Mcjrotc question

[Swimmergirl2029]

I will be an 8th grader this fall and I want to do 4 years of mcjrotc but my parents think it’s best to figure out high school the first 2 years. I was wondering if only doing 2 years isn’t as good on the application as 4

 

[THParent]

One might rate the most important things in those first six (6) semesters of High School as;

1. Grades (with challenging class types such as honors & AP)
2. Test scores (ACT, SAT, AP tests)
3. Varsity sport(s)
4. Extracurricular(s)

With that supposition made, participation in JROTC is probably not going to make or break an application whether it is two years or four.
If you're that invested in it - and you get a lot out of it - do it as long as you want.

If you want to do it (or anything else) only in hopes of making your application look better, you're doing it for the wrong reason.

 

[NJROTC-CC]

JROTC is one class a day and does not have to be demanding at all. It is the after school drill, academic, athletic and orienteering (at our HS) teams that require a lot of time and commitment. Those activities require practice after school every day. In our unit, its the competition teams that make us the #1 NJROTC unit in the country.

As a freshman, you could ease into it and spend as much or little time you choose. You don’t have to be on a drill team if you don’t want to. My DS didn’t get into the drill team until the summer after freshman year. IMHO if your goal is to rise to a leadership positition in the unit (We have had past battalion CO’s and other leaders that have gone to USNA and some have won NROTC scholarships) you should start as a freshman. In our State, JROTC gets you out of PE, which saves you PE class on your schedule.

You can really get involved in a minimal level to start if you choose, but I say do it.

 

[Old Navy BGO]

I was wondering if only doing 2 years isn’t as good on the application as 4

How it looks on the application shouldn't be the question. Participating in JROTC doesn't in itself make that much of a difference. The good student , with strong athletics and leadership performance is going to prevail over the mediocre candidate with either 2 of 4 years of JROTC. On the other hand, a strong candidate, with the same grades , athletics and leadership AND JROTC (2 or 4 years) is even a stronger candidate.

The objective is to excel in everything you do -- and you can't really excel in JROTC in 2 years (actually, you only have one year that counts if you start your Junior year). Leadership positions will likely go to those that have been in ALL IN for 3 years. That said, participating for 2 years isn't bad --you will learn things, get some basis military indoctrination (little things like how to wear a uniform) that will help you as a Plebe.

Bottom line, pick activities that you are interested in, commit 100%, and do as well as you can.

 

[NJROTC-CC]

Leadership positions will likely go to those that have been in ALL IN for 3 years

Or all four years. DS got selected to be on staff of his NJROTC Unit as a sophomore as Community Service Officer. He was one of only two sophomores on staff. His performance in that job put in line for other more significant leadership positions. He would not be on that track if he did not go all-out as a freshman.

In my opinion, just being in JROTC, without leadership and team competition, prepares you for nothing more than to do well in basic training as an enlisted person. If you want to get leadership and team competition experience that will will help you get into an officer program (either NROTC or a service academy) you need to go ALL OUT all four years in everything. Just JROTC won't be enough. I see from your handle that you are a swimmer. Go all out for swimming too. Our swim team practices at 6:00 a.m. at the YMCA and we had one outstanding NJROTC cadet that was on the swim team and cross country team too. He was Captain of the NJROTC Orienteering team and won many states orienteering competitions. All his activities helped him a lot.

 

[MidCakePa]

Academic performance is most important for SA admissions, or for any other college. So your parents are right to steer your focus there.

After that comes leadership and athletics. Set athletics aside for now, since your question is about JROTC. First of all, do JROTC because it’s something you’re genuinely interested in and can make great contributions to — that’s leadership — not because it would look good on your application. Doing things because they “look good” tend to be transparently phony and will get smoked out by admissions.

Good advice given by others that the best candidates are able to succeed with academically rigorous classes, leadership roles and athletics throughout all of high school. So suggest you do the following, to address your parents’ concerns and maximize your SA chances: Make a deal with your parents that you’ll do JROTC from day one. Should your grades slip below some mutually agreed threshold, then you’ll together analyze the cause. If it turns out that JROTC for whatever reason is hampering academic success, then you’ll drop it until academic performance improves. Once academics improve, JROTC is back.

That’s a win-win solution that makes you 100% responsible for the outcome. Your behavior in this scenario will go a long way to determining whether you’re SA material.

 

[Swimmergirl2029]

Thanks for the advice! I forgot to mention that I will do swim all for years for the high school team and a club team. I will do community service and take AP classes all 4 years. I am also running 2-3 miles per week to prepare for the CFA.

 

[Dr. Strange Love]

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I like all the advice above. Here are a few pointers from me as our daughter wanted/did 4 years of HS NJROTC. It can steal all of your time if you let it. So, you have to manage it, because Academics comes 1st, followed by Athletics, and so on .... the so-on was piano and cello for our daughter.

1. If it is possible, try to free up space for the JROTC class by taking Summer courses that your school offers for credit. In 9th, and 10th, try to take Summer Virtual Health/PE/Drivers-Ed .... Get those mandatory courses out of the way quickly over summer before you would normally take it. Try to take mandatory History, English, and as many other courses in Summer to get them out of the way. Time is Precious.

2. Most units will require you to be a member of one or more of the unit clubs, e.g., PT team, Orienteering team, Drill team, etc. ..... I would recommend starting out with PT Team only, because most of the time they exercise and practice before school starting at 6 or 6:30am most times. So, if you swim and do other team sports, orchestra and clubs, this gives you time after school.

3. Being multi-sport and dedicated in HS is a good thing too, in addition to JROTC PT. If you have meet conflicts, the PT team lead knows that Swim and your other HS sports and requirements come 1st. Our daughter is a Lacrosse player (spring), ran XC (fall), and ran Spring track events when it didn’t conflict with her Lacrosse commitments. So it can be done. All along, she is Piano Guild member and HS orchestra (cello) You shouldn’t give these things up just to do JROTC.

4. Math, Chemistry and Physics in HS are incredibly important .... don’t ever forget this. Calculus by the 12th grade, or by the 11th grade is preferred. Give yourself time to do well in these subjects

5. Start preparing for the SAT/ACT now. Sign up on KahnAcademy and start practicing now. Try to sign up and take the exam in Sophomore year to see how you do. Plan accordingly to improve your scores. The SAT/ACT is the great equalizer when it comes to comparing you against your competition.

6. Don’t Pile On AP courses in HS and neglect everything above.

7. If you are not the Lead in something, be the best contributor you can be.
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