ROTC questions

[smallstroom]

Hi all,

First, if anything I say here offends you I do apologize. If I seem at all snobby or rude in my writing, I apologize again. I am very limited with what I know about ROTC, I just have a lot of circumstance and questions.

I understand in ROTC you can receive a scholarship or, if not, still participate and graduate as an officer. I also understand that the scholarship is based on four years of college.

I currently have (will have when I graduate) 120 dual enrollment credit hours that fully transfer to the college of my choice, would ROTC allow me to apply those credits to my degree? With the credits degree plan my top choice college put out runs down to only two years. This is very attractive to me because they also have a program to get a master's degree the same time as your BA. I've talked about this with my academic advisor and we've planned that it would take about 3 to 3.5 years for everything.

Would the ROTC scholarship cover just the BA or would they allow me to get the MS as well because it would be a standard four years with ROTC courses? Or would I only be allowed the BA and leave college after two-ish years?

Also, if I did not receive a scholarship and chose to be a part of ROTC still, would I be able to drop if they did not allow the BA/MS program and I felt that it would be right for my future? I do not believe I will receive one, but I would still like to be a part of ROTC.

I do not know if it is more advantageous to leave college as an officer after two years (if allowed) or leave college in general at 21 years old with a MS. I also understand that you can continue to a MS program after your BA in ROTC, but to be honest I would quite honestly prefer to do the program so that I would be able to take MS courses during my undergraduate studies.

Sort of a different topic,

The scholarship would be nice to receive, but as long as I am accepted into the program I will be happy.

What do you think my chances are like?

I am a female going into Electrical Engineering.
With my credits I will graduate high school with two Associate's degrees- one in science and one in electrical engineering technology. It's not much but it is 2 years + summers of hard work.
I have my private pilot's license and am currently working on my instrument (I know it is not accepted- I just like flying)
I've participated in a handful of academic clubs BUT I have not committed and played many high school sports. I usually jog/exercise on my own as it works with my academic schedule better (dual enrollment classes do not follow the normal high school schedule). I am also just not good at sports (I won't lie about this), I am more of a long distance runner. I feel that my sag in 'accredited' school sports will bring me down, my ACT/SAT/AP scores are of high level though.
Generally I do things outside of school, for example, I volunteer 9 hours a week and have learned the C#, C, and C++ programming languages. Will this help me stand out?

TO NOTE AS A FORMALITY

I WANT to go into the Airforce through ROTC. I do not mean in any to sound like I am unsure about the program. There are many ways I would be able to join, ROTC is the best route in my opinion though. IF I cannot use my credits or apply to the BA/MS then I will most likely not do ROTC and join after my degree (critique if you must, I am not very educated about everything ROTC. I did not want to apply to a military college because personally I want a more general college experience and they do not accept dual enrollment credits.

I understand scholarships are being awarded as we speak, what are the chances of still doing ROTC without scholarship? You can still do that right? Also, yes I did apply to ROTC already.

 

[milmomsomeday]

I'm going to take a stab at a few of your questions. This is a jam-packed thread, so I'm sure others can chime in.

As a high school counselor who worked at an early college where students worked toward their associate's degree, I'm going to assume that you are saying that the schools you are considering have some sort of articulation agreement to accept your courses. Be aware that sometimes, specific degrees, such as Electrical Engineering will have prerequisite courses at the 4-year university that cannot be substituted before you arrive. So just be aware that you need to double check, course for course that you take the right courses and will have credit for those to TRULY be at the 2 years left mark. However, I'm not sure that will really matter in this case, because you will need at minimum, 3 years to complete AFROTC. You will need to double up freshmen and sophomore AFROTC courses your first year, be selected and go to field training that summer, and then complete 2 years of the advanced level of AFROTC courses. There are lots of threads about this if you use the search function and search "dual enrollment".
All that being said, I think you will find that coming from a dual enrollment situation, you will probably need that 3rd year to get everything you need to finish your degree and finish AFROTC.

Your first year (or two without a scholarship and before advanced courses) do not obligate you to serve in the Air Force. I would also recommend going to the AFROTC website and reading every bit of information on the site to get a better understanding of the program.

 

[kinnem]

ROTC programs are really designed to be 4 year programs to give you sufficient opportunity to serve in leadership billets and develop your own leadership skills and style (among other things). It can be done quicker and you should continue to look at that. It's my understanding that they will only cover a Bachelor degree and not a Masters, but there might be avenues for an exception if you still complete it all in 4 years. It's worth pursuing this with an Officer Selection Officer (recruiter) to determine if this is a possibility.

If you wish to serve as an officer, then completing your degree(s,) and pursuing Officer Candidate School after graduation, may be a better fit for you given the number of credit hours you will have in hand, but you should continue to investigate the ROTC option until it's no longer viable for you (if it turns out that way).

 

[CuriousMid1001]

I am going to add on to @kinnem ...

While ROTC is designed to be a four year program with the end result of a Bachelor's degree and a commission. Now, if you can do that in two years, the military won't turn that down (because its less $$ for Uncle Sam). I have heard of this happening, but you still have to meet the age requirements, etc. That being said, I have also heard of some instances both out of the Academies and ROTC where the newly commissioned officer will stay in the IRR in order to earn their Master's -- on their own dime.

If you are dead set on obtaining a master's degree before any work experience, I'd recommend not joining ROTC, and instead going through OCS. If you want to gain some experience first ( I am recommending this) earn your BS and commission, and then after 3 years use your GI Bill or find a program the service offers, like TA in the navy. Finally, as an officer, you'll have ample time to earn an MS. Love your enthusiasm and drive (I am sure the USAF does as well!) but you CAN slow down here and think a little more long term. You can earn an MS as an instructor with ROTC. On the Navy side, many of the O-3's take advantage of being at a university. The air force may also send you back to school for technical training, and later on to the War College or other military institute.

Good luck!