NROTC 2 year scholarships

Smurfy

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My DD is a college programmer and will be a junior in the fall. She has applied for a 2 year scholarship. She has completed calculus 1, 2 and physics 1. She is a political science major, with a minor in Arabic. She has a 3.6 cumulative GPA, has held various leadership positions in her unit and has a strong PRT score. She was awarded a Project Go scholarship and is currently in Morocco studying Arabic for 2 months. How competitive is she for the two year scholarship? She has not taken physics 2, and does not have extracurricular activities. All of her time is spent studying, getting tutoring, and going to office hours. She is very active in her unit and is always striving to do her best. I'm worried that she won't get the schloarship. What are her chances at this point of getting a scholarship or Advanced standing? What do the numbers look like this year for applicants and available spots?
 
Much has to do with the PNS' evaluation of her. Based on your comments I would expect it to be good. Just my guess... I'm fairly confident she will get advanced standing, although the political science major and lack of physics would be her weak points. (I'm assuming she is a Navy Option midshipman since she's taking Calc and Physics). Her strengths of course are the Project Go attendance and her GPA. Her GPA seems to be in range to be awarded a side-load scholarship based on what little I've seen of past recipient GPAs. She's got a shot at a scholarship but one never knows.

There is no choice but to be patient and await the decision. You'll know soon enough. I'm sure you'll have backup plans, if needed, for any scenario.
Good luck to your DD. I'm sure she is enjoying her time in Morocco and not even thinking about this.
 
Below is a lot of statistics from previous posts about side load scholarships and advanced standing. You can read this information and decide for yourself what you think her chances are.
From Aug 9 2016
3-Year Scholarships
Nominations: 304
Selects: 60
Non-selects: 244

2-Year Scholarships
Nominations: 200
Selects: 19
Non-selects: 181 (automatically considered for Advanced Standing)

Advanced Standing
Nominations: 228 (181 carried over from 2-year applicants)
Selects: 121
Non-selects: 97

From July 27, 2016
Advanced Standing is getting EASIER to receive the past couple years, as there are significantly more slots recently. The selection rate for Advanced Standing last year was well over 50%, and it will be similar this year. If you fail to get selected for a side load scholarship or Advanced Standing before your junior year, you will be automatically be dropped from the unit.

From June 21, 2016
Not having Calculus/Physics complete is going to be a major roadblock. Last summer the board awarded 29 2-year Side Loads. Of those selected, 29/29 were complete with Calc 1 and 2, and 24/29 were complete with Phys 1 and 2. I don't see you getting past the 2-year board with Calculus 2 incomplete.

Advanced Standing is a different story. The selection rate was over 50% last year (vice about 15% for the 2-year). Only about half were Calc complete, and only about a third were Phys complete. GPA and aptitude were more important- the average GPA was 3.18.

From June 22, 2016
Last summer, 199 rising juniors applied for 2-year scholarships. Of those, 29 were selected for the scholarship. The remaining students competed for 118 advanced standing slots. So, it was well over a 50% selection rate for advanced standing.

2017 Side Load Board Stats posted Sept 7, 2017
3-Year Scholarships
Nominations: 369
Selects: 65
Non-selects: 304

Averages for Selected Students:
Aptitude: 3.86
Cumulative GPA: 3.55
Calculus Complete: 58/65
Physics Complete: 32/65
Both Complete: 31/65
Technical Majors: 58/65

2-Year Scholarships
Nominations: 174
Selects: 53
Non-selects: 121 (automatically considered for Advanced Standing)

Averages for Selected Students:
Aptitude: 3.80
Cumulative GPA: 3.35
Calculus Complete: 52/53
Physics Complete: 35/53
Both Complete: 35/53
Technical Majors: 41/53

Advanced Standing
Nominations: 155 (121 carried over from 2-year applicants)
Selects: 118
Non-selects: 37

Averages for Selected Students:
Aptitude: 3.64
Cumulative GPA: 3.16
Calculus Complete: 62/118
Physics Complete: 31/118
Both Complete: 29/118
Technical Majors: 67/118


From May 31, 2016
Here is the selection data from the Summer 2015 Navy Side load/advanced standing board (stats are reflective of the group of individuals who were SELECTED for scholarship/advanced standing, not the entire pool of applicants; the board is national):

3-year:
Nominations: 303
Selects: 66
Avg. GPA: 3.48
% of Recipients Calc I/II Complete: 89.4%
% of Recipients Phys I/II Complete: 30.3%
% of Recipients Tech Majors (Tier 1/2): 93.9%

2-year:
Nominations: 199
Selects: 29
Avg. GPA: 3.48 (not a typo, same as 3-year)
% of Recipients Calc I/II Complete: 100%
% of Recipients Phys I/II Complete: 82.8%
% of Recipients Tech Majors (Tier 1/2): 89.7%

Advanced Standing:
Nominations: 195 (all 2-year side load non selects are automatically considered)
Selects: 118
Avg. GPA: 3.18
% of Recipients Calc I/II Complete: 57.6%
% of Recipients Phys I/II Complete: 34.7%
% of Recipients Tech Majors (Tier 1/2): 56.8%

So here are the big takeaways:
-The Navy values technical majors
-If you want to pursue a Tier 3 major, that's OK, but you need to EXCEL if you expect to earn a scholarship
-Apply for ALL scholarship opportunities; don't just pigeonhole yourself into advanced standing
-Calc and Phys completion and grades mean something

This is from @bman from June 22, 2016
2014 NAVY ROTC STATISTICS
· 220 were nominated for 2 year scholarships, 64 scholarships were granted
· 127 were given an offer of advanced standing
· There were 25 who wanted advanced standing (I believe this was 25 who accepted the offer, but he may have meant that there were 25 who wanted advanced standing but not a scholarship?)

2013 NAVY ROTC STATISTICS
· 30 applied for 2-year scholarships, 5 were granted, others had option to apply for advanced standing
· 20 applied for advanced standing, all 20 were granted advanced standing

2012 NAVY ROTC STATISTICS
· They gave 950 four-year-scholarships with the intention of commissioning 725 officers in four years
· They had 330 college students nominated for side-load scholarships for 271 slots.
· They gave 251 of these scholarships. Their goal is to fill all of their spots with scholarships, but they still had twenty slots to fill.
· They had 58 students apply for advanced standing to fill the final 20 slots, and gave 20 of these advanced standing (34%). Those who received advanced standing were divided among all three tiers.
 
Much has to do with the PNS' evaluation of her. Based on your comments I would expect it to be good. Just my guess... I'm fairly confident she will get advanced standing, although the political science major and lack of physics would be her weak points. (I'm assuming she is a Navy Option midshipman since she's taking Calc and Physics). Her strengths of course are the Project Go attendance and her GPA. Her GPA seems to be in range to be awarded a side-load scholarship based on what little I've seen of past recipient GPAs. She's got a shot at a scholarship but one never knows.

There is no choice but to be patient and await the decision. You'll know soon enough. I'm sure you'll have backup plans, if needed, for any scenario.
Good luck to your DD. I'm sure she is enjoying her time in Morocco and not even thinking about this.
 
Thanks for the information you provided. We will just have to wait and see.
 
Hello there,

I’m also going for a side load scholarship. I’m going for a 3-year. From what I am told, being physics complete is no longer considered and that they are giving out more side loads this year. This is information my unit and my advisor gave me. I have an email they received from NSTC stating the physics consideration but I have to search for it. I’m just waiting now like your DD. I might even be in your DD’s shoes next year, didn’t do too good freshman year fall semester but it’s an incentive to do better.

EDIT: “b. Physics completion is no longer considered in the 3-Year scoring process.” My bad, it was only for 3-year applicants, but not to worry. She’ll be fine. People like your DD give me hope that I’ll get one soon.
 
Last edited:
Hello there,

I’m also going for a side load scholarship. I’m going for a 3-year. From what I am told, being physics complete is no longer considered and that they are giving out more side loads this year. This is information my unit and my advisor gave me. I have an email they received from NSTC stating the physics consideration but I have to search for it. I’m just waiting now like your DD. I might even be in your DD’s shoes next year, didn’t do too good freshman year fall semester but it’s an incentive to do better.

EDIT: “b. Physics completion is no longer considered in the 3-Year scoring process.” My bad, it was only for 3-year applicants, but not to worry. She’ll be fine. People like your DD give me hope that I’ll get one soon.
 
Good luck getting the 3 year side-load scholarship! My daughter had a similar experience her freshman year fall semester. Her academic adviser at her school had her sign-up for physics and calculus her first semester. She was so overwhelmed with everything that she got an F in calculus, then took it again second semester and got a B. She should have taken pre calculus but was told she would be fine. Thank goodness her university allows kids to retake classes and the higher grade replaces the lower one. She ended up auditing the physics class. She had a rough start but her perserverance, all of her tutoring, office hours, and study groups really paid off.
 
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