USMAROTCFamily
10-Year Member
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2013
- Messages
- 1,132
As it is becoming decision-time for ROTC scholarship winners to make their final college choices on where they will use their ROTC scholarship (or if they will use it at all), it is important to think through many "what if" situations. How many go in thinking they won't stay the course and make it through? What if you go and don't like it? What if you go and can't meet the physical fitness requirements? What if you can't make weight the commission weight standards? What if you make a mistake with under-age drinking and get caught and kicked out? What if you can't pass all of the required courses? What if you are injured in a car accident and can no longer participate? What if you develop a disease that will not allow you stay in the program (MS, Cancer, etc.)? Most go in thinking it won't happen to them, right?
What if you don't like it after the first year, you think, "No problem, I can get out now with no commitment, right?" However, what if you can no longer afford the college you chose if you don't have the ROTC scholarship? Will your plan be to transfer to a different college that you considered when you were a senior in high school? Will the colleges that had offered you a merit scholarship to go there as a freshman, still offer you a scholarship as Sophomore transfer student? What would your back up plan be?
Some people would say, don't have a back-up plan, as that means you are not committed and you are setting yourself up to fail and giving yourself an "out." Some people believe that you should never choose to use an ROTC scholarship at a college that you couldn't afford it without. Only you can make the decisions about what you would do, but go in with your eyes wide open.
DD got a NROTC Scholarship to go to Notre Dame. For her, this was her opportunity to go to her dream school, which we not have paid for, had she not had the NROTC scholarship. We did not qualify for financial aid, and the civilian merit scholarships she had would still have left a large sum of the $70k/year tab. We did not have the discretionary income to cover the difference and we flat-out refused to take on large loans to cover the costs. We were very clear with her that if she did not make it through NROTC, that she would have to leave ND and go to our local state university or another college where she could get other large scholarships as a transfer student (which are not easy to come by). She absolutely knew all of this before committing. She also had several full-ride, merit scholarships to several colleges, not tied to ROTC, so she did not HAVE to do ROTC or commit to the military in order to pay for college. After weighing her options, she felt that she really did want to serve in the military and did want to take the risk to do NROTC at a college she loved - ND.
All worked out for her and she graduated from Notre Dame in 4 years with her Mechanical Engineering degree and her Navy commission in hand. It was a demanding schedule with an average of 18.5 credits every single semester, many NROTC requirements, tough engineering classes, being a RA senior year, and the normal college-kid life. She loved ND. We loved ND. ND has a top-notch NROTC program. The University loves ND and fully commits to the program there. It was truly wonderful. But here are the sobering facts - Her NROTC class had 22 Midshipman make it through the 4 years. to commissioning. There were 32 who started the program with most of them on a NROTC scholarship. That means only 68% finished the program. The attrition came from several sources over the 4 years: 1 went to USNA (she did commission from there), 1 left to join the Seminary to become a priest, 2 who didn't pick up scholarships, left the program, 2 sustained injuries that wouldn't allow them to be commissioned, 1 couldn't pass PFT, 1 couldn't make the weight standard and 2 decided the military was not for them. There are other college ROTC programs that have higher attrition rates than ND has.
This is not being said to scare anybody at all, but you must know what you (or your kid) is really getting into and know what you/they will do if they don't make it through. Don't assume "It won't happen to me (or your DS/DD)." because things do happen. Just have a plan and think things through before making your final decision. Best wishes to all of you!
What if you don't like it after the first year, you think, "No problem, I can get out now with no commitment, right?" However, what if you can no longer afford the college you chose if you don't have the ROTC scholarship? Will your plan be to transfer to a different college that you considered when you were a senior in high school? Will the colleges that had offered you a merit scholarship to go there as a freshman, still offer you a scholarship as Sophomore transfer student? What would your back up plan be?
Some people would say, don't have a back-up plan, as that means you are not committed and you are setting yourself up to fail and giving yourself an "out." Some people believe that you should never choose to use an ROTC scholarship at a college that you couldn't afford it without. Only you can make the decisions about what you would do, but go in with your eyes wide open.
DD got a NROTC Scholarship to go to Notre Dame. For her, this was her opportunity to go to her dream school, which we not have paid for, had she not had the NROTC scholarship. We did not qualify for financial aid, and the civilian merit scholarships she had would still have left a large sum of the $70k/year tab. We did not have the discretionary income to cover the difference and we flat-out refused to take on large loans to cover the costs. We were very clear with her that if she did not make it through NROTC, that she would have to leave ND and go to our local state university or another college where she could get other large scholarships as a transfer student (which are not easy to come by). She absolutely knew all of this before committing. She also had several full-ride, merit scholarships to several colleges, not tied to ROTC, so she did not HAVE to do ROTC or commit to the military in order to pay for college. After weighing her options, she felt that she really did want to serve in the military and did want to take the risk to do NROTC at a college she loved - ND.
All worked out for her and she graduated from Notre Dame in 4 years with her Mechanical Engineering degree and her Navy commission in hand. It was a demanding schedule with an average of 18.5 credits every single semester, many NROTC requirements, tough engineering classes, being a RA senior year, and the normal college-kid life. She loved ND. We loved ND. ND has a top-notch NROTC program. The University loves ND and fully commits to the program there. It was truly wonderful. But here are the sobering facts - Her NROTC class had 22 Midshipman make it through the 4 years. to commissioning. There were 32 who started the program with most of them on a NROTC scholarship. That means only 68% finished the program. The attrition came from several sources over the 4 years: 1 went to USNA (she did commission from there), 1 left to join the Seminary to become a priest, 2 who didn't pick up scholarships, left the program, 2 sustained injuries that wouldn't allow them to be commissioned, 1 couldn't pass PFT, 1 couldn't make the weight standard and 2 decided the military was not for them. There are other college ROTC programs that have higher attrition rates than ND has.
This is not being said to scare anybody at all, but you must know what you (or your kid) is really getting into and know what you/they will do if they don't make it through. Don't assume "It won't happen to me (or your DS/DD)." because things do happen. Just have a plan and think things through before making your final decision. Best wishes to all of you!
