ROTC Scholarship Questions

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I'm applying for the AROTC, AFROTC, and NROTC (Marine option) scholarships, and I have a few questions:

  1. How are candidates evaluated? Is it the same as the SAs, like 60% academics, 30% extracurriculars, and 10% athleticism?
  2. I read that there are only 2000 national AROTC scholarships available. Is this true, or is the number of scholarships awarded depend on the Army's needs?
  3. How competitive are the scholarships? What percentage of applicants receive one? I've looked everywhere and I can't find a definitive answer...
  4. My Marine recruiter said if I receive a scholarship to a specific school I will most likely be accepted by the school. What happens if I don't get accepted? Will the scholarship just be meaningless?
Thank you in advance!
 
I'm applying for the AROTC, AFROTC, and NROTC (Marine option) scholarships, and I have a few questions:

  1. How are candidates evaluated? Is it the same as the SAs, like 60% academics, 30% extracurriculars, and 10% athleticism?
  2. I read that there are only 2000 national AROTC scholarships available. Is this true, or is the number of scholarships awarded depend on the Army's needs?
  3. How competitive are the scholarships? What percentage of applicants receive one? I've looked everywhere and I can't find a definitive answer...
  4. My Marine recruiter said if I receive a scholarship to a specific school I will most likely be accepted by the school. What happens if I don't get accepted? Will the scholarship just be meaningless?
Thank you in advance!
#4
Answer is at primary source on NROTC site.
 
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Much of what you are asking doesn’t have a black and white, definitive answer. Or it does, but isnt for applicants to know. So you are likely to receive opinion here. If that’s what you are after, then that’s great. But know that. Info that is for public knowledge is on the individual ROTC websites.

Adding: “what CaptMJ said”. Posted at the same time.
 
The evaluation criteria varies per the different scholarships. NROTC-MO is going to weigh athleticism and leadership different than AFROTC. The 2000 AROTC scholarships sounds about right. Of those , 25% may be 4-YR and the remaining 3-YR scholarships. The number that are awarded this year could change based on funding and the needs of the Army.

The ROTC scholarships are very competitive. It is a national competition - As far as percentages, the number of applicants vs awarded scholarships is out there - research it. For NROTC-MO, there were +/- 250 scholarships awarded nationally last year.

4. My Marine recruiter said if I receive a scholarship to a specific school I will most likely be accepted by the school. What happens if I don't get accepted? Will the scholarship just be meaningless?

Your Marine recruiter is wrong. The school selection for your scholarship and the admission to that school are two separate and independent processes. In the event you are awarded a scholarship to a school that you do not get in to - you work with the NSTC on switching your scholarship to a school that you were admitted to.

Good luck
 
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Always keep in mind that without receiving a scholarship out of high school, you can still enroll in these programs and have opportunities to win a scholarship along the way. That's what my son did. You can even complete the program without a scholarship and commission as a 2Lt. There is more than one way to skin a cat if serving as a leader is what you want to do.
 
I'm applying for the AROTC, AFROTC, and NROTC (Marine option) scholarships, and I have a few questions:

  1. How are candidates evaluated? Is it the same as the SAs, like 60% academics, 30% extracurriculars, and 10% athleticism?
  2. I read that there are only 2000 national AROTC scholarships available. Is this true, or is the number of scholarships awarded depend on the Army's needs?
  3. How competitive are the scholarships? What percentage of applicants receive one? I've looked everywhere and I can't find a definitive answer...
  4. My Marine recruiter said if I receive a scholarship to a specific school I will most likely be accepted by the school. What happens if I don't get accepted? Will the scholarship just be meaningless?
Thank you in advance!
Best answers I found are in the books by Kirkland on Amazon.

Here is his ROTC scholarship blog:


I only know AFROTC but what jumps out there:
1) SAT/ACT (30%) are weighted 50% MORE than high school GPA (which is weighted 20%), Wow! They must have no faith in grades.
2) Physical fitness weighted 5%. So... more SAT practice tests, less gym time.
3) Interview counts 45%. Kirkland's book lists out the questions they will ask you. Practice your responses for at least 10 hours over several weeks.

... and Civil Air Patrol helped my DD a lot.
 
Best answers I found are in the books by Kirkland on Amazon.

Here is his ROTC scholarship blog:


I only know AFROTC but what jumps out there:
1) SAT/ACT (30%) are weighted 50% MORE than high school GPA (which is weighted 20%), Wow! They must have no faith in grades.
2) Physical fitness weighted 5%. So... more SAT practice tests, less gym time.
3) Interview counts 45%. Kirkland's book lists out the questions they will ask you. Practice your responses for at least 10 hours over several weeks.

... and Civil Air Patrol helped my DD a lot.
Thank you for the link! I just went through it all and it really helps! 😀
 
From a public school teacher - SMART for the AF for the majority of public schools (esp. during online schooling)!

And from the looks of your screen name @MA Homeschool Dad you may not either. LOL.
I think the AF weighting needs to be a front page headline. Parents/kids really understate how much weight SAT/ACT is given in all things college, ESPECIALLY merit $$$. But the AF is the first place I actually saw SAT way overweighted relative to hs grades.

I heard there's a cliche in admissions "4 years is more important than 4 hours". But here we have the nations most generous scholarship for the branch of the service most concerned with brainpower saying, "Eh, 4 hrs is more important"

When we needed to come up with homeschooling "grades", I was at first incredulous. How can me, the parent, credibly give my kid grades and create the transcript?!? THEN, I saw a public school transcript from another student that I knew well. Oh my. Grade inflation like you would not believe, to the point where it's almost meaningless. And this was from a GOOD school! So we homeschoolers just document the crap out of everything we do, start taking college classes in 9th grade, and you better damn well believe we smoke the ACT. For us, a 4 hour test means 4 years of freedom and self determination. That's an awesome deal.
 
The shift towards weighting the standardized tests more is due to the exact situation you are describing. It is impossible to compare grade point averages due to the different scales and the vast differences in curriculum. You will read about the candidate with a 4.0+ GPA and scores 1200 on the SAT as well as the student with a 3.5 and 1400+ - my guess is that the 3.5/1400 is going to get the nod in most cases
 
I find the current state of grade inflation embarrassing....and, I know I’m in the minority here - just my opinion - but feel the CB is a $ grab. He’s asked that I don’t discuss actual scores - so % wise 😉 he’s either 98th or 99th according to the SAT but didn’t take any AP classes until Jr. Yr. I’ve always wondered how much weight they hold at colleges & they are starting to come around - being more selective for what they give credit for. Some kids at his HS basically made a job out of “how much can I inflate my GPA” over 4 yrs. I’m glad admissions is starting to see through that. I see why colleges are looking at that more now. Because of his STEM track I think he’s taken a total of 7 AP classes (it’s reg Ed or AP - no other option) he doesn’t lack there but has passed on taking some AP tests. Maybe we are old fashioned, but think that part of the post-secondary education experience is *learning* not necessarily how many college credits can I show up with....
 
The shift towards weighting the standardized tests more is due to the exact situation you are describing. It is impossible to compare grade point averages due to the different scales and the vast differences in curriculum. You will read about the candidate with a 4.0+ GPA and scores 1200 on the SAT as well as the student with a 3.5 and 1400+ - my guess is that the 3.5/1400 is going to get the nod in most cases
This!!!
 
It seems to be going the opposite way at a lot of top schools. There is actually a law suit filed in California PROHIBITING UC schools from using SAT/ACT in admissions due to the tests’ “bias”. Glad the armed services hasn’t succumbed to that but who knows if they will. As discussed, how else do you compare kids with such rampant grade inflation? I can’t tell you how many kids list their stats as #4 out of 500 kids in their class, nearly 4.0 and a 1250 SAT. Kudos to the class rank, but that likely points to some grade inflation or just not a great school. Maybe not in all cases, but without standardized tests I don’t know how you asses that.
No question there is some advantage to wealthier kids who can afford test prep. But there are also tons of free resources out there (eg khan academy), unlike when I was a kid.
 
Here is my experience watching my son's application for NROTC scholarship, first its very similar to USNA, however when you apply you are assigned an NROTC officer to help you apply. You send them letters of recommendations, SAT or ACT scores, grades, class rank, Fitness test, physical (DODMERB you need one for ROTC and SA as it says it on the report) athletics, volunteering, leadership. You have to answer more questions for drug test and release statements. You will have to have an interview with an ROTC officer local to you, you have to select your top 5 schools in order and you have to separately apply and be accepted to those schools you list. You have an NRTOC portal that you can check status of you app. Keep trying to improve scores rank, fitness test an apply early! Do not miss any deadlines
 
THEN, I saw a public school transcript from another student that I knew well. Oh my. Grade inflation like you would not believe, to the point where it's almost meaningless. And this was from a GOOD school!
For college-bound kids the average GPA nationwide is now north of 3.7 -- approaching 3.8. In other words, it's a joke, and useless for the purpose of assessing or ranking or evaluating college applicants. As a result, the elite colleges' admissions committees simply look beyond GPA and assess the quality/rigor of the school, and then rank the applicants from that school.

If the Adcom folks aren't familiar with the school or its staff, the applicant is SOL. If they know the school but the applicant's not in the 10th or 15th percentile, the applicant is SOL.
 
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