Lone NROTC Midshipman

s1732

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5-Year Member
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Feb 10, 2009
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Hi all,

Son recently found out that if he accepts his NROTC scholarship, he will be the only NROTC Midshipman from his college in his unit (a crosstown affiliate to a unit at a large university). I was wondering if anyone had experience with this type of situation or had thoughts on it.

Son did request a transfer to a different unit, but was placed on the waiting list.

With May 1 looming (college commitment day), son needs to decide soon whether he wants to accept the scholarship and attend the crosstown affiliate.

Thanks for your insight.
 
That is an interesting dilemma. The first question that I have is is the freshman unit filled? If the unit is filled then the issue is how much time did they plan on spending after classes with other mids or if there were plans on a mid roommate. Otherwise if they like the college and they would have gone there in any case, ROTC or not, then it really is not much of an issue. The college with still need to make schedule allowances in order to allow him to get to NROTC required functions and classes. The majority of my son's unit will not be made up by the host college but from his choice of cross-town affiliate as well as a second cross-town affiliate.

The other option is to commit to the current college as well as the transfer college. The Navy will reimburse you in the end for one of the commitment fees, as long as you are not getting stuck with some ungodly fee.

In any case good luck and congrats to your son.
 
Thanks for your thoughts.

Can you send in deposits to two colleges? The university with the unit my son would like to transfer to makes the student sign something that says specifically that he will not commit to another school. I wish that son could do that so he could see what happens with the waiting list.
 
By May 1, when most colleges require the downpayment, many units will clean up their lists. Has you son contacted the unit recruiter to where he wants his scholarship transferred? That personal contact is important.

Last year, my son had received an early scholarship to his #1 choice. But, when he got accepted to his "reach" school, he decided to ask for a transfer of his scholarship. He was waitlisted and told by the recruiter to be patient, while the recruiter at the school where he was assigned kept asking him where or not he was actually going to attend there. So, it was evident that he was trying to find slots for others.

Initially, my son was told that a transfer was not going to be made until possibly mid-June. Such anxiety! So, I paid deposits for both schools, to give a little more breathing room to my son.

On May 1, he received an email, asking if he still wanted to transfer his scholarship. What a happy day! While we forfeited one school deposit, my son is now at the school he wanted to attend, on his NROTC scholarship.

It took prayers and persistence. Now, nearly a year later, I can hardly believe that we went through such a roller coaster ride!
 
Yes, roller coaster ride really describes the situation well! Son and I visited the unit he would like to transfer to last week. The commanding and executive officers met with us for about 30 minutes to talk about the unit. At the time they indicated that they had room for about 25 new freshman and currently has 15 students on the waiting list (my son was the last one added).

It has been a few days, though, so it wouldn't hurt to ask again if the situation has changed. Thanks for the hope!
 
Quite frankly, I got to the point that I made up my mind that if my son wanted to go to his reach school and go without a scholarship, I would find the money. The recruiter there was quite assuring that they were very good about helping college programmers (those without scholarships) to earn a 3.5 or 3 year scholarship--they need to make good grades and be a great participant in the Unit.

That's an option to throw into your decision-making. . .
 
Quite frankly, I got to the point that I made up my mind that if my son wanted to go to his reach school and go without a scholarship, I would find the money. The recruiter there was quite assuring that they were very good about helping college programmers (those without scholarships) to earn a 3.5 or 3 year scholarship--they need to make good grades and be a great participant in the Unit.

That's an option to throw into your decision-making. . .

Yes, the commanding officer at the transfer unit did indicate that they had good luck with getting scholarships for the college programmers. It is a little scarey as my son's scholarship is a tier 3 and he has little interest in changing his major to engineering to make himself more competitive. It will be an interesting 10 days, to say the least!
 
S has decided to join the NROTC unit that he was orginally assigned to and enroll at the corss-town affiliate. We're hopeful that it will all work out in the end!
 
He has made a decision--that is a good sign of leadership! Hopefully, he will make great friends at both his college and the unit he is assigned to!

Best of luck to your son!
 
s1732-

Is your son the only NROTC student from the cross-town affiliate for the whole unit or just the only one in the incoming freshman class?

Either way, be ready to communicate lots of support. Congrats to your son for the scholarship! The Navy is fortunate to have him.
 
Sealion,

Son will be the only NROTC student from his school for the whole unit. We know that it will all be a challenge, but both the school and the unit seem willing to make it work.
 
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