NROTC Scholarship vs NAPS?

teamluke

teamluke

Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2021
Messages
171
If your ultimate goal is receiving an Appointment to USNA, which road would you take? National 4 Year NROTC Scholarship or NAPS? My fear is passing up a guaranteed 4 year NROTC (room & board included) with having a small chance of not getting into USNA through NAPS.
 
teamluke said:
If your ultimate goal is receiving an Appointment to USNA, which road would you take? National 4 Year NROTC Scholarship or NAPS? My fear is passing up a guaranteed 4 year NROTC (room & board included) with having a small chance of not getting into USNA through NAPS.
Click to expand...
.
NAPS is a guaranteed USNA appointment if you complete the program, stay in line, and if you remain healthy and physically fit.
.
 
Dr. Strange Love said:
.
NAPS is a guaranteed USNA appointment if you complete the program, stay in line, and if you remain healthy and physically fit.
.
Click to expand...
If you can’t make it academically through NAPS, you likely would not have an impressive enough academic record freshman year in a regular college (calc, chem., physics, English) to gain you admission to USNA as a re-applicant. It would be INSANE to turn down the “golden ticket.” GO TO NAPS!!!
 
teamluke said:
Thanks for the info. What do you think about NROTC vs Foundation Scholarship
Click to expand...

See @NJROTC-CC response above ... really good point.

Foundation and NAPS get you ready for your Plebe year at the Academy. You may incur some financial cost at Foundation schools (boarding cost?) .... but both are getting you ready for you to join the next class at the Naval Academy.

NROTC scholarship route is a completely different pathway to a commission. If you turn down an offer to NAPS or Foundation, and instead go the NROTC, I don’t believe USNA admissions would even consider you for another try in a future USNA application cycle .... Think about it. The USNA offered you something and you turned them down.

So if you are offered NAPS or Foundation, and USNA is where you want to be, then take the offer.
.
 
Last edited:
Dr. Strange Love said:
.
If you turn down an offer to NAPS or Foundation, and instead go the NROTC, I wouldn’t believe they would necessary consider you for another try in a future USNA application cycle.
.
Click to expand...
Very good point. Turning down NAPS would indicate that you are not interested in going to USNA to most logical persons. So, if I had to guess, I would say that USNA would not take you seriously after turning down NAPS.

But USNA is not for everyone. Some prefer NROTC at a regular college. My son's SNSI in NJROTC has a son who recently graduated from USAFA. The son says he wished he had done AFROTC instead of USAFA.
 
Your ultimate goal is a commission in the Navy. Both paths get you there, assuming you are successful at both.

Your stated goal is USNA. A NAPS offer is USNA’s way of telling you they are saving you a seat in the Class of 2026, just complete the prep course to help ensure your success at USNA. They only offer NAPS and the prep scholarships to a small handful. Admissions likes everything about you, but wants to set you up for success. You will be with like-minded peers, already experiencing immersion military life and culture, and will arrive at USNA with a complete set of friends, confidence in your ability to succeed and other handy skills (Marching!! Bed-making! Room inspection savvy! And more!).

You could mess up at college on your own and somehow bungle the NROTC scholarship just as you could mess up at NAPS. But - if you want this, you go after it and ensure that doesn’t happen. At NAPS, everyone there wants the same thing and has been given the golden ticket. The NAPS staff has one goal, getting you through NAPS and on to USNA. That is not NROTC’s goal.

If you mess up at NAPS, at least you could try again through NROTC or OCS and exhaust all paths to a commission. If you say “no” to NAPS, that could be taken as a “no” to USNA.

Finally, pause and think through why you created this challenge for yourself. Look squarely at the questions, “Do I want to be at USNA? Has my ‘ultimate goal’ changed?Am I starting to think I’d rather do NROTC at X Uni because I think that’s a better fit for me right now? Since I didn’t get into USNA on this try, is my confidence shaken and my pride a bit stung, and I realize USNA is going to be a very hard slog if they think I need NAPS first? I don’t know how to explain Navy prep to family and friends, they don’t understand how that works.” Confirm to yourself your goal of a naval officer commission and think about the path that fits you best. Then decide.
 
No question ....NAPS !
Some may consider NAPS as a "wasted year", while all your peers get a head start on college. That is what I thought when I got the NAPS offer almost 40 years ago...., but I look back at it as the best thing that ever happened to me. I probably wouldn't have made it through USNA if I had faced the same academic struggles I had at NAPS with the rigors of Plebe Year added. Instead , I learned how to learn at NAPS, and did pretty well at USNA. (In addtition, I met my DW in Newport while at NAPS, so it was a win-win ).
 
Old Navy BGO said:
No question ....NAPS !
Some may consider NAPS as a "wasted year", while all your peers get a head start on college. That is what I thought when I got the NAPS offer almost 40 years ago...., but I look back at it as the best thing that ever happened to me. I probably wouldn't have made it through USNA if I had faced the same academic struggles I had at NAPS with the rigors of Plebe Year added. Instead , I learned how to learn at NAPS, and did pretty well at USNA. (In addtition, I met my DW in Newport while at NAPS, so it was a win-win ).
Click to expand...
At Harry's 103 Club or some place more wholesome? :)
 
if you go to NAPS, and take the prescribed college Prep courses, and finish the year with a 2.0, you will be guaranteed a spot at USNA the following year.

if you go to NROTC, and take the prescribed college courses, and finish with a 2.0, you will be on probation and on the path to losing your scholarship

if you want to go to USNA, then take the NAPS offer. if you go NROTC, then reapply to USNA, the odds of an appointment are far lower

if you want to become an officer as soon as possible and get to the Fleet, then go NROTC

best of luck!
 
A6E Dad said:
if you go to NAPS, and take the prescribed college Prep courses, and finish the year with a 2.0, you will be guaranteed a spot at USNA the following year.

if you go to NROTC, and take the prescribed college courses, and finish with a 2.0, you will be on probation and on the path to losing your scholarship

if you want to go to USNA, then take the NAPS offer. if you go NROTC, then reapply to USNA, the odds of an appointment are far lower

if you want to become an officer as soon as possible and get to the Fleet, then go NROTC

best of luck!
Click to expand...
Nutshell Award!
 
NJROTC-CC said:
If you can’t make it academically through NAPS, you likely would not have an impressive enough academic record freshman year in a regular college (calc, chem., physics, English) to gain you admission to USNA as a re-applicant. It would be INSANE to turn down the “golden ticket.” GO TO NAPS!!!
Click to expand...
I disagree. It all depends. Where is the NROTC scholarship going to used at? That’s the critical question. A NROTC scholarship to Stanford for example would be something I’d advise my kids to seriously consider. Nothing is guaranteed. A lot can change at NAPS in a year.
In the end it’s a great place to be to have those choices
 
Someone asked about Foundation vs. NAPS. First, USNA decides which you'll be offered. Foundation is a civilian prep school (or a military one, if you so choose). Your family will be required to contribute, based on their ability to pay (if they can't pay at all, they won't have to). NAPS is free but it's all military.
 
Capt MJ said:
Your ultimate goal is a commission in the Navy. Both paths get you there, assuming you are successful at both.

Your stated goal is USNA. A NAPS offer is USNA’s way of telling you they are saving you a seat in the Class of 2026, just complete the prep course to help ensure your success at USNA. They only offer NAPS and the prep scholarships to a small handful. Admissions likes everything about you, but wants to set you up for success. You will be with like-minded peers, already experiencing immersion military life and culture, and will arrive at USNA with a complete set of friends, confidence in your ability to succeed and other handy skills (Marching!! Bed-making! Room inspection savvy! And more!).

You could mess up at college on your own and somehow bungle the NROTC scholarship just as you could mess up at NAPS. But - if you want this, you go after it and ensure that doesn’t happen. At NAPS, everyone there wants the same thing and has been given the golden ticket. The NAPS staff has one goal, getting you through NAPS and on to USNA. That is not NROTC’s goal.

If you mess up at NAPS, at least you could try again through NROTC or OCS and exhaust all paths to a commission. If you say “no” to NAPS, that could be taken as a “no” to USNA.

Finally, pause and think through why you created this challenge for yourself. Look squarely at the questions, “Do I want to be at USNA? Has my ‘ultimate goal’ changed?Am I starting to think I’d rather do NROTC at X Uni because I think that’s a better fit for me right now? Since I didn’t get into USNA on this try, is my confidence shaken and my pride a bit stung, and I realize USNA is going to be a very hard slog if they think I need NAPS first? I don’t know how to explain Navy prep to family and friends, they don’t understand how that works.” Confirm to yourself your goal of a naval officer commission and think about the path that fits you best. Then decide.
Click to expand...
Thank you very much for the view from inside. Everything you mentioned is point-on. I just needed someone to tell me, matter of fact that NAPS is the route to take to the USNA. I appreciate the support and grateful for everyone's comments. Fly NAVY!
 
teamluke said:
If your ultimate goal is receiving an Appointment to USNA, which road would you take? National 4 Year NROTC Scholarship or NAPS? My fear is passing up a guaranteed 4 year NROTC (room & board included) with having a small chance of not getting into USNA through NAPS.
Click to expand...
I curious if you have both a NAPS offer and a NROTC scholarship offer. Getting both is not really congruent and I've never seen it happen in the past couple of decades.
If you're posing as a what-if, then that's fine too.
 
Dr. Strange Love said:
You may incur some financial cost at Foundation schools (boarding cost?)
Click to expand...
Not "may", it is WILL. USNA Foundation (private contributions) funds PART of the cost based on the family's ability to pay but it is expected that all will be expected to have some skin in the game financially.
 
NVhopeful said:
What is the cost for NAPS?
Click to expand...
I think its Dr. Strange Love's DD who just went through and can give up to date information, but in my time (and I think it is still true), we enlisted in the Navy, and were paid E-1 (and promoted to E-2 about 6 months in). I don't recall we paid for uniforms or books (but may have been a deduction on the LES. Bottom line, I was a 18 year old kid, fresh out of HS and getting paid about $500 every two weeks without any expenses. (Keep in mind, as a Plebe., I think we saw $60 /month out of our pay) Other than the academic a$$ whooping I took, life was pretty good -- there are a lot worse things than getting paid to go to school --Newport was a great place (it was an America's Cup season, and really great atmosphere).
 
teamluke said:
If your ultimate goal is receiving an Appointment to USNA, which road would you take? National 4 Year NROTC Scholarship or NAPS? My fear is passing up a guaranteed 4 year NROTC (room & board included) with having a small chance of not getting into USNA through NAPS.
Click to expand...
Where would your NROTC Scholarship be placed? If your final goal is USNA, I say go to NAPS. But if all you want is an officer commission, it depends on other factors.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top