ROTC Before College

[Stevenson]

Good evening SAF,

I have a question about AFROTC. College decisions have not came out yet but I would like to know the answer so I can think about it earlier. I applied to both California State Universities and Universities of California. However, UC's start later than CSU's. For example, if I were to attend UC San Diego, I'd have to take my leadership labs and Aerospace studies at San Diego State University, thus I'd be enrolled in the detachment at SDSU. If I were to go to UC San Diego, then would I have to go to SDSU just to take the ROTC classes or do I start ROTC late?

If I have to start ROTC early then I'm guessing I'd have to rent an apartment nearby since I'm technically not enrolled at SDSU so I wouldn't be able to stay at the dorms. If I do start late, I'd be extremely behind as it is more than a week late I believe.

Also, do you have to graduate college in 4 years or can you stay in ROTC and commission + graduate in 5? (Scholarship will only be effective for 4 I'm assuming but that's only if I make it to SFT.)

Thanks for your answers.

 

[-Bull-]

Your best bet is to speak with your cadre about this. You can probably work something out with them to accommodate your situation (starting late, finding another cadet to stay with, or a way for you to make up missed training). Cadre can usually be fairly flexible in finding ways to work around situations that might interfere with ROTC (conflicting class times, cross town cadets with different academic calendars, etc.). But speaking to them directly will probably be best as they might already have plans in place to mitigate these issues and they will be the only ones that can speak to your specific situation. Also, you probably won't be the first cadet with this issue that the cadre have come across so they probably already know how to deal with it.

Staying in ROTC for longer than 4 years would depend on the circumstances, but in short, yes you can. I was not AFROTC so I can't comment directly on them, but Army ROTC allows certain majors (nursing and engineering for example) more than 4 years to complete their degree. I stayed in Army ROTC for an extra semester because I had surgery and knew ahead of time I would not be medically cleared to commission in time so I extended an extra semester to allow time to fully recover.

 

[Pima]

It wouldn't shock me if SDSU opens the dorm early for ROTC cadets. My DS moved into his early because AFROTC at his school had to report before school officially started. That being said it was only a week before the rest of the students returned.

I know other colleges also have done the same.

As for graduating in 5 as Bull stated it depends on your major and if the college deems it 5 years. Otherwise, you will probably need approval. IE if you start in one major, get approval to change majors and because of the change you will delay your graduation.

 

[MHall]

I have a great contact for you at SDSU who works in the ROTC department and can tell you about the programs at SDSU, UCSD and USD. We just moved to San Diego from Ohio and our DD has applied to the army ROTC scholarship program. We have had many questions along the way about what school to attend and how the ROTC programs work with each school. I would highly suggest contacting him. He has been so kind and extremely helpful with our daughter and we are now able to make an intelligent decision about what school to go to if she were to get into all three and how the ROTC program works at each school. We met him in his office twice and have had several phone and email conversations with him. Your answers are just a phone call away.


Fred DeMag
Recruiting Operations Officer
Army ROTC
San Diego State University
Tel: 619-594-1236
E-mail: fdemag@mail.sdsu.edu
website: armyrotc.sdsu.edu