could have been graduating 2012(which will proably have its own issues and the budgets will be even leaner)but I put him kindergarten as a "young for grade" since he has the dreaded summer birthday. At the time is was the best decision for his situation at that time. Yes, sometimes he's hated being the youngest of his friends, but he didn't get to chose when he was born. Same with this, what will you let define your life - outside sources you have no control over (birth year) or personal decisions and actions? Remember as Pima and others frequently have pointed out - scholarship cadet isn't the only path to the goal. But it is a lot of fun speculating and its really ugly outside in Cincy today(rain, rain ,rain)

 

[Pima]

Sometimes birth year bites you and other times it is a blessing, need to be able to see both sides of this coin to be successful in life.

That made me think of 2 things 20 yrs apart.

Bullet was not the best collegiate AFROTC scholarship student and he actually graduated a yr later than his intended yr. His folks were not pleased to say the least.

A few yrs later because he was commissioned in that later yr, and not when he SHOULD have graduated he actually missed the RIF yrs in 92/93. He was actually saved. Timing was everything. That 92/93 RIF, actually cut lose 95% of every Reserve commissioning. Had he reported earlier chances are we would have taken VSB (Vol. Sep. Ben).

I am not saying to do what Bullet did, just saying fate is fate. It was fate.

FF to now, our DS who now has his career path, will tell anyone and everyone he doubts he would have been given a scholarship if he had to compete today.

The kid had a 1390 out of 1600. APs, EC's the whole package for 2008.

As much as I love him, I agree, I don't know if he would be competitive...compliment to your kids. Again it was fate. He was born in the right yr. DON'T read into he hasn't fought tooth and nail for that AFSC, he is just tipping his cover to say, WOW, it is so much more competitive now. Cover off to you.

Again, remember my son is AFROTC non-tech scholarship. I am looking at these AROTC stats and asking myself what are we coming to? What more do they want? It is insane to read these stats and see that they aren't clear cut decisions.

No matter how it plays out, I have to say our military is in great hands because the level of well rounded 17/18 yos is absolutely amazing.

To me getting an ROTC scholarship, be it A/N/AF/ROTC = one thing...AMAZING stats.

 

[patentesq]

I wouldn't be concerned about a govt shutdown. Honestly, in this economy they aren't going to do it.

I agree with everything Pima says, except the part quoted above. She is right about us headed into a down cycle (in terms of government budgets on the federal and state level), but I don't think it will be immediately dramatic for Army (next year will be worse, unless something weird happens in the Korean peninsula or in the ME).

But I am a bit concerned about a shutdown used at some point as a political maneuver in the looming "Mother of All Budget Battles" (entitlement v. defense cutting) -- not the $100B fight we're having now, but rather the $1 TRILLION deficit we have in the current fiscal (total deficit is $14 trillion). A shutdown can be used to bring added pressure to legislators to make a decision. They may not kick the can two weeks down the road again, or they may shutdown. If they do, the big annoyance for us will be the civilian staff who process transfer requests, DoDMERB, etc. (not active duty military who will remain at their desks) won't be available. And that translates into headaches for DS/DDs. Eventually, though, it will all get sorted out. Timing is everything.

 

[cjs]

I think my DS's best chance, at this point, is a campus based, so I am trying to learn all I can about them - difficult since they do vary in funding, criteria and availablity. His #1 schools ROO knows this kid really wants this school, career path and we have been at numerous activities with the cadre, even with the school being 3 hours away. So hopefully it could happen.

Just out of curiosity, when did you DD find out about her campus based? I think our situation will be after June 1.

Each school seems to handle this differently. Some seem to award in the spring, some wait till the dust settles from the National board and offer in May/June/July and some seem to wait until the school year starts and the kids start ROTC.

I would inquire with your son's schools as to what they do.

 

[cjs]

I guess I'll throw my hat into the speculation ring.

May 1st has been the date that CC requires a confirmation from the scholarship winners that they are indeed keeping the scholarship.

To give the scholarship winners from the Mar. 8th board the full 30 days to accept or decline the offer they would need to have the letters sent out by April 1st to meet the deadline of May 1st. If the letters go out after that date the deadline timeframe will go past the May 1st deadline to confirm the scholarship.

Add into this mix that many applicants have applied to other ROTC programs and are still waiting for the results. Some of these kids have received AROTC offers and are sitting on them waiting to hear from the other programs, they have until May 1st to officially accept or decline. This will open even more slots depending on how many decline.

While the March 8th board is the last official board CC will look at the applications again after the May 1st deadline and may make offers depending on how many slots have opened up. I believe Marist has mentioned this in previous posts. Schools that have open slots may be given the funds to offer Campus Based Scholarships as well.

Of course if the Government does shut down for even a couple weeks that could throw the whole thing into a tailspin. And to think, switching to 3 boards was designed to make the process easier and more manageable, go figure.

Last year the letters asking those awarded scholarships if they were still using the scholarship and the school of intent was Dated May 17th. They had until 6/17/2010 to get the response back to CC.

 

[Ohio2015Parent]

Each school seems to handle this differently. Some seem to award in the spring, some wait till the dust settles from the National board and offer in May/June/July and some seem to wait until the school year starts and the kids start ROTC.

I would inquire with your son's schools as to what they do.

Thanks, cjs. The ROO was the one who brought up campus based, and has already explained they don't normally use these at this school so they have no point of reference for "normal". I suspect from the rest of his explanation, DS wouldn't hear anything until after March results - how late into the summer I have no idea either. Not inclined to push him for info right now, I honestly believe him when he says he has no idea if the funding will even be there. So many hypotheticals in my mind....just wish DS could decide his path without the scholarship issues in play, but he won't. Love the kid to pieces, but he gets stubborn from me

 

[bdaMom]

Each school seems to handle this differently. Some seem to award in the spring, some wait till the dust settles from the National board and offer in May/June/July and some seem to wait until the school year starts and the kids start ROTC.

I would inquire with your son's schools as to what they do.

Our son was offered a 3-year scholarship the last week of July and we had until Aug 1st to get the acceptance form back. We had to do it for him since he was in the middle of basic training - he had joined the Reserves so he could do SMP (plan B after the 4-yr scholarship never came through.) The letter was from the college, but when our son thanked the PMS for the scholarship in the fall, he said, it wasn't him, it was CC. So to this day we really aren't clear if this was considered a campus based scholarship or not.

Anyway, I agree in that you should talk to the school to see how things are done there.

 

[Ohio2015Parent]

Our son was offered a 3-year scholarship the last week of July and we had until Aug 1st to get the acceptance form back. We had to do it for him since he was in the middle of basic training - he had joined the Reserves so he could do SMP (plan B after the 4-yr scholarship never came through.) The letter was from the college, but when our son thanked the PMS for the scholarship in the fall, he said, it wasn't him, it was CC. So to this day we really aren't clear if this was considered a campus based scholarship or not.

Anyway, I agree in that you should talk to the school to see how things are done there.

Thanks for sharing your DS's situation. My DS is also considering SMP as a back up plan. If a campus based comes to be it sounds like they are unpredicable and best left to be considered a "miracle" at my DS's hopedful school. It will be what its gonna be. March board, SMP or campus based - its all up for grabs.

odd OT, is it too strange that the Lady GaGa song "Just Dance" keeps running in my head: I'm not even a fan or anything

 

[Jcleppe]

Last year the letters asking those awarded scholarships if they were still using the scholarship and the school of intent was Dated May 17th. They had until 6/17/2010 to get the response back to CC.

Glad you could make that clarification, seems like things change every year or so. Our older son received his letter dated May 1st. Of course that was back when the scholarships were given by the individual schools. I remember that he received 5 seperate scholarship offer letters, one for each school. He had to accept or decline each of them individualy.

It will be interesting to see how this whole process works 4 or 5 years from now.

 

[Marist College ROTC]

Thanks for sharing your DS's situation. My DS is also considering SMP as a back up plan. If a campus based comes to be it sounds like they are unpredicable and best left to be considered a "miracle" at my DS's hopedful school. It will be what its gonna be. March board, SMP or campus based - its all up for grabs.

odd OT, is it too strange that the Lady GaGa song "Just Dance" keeps running in my head: I'm not even a fan or anything

Some aspects of the On Campus Scholarship are unpredictable, specifically the number of scholarships and the timing of when they are offered.

What is fairly predictable is if a MS I cadet is truly committed to ROTC, meets all of the SAL standards, and is a top performer when compared to current scholarship cadets in his/her brigade, that cadet will be offered a 3 or 4 year On Campus Scholarship at some point during his/her first 2 years in the program.

Being the top cadet at your program is not necessarily enough if you come from a small program and you pale in comparison to cadets at other programs.

Every one of my MSIs that completed New Cadet Orientation in August received an On Campus Scholarship (mostly 3 years). Some of them are truly outstanding and would probably have received the high school scholarship if they had applied. The others were average in some categories but outstanding in others. What they all had in common was 100% attendance record and volunteered multiple times to assist at non mandatory events. Also, they never asked for a scholarship.

If you are truly outstanding, the cadre will want to offer you a scholarship. You won't have to ask.

 

[patentesq]

I think it's time we start the March board don't ya think!?

I think it's time, jlar316. You can call it the "March 2011 AROTC Board" or something (there has been some uncertainty about the exact date). I suspect that budget issues will be significant on your thread. If anyone has points specific to the January Board, they can post on that thread.

I expect to hang around for this thread. Take a look at Ohio2015Parent's original post for an idea of lingo to use for your original post. Ohio did a fantastic job.

Hope you ultimately get an SAF coffee mug!

 

[patentesq]

DS learned today that if you want to grant access to all ROOs on CCIMS (AROTC internal website) at schools not listed in "choice school" list, simply accept ROTC scholarship and everyone can see your stats.

 

[paradoxer]

So

DS learned today that if you want to grant access to all ROOs on CCIMS (AROTC internal website) at schools not listed in "choice school" list, simply accept ROTC scholarship and everyone can see your stats.

So how does a school not on your list learn of you and invite you to visit as some did when they sent emails encouraging visits earlier this fall?

 

[Ohio2015Parent]

DS learned today that if you want to grant access to all ROOs on CCIMS (AROTC internal website) at schools not listed in "choice school" list, simply accept ROTC scholarship and everyone can see your stats.

So he accepted his scholarship, but will wait for his final decision, correct? Did another school already make contact? That would just add to your lists of options, that's a good thing.

 

[Ohio2015Parent]

So how does a school not on your list learn of you and invite you to visit as some did when they sent emails encouraging visits earlier this fall?

Perhaps from the same brigade? ROOs could exchange info, I don't think the applications are privacy protected. If a school loved you and all that, but wasn't sure you would get picked up by them, they could tell other comparable schools in their brigade about you? Have no clue, completely guesing.

 

[paradoxer]

Random schools

Perhaps from the same brigade? ROOs could exchange info, I don't think the applications are privacy protected. If a school loved you and all that, but wasn't sure you would get picked up by them, they could tell other comparable schools in their brigade about you? Have no clue, completely guesing.

These were random schools located a thousand miles apart. They obviously were able to access applicant data outside of those listed on any applicant's list.

 

[Ohio2015Parent]

These were random schools located a thousand miles apart. They obviously were able to access applicant data outside of those listed on any applicant's list.

Did DS put ROTC on SAT or ACT info? I know mine did and we received a flurry of information right after he took them last year. He retook ACT in April last year, told him to check NO release of info - no jump in contacts after that test date. It is kind of creepy how our kiddos stuff gets into data bases(school, testing agencys, Facebook etc...).

 

[Pima]

So how does a school not on your list learn of you and invite you to visit as some did when they sent emails encouraging visits earlier this fall?

Our DS for AFROTC again AFROTC actually received letters from universities, stating: "At this time we would like to offer admission for our school, even though you did not apply AND the application process is closed, please just sign the attached paper.... welcome to XYZ"

We were in shock because he never applied to these schools, but yet they offered him a spot. We are not talking small schools...UNCCH, NYU, etc.

Came to find out that by accepting the scholarship everyone nationally in the AFROTC system could see his profile. Think FB.

The thing here to understand if AROTC is like AFROTC, some college dets/bns talk to admissions. In the case for our DS the dets "talked" to admissions and said, this kid meets the parameters of the university AND has an AFROTC scholarship.

Some colleges don't talk...Notre Dame, UVA quickly come to mind, even though they have large dets/bn.

It is a school by school decision, and it really comes down to them talking.

AGAIN...I am saying AROTC may work differently, but from AFROTC what patentesq stated happens. Some colleges look at ROTC as a recruitment tool. Remember the college wants the best of the best, and there are kids who select universities based on what ROTC has to offer....Texas A&M, VT, GTand Notre Dame quickly come to mind.

 

[paradoxer]

Last night's hockey

ECAC hockey playoffs this weekend Clarkson hosting Harvard

Sounds like you had a tough loss last night. Harvard goalie was up to the challenge stopping all those shots. Same situation for DS tonight; hoping goalie can be the difference maker. Loser goes home tonight and is finished for the season. Hoping for some third board distractions.

 

[Ohio2015Parent]

Sounds like you had a tough loss last night. Harvard goalie was up to the challenge stopping all those shots. Same situation for DS tonight; hoping goalie can be the difference maker. Loser goes home tonight and is finished for the season. Hoping for some third board distractions.

GO (INSERT PARADOXER'S DS TEAM) WIN, WIN, WIN!!!

Anything for a distraction. Hope he's still healthy afterwards too.