Scholarship School Choice

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ArmyDad2026

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DS is still patiently waiting for decision from USMA (he is 3Q with Nom) and tending to alternate plans. He received ROTC scholarship to his 3 top alternates. He obviously has to pick one school when accepting scholarship and needs to do it quickly. How hard is it to change schools once you make selection when accepting scholarship? Professor of Military Science at one of the schools indicated it was not difficult to do but we figured someone has to have navigated this minefield already. Thanks in advance!!
 
Going by anecdotes here, as well as DS’s experience, it’s not difficult to change from one of the schools designated by the Army to one of the others on your list. What’s less clear is whether it’s as easy to officially select one, and then change your mind and pick another one. Suggest you wait as long as possible before picking one, so that you have all of your options — or as many as possible — in front of you.
 
MidCakePa said:
Going by anecdotes here, as well as DS’s experience, it’s not difficult to change from one of the schools designated by the Army to one of the others on your list. What’s less clear is whether it’s as easy to officially select one, and then change your mind and pick another one. Suggest you wait as long as possible before picking one, so that you have all of your options — or as many as possible — in front of you.
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Got it…the plan is to select his #1 on the list of three in order to accept the scholarship, then visit all three in the coming month(s) and meet with respective Cadre while we wait for USMA decision. This would bring us to April/May where we would then commit. Does this sound doable? Thanks for your reply!!
 
ArmyDad2026 said:
Got it…the plan is to select his #1 on the list of three in order to accept the scholarship, then visit all three in the coming month(s) and meet with respective Cadre while we wait for USMA decision. This would bring us to April/May where we would then commit. Does this sound doable? Thanks for your reply!!
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Very doable as well as a common path. There are many candidates in the same situation. Cadet Command is very accommodating with transfer requests. Congrats and good luck to your DS.
 
ArmyDad2026 said:
You’re the best thanks so much!!!
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It is interesting process. DS knows he can transfer scholarship. He also loves all 3 of his top 3 (for that matter his top 6) I know he feels like once he commits to a School/ROTC unit he would feel like he is committed and would not want to change based on new acceptances or scholarship monies. Good example. He really likes Santa Clara and Pepperdine he has their aid award info and his deadline for ROTC is 3/11....He was waiting for Univ of San Diego admissions decision Mar 1 hoping he'd also get Fin. Award letter so he could compare all his private schools. He waited and last night got an offer of Alcala Scholarship from USD to go along with ROTC. The patience pays off but the suspense is killing dad...lol.
 
gooseblitz said:
It is interesting process. DS knows he can transfer scholarship. He also loves all 3 of his top 3 (for that matter his top 6) I know he feels like once he commits to a School/ROTC unit he would feel like he is committed and would not want to change based on new acceptances or scholarship monies. Good example. He really likes Santa Clara and Pepperdine he has their aid award info and his deadline for ROTC is 3/11....He was waiting for Univ of San Diego admissions decision Mar 1 hoping he'd also get Fin. Award letter so he could compare all his private schools. He waited and last night got an offer of Alcala Scholarship from USD to go along with ROTC. The patience pays off but the suspense is killing dad...lol.
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Make sure you are talking with the financial aid departments about what their offers look like once they know he has the ROTC Scholarship, as that often changes their package. The good news is with many of the Catholic colleges, they offer free room-and-board with the ROTC Scholarship. I know when we were looking at colleges in 2014 and 2015 with ours that Santa Clara and USD both did.
 
USMAROTCFamily said:
Make sure you are talking with the financial aid departments about what their offers look like once they know he has the ROTC Scholarship, as that often changes their package. The good news is with many of the Catholic colleges, they offer free room-and-board with the ROTC Scholarship. I know when we were looking at colleges in 2014 and 2015 with ours that Santa Clara and USD both did.
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Yes I have been back and forth with SCU, USD and Pepperdine. SCU and USD are both very flexible and accommodating to ROTC winners. We are asking for clarification and flexibility from Pepperdine as we speak.
 
Shouldn't be a problem. My son was able to transfer it to a school that was in his top 7, but was not one of the originally awarded 3 schools.
 
gooseblitz said:
It is interesting process. DS knows he can transfer scholarship. He also loves all 3 of his top 3 (for that matter his top 6) I know he feels like once he commits to a School/ROTC unit he would feel like he is committed and would not want to change based on new acceptances or scholarship monies. Good example. He really likes Santa Clara and Pepperdine he has their aid award info and his deadline for ROTC is 3/11....He was waiting for Univ of San Diego admissions decision Mar 1 hoping he'd also get Fin. Award letter so he could compare all his private schools. He waited and last night got an offer of Alcala Scholarship from USD to go along with ROTC. The patience pays off but the suspense is killing dad...lol.
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Gosh...which to choose?
San Diego vs Santa Clara vs Malibu (Pepperdine)

What an oppressive array of school climates! ;)
 
gooseblitz said:
It is interesting process. DS knows he can transfer scholarship. He also loves all 3 of his top 3 (for that matter his top 6) I know he feels like once he commits to a School/ROTC unit he would feel like he is committed and would not want to change based on new acceptances or scholarship monies. Good example. He really likes Santa Clara and Pepperdine he has their aid award info and his deadline for ROTC is 3/11....He was waiting for Univ of San Diego admissions decision Mar 1 hoping he'd also get Fin. Award letter so he could compare all his private schools. He waited and last night got an offer of Alcala Scholarship from USD to go along with ROTC. The patience pays off but the suspense is killing dad...lol.
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Congratulations to your DS! The school’s opportunities, programs, and the quality of education for the degree your DS is hoping to get>ROTC. :)

ROTC is a huge benefit to college but it is not everything. Many schools will have great officer leadership training but not every school will help your DS achieve his goal of getting a degree and enjoying life outside of ROTC. That is my advice from experience.
 
emmarose said:
Congratulations to your DS! The school’s opportunities, programs, and the quality of education for the degree your DS is hoping to get>ROTC. :)

ROTC is a huge benefit to college but it is not everything. Many schools will have great officer leadership training but not every school will help your DS achieve his goal of getting a degree and enjoying life outside of ROTC. That is my advice from experience.
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It is interesting going through process with him. This is my 2nd son to go through college process. His 8 schools all looked great up front. We have learned a lot about them along the way. I love the 3 finalists. They seem to go to greater lengths to educate the whole person....the really big schools just can't give you a feeling of "we will take care of your kid". Even if it is really true the responsiveness and communications from some of the schools is like night and day with some of the public schools.
 
gooseblitz said:
It is interesting going through process with him. This is my 2nd son to go through college process. His 8 schools all looked great up front. We have learned a lot about them along the way. I love the 3 finalists. They seem to go to greater lengths to educate the whole person....the really big schools just can't give you a feeling of "we will take care of your kid". Even if it is really true the responsiveness and communications from some of the schools is like night and day with some of the public schools.
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DS did get accepted to UCLA last night. I thought maybe all along he was hoping to get accepted there and maybe would change his mind. When he found out he was flattered to get accepted but said he wasn't changing his mind from Univ. of San Diego. Sounds like he is very happy with his choice.
 
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