ROTC Scholarship's influence on admissions

[robustjojo]

Hello-
This has been discussed previously on the forums but I'm curious to get an update view, I have just received the AROTC scholarship to a couple of school I applied RD for and am still waiting to hear back from. I am wondering if receiving the scholarship influences my chance at admissions to any given school and if I should email my admissions representatives to update them? Thank you.

 

[MidCakePa]

I too have read the many threads about this. My conclusion is that...it's inconclusive. A lot of anecdotes pointing one way or the other. But it all seems more like coincidence, rather than correlation or causation. Very hard to make a universal call on this.

Informing admissions of your ROTC scholarship falls into my category of "may not help, doesn't hurt."

 

[pa-outdoorsman]

I would absolutely email admissions and inform them. My DS did and got an email back congratulating him and saying that this information was added to his file.

I would also reach out to the ROTC cadre on campus and speak with them. They may be able to advocate on your behalf. It varies by school but there's no doubt that in some cases this can really help.

 

[GrilledCheese94]

We have forwarded/uploaded scholarship award letters to all colleges where my son is awaiting admissions decisions.

 

[Float4]

My son has zoomed with NROTC staff and midshipmen at multiple schools. He also revisited 3 schools and spent a few hours with the NROTC units. Spoke with Commanding Officers and went to classes with the midshipmen.
Some NROTC staff said they get some sway with admissions and some said they don’t.
My advice is to let them know who you are and that you want to be in their unit.
Good Luck

 

[formerPMS]

If you received a national scholarship, I could make one phone call to admissions and have your application moved to the accepted pile. (at either the R1 state university or a highly competitive D3 that were under my program). Most schools care about their numbers - first-year attrition, graduation within 4-years, and completion. ROTC Cadets have people who care about their progress towards degree completion and the universities know that, so if you're short some of their normal accessions benchmarks, but are coming in with ROTC $ - there's cause the bump you up.

 

[Herman_Snerd]

As others nicely noted there are some schools at which the PNS/PAS/PMS can and will greatly influence the admission decision in the scholarship winner's favor. There are others who at this point will not engage and let admissions make their decisions.

Food for thought recommendation:
Uploading your scholarship into the Admissions portal to each school seems fair.
However, if you are going to call the ROTC cadre/ ask them personally to go to bat for you, please use some discretion and don't do that at each of x schools (all 7, all 11, all 16 etc.) you applied to. Have a top choice - go for it. Can't decide between 2 - tell both that and ask for help.

I have spoken directly with a PAS and ROO at one school, and cadre at several who felt burned/ are less likely to help applicants in the future now, after a number of candidates looked them in the eye, and unbeknownst to them, told multiple schools "you are my absolute top choice and if accepted I want to come here" just to influence admissions, then after the favor was called in, those candidates went elsewhere to most of the schools they asked for help. Insincere, lacking integrity- Teach your young adults / students to treat people the way you would wish to be treated. If you want a selfish reason to do so, eventually you'll commission and serve, and you'll want the best standing shoulder to shoulder with you in arms/ in the theater of combat, and if the radar of the professor / leader gets jammed by insincerity, cadre won't be as influential.

Every year there is an article about someone either fabulously wealthy or challenged/ strapped enough to get an application fee waiver for colleges and they brag about getting into 42 of the 50 colleges they applied to - really, folks. Get yours and all, but I mean... keep egos in check, make a little effort in due diligence.

OK, stepping down off the soapbox now - perhaps that guidance may help.

 

[Ihavenoidea]

As others nicely noted there are some schools at which the PNS/PAS/PMS can and will greatly influence the admission decision in the scholarship winner's favor. There are others who at this point will not engage and let admissions make their decisions.

Food for thought recommendation:
Uploading your scholarship into the Admissions portal to each school seems fair.
However, if you are going to call the ROTC cadre/ ask them personally to go to bat for you, please use some discretion and don't do that at each of x schools (all 7, all 11, all 16 etc.) you applied to. Have a top choice - go for it. Can't decide between 2 - tell both that and ask for help.

I have spoken directly with a PAS and ROO at one school, and cadre at several who felt burned/ are less likely to help applicants in the future now, after a number of candidates looked them in the eye, and unbeknownst to them, told multiple schools "you are my absolute top choice and if accepted I want to come here" just to influence admissions, then after the favor was called in, those candidates went elsewhere to most of the schools they asked for help. Insincere, lacking integrity- Teach your young adults / students to treat people the way you would wish to be treated. If you want a selfish reason to do so, eventually you'll commission and serve, and you'll want the best standing shoulder to shoulder with you in arms/ in the theater of combat, and if the radar of the professor / leader gets jammed by insincerity, cadre won't be as influential.

Every year there is an article about someone either fabulously wealthy or challenged/ strapped enough to get an application fee waiver for colleges and they brag about getting into 42 of the 50 colleges they applied to - really, folks. Get yours and all, but I mean... keep egos in check, make a little effort in due diligence.

OK, stepping down off the soapbox now - perhaps that guidance may help.

Truth!!

 

[chemigal]

I would absolutely email admissions and inform them. My DS did and got an email back congratulating him and saying that this information was added to his file.

I would also reach out to the ROTC cadre on campus and speak with them. They may be able to advocate on your behalf. It varies by school but there's no doubt that in some cases this can really help.

Did your DS just send an email to the generic admissions office at their school(s) of choice?

 

[pa-outdoorsman]

Did your DS just send an email to the generic admissions office at their school(s) of choice?

Yes. Just emailed admissions informing them of receipt of scholarship and indicating continued interest in school. DS had written about ROTC plans as part of original application for admission. So, this obviously follows up on that and demonstrates commitment to program and commitment from program.

 

[chemigal]

If you received a national scholarship, I could make one phone call to admissions and have your application moved to the accepted pile. (at either the R1 state university or a highly competitive D3 that were under my program). Most schools care about their numbers - first-year attrition, graduation within 4-years, and completion. ROTC Cadets have people who care about their progress towards degree completion and the universities know that, so if you're short some of their normal accessions benchmarks, but are coming in with ROTC $ - there's cause the bump you up.

In your experience/opinion, could this info potentially move up an acceptance in time? We are waiting on Regular Decision acceptance at DS #1 choice, which he was awarded a 3yr. He is in comms with the ROO, so we are good there. Just wondering if it's fairly likely that an acceptance/rejection will only follow a standard timeline (the university says RD acceptance is released BY April 1) or if there is precedent for earlier notification. I'm not sure if universities stick to all notifications going out together or do they/can they do them piece meal, as they see fit?

 

[Ihavenoidea]

In your experience/opinion, could this info potentially move up an acceptance in time? We are waiting on Regular Decision acceptance at DS #1 choice, which he was awarded a 3yr. He is in comms with the ROO, so we are good there. Just wondering if it's fairly likely that an acceptance/rejection will only follow a standard timeline (the university says RD acceptance is released BY April 1) or if there is precedent for earlier notification. I'm not sure if universities stick to all notifications going out together or do they/can they do them piece meal, as they see fit?

Every school admissions does things alittle differently and every ROTC unit at a specific school has a different relationship with the school admissions. What happens at one school really means nothing at the other. Atleast as far as looking for trends in acceptance. Whether notification of a scholarship being awarded effects admission to a school seems to be subjective in my opinion. Doesn't hurt to let them know, but I don't see it making a huge difference. WAY to many variables are involved to say that a awarded scholarship really as a specific change in being accepted or not, or when the acceptance will be decided.

 

[Ivy22]

As others have said, it depends on the school

Some schools may have more sway, others may just go “ok cool, who’s the next applicant?”. My school was probably the latter, it didn’t matter much more than like being on a high school sports team. There’s many parts to an application, GPA, test scores, and ECs aren’t everything. A lot of college applicants downplay the role that essays play. They can really make or break an application imo

Great point above by @Herman_Snerd about being careful about how many schools you tell them they’re your first choice.

 

[tortiemilo]

Did your DS just send an email to the generic admissions office at their school(s) of choice?

My daughter emailed the person listed in her portal (or in the case of one school with no specific person mentioned, she emailed the general admissions address.). Most of the admissions officers/offices responded with a nice 'congratulations' note.

 

[dberkeley]

As others have said, it depends on the school

Some schools may have more sway, others may just go “ok cool, who’s the next applicant?”. My school was probably the latter, it didn’t matter much more than like being on a high school sports team. There’s many parts to an application, GPA, test scores, and ECs aren’t everything. A lot of college applicants downplay the role that essays play. They can really make or break an application imo

Great point above by @Herman_Snerd about being careful about how many schools you tell them they’re your first choice.

Good information. I looked at this differently. You may give too much credit to the admission process as a fair or holistic evaluation. By some chance alone, same two applicants have the same set of attributes, it is a toss up who gets in. If one of them has a scholarship, money factor aside, the grits and determination for applying and willing to serve should be regarded way above just another common attribute. For a high competitive school, there are just too many highly competitive applicants. Just my untested 2cents.

 

[sherheath]

We have forwarded/uploaded scholarship award letters to all colleges where my son is awaiting admissions decisions.

oh that's smart

 

[Ivy22]

Good information. I looked at this differently. You may give too much credit to the admission process as a fair or holistic evaluation. By some chance alone, same two applicants have the same set of attributes, it is a toss up who gets in. If one of them has a scholarship, money factor aside, the grits and determination for applying and willing to serve should be regarded way above just another common attribute. For a high competitive school, there are just too many highly competitive applicants. Just my untested 2cents.

I guess it depends on the school how they handle admissions. Some school may care more about hard stats and numbers, while others may care more about other parts of an application like essays, background, and letters of recommendation.

My advice is that one should not downplay the effect essays and letters of rec have on an application. For a lot of the Ivies, Admissions actually takes their time reading those and put quite a bit of weight on them (as most competitive applicants all have that 4.0 GPA/1600 SAT, etc). You can have a perfect 4.0 GPA, 1600 SAT, be president of 5 school clubs, etc. but if you are unable to write a convincing essay as to why they should admit YOU over the many others applying with the same stats, they won’t choose you.

We’re also seeing a recent trend among those school of extending the COVID-era test-optional policy.

 

[GrilledCheese94]

I guess it depends on the school how they handle admissions. Some school may care more about hard stats and numbers, while others may care more about other parts of an application like essays, background, and letters of recommendation.

My advice is that one should not downplay the effect essays and letters of rec have on an application. For a lot of the Ivies, Admissions actually takes their time reading those and put quite a bit of weight on them (as most competitive applicants all have that 4.0 GPA/1600 SAT, etc). You can have a perfect 4.0 GPA, 1600 SAT, be president of 5 school clubs, etc. but if you are unable to write a convincing essay as to why they should admit YOU over the many others applying with the same stats, they won’t choose you.

We’re also seeing a recent trend among those school of extending the COVID-era test-optional policy.

Dartmouth is reinstating the requirement for next year (HS class of ‘29 cohort).

Although not an Ivy, Purdue is also doing the same.

Our son applied to MIT and they require SAT/ACT, Georgetown does as well.

I believe USCGA is the only test optional SA.

I read an interesting article in the NYT (if I can “gift” it, I’ll post the link) that indicated that college admissions are seeing a trend of grade inflation, which is manifesting itself through college freshman who aren’t really prepared for the rigors of college.

The Misguided War on the SAT

Colleges have fled standardized tests, on the theory that they hurt diversity. That’s not what the research shows.

www.nytimes.com

PROOF POINTS: Colleges that ditched test scores for admissions find it's harder to be fair in choosing students, researcher says

Diversifying the student body remains an elusive goal

hechingerreport.org

 

[Ivy22]

Dartmouth is reinstating the requirement for next year (HS class of ‘29 cohort).

Although not an Ivy, Purdue is also doing the same.

Our son applied to MIT and they require SAT/ACT. I believe USCGA is the only test optional SA.

I read an interesting article in the NYT (if I can “gift” it, I’ll post the link) that indicated that college admissions are seeing a trend of grade inflation, which is manifesting itself through college freshman who aren’t really prepared for the rigors of college.

The Misguided War on the SAT

Colleges have fled standardized tests, on the theory that they hurt diversity. That’s not what the research shows.

www.nytimes.com

PROOF POINTS: Colleges that ditched test scores for admissions find it's harder to be fair in choosing students, researcher says

Diversifying the student body remains an elusive goal

hechingerreport.org

Oh interesting the test requirement coming back at a lot of schools. Guess that policy wasn’t doing what they hoped it would be doing

 

[chunky1]

My DS is a type 1 recipient and he emailed the detachments of the schools he was applying to letting them know his interest and that he had the scholarship. He didn't come right out and ask for them to help or anything, but he wanted to at least make contact. He emailed 5 detachments but the only one that replied was MIT. Could be that he had some old/bad email addresses, or it could be because he emailed them over Christmas break. MIT just wished him luck with his application, and they also sent him a nice little package with some swag in it. He did end up getting accepted to MIT but I can't say with any kind of certainty that contacting them helped. My thought on it is I don't see the harm in making contact as long as you do it in a respectful and professional way and don't expect or ask for any favors. As stated above, don't make statements that they are your number one choice if in fact they are not.