ROTC To Academy

warrior15 · Feb 18, 2014

I have always dreamed of going to an Academy, but my class rank (18/289) and ACT (28 before a 4 point boost) were not good enough, so I was told I could not apply. I did have an interview with a Senator that I had to cancel because it would have been pointless, but I know I would have had a chance to get his recommendation. Next year I will be in Air Force ROTC, and I am thinking of re-applying to both the Air Force Academy and to West Point. I have two questions. First, if I end up getting a scholarship and contracting, can I still go to an academy? Second, is this a realistic (not likely but still possible) goal? Thanks!

USMC_Ordie · Feb 18, 2014

Warrior15,
If you don't ask, the answer is always no.....

sheriff3 · Feb 18, 2014

Yes it's possible to go from ROTC to an academy. One of the AROTC cadets in my DS unit is applying as we speak. He has the nomination and looks to be on track to gain admission. His brother did it the same way as well. Just know that the clock starts over, your 1 year of ROTC will not count. Good luck.

ca2midwestmom · Feb 18, 2014

warrior15 said:
I have always dreamed of going to an Academy, but my class rank (18/289) and ACT (28 before a 4 point boost) were not good enough, so I was told I could not apply. I did have an interview with a Senator that I had to cancel because it would have been pointless, but I know I would have had a chance to get his recommendation. Next year I will be in Air Force ROTC, and I am thinking of re-applying to both the Air Force Academy and to West Point. I have two questions. First, if I end up getting a scholarship and contracting, can I still go to an academy? Second, is this a realistic (not likely but still possible) goal? Thanks!

Who exactly told you you couldn't apply? Your class rank is top 6%; your ACT score is well above the average. You have 0% chance of getting an appointment if you don't apply. Of course we don't know what the rest of your application would have looked like. Maybe a year of college & ROTC is just what you need to reapply, and if you give it 100%+, you may have another source for a nomination next year. :smile:

mja2014 · Feb 18, 2014

warrior15 said:
I have always dreamed of going to an Academy, but my class rank (18/289) and ACT (28 before a 4 point boost) were not good enough, so I was told I could not apply. I did have an interview with a Senator that I had to cancel because it would have been pointless, but I know I would have had a chance to get his recommendation. Next year I will be in Air Force ROTC, and I am thinking of re-applying to both the Air Force Academy and to West Point. I have two questions. First, if I end up getting a scholarship and contracting, can I still go to an academy? Second, is this a realistic (not likely but still possible) goal? Thanks!

Who said it would be pointless and that you wouldn't get in? I'm class ranked 56/218 and have a 28 ACT and just got my appointment on 5 Feb 2014. Please PM me.

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warrior15 · Feb 18, 2014

I only ended up trying to apply to West Point and one day when I went onto my portal it had a letter that said I did not have a good enough chance to get in for them to further my application so they would be closing my portal. It thanked me for wanting to serve my country and then directed me to AROTC. It now looks like I will be in AFROTC next year so I will probably also apply to the Air Force Academy. Of course if I decide I love ROTC and my college I will probably just stay with that. I also was aware that you have to start at year 1 but thanks.

RazorMike · Feb 20, 2014

Echoing sheriff3, the answers are yes and yes. DS was contracted with a 4 year AFROTC scholarship. He is now a plebe at West Point.

leto8178 · Feb 20, 2014

warrior15 said:
I have always dreamed of going to an Academy, but my class rank (18/289) and ACT (28 before a 4 point boost) were not good enough, so I was told I could not apply. I did have an interview with a Senator that I had to cancel because it would have been pointless, but I know I would have had a chance to get his recommendation. Next year I will be in Air Force ROTC, and I am thinking of re-applying to both the Air Force Academy and to West Point. I have two questions. First, if I end up getting a scholarship and contracting, can I still go to an academy? Second, is this a realistic (not likely but still possible) goal? Thanks!

Hey there. If you want any motivation to reapply PM me! I was declined originally from class of 2016 -- joined AFROTC and improved myself, declined again from class of 2017 -- continued AFROTC and continued improving myself, and will now be joining the class of 2018 on an appointment! No matter how far-fetched it seems, it's not. All you need to say to yourself is "it's possible" and then, go! These others are 100% correct when they say you have 0% chance of getting in if you don't apply. It all depends how bad you want it. If I hadn't had a strong foundation of support backing my three separate applications, I don't know that i would have ever been able to stick with it this long. Once again, feel free to PM me with any questions about AFROTC or re-application. Good Luck!

Clara · Feb 20, 2014

leto8178 said:
Hey there. If you want any motivation to reapply PM me! I was declined originally from class of 2016 -- joined AFROTC and improved myself, declined again from class of 2017 -- continued AFROTC and continued improving myself, and will now be joining the class of 2018 on an appointment! No matter how far-fetched it seems, it's not. All you need to say to yourself is "it's possible" and then, go! These others are 100% correct when they say you have 0% chance of getting in if you don't apply. It all depends how bad you want it. If I hadn't had a strong foundation of support backing my three separate applications, I don't know that i would have ever been able to stick with it this long. Once again, feel free to PM me with any questions about AFROTC or re-application. Good Luck!

I don't think i would reapply if I got rejected, but it's amazing how it worked out for you. Congrats on being appointed!

Christcorp · Feb 20, 2014

warrior15 said:
I have always dreamed of going to an Academy, but my class rank (18/289) and ACT (28 before a 4 point boost) were not good enough, so I was told I could not apply. I did have an interview with a Senator that I had to cancel because it would have been pointless, but I know I would have had a chance to get his recommendation. Next year I will be in Air Force ROTC, and I am thinking of re-applying to both the Air Force Academy and to West Point. I have two questions. First, if I end up getting a scholarship and contracting, can I still go to an academy? Second, is this a realistic (not likely but still possible) goal? Thanks!

warrior15 said:
I only ended up trying to apply to West Point and one day when I went onto my portal it had a letter that said I did not have a good enough chance to get in for them to further my application so they would be closing my portal. It thanked me for wanting to serve my country and then directed me to AROTC. It now looks like I will be in AFROTC next year so I will probably also apply to the Air Force Academy. Of course if I decide I love ROTC and my college I will probably just stay with that. I also was aware that you have to start at year 1 but thanks.

I'm not questioning anything you've posted here. But I will say that if you did apply to WestPoint, and you received official feedback on your application that you weren't good enough to advance to the next stage, (Which the air force academy call the Candidate stage), then I will say that it wasn't because of your class rank or your ACT score. But I don't have access to your application, so I don't know what the reason was. I'm simply saying that a 28 ACT and a class rank of 18 wasn't the reason.

CAVEAT: "As always" there's a BUT to everything. If your COMPOSITE ACT score was a 28, and you had individual scores, say in math of a 21-24, that would be enough to disqualify you. Also, you didn't mention GPA or types of classes. So, if your class rank of 18 was from a very "WEAK" school, and your GPA was 2.?, or every class you took was shop, music, etc... and didn't have any significant math and/or science classes; then that too could make you disqualified. But the traditional class rank of 18 and ACT score of 28 was NOT the reason you weren't qualified to advance to the next stage in the application process.

But as has been mentioned, once you start college/ROTC, it's a whole new world. Do well there and you have a good chance of getting into the academy(ies). More emphasis will be put on that than what happened in high school. Good luck.