Hello everyone! I am a senior in high school from California and I have a big decision. First off as of today I was rejected from USNA. But I received an appointment to USMMA in January. Also I was not awarded the NROTC Scholarship but I do have the opportunity to join as a normal college program student at the University of California, San Diego. So my question is should I attend USMMA or join the NROTC program and attend UCSD? What are the positives and negatives? I need help this is the biggest decision of my life!
ddavid,
I know how you feel, because I am in the exact same situation. I'll pitch in my two cents.
I am a senior from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and I was both accepted into USMMA and awarded a NROTC scholarship, which combined with the school's merit aid, would give me a full ride (tuition + room/board) to CU Boulder.
Going into applications, I envisioned myself going Navy officer from USNA (still waiting on a reply, but as you will see my views have changed slightly), and applied to KP just because my counselor told me it was a good idea. In January, I was accepted to KP and so did more research, and visited it this past week. This is where all of my claims come from, but I'm not pretending to be an expert on KP.
I learned a lot on my visit and had a complete turnaround in what I wanted.
The biggest benefit (I think) to choosing KP over that scholarship is that KP gives so many options. Not only is the Navy officer commissioning track an excellent one, but you are exposed to a completely different side of service to country, the Merchant Marine. Being from NM, the job fascinated me personally.
But sticking to the Navy track, KP offers two things UCSD won't-
a) a year at sea (which is more sailing experience than any midshipman at USNA will get)
b) the academy experience
I don't know what works best for you, but I think the academy experience is an excellent leadership lab and teaches someone in an entirely different way than a normal college ROTC program will. That doesn't necessarily mean it's better, but that's what I know I'm looking for, and if you are also wanting that 4-year experience I think KP is the right choice.
That said, I'm also partial to KP because I am very interested in learning more about being a deck officer in the US Merchant Marine, as well as being an officer in the Navy. And like every officer has told me, and officer is an officer is an officer, whether he went to USNA, KP, or did NROTC. You'll see on this forum that KP is not the easiest way to become an officer as the curriculum is not geared towards that, but I think that it is a great path if someone is ready for it. I definitely hope I am!
Those are just my personal reasons for making the choice I did. Good luck with your choice- trust, me I know how big it is!
Hope this helps a little.