NROTC Interview

Jeepman

5-Year Member
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Dec 20, 2017
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It appears that my son finally has his NROTC interview arranged. After about six weeks of going back and forth with his NROTC "contact" (aka enlisted quota driven person), he decided to arrange a one-on-one interview with a LT at one of his top choice schools for this week, which will fulfill his interview requirement. This is the last piece of his requirements for the NROTC file to be passed on from the contact (one day, perhaps he will update the portal showing that he has received all of the information my son has sent, lol).

Anyway, I am trying to get a feel for his chances based on timing. With his file completed in the next 7-10 days, is he still in a good place in terms of his place in line? He has met all of the deadlines with no problem. The big issue has been the back and forth with his contact regarding the interview.

Also, what is the next step after everything is done with requirements? Is there a board review? How long does that typically take? Just trying to get a feel for the process and timeline. He has all of his college application material submitted, but this NROTC process has been a little slow with his contact.
 
He should confirm this with the LT he is interviewing with, but I thought the deadline for submitting or updating the application was Jan 31 from the NROTC web sites I looked at. Of course the problems you had with the coordinator may make this a special case.

If he's still eligible because only the interview was outstanding, then I don't think it hurts him. In some sense there really isn't a line. Scholarship awards are based on the OML scoring (or whatever the Navy calls it. Each board has a certain number they can award scholarships to, and they essentially pick that number from the top of the list based on their scoring. If a board does not award a scholarship he will automatically be rolled over to the next board. No notice will be given if he is rolled over to the next board. They will send a 'not selected' letter that will normally arrive before mid-April, so it might be a long wait.

Of course by being earlier the are more "opportunites" to be awarded a scholarship, so I guess he's at a disadvantage in that sense.

Keep working backup plans and consider enrolling in NROTC anyway, without the scholarship. There are opportunities to pursue scholarships while in the program. My DS was awarded a scholarship that kicked in for the Spring semester of his sophomore year.

Hope this helps. Good luck to your DS.
 
He should confirm this with the LT he is interviewing with, but I thought the deadline for submitting or updating the application was Jan 31 from the NROTC web sites I looked at. Of course the problems you had with the coordinator may make this a special case.

If he's still eligible because only the interview was outstanding, then I don't think it hurts him. In some sense there really isn't a line. Scholarship awards are based on the OML scoring (or whatever the Navy calls it. Each board has a certain number they can award scholarships to, and they essentially pick that number from the top of the list based on their scoring. If a board does not award a scholarship he will automatically be rolled over to the next board. No notice will be given if he is rolled over to the next board. They will send a 'not selected' letter that will normally arrive before mid-April, so it might be a long wait.

Of course by being earlier the are more "opportunites" to be awarded a scholarship, so I guess he's at a disadvantage in that sense.

Keep working backup plans and consider enrolling in NROTC anyway, without the scholarship. There are opportunities to pursue scholarships while in the program. My DS was awarded a scholarship that kicked in for the Spring semester of his sophomore year.

Hope this helps. Good luck to your DS.
I think the deadline was for the online portion, and then they ask for more things via the contact and the portal. At least that is how we have come to understand it. He got the online portion done well before the January 31 date. If I am delusional, please somebody let me know. The LT seems fine with everything. Any insight into the process is more than welcome. He got a 4.0 at his first semester at Greystone (college) and tracking for 4.0 again, has a 33 ACT superscore with 32 math, had a 4.0 in high school, wrestled through his senior season, three on varsity, President of club, High School leadership and plenty of community service, USNA SS participant, current ROTC squad leader and team leader through UT San Antonio, and squad leader at Greystone, among other things. He applied last year but only had a 28 ACT and did not get it. His upward trajectory has been impressive over the past several months, and he has been extremely focused on the USNA (and USCGA) and NROTC as he wants to serve as an officer.

Again, any insight as to what we can do to enhance his chances would be appreciated, as would any and all insight into the NROTC process. He got his nom for USNA, and his app for that was obviously done a long time ago.
 
Cool. Makes sense.

I don't think there is anything further he can do to improve for this application round. It's pretty much baked in at this point. He sounds like a strong candidate. Good luck.
 
I agree, I don't think it will hurt him per se, and I don't think that there's anything that you can do now to enhance his chances of getting a scholarship. The only downside is any boards that you missed being looked at in and the scholarships that were given during those times. But there are still plenty of opportunities available once everything is submitted for him! Good luck!
 
We are in the same spot. Had the app in well before 1/31 but still chasing updates even though everything has been done on our side (as far as we can tell). Not alone from what I see on this forum
 
We are in the same spot. Had the app in well before 1/31 but still chasing updates even though everything has been done on our side (as far as we can tell). Not alone from what I see on this forum
Well, my son did his interview yesterday with an NROTC LT at a major Texas university, and it sounds like it went well. With that done, he is only waiting on one final LOR which he has been told will be done within the week (credible person). My son presented the Debarment, Drug, and Statement of Understanding form to the NROTC interviewer and he was told he could not sign them. Last night, my son emailed the forms with his (my son's) signature on them but the "witness" section blank. He also emailed a snapshot of the portal which shows many missing items (my son FEDEXED these items to the NROTC "contact" he is working with two weeks ago, but portal still remains not updated).

Even though I don't like to intervene, I will be reaching out to the "contact" today to find out what is going on. My son applied to eleven colleges, all of which have NROTC programs (by design), so the NROTC scholarship application is a key component to all this. He was told to wait until his first semester grades came out from his prep school (he ended up getting a 4.0), hence he did not get his application in until early-mid January, but well before the deadline. I just don't want him to miss any additional boards. I may call Pensicola today....
 
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