NROTC scholarship unit transfer request

momx3

5-Year Member
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Dec 25, 2016
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DD received scholarship to her first choice school, but was not accepted to that school ED. Advice was given that she should put in a transfer request now to a 'sure' school that she can get accepted to, and then request a new transfer when she hears from her other top choices. Is it better to wait until she hears from all the schools prior to making the request rather than making multiple requests? Thrilled to get the news in Dec, but it pre-dates any other acceptance news. New to this and she doesn't want to jeopardize her chances.
 
Move it to the school that is a "good fit" or "safe" school. Move it around as the acceptance offers come in. My DS moved his scholarship twice and would have moved it a third time if he had been accepted to the school that wait listed him.
 
Again, it doesn't particularly matter where you transfer your scholarship because you can do it any number of times. On one hand, waiting for all of the decisions to come out means you only have to transfer the scholarship once, but then again, transferring to a safety now might offer some peace of mind. Keep in mind though, that the transferring process can take 2-4 weeks to process (well that's what the Yale NROTC people told me anyways), so if she transfers the scholarship to a school that releases decisions in late March, she will only have maybe 1 or 2 opportunities to transfer the scholarship again. I don't think anything is going to be jeopardized by switching a scholarship around. Final unit placement isn't really set into stone until you pay your enrollment deposit on 1 May.
Right now, I'm in more or less the same pickle since I have a scholarship to Yale, which is a reach for just about everyone. I'm just waiting for all of my decisions to come out then going to make one transfer and stick to whatever school that lets me in lol. Best of luck to her.
 
Each NROTC program has a finite number of spots and some programs fill up. That is why the the consensus advice is to place your scholarship and a "good fit" school. To maximize the chance that your scholarship is placed at a school that you are accepted to.
 
I agree with 5Day. Although you can transfer your scholarship willy-nilly it is a possibility that you cannot change it to a school you want because its program is full. Make your best decision now for a good-fit college that is also attainable.
 
It really depends on the schools. With the cutbacks in scholarships the past couple years, not as many schools fill up as in the past. You can make multiple scholarship transfers.
 
We were told with two kids to put a safety school first for NROTC because that school can fill up while the "reach" schools don't fill up. I'd recommend changing now so that there is a definite spot. You can always change to the "reach" school if and when accepted. My daughter did that procedure this year when she got in early to her "reach" school and moved it to #1. She had notification the next day that the change was made.
 
For my DS it only took a few days for his changes to be made. A year or two earlier the system was different and the changes were saved up towards April or May. The officer actually called my DS after he submitted his final request. He alluded to the fact that the school he was transferring from had a waiting list and there was no going back. So som schools do fill up. That school offered free room and board to ROTC students so their batallions were very popular. His reach school had less than 10 MIDN in each class so it would have been easy to transfer his scholarship into that program. I say this, because you want to choose wisely, but most programs do not fill up. You can always call each batallion and ask about their class size.
 
My DS applied to his top school regular decision hoping to improve his ACT score by 1 or 2 points. His scholarship is assigned to his #1 school (Notre Dame). I suspect that they will fill up (his brother is currently a 1C at ND). Openings may occur later in the process when admission decisions come out and kids find out they did not get in and their scholarship is assigned to that school (same boat my son would be in). The plan is to wait and see if he gets into #1. If he does not get in, he's already been accepted to Purdue which is where he has already indicated that he would request a transfer to. We are hesitant to put in the transfer request until we receive the admissions decisions through regular decision. My opinion...he's on the bubble and admissions could go either way....he could get in / he may not. It's the waiting that is so hard and not really knowing if you should or should not take steps to retain the scholarship when you know you've been accepted at one of your top choices already.
 
@goirish1 Notre Dame is a very popular NROTC program with a long history with the Navy. I agree with keeping ND as his first choice even if it is a reach. Has your DS contacted the ND Battalion to see if they can provide any admissions assistance?
 
In the same boat here. DS has been placed at his #1 school, University of Michigan, but he was deferred to regular decision. He reached out to his contact at the NROTC unit and was told they were advocating on his behalf and that the admissions counselor noted DS has a strong application. When we visited the unit last spring, we were told they do not fill all their slots, because the university is very competitive for admissions. DS has already been accepted at three other schools, including his #2 choice, Purdue. We do not know if Purdue tends to fill their incoming spaces. I would appreciate if anyone has any information about whether Purdue tends to fill up. At this point DS wants to wait a bit before requesting a transfer, but also wants to be sure he doesn't miss out on Purdue if he ultimately does not get accepted at Michigan. He plans to contact the batallion at Purdue but is waiting until he hears back from his admissions counselor at Michigan regarding his letter of continued interest.
 
@goirish1 Notre Dame is a very popular NROTC program with a long history with the Navy. I agree with keeping ND as his first choice even if it is a reach. Has your DS contacted the ND Battalion to see if they can provide any admissions assistance?
He has not reached out to the Battalion, however the Battalion is aware because the ND admissions office copied them when we were discussing whether to apply EA or RD. He has also been reluctant to reach out because his brother is currently in the Battalion and doesn't want to appear to be leveraging his brother and to do this on his own. However, I am of the opinion that because this is what he really wants, he really needs to take every step possible.
 
Your DS should exploit any advantage he thinks he could have to get into a competitive school like ND.
 
As everyone has said, transferring the scholarship was easy and quick! DS downloaded the form, filled it out, scanned it and emailed it in. Less than a week later (even with the holidays) he received an update on his portal awarding the scholarship to the new school, Auburn! Thank you NavyNola for the warning that Auburn fills up quick.
 
He has not reached out to the Battalion, however the Battalion is aware because the ND admissions office copied them when we were discussing whether to apply EA or RD. He has also been reluctant to reach out because his brother is currently in the Battalion and doesn't want to appear to be leveraging his brother and to do this on his own. However, I am of the opinion that because this is what he really wants, he really needs to take every step possible.

I agree with you.
 
He reached out. It is the policy of the Unit to not advocate on any one person's behalf where admissions is concerned. I had a feeling that would be the case given that it's clear when applying for the scholarship that admission into the school is separate and distinct from receipt of the scholarship and the school to which it is assigned. At least he and I can feel better knowing that he at least reached out. For now - we wait, we pray and we pray some more. Hopefully all things work out. If not, Purdue is an excellent option.
 
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