More than 30 credits of Community College for application to USNA, or less for NROTC application?

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ABCDE_2026

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Hello. Sorry if this has already been posted before, but when I looked, I didn't find anything that answers my question. I will be a Junior this coming fall, and in addition to applying for the Naval Academy, I also plan to apply for NROTC. In sophomore year alone, I earned 17 credits worth of college credits through dual enrollment. I know that the requirement for NROTC is to have no more than 30 credits of college classes in high school. For my application to USNA, I am not sure if I should continue on what I am doing and have more than 30 credits, or if I should have less in order to apply to NROTC just in case. Which does the Naval Academy prefer, me having many college classes, or having less than 30 credits so that I may apply to NROTC. How much does USNA actually value college classes on your application? For your backup plan, do they look at OCS and NROTC the same, or would they prefer NROTC as a backup plan? Thank you.
 
I may be wrong, but I do not think those hours count towards you until you are a high school graduate AND have attended a term of college. The site reads like this:
 
I have never heard any limitation on getting college credits prior to USNA, and have heard of people of people attending USNA after 2 years of college (That's > 60 credits). The difference is that you will spend 4 years at USNA , regardless of how many credits you bring in. To be honest, I don't know if credits are even transferrable or whether you need to validate a class to get ahead. Bottom line, having College Credits doesn't hurt you for USNA, but I suspect it doesn't necessarily help either.
 
ABCDE_2026 said:
Hello. Sorry if this has already been posted before, but when I looked, I didn't find anything that answers my question. I will be a Junior this coming fall, and in addition to applying for the Naval Academy, I also plan to apply for NROTC. In sophomore year alone, I earned 17 credits worth of college credits through dual enrollment. I know that the requirement for NROTC is to have no more than 30 credits of college classes in high school. For my application to USNA, I am not sure if I should continue on what I am doing and have more than 30 credits, or if I should have less in order to apply to NROTC just in case. Which does the Naval Academy prefer, me having many college classes, or having less than 30 credits so that I may apply to NROTC. How much does USNA actually value college classes on your application? For your backup plan, do they look at OCS and NROTC the same, or would they prefer NROTC as a backup plan? Thank you.
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I did 2 years of dual enrollment at a community college and I'll be at USNA in less than a month. You can get as much credit as you want, but know that much of it won't transfer and you still have to do 4 years at the Academy
 
My son received his Associate Degree from the community college before he graduated high school.

Doesn’t matter. You will have a chance to validate classes if you want. Search the site
for those posts. If you validate enough it helps if you want to have dual majors or a masters, for instance. It’s what you want in your four years.
 
Those credits will not transfer to USNA but being able to handle college level courses while in high school juggling all that SA applicants have to manage shows, IMHO an ability to manage your time which is critical during your time at USNA. Our son reports to USNA 30 June as a plebe and he had 28 dual credits. Make sure you do well in those courses.
 
Agree with @Hope to be Navy dad. That being said, NROTC is designed to be a 4 year program. I've seen some folks do it in 3.5 years but never 3 (which isn't to say it doesn't happen). The point is to plan on being in college for 3.5 - 4 years regardless of the credits you've previously earned. There will probably be other issues related to your major, the sequencing of classes, when/how often classes are offered, etc. which might lead to 3.5 - 4 years as well.
 
You can apply for an NROTC scholarship with more than 30 dual enrollment college credits. My son had 45 credits and received the NROTC scholarship. My guess (although you will need to confirm) is that NROTC will only allow you to transfer 30 credits.
 
Wagmore said:
You can apply for an NROTC scholarship with more than 30 dual enrollment college credits. My son had 45 credits and received the NROTC scholarship. My guess (although you will need to confirm) is that NROTC will only allow you to transfer 30 credits.
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I don't think NROTC cares about the number of credits transferred as that is a college decision. The midshipman would be responsible for working with the unit on any early graduation attempt. It's easy to stretch it to 3.5 or 4 years by making sure required courses aren't completed until your final semester. If you go in with a lot of credit hours it leaves time for more electives, completing a minor, starting graduate level courses, or just carrying a lighter course load through college.

That being said there are some restrictions, mainly being that Navy Option midshipmen must complete 2 semesters of Calculus and 2 of Physics at the college where the NROTC unit is located.
 
Here are the current requirements. If I'm reading correctly, the 30 credits are not an issue until you have graduated high school and attended college. I thought is was different when my son completed the application several years ago; but, of course, that is irrelevant now.

  • Navy and Nurse Option Only
    • Students with 30 or more semester hours or students with 45 or more quarter hours of college credit upon submission of the online application are not eligible for the NROTC National Scholarship. It is recommended that these students contact the Professors of Naval Science at the Host University's NROTC Unit to discuss other scholarship opportunities.
      • College credits do not count until an applicant has graduated high school and completed a term of college; then all college credits earned (prior to and after high school graduation) count towards the eligibility requirements.
      • If you are a high school graduate and complete a term of college prior to submitting your application, all college credits earned (in high school and in college) are counted towards the credit limit.
      • If you are a high school graduate and are currently attending/enrolled in college, all college credits anticipated to be earned during the application year (defined as April to December) will count towards the credit limit.
(Taken from Program Entrance Requirements on NROTC website.)
 
NROTC units have freshmen advisors. Maybe you could reach out to one for guidance? They would know!
 
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