NROTC Villanova vs U of Maryland: any recommendations of one over the other?

kris10

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My DD received the NROTC scholarship to Villanova yesterday. She was also accepted to U of Maryland. Which of these units is better? (realizing anecdotal and personal experience will put one over the other). Any input is welcome!
 
There may be a minor difference in the personality of NROTC units, but overall they will be extremely similar. You study the same courses, go over the same materials and announcements in the lab, you participate in the birthday balls wherever you are. The differences might be in the area of training facilities available. For example, DS's college was just a few miles from Ft. Jackson so they did some training there on their leadership reaction course, obstacle course, and land Nav course on a regular basis. Not all colleges will have this opportunity. The staffs will obviously be different, but the staff turns over every 2 years so that's not a good reason to make a decision. Another difference might be where you attend a birthday ball. Also, some units earn money for the birthday ball and other activities by cleaning up the football stadium very early AM after each home football game. Other units will do it differently. One last major difference are which schools are part of the home unit and which ones require travel to the home unit on a regular basis. The travel can make things more difficult.

As you can see I can't contribute any anecdotal evidence about these units. What I can tell you is they are all fairly similar. Therefore, you should base your decision on which school is the best fit for you. If you excel academically and socially because the school is a good fit, it will contribute to your excelling in NROTC. Ultimately the value of the program is what you bring to it, your participation, your leadership skills, etc. ... not how good the unit is. You'll get out of it what you put into it.

Hope this gave you some food for thought regarding comparing the units and also how to make your own decision. Hope it helps!

EDIT: I should add that UofM probably (you would need to investigate) offer opportunities to do things in DC, develop contacts, tour the Pentagon, internships, etc, etc, This is just surmising on my part and your child should investigate it, it if even matters.
 
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...you should base your decision on which school is the best fit for you. If you excel academically and socially because the school is a good fit, it will contribute to your excelling in NROTC.

^ This....is....important.
 
Villanova NROTC unit has been around for quite a long time while University of Maryland's has it's own unit for just a couple of years. Also, UMD's cadre is shared with UMBC's NROTC unit so one does not have weekly availability to see the cadre at Maryland. I would say UMD's commander is passionate in developing Navy's next officers. The facilities used at UMD is kinda inadequate as the campus rounded up all the ROTCs into one small building.
 
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