Questions concerning rotc

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brooke@fl

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Hello all! I am newer to understanding everything concerning rotc in college and what would be the best options for me. Any help or input is appreciated in response to my questions. A little background on myself if it helps answer the following questions: I am currently a junior in high school, have a gpa above 4.0 (weighted), participate in three varsity sports, and hold various leadership positions throughout my school/church/personal life. I do not have a set idea of the colleges that I would like to apply to (preferably in the south though), but I do know that I would like to participate in rotc.
Questions:
1. I have a desire to pursue a bachelor in nursing, is there a certain rotc branch that would have more benefits to this career?
2. Does everyone entering rotc earn a scholarship? If so, does scholarship amount vary depending on the school or state?
3. Do rotc programs select certain people or are there specific qualifications that might eliminate people?
4. Is there a possibility that I attend a college for the rotc, but find out later on that I have not been selected for the program?
5. I have seen people say that say that rotc will pay for either room and board or books? Are you able to choose which one?
6. Are there any colleges that anyone would recommend that are in the southern U.S., have a good rotc program and nursing program?
Thank you for any input!
 
brooke@fl said:
Hello all! I am newer to understanding everything concerning rotc in college and what would be the best options for me. Any help or input is appreciated in response to my questions. A little background on myself if it helps answer the following questions: I am currently a junior in high school, have a gpa above 4.0 (weighted), participate in three varsity sports, and hold various leadership positions throughout my school/church/personal life. I do not have a set idea of the colleges that I would like to apply to (preferably in the south though), but I do know that I would like to participate in rotc.
Questions:
1. I have a desire to pursue a bachelor in nursing, is there a certain rotc branch that would have more benefits to this career?
2. Does everyone entering rotc earn a scholarship? If so, does scholarship amount vary depending on the school or state?
3. Do rotc programs select certain people or are there specific qualifications that might eliminate people?
4. Is there a possibility that I attend a college for the rotc, but find out later on that I have not been selected for the program?
5. I have seen people say that say that rotc will pay for either room and board or books? Are you able to choose which one?
6. Are there any colleges that anyone would recommend that are in the southern U.S., have a good rotc program and nursing program?
Thank you for any input!
Click to expand...
1. I think you can do nursing in any service. Scholarships for nursing majors in NROTC are few, but they are available. I believe more scholarship opportunities are available in the other services, but I have no idea as to numbers.

2. Not everyone gets an xROTC scholarship. You can participate in the programs without a scholarship. There are opportunities to be awarded a scholarship while in the program (DS took this path). If not awarded a scholarship you must be approved to continue past your sophmore year.

3. Not sure what you're asking here. All ROTC programs are looking for scholarship, leadership, and athletics when selecting awardees. The higher you rank in each of those categories the better. With your brief background it sounds like you have a reasonable shot, but it is competitive and you should always have backup plans.

4. See #2 above. The brief answer is that it is a possibility. As long as you work hard and do well in academics and ROTC you should generally be fine.

5. AROTC pays for full tuition or will pay for room and board. You get to choose which. NROTC will only pay full tuition, there is no room and board option. AFROTC has different scholarships which pay for some or all of your tuition depending on the scholarship type and the college you attend.

6. I'm sure others will contribute answers but in the meantime you can research it. Look at the service xROTC web sites to determine which colleges offer xROTC and then check which offer nursing programs. Not all nursing programs are eligible for scholarships.

You should Google AROTC, NROTC, and AFROTC and read through the specifics of each program. That will answer most of your questions and provide more detail to what I briefly described above.
 
1. I have a desire to pursue a bachelor's in nursing, is there a certain ROTC branch that would have more benefits to this career?

For sure AF has one but pretty sure so does Army and Navy

2. Does everyone entering ROTC earn a scholarship? If so, does the scholarship amount vary depending on the school or state?

No, not 100% certain but most don't get a scholarship. As for scholarships, some of them are earned in a national 4-year program and some of them are earned at the college detachment itself. They can be anywhere from 1 semester to 3.5 years.

3. Do ROTC programs select certain people or are there specific qualifications that might eliminate people?

AF really likes STEM majors but that doesn't mean they don't take everyone else. Right now its highly competitive in the AF with the edge going to STEM majors or other specialties like languages or Nursing (see #1) As for the elimination, much of it is medical in nature

4. Is there a possibility that I attend a college for the ROTC, but find out later on that I have not been selected for the program?

In the AF, the first 2 years are pretty much guarantee as long as you don't screw up. However, in the summer between year 2 and year 3, you must be invited and attend Field Training. If you don't , you cant continue with year 3. When my son went in 2016, everyone got invited to go. Since then because of a high number of AFROTC cadets and now because of Covid and high retention in the AF, only about 50% or so were invited this year. The rest are going to be kicked out except for a few that will be retained and go to field training the following year. The Army doesn't do that and I don't think the Navy does that either. However, with the Army, you don't have a guarantee of being on active duty when you commission. There is a likelihood that they make you a reserve officer. In the AF, if you commission you will be on active duty unless you request reserves.

5. I have seen people say that rotc will pay for either room and board or books? Are you able to choose which one?

Rotc does not pay room and board. Some schools reward Rotc scholarship winners with free room and board. That is their choice. Someone posted above that ARotc will either pay for tuition or room and board, so that's different from Navy and AF

6. Are there any colleges that anyone would recommend that are in the southern U.S., have a good rotc program and nursing program?
Thank you for any input!

Couldn't tell you, but the trick is to find a good nursing program and then see if they have rotc units there. Worry about the school and not the ROTC

One further point, at least with AF, they have different types of tuitions which pay different amounts with different limitations.
 
RE: Room and board in addition to tuition... Humey's right. The school that my daughter will be going to (RIT) will cover room and board since she was awarded the scholarship prior to entering college. There is a list out there that lists out the various colleges and what/how much they cover. Some schools will cover it, some offer a certain amount toward it (i.e., $2500 per semester), some offer nothing.

Depending on your situation, I do suggest considering schools where you feel like you think will be a good fit for you rather than who covers the most. I understand that some people don't have that luxury though. I'll see if I can find that list of schools with additional benefits.
 
I can speak some to Army. For national scholarship process, you apply summer/fall of your senior year, and they award 4 year and 3 year AD scholarships. Nursing scholarships are specifically only for nurses, and if awarded a nursing scholarship you will be expected to become a nurse. My daughter earned a nursing scholarship in 2016 for Army. At the time, Army had the most nursing spots at ROTC units, scholarship or non-scholarship. I heard around that time (don't know if it is still accurate), that the Navy was putting their nursing resources more towards OCS for existing nurses.

You definitely go through the same application process for Army ROTC as a nurse applicant, but when you pick nursing as your major, only the schools with a nursing program AND a ROTC nursing mission will populate. You pick each state on the application (once it opens June 12th) and it will show you which schools you can select from. At the time, in our state there was only one program, even though it was private, she had to select it as one of her choices to satisfy the instate option. Then she had to select an out of state public school to satisfy the state school requirement. This process happens this summer, assuming you are currently a junior and will be a senior in the fall.

For nursing, there are some schools that even for ROTC you have to compete against the general student population for a nursing slot as a junior, some schools have guaranteed ROTC nursing slots for their scholarship nursing students if you meet the requirements, and even some other schools have direct entry nursing for all accepted nursing students as a freshmen and then you keep it by meeting the minimum requirements. These are all factors for selecting your school when wanting to pursue nursing.

Like said above, Army will pay tuition/fees or room/board. Some schools will waive room and board for scholarship recipients, if you accept the tuition/fees option with your ROTC scholarship.

One school I have heard good things about for nursing and ROTC is TCU, but I do not have any direct experience. University of Portland in the NW has a direct entry nursing school, beautiful campus over looking the city of Portland (you are not directly in Portland, but in a adjacent neighborhood), and provides room and board for all scholarship recipients. If you have a 3 year scholarship awarded, they waive room and board all 4 years, and they also allow you to use any university merit scholarship awards your freshman year while you wait for your scholarship to activate.

My daughter switched to a non-nursing major and switched her scholarship to a line scholarship end of sophomore year (not common and not guaranteed, typically a nursing ROTC scholarship recipient is expected to be a nurse)

Also, if you do not have a scholarship by end of sophomore year, you can still contract as a junior for ROTC, however, I believe if it is outside of the school's mission for the year for nurses, you might not be guaranteed nursing once you commission, but may be placed in a different branch. I am not 100% clear on this, but know that at my DD's school, they only had a mission for nurses for the number of scholarships they had. All of the nurses outside of that mission went National Guard.
 
Vanderbilt, where my son is in AROTC, has a Nursing School. They offer $6000 per year for room board and $1200 for fees (so $7200/year) to AROTC scholarship winners, I assume it's the same for NROTC. Both programs are on campus and Vandy has a great hospital, and of course Nashville is a great city in which to go to college.
 
5. I have seen people say that rotc will pay for either room and board or books? Are you able to choose which one?
Army ROTC scholarships consist of:

  • Two-, three-, and four-year scholarship options based on the time remaining to complete your degree
  • The option for room and board in place of tuition, if you should qualify ( Can use the scholarship for room and board instead of tuition)
  • Additional allowances for books and fees
  • Army ROTC scholarships also provide a $420 per month living allowance for each school year.
I always thought these were good resources.

www.goarmy.com

ROTC Scholarships

Apply for an ROTC scholarship in order for the Army to help you pay for college, all while gaining invaluable leadership skills.
www.goarmy.com www.goarmy.com
https://www.goarmy.com/rotc/find-schools.html - You can find every ROTC school by state and what they offer.

If Army ROTC is your path.

Best of luck!!!
 
TBVADAD said:
5. I have seen people say that rotc will pay for either room and board or books? Are you able to choose which one?
Army ROTC scholarships consist of:

  • Two-, three-, and four-year scholarship options based on the time remaining to complete your degree
  • The option for room and board in place of tuition, if you should qualify ( Can use the scholarship for room and board instead of tuition)
  • Additional allowances for books and fees
  • Army ROTC scholarships also provide a $420 per month living allowance for each school year.
I always thought these were good resources.

www.goarmy.com

ROTC Scholarships

Apply for an ROTC scholarship in order for the Army to help you pay for college, all while gaining invaluable leadership skills.
www.goarmy.com www.goarmy.com
https://www.goarmy.com/rotc/find-schools.html - You can find every ROTC school by state and what they offer.

If Army ROTC is your path.

Best of luck!!!
Click to expand...
It’s between tuition and room and board. And yes, you are able to choose but you can’t have both.
 
Google "Army ROTC Nursing Center of Excellence". Only a small number of programs in the US receive that designation from Cadet Command, but those that do often reserve a set number of spaces in the nursing program for AROTC students. It's a leg up in the selection process for nursing school.
 
VisionofConflux said:
It’s between tuition and room and board. And yes, you are able to choose but you can’t have both.
Click to expand...
Some Schools will actually pay room and board if you are an ROTC Scholarship recipient. If you win a 4 year... it's basically a full ride. You just need to find that list of schools. My Son (Norwich recent grad) and my daughtter (incoming Rook) at Norwich University took advantage of this amazing opportunity.
 
brooke@fl said:
Hello all! I am newer to understanding everything concerning rotc in college and what would be the best options for me. Any help or input is appreciated in response to my questions. A little background on myself if it helps answer the following questions: I am currently a junior in high school, have a gpa above 4.0 (weighted), participate in three varsity sports, and hold various leadership positions throughout my school/church/personal life. I do not have a set idea of the colleges that I would like to apply to (preferably in the south though), but I do know that I would like to participate in rotc.
Questions:
1. I have a desire to pursue a bachelor in nursing, is there a certain rotc branch that would have more benefits to this career?
2. Does everyone entering rotc earn a scholarship? If so, does scholarship amount vary depending on the school or state?
3. Do rotc programs select certain people or are there specific qualifications that might eliminate people?
4. Is there a possibility that I attend a college for the rotc, but find out later on that I have not been selected for the program?
5. I have seen people say that say that rotc will pay for either room and board or books? Are you able to choose which one?
6. Are there any colleges that anyone would recommend that are in the southern U.S., have a good rotc program and nursing program?
Thank you for any input!
Click to expand...

I am responding to this post as a former Army officer that commissioned through AROTC after having served as an enlisted soldier. I am also a father of a current AROTC cadet that is also a nursing major.
  1. Army and Navy have nursing option scholarships. Air Force permits you to major in nursing if you choose the general scholarship option; however, AF does not guarantee nursing as your job upon commissioning.
  2. No - everyone does not earn a scholarship when entering ROTC. Campus based scholarships may be available, and you can apply for HS scholarships. All scholarships are competitive.
  3. There are specific qualifications to participate in ROTC.
  4. Army and Air Force permit non-scholarship cadets to participate in the first 2 years before requiring that they contract. I'm confident that NROTC probably has a similar option for participation. Scholarship recipients are under obligated to participate in ROTC, and scholarships are merit based and mandate progress toward a degree and a minimum GPA.
  5. Army gives the option for tuition or room & board. All other branches only pay for tuition.
  6. There are several great universities in the south that have both great nursing programs and ROTC. I would look at the NCLEX first time pass rate, find out if there are any current cadets in nursing, and looking at the universities retention rate and graduation rate.
With nursing, be aware that many programs do not guarantee admission to applicants that have met the minimum GPA. If you are selected for a nursing scholarship, you cannot keep the scholarship if you are not admitted to the nursing program. Therefore, if you were in AROTC, you would have to ask for a transfer to a line scholarship, and switching to a line scholarship is not guarenteed.

If you have a favorite school that you list on your scholarship application, you should ask if the school has guarenteed nursing seats for ROTC cadets/midshipmen that meet the minimum requirements for admission.

Also, if you apply to a direct admission nursing school, such as Arizona State or West Virginia, you should ask what the minimum GPA for students that are admitted to maintain direct admission status. Some schools have direct admission, but also require a high GPA (3.5 or higher) in order to keep their nursing school seat.

Lastly, be aware that a nursing degree can be as difficult as an engineering degree. Therefore, wanting to be a nurse and majoring in nursing as an ROTC cadet/midshipman can be humbling and exhausting. You will be expected to be very involved in ROTC and extra-curriculars, while at the same time earning high grades in chemistry, anatomy/physiology, and microbiology, as well as all of your other classes. Does this mean that it is impossible? No - but it does mean that it will be challenging, and your college experience will be very different from the nursing majors that are not part of ROTC.
 
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