Mechanical Engineering and GPA, AFROTC.

Zac

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If i major in mechanical engineering and maintain a 2.7 GPA will I be competitive for selection for AFROTC field training?
 
Why are you aiming so low? It sounds like you're just starting school, maintaining a 3.0 is not impossible with an ME major, it's one of the broader diciplines too so the classes are hard, but not devastatingly hard (I take a lot of ME courses for my major).

Short answer is no, you will not be competitive. Yes, you could still get picked up with that gpa, but you would be in very real danger of not getting a slot. I know a cadet who went with a 2.6 gpa in ME, but they got picked up during a year with more slots to give out and all his other stats were really good. The very next year, several of my peers with 2.9 gpa's in engineering majors were not selected.

If you feel you will do so poorly in your Engineering classes, I'd suggest adding fluff classes to every semester you're in school. That's what I've been doing. I take a 2nd language and get A's every semester that help boost my gpa, it helps me keep my sanity and the AF even pays me extra for taking them. Win-win-win :biggrin: .
 
3.0/3.1 is the avg for the cgpa Tech major.
 
Maintaining at least a 3.0 with an engineering major is competitive. Maintaining less than that is not competitive, but it doesn't mean you can't still get a slot, just that your gpa is too average or below average to make your package stand out.
 
I had a 2.67 CGPA and I'm meteorology which is tech and I got a slot. It's expected that the selection rate is going to be high again next year. So don't stress. Get your commanders ranking as high as possible and dominate the PFA.
 
bb2405,

I am not sure, but it could have been your major that assisted you in getting a slot with that low of a cgpa. Meteorology majors have been off and on the critical manning list for the last few years. Not sure if it is this year, but if it is, than that can be a reason.
~ 3 or 4 years ago nursing majors had a much higher selection rate compared to any other major. This occurred because nurses were considered a critical manning aspect. I believe it was last year that if you accepted the CSO/ABM/Missileer scholarships, it was 100% since it was critical manning.

I lean to the side of caution. It is great that you got it, but stats are proving for at least the last 5 years the avg cgpa is 3.0 tech.

Also, as stated earlier, the cgpa is only a small part. 2.67 can be competitive with a high CoC ranking, AFOQT and PFA. That brings us to another reason to err on the side of caution. There is an algorithm used for the CoC and believe it or not it can hurt cadets from a large unit.
~ We do not know the size of the OPs unit.

We also do not know what career field they desire upon commissioning. Let's assume they get an SFT slot with 2.7, but want to go rated. That cgpa is going to bite them later on, because it is very hard to pull it up high enough for pilot. Again @3.0 is the avg for pilot for tech majors. If ME is on the critical list, Big Blue can decide to offer very few rated slots to that major, which means that the lower cgpa will hurt you
~ A few years back only @5% were offered pilot, yet the overall selection rate was 93%. I can't recall if it was ME or EE, but you get the point. Their major impacted their chances since it was critical, and although they got the SFT slot with a low cgpa, they lost their rated dreams because of that low cgpa.

What the OP really needs to understand is make sure you steer clear of going under 2.5 at anytime. IOWs, carrying a 2.7 overall is okay, at best, but if you have 1 semester at 2.4, you will get a fair warning as a contracted cadet.

Although only @16-18% of all cadets are on scholarship from the HS pool, there is also the chance to get one as an AS100, and that cgpa will matter. 2.7, depending on the caliber of the college may be way too low to get a 3/3.5 scholarship. Additionally, many cadets, have merit scholarships from their universities. AFROTC scholarship is 2.5 min., but most merit are 3.0-3.2 min. Thus, they will have a higher cgpa anyway due to their college scholarship.
~ My DS was non-tech and carried a 3.3/3.4 because he had a merit scholarship, @ the same amount as his ROTC scholarship. He was attending an OOS college, he needed that merit scholarship and their bottom line was 3.2. Thus, he kept it way above AFROTCs requirements to be on scholarship.

Finally, 2 years ago it was a 93% selection rate. Last year it was 58%. This year it was 88%.
~ One reason for fluctuation is nobody can predict the amount that walk on campus, aka pool size. HQ AFROTC knows how many they need to commission, thus the % changes depending on the pool size. If you look at the actual numbers between the last 2 years selected to attend the number is @ the same, @1900-2000. They didn't bump up the amount of cadets attending, it was just the pool was smaller this year compared to last year.
~~ My DSs unit saw an increase of almost 100% within 1 year in 2012. It went from 100 in 2011 for 100s to 185 in 2012. That was the 58% year group.

Just me, but we do no good by telling candidates/cadets a 2.7 is not to stress over, sorry, but 2.67 is not the norm. It is the rarity, if it wasn't than the 3.0 would not be the avg.

I agree, if it is that low than you better hit not only the CoC and PFA out of the ballpark, but also the AFOQT too.
 
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