Love the feedback on this site. Great info on parents' weekend, packing list, places to stay, etc. Son is attending Norwich in fall. Looks like he went thru same application opps as many others here - SA's, VMI, Citadel, VA Tech, etc. He's playing football and looking forward to attending. Any thoughts on sport participation in conjunction with Corps requirements - he's going NROTC Marine option - and academics? I think he fares better with a structured schedule, but this is a new ballgame.
My son played football for 2 years. They have a new head coach. Balancing varsity sports, academics, and ROTC is a challenge.
Remind him he’s there to graduate and commission first.
He will have to figure out order of importance on his own. Our son is a 4 year rotc scholarship cadet, so he was there to commission. Your cadet will be pulled in all different directions. Football wants his time, last coaching regime had a hard time with ROTC and C of C time commitments, C of C wants a slice of the pie, ROTC will need a portion, then there's academics. Remember too, ROTC and the C of C are two seperate entities. There have been many cadets who concentrate on the C of C and get lost somewhere along the way ending up leaving NU because grades and ROTC suffered. The C of C won't get you a ROTC scholarship or a commission. Commissioning is the end game.
Unless your rook is a 4 year NROTC -MO cadet he really needs to do his research on other commissioning sources into the MC. It is very difficult to be accepted into the Navy battalion without a scholarship. Many cadets end up the PLC route or switch branches when they determine they can’t contract through NROTC.
Many rooks show up at NU thinking they will commission Navy, AF, or MC finding out end of rook or sophomore year they won’t contract.
Best advise study hard, have a good time, and stay injury free. My son's close friend got hurt playing football which kept him from attending PLC juniors so he had to go to plan B. He still made it to Quantico but was lucky with healing and rehab as well as all the waivers came through.
We have a senior this year. It's been a great experience for us on the parent's side. My son is ready to graduate and get on with life in the big Army and put cadet land behind him.