NROTC vs USNA selection

040726

5-Year Member
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Feb 4, 2010
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I have seen posts that candidates were accepted to USNA but not NROTC and vise versa. Does the Navy look for different things in ROTC Midshipmen than they do in USNA Mishipman? What do you think would cause one to be accepted to one program, but not the other? Is NROTC or USNA more competitive?
 
When making appointments to USNA, it is based on geographical location. With NROTC it is completely national.

For example, if you live in a congressional district where you're the only one applying to go, chances are you will go as long as your stats are decent. If you live in a district where everyone wants to go, since there is a limited amount of space per district some highly qualified candidates with 4.0's and 4 years of Varsity Football may not go simply because there is more competition.

With NROTC, candidates are reviewed nationwide. The strongest candidates will get the scholarship even if every one in their neighborhood is also doing NROTC. (College choice has a lot to do with it too) also I saw on a recent thread that the USNA pool is slightly less academically powerful than the NROTC bunch because NROTC doesn't have to accommodate D1 athletes while USNA does. Not to say D1 athletes aren't academically qualified, just that 4.0 2100 SAT lineman are tough to come by.

Please anyone correct me if I'm wrong.
 
I have seen posts that candidates were accepted to USNA but not NROTC and vise versa. Does the Navy look for different things in ROTC Midshipmen than they do in USNA Mishipman? What do you think would cause one to be accepted to one program, but not the other? Is NROTC or USNA more competitive?

I expect it's primarily related to geography and the way the academy selects its midshipmen. Someone who might not be competitive enough for an NROTC slot, for some reason, might be the most competitive person on their MOC's slate, and therefore get the appointment to USNA. The same is true in reverse. Someone was more competitive on their slate so they didn't get an appointment to USNA but they were still very competitive and got an NROTC scholarship. USNA and NROTC are really looking for the same things but because of the congressional nomination requirements you can sometimes see results you wouldn't have expected.

As far as in-school NROTC scholarships go, it's even more competitive than USNA and you will see the stats of the scholarship winners running a bit higher than USNA appointees. Again, this is partly a results of the geography/nomination process USNA uses that NROTC doesn't.
 
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