Likelihood of receiving Army ROTC 4-years.

reedsmith224

reedsmith224

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May 22, 2017
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Hey guys, i'm going to be applying for an Army ROTC scholarship in a bit(i'm a junior), and I was wondering how my stats look.

1. 3.6 GPA
2. 23 on ACT(I'm retaking it)
3. Taken AP U.S History, AP English Language, and planning on taking AP Calculus, AP Environmental Science, AP Government, and AP English literature next year
4.Worked a retail job
5.Leader of a hiking club at my high school
6. Been in many clubs including: Comic book club, Ecology club, and Coding club
7. Have an internship at the VA

My goal isn't to leave the Army after 4 years and just pursue another job. I want to be an Aviation Officer, and serve for as long as possible. Having the Army pay for college would be a plus, but I would still enroll in ROTC even if I did not receive the scholarship-as it is something i'm very passionate about. Thanks!
 
The Army is trending toward more 3 year scholarships but that doesn't mean you can't win a four year.
I agree that the 23 could be better. Try the SAT as well. Many students fare better on one exam vs the other.

Even if you don't get the four year or three year in high school, you also have a reasonable chance at winning a campus based scholarship as a walk-on Army Cadet. This is what my son did and ended up getting a 3.5 year scholarship from the battalion.
 
I'm a senior who received a four year scholarship during the second selection board that was held this past January. Most people told me for sure that because of the cost of my school of choice (Campbell University), it was extremely unlikely I would get a four year if I got a scholarship at all. I beat the odds, and so can you! Here's some advice I have to give you before you start your application in June:

1. In your additional comments section after your essay, use bullet points to add extra information. PMS's (Professors of Military Science) on the selection board read thousands of these applications in a week. They may not even read your additional comments they are over half of a page.

2. Upload your college acceptance letters as you receive them throughout the year! I applied to all of the schools on my list BEFORE MY SENIOR STARTED and had all of my acceptance letters uploaded before the second board. I honestly believe this increased my odds!

3. Put more emphasis on your academics than your athletics on your application. As my favorite JROTC instructor says," An ROTC program can fix weak. But they can't fix stupid!" I'm not a PT buff, as I won my scholarship with 32 push-ups, 42 sit-ups, and a 6:30 mile. The mile was pretty fast, but remember your completion you're competing against!

4. Most people do better on the SAT than the ACT. I submitted only may SAT score (1240/1600) on my application, because my ACT score of 22 was weak. Submit the test score that is stronger for you, but it doesn't necessarily increase your odds by submitting both.

5. Schedule your interview over the summer BEFORE YOUR SENIOR YEAR STARTS! This will put you ahead of the game, as the later you wait is the harder it is to schedule an interview. I suggest that if there is someone else at your school that is applying, interview at the same school. YOU DON'T HAVE TO INTERVIEW AT THE SCHOOL YOU WANT TO GO TO! A good friend and I both interviewed at Campbell University, however he was going for a scholarship at North Carolina State University (3-year winner).

6. Make at least one of your schools of choice a smaller private school. Often, smaller private schools match the payment of tuition with an on-campus room and board payment, meal plan, etc. My ROTC scholarship will only cover tuition, however my school is going to cover the room and board, and my meal plan. As larger public universities are only redeemable for tuition payment, some smaller schools offer a true full ride. For example, my friend's 3-year is only going to pay his tuition at NC State, which is worth 49,000 dollars! However, my matched scholarship is worth 160,000 dollars!

Best of luck to you!
 
W0w! that's amazing! I can do 49 push-ups, 80 sit-ups, and my mile time was 5:56, haven't checked my 2 mile yet but I assume its fast because I run 5K's regularly. Thanks for the advice, i'll definitely try to take the SAT, and just see how I do. I just got the opportunity to coach a middle school cross country team so i'll definitely put that on there. Thanks again, and congrats on the scholarship!
 
Whatever exam you do best on, take it multiple times, as Army ROTC does "superscore" your multiple exams.
 
Good advice above, however interviewing in the summer unless your score is higher is not wise and can hurt your chances.

My daughter had a 22 ACT (during old SAT and we knew from her PSAT that she definitely was more of an ACT kid!) Best advice she got was to not submit her application for the first board (ithe advice was given in September and the first board is October). Once you are boarded, that is it. It is true that if you increase your ACT/SAT they will accept it, but you cannot redo your interview, and so those points are locked in after you do your interview. What does that mean to you? Unless you have a 24 on your ACT )not sure what the current SAT number is, I think it was 1100 when she did it) you will lose 20 points from your maximum possible on your interview. She was told to study, retake in October and interview after she got those results. It was stressful waiting for the results knowing the PMS at the school nearby would be leaving on Christmas break, and wouldn't you know that the ACT portal was not updating for her even though scores had been out for a long time! In fact, cadet command received the scores before she had access to them and we noticed the morning before her interview. She emailed cadet command before we left our house at 6:30 in the morning for her interview and cadet command sent a copy of the report to her PMS so he had it for the interview. She ended up with a super score of 26, so it was worth the wait as she was a 3 year AD on the third board, being in on the first board would not of helped her at all especially with reduced points. The PMS also thought the fact that she didn't give up and was able to improve her score 4 points showed her hard work and perseverance.
 
reedsmith224 said:
This is all good advice. I've heard that applying early is better, but I guess having good scores is more important.
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I can only speak to Army, it seems like the last few years there have been around 2500 scholarships awarded between the three boards, and the first board there are literally 300-400 of the total. Definitely getting it in as early as you can with the best application you can. I think test scores are a reason to wait for second board, in my opinion. However, if you get a test score you are happy with this summer, then you won't have to worry about it. If not you can test in the fall too.
 
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