sdsmom
5-Year Member
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2017
- Messages
- 77
I truly believe that when one door closes, another opens. My son is a senior and over the past 15 months has completed applications to USMA, USNA, USAFA, AFROTC and AROTC. West Point and serving in the Army had always been his first goal. He applied to the other branches so he could learn about them, their opportunities and because the process was so similar. As this long and grueling process progressed, he wrote a lot of essays, took the ACT 4 times and received a ton of support from his teachers and coaches. In December, he was so thrilled when he received his congressional nomination to West Point! In March, he learned he had won a 3 year AROTC scholarship! We set out to visit all 3 schools in that 30 day window so he could make the best choice while we waited to hear from West Point. He was on an overnight visit to one of the schools and received a 2 sentence email as they were heading out to ruck for PT that morning from RC congratulating him on improved ACT scores but that he was closing his USMA file. Needless to say, he had a lot of time to think about things on that ruck! That school ended up being his first choice and he accepted his scholarship there before the school had even sent out their acceptance letters.
Since that day, he was accepted to that school and we have learned this his AROTC scholarship was upgraded to a 4 year. We just came home from the accepted student celebration at this amazing engineering school where more than 20,000 kids applied to a freshman class of about 1650. His school is paying room and board and my son will be able to get this amazing education and commission as an officer without having to worry about money. What an amazing future he has! I also find it interesting that at each school he visited for ROTC, he spent time with a cadet who had also applied to West Point and did not receive an appointment. All of them had stated they thought at first about reapplying but are now so happy in their schools and ROTC battalions it was never really given a 2nd thought. What a roller coaster this past 15 months has been but my son now can't imagine spending the next 4 years anywhere else than what was at first probably his plan C!
I apologize for this long post but I just want to thank those long time contributors and moderators on this forum. When we visited USMA in 2017 they advised us to not use the advice here but I have found a wealth of knowledge, support and experience. I spent as much time in the ROTC forum as I did here so make sure you watch for advice from the ROO's that contribute there. For those parents and students just getting started, make sure your child completes files early. I don't remember how many essays my son wrote but he got them done over the summer, before football started in full swing. Make sure the files get complete enough to trigger DODMERB early. He started his exam in July and it still took about 6 weeks to get qualified. I am so thankful he is already DODMERB qualified as there are a lot of kids just now accepting ROTC scholarships that haven't even started that process. And once you have that service academy file complete, put just as much time into Plan B and C because they could end up being Plan A! Congrats and best of luck to the USMA Class of 2022 appointees and all of the students heading out to ROTC battalions this fall.
Since that day, he was accepted to that school and we have learned this his AROTC scholarship was upgraded to a 4 year. We just came home from the accepted student celebration at this amazing engineering school where more than 20,000 kids applied to a freshman class of about 1650. His school is paying room and board and my son will be able to get this amazing education and commission as an officer without having to worry about money. What an amazing future he has! I also find it interesting that at each school he visited for ROTC, he spent time with a cadet who had also applied to West Point and did not receive an appointment. All of them had stated they thought at first about reapplying but are now so happy in their schools and ROTC battalions it was never really given a 2nd thought. What a roller coaster this past 15 months has been but my son now can't imagine spending the next 4 years anywhere else than what was at first probably his plan C!
I apologize for this long post but I just want to thank those long time contributors and moderators on this forum. When we visited USMA in 2017 they advised us to not use the advice here but I have found a wealth of knowledge, support and experience. I spent as much time in the ROTC forum as I did here so make sure you watch for advice from the ROO's that contribute there. For those parents and students just getting started, make sure your child completes files early. I don't remember how many essays my son wrote but he got them done over the summer, before football started in full swing. Make sure the files get complete enough to trigger DODMERB early. He started his exam in July and it still took about 6 weeks to get qualified. I am so thankful he is already DODMERB qualified as there are a lot of kids just now accepting ROTC scholarships that haven't even started that process. And once you have that service academy file complete, put just as much time into Plan B and C because they could end up being Plan A! Congrats and best of luck to the USMA Class of 2022 appointees and all of the students heading out to ROTC battalions this fall.
