Question for female ROTC cadets (or former cadets)

I have a sophomore son doing AROTC. Not to repeat what everyone else says, but he has plenty of time for a normal college life. That's what he wanted and why he turned down an LOA to West Point (I'm over it, I swear!). He is also not the hoorah type (the entire military thing was a shock to his mom and me), and not too many in his unit seem to be either.
I think the important thing to ask is does she want to be in the Army for 4 years? Maybe we should assume that since she goes to a military prep school, but that is really the first question to answer.
If she does, then for a diligent kid like it sounds like she is, she'll have plenty of time for a normal college life, especially if she doesn't also play a sport or have a job.
Then the second question is whether it is worth the risk of either having to transfer or take out loans to go to a higher-ranked school, private or out of state in case she bails on ROTC after freshman year (which would mean no commitment). Personally, I think that if she believes there's a solid chance she'd want to be in the military for 4 years and would like ROTC, then I wouldn't worry about the downside of either of those. Since the military would pay for year 1, and you would have paid for 4 years of State U, the difference between 4 years of in-state and 3 years of private (and especially) out of state is not that huge. To me that's worth it for her to take the risk of having to take out loans for that, or get a job with the spare time from not doing ROTC anymore, or perhaps transferring. All of those things for me would point to taking the shot, provided she feels there's at least a solid chance she'd like ROTC and as I said initially, that she's pretty sure she wants to serve for 4 years or more.
And no matter what, apply. See what the options are. But as another poster said, make sure she puts the time into the app and prepares for the interview, so that she maximizes her options.
 
I know this has been said again, but thought I'd offer my two cents from a thread a few months back:

ROTC was great for me as someone who wanted to balance military with my social life. I went out 2-3 times a week to enjoy the fraternity and party scene, was class president, and chaired multiple committees at my school. I was also the head RA for my dorm during one of my four years on campus. ROTC really only took up ~10 hours of my week (3 PT hrs, 5 class hours, 2 hours for HW/showering after PT).
 
IrishBrewer said:
I think my DD could be the poster child for the do just about everything to have a great college experience while in ROTC. She considered the USMC but opted not to move forward with that alternative as she was worried that she would not get the full college experience that she was after.

I do think that it helped a lot that she goes to a Div III school. She wanted to participate in varsity athletics (distance running) so she had to get her ROTC scholarship transferred after finding out that ROTC and Div I athletics don't mix well (all the colleges on her ROTC app were Div I). Along with ROTC, she is a 3-sport varsity athlete (XC, indoor and outdoor track) so she trains year round. ROTC has been great in accommodating her athletic schedule and they are fine with it taking priority. In addition, she belongs to a sorority, participated in student government (class rep one year and class president another year), double majors in pre-law and economics, TA for multiple classes, and does waitressing part time. This past year, she became an All-American and Academic All-American athlete. One might think that with all those other activities, her performance in ROTC would suffer but somehow she manages to balance it all and was selected as Battalion Commander and has big plans for that role in her upcoming senior year.

Best of luck to your daughter in whatever she chooses.
Click to expand...
Interesting as my son is finding the opposite with DIV 1 athletics and ROTC. They seem to be very accommodating. Dunno if being a Nursing pre-makes makes a difference but the rank of things there is-academics-sport-ROTC, in that order. Coach is on board. I suppose it depends on school, sport and coach.
 
College, with or without ROTC, is whatever you make of it. My daughter is hyper-involved with college: NROTC, engineering major and sorority. She’s doing pretty well and having the time of her life. We were sad for her that the USNA didn’t work out but I don’t think she’d change a thing at this point.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top