Question about waitlisting an NROTC scholarship

[obesetiger]

Hey all, I was recently awarded a 4 year NROTC scholarship that was placed at my first choice school(Villanova). I have since been deferred from Villanova and have changed my first choice to Penn State where I was accepted. I accepted the application and sent in my waitlist form a week or so ago. How likely is it that my scholarship will be able to be transferred? Should I wait and see if I get admitted to Villanova via RD? Thank you for any information! Also if anyone has specific details regarding the units at the colleges themselves that would be fantastic.

 

[5Day]

I believe you should have completed the "Placement Change Request" to move your scholarship to Penn State. IMHO, I would move the scholarship to Penn State, since it is the sure thing. If you get into Villanova then try to transfer it back. You can also contact the battalion at Villanova to see if they can provide any assistance in getting you off the deferred list.
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Here is a post from @NavyNOLA from this thread: https://www.serviceacademyforums.com/index.php?threads/wait-list-question.53528/

There are two forms available on your son's NETFOCUS portal: the Placement Change Request and the Wait List Request. They have two different purposes.

The Placement Change Request is a request to immediately change placement from school X to school Y. If school Y has openings when the request is submitted, the student will typically be moved in short order. If the school has reached its freshman scholarship cap, they will not be.

The Wait List Request is designed to allow students to join the wait list of up to three other schools while still remaining at the school where they are currently placed. Current placement will not be changed. The three units whose wait lists you join will be notified, so they may reach out and contact, but you're in no way moved to their units. Towards the end of the scholarship season (late April-ish), the Placement office in Pensacola will contact students who are on wait lists and offer them the possibility to transfer their placement (assuming there are openings at the schools), if they desire to do so at that point. A student can say yes or no. Generally, Placement gives them a number of days to respond to the offer. If they say yes, placement is adjusted to the new school.

The benefit of a Wait List Request is that it gives a student somewhat preferential treatment late in the scholarship placement process when many students want to move around schools. They would be given preference over another student (who didn't complete a Wait List Request) to transfer into school Y. Keep in mind, though, that a school may fill up anyways during the months of January-April from students being placed there directly from the boards, and then the Wait List form does you no good. However, completely the Wait List Request can't hurt, it might give you a couple extra options down the stretch, and you certainly won't be moved without being asked first.

 

[ProudDad17]

There are actually two forms that apply. One is a Placement Change form. This form can be used to request a transfer of the host unit to Penn State. The other is the Wait List form. This can be used to be placed on the wait list for up to three schools. @NavyNOLA posted a more in depth explanation last week on this thread:
https://www.serviceacademyforums.com/index.php?threads/wait-list-question.53528/

As for what you should do, that is up to you, but according to @NavyNOLA few units fill all their available slots these days. The number of 4 year scholarships awarded has been reduced, but the number of available slots at units has not changed. My DS is in the same situation; deferred from his #1 choice, but accepted to his #2 school. For what it is worth, he has decided to wait it out until the end of February before taking any action.

Congratulations on your scholarship!

 

[5Day]

Nice post @ProudDad17!
One thing you can do is talk to each battalion and find out if they fill up. Of course they are going to tell you that they don't know what will happen this year, but you can probe about past years. You would then be able to decide what strategy is best for you.

 

[obesetiger]

Thank you both so much for your responses! Do you by chance know if there is a problem with submitting both forms? Should I notify the office in Pensacola that I submitted the placement request form?

 

[5Day]

If you already submitted the wait list req form and now you want to submit the placement req, I would call and let them know your confusion and why you are now submitting the placement req. You may get some insight (slim chance) from them on how full Villanova is. But, if you do submit the second form and they have any questions, they will contact you. DS got a call when he submitted his second placement req 5 days after the first one. They wanted to make sure he wanted the change. But, the main reason for the call was because there was a wait list at the school he was moving from, so when the change was approved, someone else filled his spot and there was no going back. He obtained that intel during the phone call.

 

[ProudDad17]

Thank you both so much for your responses! Do you by chance know if there is a problem with submitting both forms? Should I notify the office in Pensacola that I submitted the placement request form?

As I understand it, from what I have read, if you fill out the Placement Change Request, you will be moved to the new unit within a few day to a week or so, assuming there is an opening at the unit you requested. You could then request a change back to the original unit with another Placement Change Request and you would be moved back to that unit, again, assuming there is a spot available. If you fill out the wait list request, you would be placed on "standby" and not immediately moved. I'm not exactly sure when the wait list requests are processed, but from the post I quoted above, it sounds like you would be contacted for confirmation before the change is made.

I'm sure @NavyNOLA will be by to chime in soon and correct this if I am wrong. He is a PNS at a NROTC unit and is on top of all this information. Best of luck to you.