I haven't visited this forum for a while (things have been really hectic at home/work). I am flabbergasted that Jan board results are still pending. I completely sympathize with the students and parents waiting for the news anxiously.
I noticed some posters wondering about whether private school scholarship may become hard to come by than in state school scholarship (it costs way less for the Army).
I would like to share a bit of my own experience of helping my son strategize this whole issue.
S has been accepted to his top choice school through the ED process and he is taking his 4 year scholarship there (awarded in the Nov board cycle). (actually, this school was originally #2 on the school choice list, but after he submitted his ROTC scholarship application, he had a change of heart, and preferred this school to the original #1, so it really worked out very well).
In my son's case, ALL 7 schools in his school of choice list were very expensive private schools (all about or way above $40K/year tuition). In short, what we did was to signal to Army "if you want this kid, you have to pay". Yes, it may have been a risky strategy, but I felt that there were several things going for him, and he could afford to have this strategy. I felt that he was a sufficiently "differentiated product" that the customer (Army) has an incentive to pay premium for. Reckless gambling? Perhaps. I would like to use the phrase "calculated risk". Besides, I figured, if he was not chosen in the Nov round, he has two more rounds to finesse his school choice strategy.
In the end, he got the 4 year scholarship offers to #2, #3, and #4 schools on the school choice list. The school he ended up choosing (#2) is considered one of the top 10 most expensive schools in the country. That school also provides free room and board for the 4 year ROTC scholarship winners.
Here are caveats though. Here is what I advised him to mitigate the risk of pricing himself out of the market (sort of).
1. Mostly he only choose schools which "hosted" the battalion program, NOT a cross town affiliate school.
2. there was only one school that was not a "hosting" school, and in that battalion, every single one of the cross town affiliate school was a private school.
3. Most of these schools were the kind of schools that service academy nominees are likely to apply to as an ROTC candidate just in case they don't get into the SA. Meaning, if they get into the SA of their choice, they will turn down the ROTC scholarship awarded to the school - thus creating a vacancy through out the whole season.
#1 and #2 statement above is based on my observation/discussion with various PMS of private battalion hosting schools. The general consensus was that preference is given to the applicants to the hosting school, even if the hosting school is an expensive private school. This is because of the consideration that the hosting schools provide a lot of resources and assistance to the ROTC program, and Amry honor that commitment by not disadvantaging the applicants to that school. (even if Army pays all the expenses, it's still being "hosted" on the campus. This is how I helped my son mitigate the risk of putting down only private schools on his school of intent list.
On the other hand, if you are applying to a private school with an expensive tuition which has a cross town affiliate arrangement at a battalion hosted on an public state school campus, the odds are definitely against you. For the same prices of one cross town affiliate student, they can support several scholarship candidates. No brainer here. That's why he completely avoided putting down any private school with a cross town arrangement with a public. hosting school.
Army wants to stretch their scholarship dollars. If they can, they would rather give scholarship to students going to an in state university. However, they have standing commitment to support battalions hosted at private schools. In effect, I advised my son so that he can benefit from this consideration (having to honor the existing arrangement with private schools)
Now, for the Jan board, it's already too late to tinker with the school choice list, but perhaps for March board, this might be something to consider.
Of course: caveat: this is my personal opinion. It may be completely wrong. I am just providing an example. You may or may not want to consider this as a data point.
good luck.
), but wondered if that might help if the ROTC scholarship was reduced/didn't cover the full tuition due to who knows what.