Units with Strongest Relationship with Admissions

guydelarosa said:
The issue with play hockey is that most of the schools I’m applying to are D1, and very good ones at that. In comparison to soccer or foootball where there are many FBS schools, there are only 60 D1 hockey schools so competition is incredibly tight. For example, Harvard hockey would be very comparable in competition to Alabama football. I’m good at hockey but not the NHL level required to play D1.

I’m confident that ROTC is the right path for me. I’m sure I’ll be able to maintain grade requirements and have no plans on quitting during NSI (the reason I’m doing NROTC is for the possibility of being a SEAL officer).
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Thanks - I hear ya - makes sense and I don't doubt it. I think mental toughness and resolve/ resiliency are keys and I actually I would bet very highly on you being among the majority who make it through. I will just say though that I don't think anyone went to NSI planning to quit or have this path not work out - just facts - sometimes people are definitely tough enough but just don't want to continue and go on to serve so always good to keep alternatives in the back pocket. FYI, a surprising number range the bell at NSI. A couple of folks survived NSI but then said no thanks. to continuing, and yet more didn't make it through their first semester.

Good luck to you - if any of the schools are both what you want and maybe less than a D1 college program, maybe that would help you. As you stated most but not all schools you referenced are D1. So maybe look at the ones not D1? Hint: MIT is DIII - maybe you would light 'em up at that level and it could help with your admissions if you so desire. What an awesome school to get into and attend on a ROTC scholarship. Best of luck on your journey and good luck.
 
Herman_Snerd said:
Thanks - I hear ya - makes sense and I don't doubt it. I think mental toughness and resolve/ resiliency are keys and I actually I would bet very highly on you being among the majority who make it through. I will just say though that I don't think anyone went to NSI planning to quit or have this path not work out - just facts - sometimes people are definitely tough enough but just don't want to continue and go on to serve so always good to keep alternatives in the back pocket. FYI, a surprising number range the bell at NSI. A couple of folks survived NSI but then said no thanks. to continuing, and yet more didn't make it through their first semester.

Good luck to you - if any of the schools are both what you want and maybe less than a D1 college program, maybe that would help you. As you stated most but not all schools you referenced are D1. So maybe look at the ones not D1? Hint: MIT is DIII - maybe you would light 'em up at that level and it could help with your admissions if you so desire. What an awesome school to get into and attend on a ROTC scholarship. Best of luck on your journey and good luck.
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Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately most of my top five (MIT, Penn, Columbia) don’t have any hockey programs. Regardless, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the scholarship and or unit can help me out with MIT.
 
I'm assuming the aviation officer who interviewed you is serving as the Recruiting Officer. If you are looking for someone to advocate on your behalf with admissions, leave that with him. Trying to contact the CO to advocate for you would be jumping the chain of command. If the aviation officer thinks the CO should be involved, he will make that request. A few years ago my DS applied early action to UMich. He was awarded his NROTC scholarship and had it placed there prior to EA decisions being released. The recruiting officer asked my DS to keep him informed of his admissions status when decisions came out. DS was deferred during EA, but the notice made reference to him being a strong candidate. DS sent an email to his admissions officer at the university noting his scholarship in hand and stating UMich was his top choice and he would definitely attend if admitted. He also informed the recruiting officer of the deferral and that he would definitely attend if admitted. DS was admitted a few weeks later in the first wave of regular decisions. Did the NROTC unit have influence? Did his contact with the admissions counselor make a difference. Would he have been admitted anyway? No way to tell, but none of it hurt. I think the main thing is that the school you are asking for someone to go to bat for you at needs to be your top choice. You can't expect 20 people to advocate for you because you might attend their program. By advocating for you, they are putting their own reputation at stake as well.
 
Also, just for your reference, all ROTC cadre are considered adjunct faculty at their respective universities and teach classes. I am confident they will all have university email addresses.
 
Re hockey, try Cornell, Michigan, Wisconsin. All outstanding in STEM subjects.
 
thibaud said:
Re hockey, try Cornell, Michigan, Wisconsin. All outstanding in STEM subjects.
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Unfortunately those are some of the best hockey programs. Kids that play there are usually NHL talent. I’m good but not that good. Also to play D1 hockey, coaches at school require you to play 2-3 years of post high school hockey before getting a spot on a college team.
 
Shows how much I know about college hockey... in my day the NHL recruited teenagers directly from frozen lakes north of the border, plus the occasional North European.

Maybe look at Rensselaer? Does Bowdoin have NROTC?
 
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thibaud said:
Shows how much I know about college hockey... in my day the NHL recruited teenagers directly from frozen lakes north of the border, plus the occasional North European.

Maybe look at Rensselaer? Does Bowdoin have NROTC?
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They expect them to play Junior Hockey (ages 16-20) for a year, two or three. Doing that and keeping up the academics are difficult. Let alone work on being a "whole person".
 
Aristobolus said:
They expect them to play Junior Hockey (ages 16-20) for a year, two or three. Doing that and keeping up the academics are difficult. Let alone work on being a "whole person".
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Thats the main reason why I decided to pursue a more acedimc path towards school. I was getting interest from WP, AFA, and some others but they where all demaning that I come in as a 21 yr old freshman, that time commitment just doesn't seem worth it to me. Even in high school, the time was ridiculous, 45+ hours weekly. It was very difficult to maintain a high level of academic achievement while pursuing more academic ECs for college Admissions. That's why I'm trying to get an advantage in any way I can with these hyper selective schools.
 
thibaud said:
Yale and MIT ROTC units definitely have pull with Admissions. Penn may have pull.
Harvard does not. I don't know of any other Ivies where NROTC has pull.

UChicago and Tufts are crosstown schools which do NOT have NROTC on their campuses and almost certainly do not have pull.

Vanderbilt's and Rice's NROTC units may have some pull.
I've not heard of Michigan, NYU, or Duke NROTC having any pull.
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The only way to know any of this is to call the units themselves and ask. Speculation here is just that.
 
If you’re a prior military, a lot of the schools on your list have special admissions for men and women in uniform, current and prior. Given your ambition and from your list, Yale and MIT are very keen to military pursuing ROTC with scholarship. Because you are already vetted, step one. NROTC and AFROTC for Yale and all ROTC Services for MIT. Yale and MIT are even willing to offer upgrade to your scholarship if they deem you as their top candidate. For schools like Yale and MIT, if you are one of the best candidates this year, they will contact you directly and ask you to write them or do another round of interview with their commanding officer, an O-6 level! And if selected by them as one of the best candidates to their programs, they will do all they can to market you to admissions. And even offer more scholarship from their unit budget to cover the room and board. This is what Yale and MIT did for my DS several years ago. There is no need for you to chase them.

Harvard is clearly not going to treat ROTC Candidates any special like a recruited athlete. In our experience, Harvard is the most indifferent on your list. You got deferred from EA because you are deemed strong but did not receive the ROTC Units top recommendation yet. So put your eggs in the right basket. I also think you are chasing too many programs. If you’re a super strong candidate, you should have few good back up schools like BU, USC, UCLA which offer 100% matching room and board to scholarship winners they want. I am speaking from my DS experience so others may had different experience. For Yale MIT Harvard programs, like other top non ROTC candidates, you should still have super strong AC stats with 1550-1600 SAT/ACT 34-36 with 4.0 GPA and a strong balance of humanities and STEM academics that includes many AP level course work in STEM and Social Science. Plus other distinguishable characteristics in leadership, athletics, special talent, and national level awards and strong military citations for priors. If you consider yourself in the top 5-10% of entering class to USNA, USMA, USAFA with qualities to earn yourself an LOA between Aug-Dec before Noms are released then you maybe equally competitive at the Ivy MIT Stanford you are aiming. I would focus on quality of your efforts vs quantity. Good luck.
 
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CrewDad said:
If you’re a prior military, a lot of the schools on your list have special admissions for men and women in uniform, current and prior. Given your ambition and from your list, Yale and MIT are very keen to military pursuing ROTC with scholarship. Because you are already vetted, step one. NROTC and AFROTC for Yale and all ROTC Services for MIT. Yale and MIT are even willing to offer upgrade to your scholarship if they deem you as their top candidate. For schools like Yale and MIT, if you are one of the best candidates this year, they will contact you directly and ask you to write them or do another round of interview with their commanding officer, an O-6 level! And if selected by them as one of the best candidates to their programs, they will do all they can to market you to admissions. And even offer more scholarship from their unit budget to cover the room and board. This is what Yale and MIT did for my DS several years ago. There is no need for you to chase them.

Harvard is clearly not going to treat ROTC Candidates any special like a recruited athlete. In our experience, Harvard is the most indifferent on your list. You got deferred from EA because you are deemed strong but did not receive the ROTC Units top recommendation yet. So put your eggs in the right basket. I also think you are chasing too many programs. If you’re a super strong candidate, you should have few good back up schools like BU, USC, UCLA which offer 100% matching room and board to scholarship winners they want. I am speaking from my DS experience so others may had different experience. For Yale MIT Harvard programs, like other top non ROTC candidates, you should still have super strong AC stats with 1550-1600 SAT/ACT 34-36 with 4.0 GPA and a strong balance of humanities and STEM academics that includes many AP level course work in STEM and Social Science. Plus other distinguishable characteristics in leadership, athletics, special talent, and national level awards and strong military citations for priors. If you consider yourself in the top 5-10% of entering class to USNA, USMA, USAFA with qualities to earn yourself an LOA between Aug-Dec before Noms are released then you maybe equally competitive at the Ivy MIT Stanford you are aiming. I would focus on quality of your efforts vs quantity. Good luck.
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I'm confused as to what you mean by becoming the units top recommendation. Is it just a waiting game to see if they ever email me for another interview? Once I got notfied of my selection, I immediately emailed my interview at the MIT unit. He told me that they'll let admissions know, but that the "processes are completely separate." I', not sure what he meant by that, but I just left it at that and said thanks. I don't want top keep initiating contact to inquire about admissions pushes, because I think that will start to sound extremely pushy (not the idea I want to get across).

I decided to also apply for an AROTC scholarship, since some of my top schools don't have NROTC units or cross town affiliates. I'm going to list MIT as my top choice, and hopefully I'll get some push from the folks over at the Army unit.

I could not receive the units top recommendation since I was yet to be awarded the scholarship by the time admissions decisions came out. I really don't think I'm pursuing too many programs since my supplemental essays are all the best possible quality, and I started well in advance of deadlines so I have had time to polish them. I do have some back up schools, but I have been considering the possibility that if don't get into one of my top choices, I might drop the scholarship and enlist straight into the Navy, since my ultimate goal is to serve. I understand the common misconception that a 34-36/ 1550-1600 is needed, but I've talked to Harvard AOs at college fairs and looked at the public court documents from the Harvard lawsuit case, and they specifically said that at 33+ they stop caring unless you have a 36 with academic publications.
 
It’s good that you made direct contact with units and that demonstrates your genuine interest. And it’s good you are pursuing all options. Nevertheless, I’m articulating how to manage your expectation and given your desire to attend nation’s top CIV schools what you should expect as an outcome and the type of candidates you are competing against at those schools. Competition is relative performance not guidelines the schools have. Each year, Harvard accepts very few to their ROTC programs while MIT and Yale accept far more. Even funding and designated faculty are different as a non hosting school. All schools and units have their internal selection process with candidates who received scholarships applying to their units. There are many highly qualified candidates. After reaching out to them if they invite you to an interview that’s a good sign. If they call you back and tell you you made to their top candidate preference list then you will clearly get additional boost to admissions. Speaking from our experience only. It is possible others had different experience with different units. Experience and offers are very much unit driven based on my DS experience.

If Navy is your top choice why not apply to the Naval Academy? Each year many leave MIT, Yale, Harvard to start over at the Naval Academy because some realized that they want a full military experience in college. And some pursue the Academy to follow their family legacy. Likewise, some go to MIT Yale and Harvard to follow their family legacy. My DS was that type of candidate. Since you would enlist in the Navy over not attending the college of your choice why not apply to USNA if you are competitive to get the full Navy experience everyday. The competition to USNA is within your district while competition to ROTC Units with National standing is more at the national level. So if you come from a district with limited applicants to USNA then you may have a better chance to the Academy. However, at highly competitive districts you have less chance for an Appointment vs CIV schools. The benefit of being in an ROTC Program is that you have more flexibility with summer jobs and during AC year in choosing classes and externships and student activities. This is great for students who want the best of both worlds.
 
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Again, speaking to UMich, although it likely applies to other highly competitive schools. One thing I read from several places after my DS was deferred from EA a few years ago is that they tend to defer many highly competitive out of state applicants during EA, believing they are a "back-up" school to the Ivies. Many of these applicants are then admitted during regular admissions. It is still early in the admissions process, so, as hard as it may be, try to relax and let the process play out. If you have a clear cut top choice school, you can contact them and express this. It can't hurt. I agree with @CrewDad that 20 schools is a lot and it sounds overwhelming to me to keep track of all that, but it's your experience not mine and you've got the apps in already. If I were a betting man (and I am), I'd say good news will come your way from several of your choices and then you will have to decide which one is the best fit. I highly recommend visiting your top choices before deciding if at all possible. Don't just rely on reputation. Find a school that fits you and who you are. Also, look more at the academic fit than the NROTC unit. You will spend most of your time as a student. Also, with staff turnover every couple of years, NROTC units can change rapidly and the programs all run the same curriculum. University culture changes more slowly and will be more consistent.
 
guydelarosa said:
The issue with play hockey is that most of the schools I’m applying to are D1, and very good ones at that. In comparison to soccer or foootball where there are many FBS schools, there are only 60 D1 hockey schools so competition is incredibly tight. For example, Harvard hockey would be very comparable in competition to Alabama football. I’m good at hockey but not the NHL level required to play D1.

I’m confident that ROTC is the right path for me. I’m sure I’ll be able to maintain grade requirements and have no plans on quitting during NSI (the reason I’m doing NROTC is for the possibility of being a SEAL officer).
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Congratulations on your four year National NROTC scholarship! So you want to be a SEAL officer and go to an Ivy League school? Are your Stats in line with the schools you’re applying too? Did you max out on PFT chin-ups? Did you excel in other sports besides Hockey? Did you ever consider senior Military colleges ie TX A&M, Norwich, VMI, Citadel?
 
Cole said:
Congratulations on your four year National NROTC scholarship! So you want to be a SEAL officer and go to an Ivy League school? Are your Stats in line with the schools you’re applying too? Did you max out on PFT chin-ups? Did you excel in other sports besides Hockey? Did you ever consider senior Military colleges ie TX A&M, Norwich, VMI, Citadel?
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The ultimate goal is to be a SEAL officer and have graduated from an "elite" institution. As for my overall application, yes, I do believe my stats, ECs profile, LORs, and essays are at the point where I would be in contention for admissions; I don't want to sound conceded but from my friends experiences and other I have seen, I think I have a good shot at these schools. Although, I do know you can't extrapolate admissions decisions due to the element of randomness. I actually used the SEAL PFT as a benchmark of fitnesses during last hockey season, and by the end of the year, I was scoring well on it without training for it specifically. For hockey, it is the only sport I played since I dedicated about 45+ weekly hours and attended the best and most storied hockey school in the country. All the kids playing at my level only play hockey since it is all year round season with summer tournaments and junior team main camps. I have not considered SMC. Ever since I was a kid, I have dreamt of going to and worked towards the fabled ivy league tier schools, and I really do feel like it is achievable.
 
You've done all you could, so just sit back and wait for the results. Hopefully, your essays are stellar and Ivy/Selective caliber - that is where the applicants start to split up - stats can be similar but a lot really depends on how well applicants articulate what they would add to the campus (and strong word choice - like "conceded" vs. "conceited" :)).
And MIT knows about you and the detachment will do what they do.
Hang tight, and good luck!
(I have a kid at MIT, so I understand your position.)
 
guydelarosa said:
The ultimate goal is to be a SEAL officer and have graduated from an "elite" institution. As for my overall application, yes, I do believe my stats, ECs profile, LORs, and essays are at the point where I would be in contention for admissions; I don't want to sound conceded but from my friends experiences and other I have seen, I think I have a good shot at these schools. Although, I do know you can't extrapolate admissions decisions due to the element of randomness. I actually used the SEAL PFT as a benchmark of fitnesses during last hockey season, and by the end of the year, I was scoring well on it without training for it specifically. For hockey, it is the only sport I played since I dedicated about 45+ weekly hours and attended the best and most storied hockey school in the country. All the kids playing at my level only play hockey since it is all year round season with summer tournaments and junior team main camps. I have not considered SMC. Ever since I was a kid, I have dreamt of going to and worked towards the fabled ivy league tier schools, and I really do feel like it is achievable.
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Congrats on the scholarship! If you don't mind, could you post a quick recap of your stats? I don't want to sound rude at all, but you come off a bit too confident for someone asking if NROTC has pull with the top tier schools you're applying to, some of which you didn't bother to research if they even have NROTC, and I'm afraid that mindset could leak into other parts of your applications. I absolutely commend you for your high aspirations, but there are so many factors that go into admissions for those top schools that it's not possible to ever think "oh I'll probably get into them." There have been kids that won Intel competitions and went to RSI that were rejected/deferred simply because of the race quotas (yes they definitely exist and to think otherwise is a little ignorant). Sometimes the qualified won't get in, and the not-as-qualified do. My point is you should not go into the admissions process expecting any of those schools to admit you, rather be glad if they accept you. I wish you good luck, and I highly suggest you have many other people giving your essays second, third, and fourth looks so you don't come off with a bad tone when it comes time for admissions to read your essays.
 
I'll also add that I agree with what others have mentioned in possibly narrowing down the list of schools, as you want the ROTC departments to want to pull for you, not "oh I'm interested and am applying." For WashU, I know AROTC has an admissions officer on their staff that I called to let him know my commitment to their program, applying ED2. That puts an applicant in admissions officers' sights. You want those schools to feel like you truly have your eyes on attending their institutions. Again good luck and fair seas!
 
unkown1961 said:
You've done all you could, so just sit back and wait for the results. Hopefully, your essays are stellar and Ivy/Selective caliber - that is where the applicants start to split up - stats can be similar but a lot really depends on how well applicants articulate what they would add to the campus (and strong word choice - like "conceded" vs. "conceited" :)).
And MIT knows about you and the detachment will do what they do.
Hang tight, and good luck!
(I have a kid at MIT, so I understand your position.)
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Haha, spell check is at it again. Iim not expecting to get into any of these schools, but I am hoping for the best. Congrats to your kid on MIT. I absolutely loved it there when I visited.
 
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