NROTC-MO Scholarship "Chances"?

T

Tennessee29

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Jan 19, 2024
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Hello All,

I'm currently a high school junior looking to apply for the NROTC-MO Scholarship come April. I understand that there really isn't a way to estimate someone's "chances" of receiving the scholarship, but I'm looking for advice as to how I could strengthen my resume. One of my primary concerns is not having participated in a varsity sport. I was a part of our school wrestling team for several weeks this year but dropped after repeated conflicts with work and JROTC obligations. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Stats below.

Academics:
-4.2 GPA Weighted, 3.9 Unweighted
-4 AP Classes, 5 Honors Classes
-ACT: waiting to take the free test our school offers in March. Currently studying and doing practice online tests.
Athletics:
-One of two females in my MCJROTC program to have earned the superior physical achievement award.
-PFT (scores from our last JROTC PFT: 14 pull-ups, 129 crunches, 7:00 min mile). We do a mile run instead of the three-mile run. My three-mile run time is usually around 22-23 minutes, working on getting it down to 21. Plank is 4:30.
-Ran 2 Spartan Races, 5 Charity 5Ks (total 7), training for St. Jude half marathon in April.
Extracurriculars:
-Work 18+ hours a week as a cashier at Taco Bell
-MCJROTC (Rifle Team, PT Team, Drill Team). Was the physical training team captain my sophomore year, currently the CO GySgt and S-3 Operations Chief.
-School Bible Club (Currently the Vice President, on track to be President next year)
-National Honors Society
-Youth Group / Church
-Nominated to attend Girls State this summer, applying for General Tommy Franks 4-Star Leadership Camp, attended the Hugh O' Brien Youth Leadership Conference, and Future Presidents of America Youth Leadership Camp, attended 2 Cadet Leadership Camps and Student Leadership University 101 and 201.
-Currently participating in the American Legion Oratorical contest
-Worked for family-owned landscaping business for two summers
Community Service:
-Around 200 hours, should be around 250 by end of year
-Volunteer with church, AMVETS, teaching flag-folding classes at elementary schools, Special Olympics, American Legion tree sales, State Park clean-ups, and several other organizations.
Misc:
-Nominated for Legion of Valor Bronze Cross for Achievement award (will be finishing this application in May)
-Outstanding cadet award for two years, civic service award, athletic participation award, distinguished military training award, scholastic achievement
 
Currently a MO midshipman who got a 4year scholarship. Your application looks pretty good! Have you taken the PFT for the application yet ? Your academics and extracurriculars look pretty good. Have you done your interview yet ? Those are also pretty important to the application process but so far it looks like you’re a competitive applicant. I would say you shouldn’t need to worry about not doing a varsity sport as long as your PFT scores are good. They should be First Class Scores.
 
Birdsnest said:
Currently a MO midshipman who got a 4year scholarship. Your application looks pretty good! Have you taken the PFT for the application yet ? Your academics and extracurriculars look pretty good. Have you done your interview yet ? Those are also pretty important to the application process but so far it looks like you’re a competitive applicant. I would say you shouldn’t need to worry about not doing a varsity sport as long as your PFT scores are good. They should be First Class Scores.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the reply. I haven't taken the PFT for the application or completed the interview yet, but I'll be preparing for them in the upcoming months.
 
Your stats don't reflect how dedicated you are to wanting to be a Marine officer, why you want to be a Marine officer, and your personal presence. No stats reflect this. However, this will be key to an interview/selection board. Do you know what it means to be a Marine officer?

Internalize this and nail it down.

Of course, read this: http://www.thesandgram.com/2011/01/18/nrotc-marine-option-scholarships/

This might also provide insight https://www.serviceacademyforums.co...option-on-stats-interviews-intangibles.46248/

You can bounce your current status against the above websites and figure out what you can do to make yourself as competitive as possible. Do a personal assessment and post on this thread where you are in your own self-assessment.

Good Luck and leave it all on the field!
 
Tennessee29 said:
Hello All,

I'm currently a high school junior looking to apply for the NROTC-MO Scholarship come April. I understand that there really isn't a way to estimate someone's "chances" of receiving the scholarship, but I'm looking for advice as to how I could strengthen my resume. One of my primary concerns is not having participated in a varsity sport. I was a part of our school wrestling team for several weeks this year but dropped after repeated conflicts with work and JROTC obligations. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Stats below.

Academics:
-4.2 GPA Weighted, 3.9 Unweighted
-4 AP Classes, 5 Honors Classes
-ACT: waiting to take the free test our school offers in March. Currently studying and doing practice online tests.
Athletics:
-One of two females in my MCJROTC program to have earned the superior physical achievement award.
-PFT (scores from our last JROTC PFT: 14 pull-ups, 129 crunches, 7:00 min mile). We do a mile run instead of the three-mile run. My three-mile run time is usually around 22-23 minutes, working on getting it down to 21. Plank is 4:30.
-Ran 2 Spartan Races, 5 Charity 5Ks (total 7), training for St. Jude half marathon in April.
Extracurriculars:
-Work 18+ hours a week as a cashier at Taco Bell
-MCJROTC (Rifle Team, PT Team, Drill Team). Was the physical training team captain my sophomore year, currently the CO GySgt and S-3 Operations Chief.
-School Bible Club (Currently the Vice President, on track to be President next year)
-National Honors Society
-Youth Group / Church
-Nominated to attend Girls State this summer, applying for General Tommy Franks 4-Star Leadership Camp, attended the Hugh O' Brien Youth Leadership Conference, and Future Presidents of America Youth Leadership Camp, attended 2 Cadet Leadership Camps and Student Leadership University 101 and 201.
-Currently participating in the American Legion Oratorical contest
-Worked for family-owned landscaping business for two summers
Community Service:
-Around 200 hours, should be around 250 by end of year
-Volunteer with church, AMVETS, teaching flag-folding classes at elementary schools, Special Olympics, American Legion tree sales, State Park clean-ups, and several other organizations.
Misc:
-Nominated for Legion of Valor Bronze Cross for Achievement award (will be finishing this application in May)
-Outstanding cadet award for two years, civic service award, athletic participation award, distinguished military training award, scholastic achievement
Click to expand...
you look like a way better version of my application, and my guy said I was pretty good to go! NROTC-MO is physical, so work on your PFT consistently. You look really strong though.

Edit: another big part is how much you want to be a Marine, so I think that added weight because I'm not nearly as strong academically.
 
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Hey MO recipient here. Your stats are nuts. Nice work! My only suggestions would be:
- start to work on the 3 mile time. I don’t know the female standards off the top of my head, but if you can get it to the 80 point range or better, I think you would be set.
- most importantly and I someone has already mentioned above, the interview is crucial. I have had practically everyone who’s helped me along the process stress this to me and now I’m stressing it to you. You’re in JROTC, so there’s already a desire to serve in you (I would assume). Capitalize on that desire. WHY do you want to be an Officer of Marines? WHAT will you do as an officer. Marines will not pick a person, no matter how fit or smart if that person is not motivated to become an Officer of Marines. And I’m not saying you aren’t, I’m sure you are, but you know Marines. Motivated bunch. In my own experience, during my interview, that made up a bulk of the questions. There will be times to talk about leadership opportunities, times you had to show integrity, your core values etc, but the purpose is to evaluate your aptitude and propensity to serve this nation as an Officer of Marines. I would suggest asking your instructor if they would be willing to bounce a few question of you. I would advise against having scripted, memorized responses to generic questions, it can come across as impersonal and zombie-like. However it is nice to practice how you would present your thoughts and kind of think about answers.

However that is months from now so it’s not a huge deal for you at this time. Best of luck feel free to ask me any questions, I’m fresh out of the *very* stressful application process.

Also side note, if given the choice between Girls State and Tommy Franks Camp, I would pick Girls State, more well known, more selective. I had a friend go last session of the camp and he said it was kind of a scam.
 
Zaphod Beeblebrox said:
Your stats don't reflect how dedicated you are to wanting to be a Marine officer, why you want to be a Marine officer, and your personal presence. No stats reflect this. However, this will be key to an interview/selection board. Do you know what it means to be a Marine officer?

Internalize this and nail it down.

Of course, read this: http://www.thesandgram.com/2011/01/18/nrotc-marine-option-scholarships/

This might also provide insight https://www.serviceacademyforums.co...option-on-stats-interviews-intangibles.46248/

You can bounce your current status against the above websites and figure out what you can do to make yourself as competitive as possible. Do a personal assessment and post on this thread where you are in your own self-assessment.

Good Luck and leave it all on the field!
Click to expand...
Much appreciated. Looking at other threads, when it comes to stats alone having a few other leadership roles, and a sport if manageable would be helpful (essentially more school involvement). If an opportunity comes up without a huge time commitment, I'll take it, but otherwise it might not provide me the time to put 100% into what I'm currently doing. And like you said, stats are only small piece of the puzzle and certainly don't represent the whole person, let alone their desire to lead Marines.
 
Good info above. Work on the pullups. They're the best way to improve PFT score... and keep working that 3 mile run. Try intervals to improve there.
 
kinnem said:
Good info above. Work on the pullups. They're the best way to improve PFT score... and keep working that 3 mile run. Try intervals to improve there.
Click to expand...
Looks like she is already maxed out on pullups! right?
 
Unless you really need the scholarship I would advise also looking at PLC - much looser grade reqs, nio major reqs, just need to kick butt on PFT and make the OSO really feel your desire to be a Marine. Virtually zero day to day overhead vs ROTC which is ike a full time job in addition to your technical major.
 
Looks great; recommend you look into PLC as stated there^, and also apply to other ROTC as backup. Your last backup can be picking up scholarship as a college programmer; but honestly your stats are great!

The key will be to crush it in person during the interview portion as well
 
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