Which ROTC program is the best?

[usafadreams]

I am a junior in high school. I want to attend either USNA or USAFA, but obviously I need a plan B. I really want to major in Arabic in college. If I went ROTC, would it be better to do Army, Air Force, or Navy ROTC considering that major? Thanks!

 

[AJC]

My understanding is that USAF and Navy prefer technical majors, Army does not really care.
If you are looking for a Corps type college experience University of North Georgia has an excellent Arabic Program.
If you do not earn a scholarship Cadets in the Corps receive in state tuition rates.
The same is true for TAMU.

 

[USMA 1994]

This question comes up a lot on the forum but you need to answer another question first. Do you want to be a military officer and how do you want to serve. If you cannot answer that you want to be an Army Officer and lead soldiers in harm's way, be an Air Force Pilot or lead soldiers that are supporting those pilots, or be a technical leader on a Navy ship, then maybe you should re-evaluate why you want to attend a service academy. If you can answer yes to any of these questions, then that should guide your decision.

@AJC is correct, The Air Force and Navy want technical majors while the Army is more open on your major. That again goes to the nature of the services. 95% of all new Army 2LTs will be platoon leaders leading soldiers while the other two services will have more technical roles for their officers.

 

[kinnem]

And lest you forget, there is always the Marines as part of USNA/NROTC. The Marines don't care what your major is but you better be damned physically fit. I agree with others... focus on what you want to do after commissioning to make you selection. College is only 4 years. What you do after commissioning is 4 to 8 to 20+ years of your life. Each service's website has information on the officer career paths that are available.

 

[Dckc88]

All ROTC programs will allow you to apply for an additional summer scholarship opportunity called Project GO (Project Global Officer). It is very competitive depending on which program, my daughter is waitlisted and ended up not getting one but it is available. If you study Arabic as a major that would make you more competitive. The scholarship is through the department of defense and you would apply in late fall your freshman year and can be in any ROTC. As mentioned above though, the Army will allow you to major in a foreign language, you don't have to have a technical major.

 

[unkown1961]

AFROTC offers a Foreign Language Scholarship. My son received one to study Russian (he's also double majoring in Int. Relations). His scholarship is a 3-yr Type 2 partial scholarship, but he is attending Boston University. To help with tuition, BU pays half of the first year's tuition and tops off the tuition for the remaining years. They also pay some of the housing. It's a great deal.
And, as mentioned above, you can do a summer immersion program for your language. Here's the website for Project Go and will show you the years and locations (not all are overseas and you can go summer of sophomore and junior years as well): http://www.rotcprojectgo.org/programs

 

[kinnem]

AFROTC offers a Foreign Language Scholarship. My son received one to study Russian (he's also double majoring in Int. Relations). His scholarship is a 3-yr Type 2 partial scholarship, but he is attending Boston University. To help with tuition, BU pays half of the first year's tuition and tops off the tuition for the remaining years. They also pay some of the housing. It's a great deal.
And, as mentioned above, you can do a summer immersion program for your language. Here's the website for Project Go and will show you the years and locations (not all are overseas and you can go summer of sophomore and junior years as well): http://www.rotcprojectgo.org/programs

All the services ROTC programs offer a foreign language scholarship.

 

[5Day]

To maximize your opportunity you should apply to all 3 ROTC programs. You will have to choose between NROTC and NROTC-MO (marine option) since you cannot apply to both. Marine Option does not care about major, so you may have a better chance at a scholarship there. However, Marines are "unique", and you probably already know if the Marine path is right for you.

 

[bfhsj]

I went through this decision this past year and ultimately chose Army. These are some reasons I did:
(Note: this might not all be 100% accurate, but to the best of my knowledge it is)
-I personally don't want to major in STEM. Army gives very little to no preference to STEM majors when awarding scholarships, Navy and AF definitely care.
-Personally, I don't much like boats or water, and so I don't think I'd like to be in the Navy. I've also heard most AF jobs are more office-type jobs (with the exception of pilots), and, again personally, one of the primary reasons I decided I want to be in the military is to have work experiences different from normal office-type jobs, so I decided AF isn't best for me.
-Army gives out more money. I believe all other branches cap scholarships at $180k, and that's if you receive the maximum amount. My 4-year Army scholarship will cover $200,000 in tuition alone, in addition to over $20,000 in stipends over the 4 years.
-Related to the last point, Army gives out more scholarships and it's generally easier to get a scholarship from the Army than Navy/AF. I don't have any statistics handy to share, but I am fairly sure I've seen comparisons of scholarship winners (GPA, SAT/ACT, Class president, etc.), and if I remember correctly Army is the least picky when giving out money. This isn't because Army officers are inferior to Navy/AF officers or anything like that, but mostly because the Army has a higher demand for officers coming from ROTC.
-More schools (at least of the schools I looked at) have Army ROTC programs. Personally, all 7 schools I was looking at last summer have AROTC programs, and several didn't have Navy and/or AF, so Army worked out better for me.

Again, I'm just a kid and don't know too much about what I'm talking about so don't trust everything I say. I met with ROTC recruiters from every branch to go over their programs and recommend doing that if you can because I think it helped a lot.

 

[Pima]

I say this all of the time. College is 30 weeks a year. If you take even 18 credits that equals 18 hrs a week. You get to choose where you attend school for those 4 years. You decide your major.

Now when you graduate/commission it will be 24/7 365 days a year where they decide you will be stationed at and in what career position they desire for 4 yrs. at least.

Look into those branches from a long term aspect. Let's assume you get scholarships for both NROTC and AFROTC. AFROTC is tuition only, whereas, NROTC allows R &B. It might be that financially NROTC is a better deal, but in the long run when you are AD the question becomes do you want to be on a boat? Same could be said about the AF, how do you feel about them making you an Intel officer stationed in Abilene Texas (Dyess) or Eilson AFB (Fairbanks, AK)?

Just saying there will be a bill to pay in the end, and that will be you serving in their branch wherever they desire doing what they deem necessary to fulfill THEIR needs. Hence, the statement SERVICE BEFORE SELF.

 

[inSANEmom]

Here is the easy, practical answer: Assuming your goal is to serve as a military officer above all else...

Apply for everything. Ask the question "which is the best for me" AFTER you receive multiple offers. If you receive only one... then the best one is the one who has offered to pay for your schooling.

 

[eljay60]

Here is the easy, practical answer: Assuming your goal is to serve as a military officer above all else...

Apply for everything. Ask the question "which is the best for me" AFTER you receive multiple offers. If you receive only one... then the best one is the one who has offered to pay for your schooling.

What inSANEmom said. In the end, even on game day (Go Army!), we all play on the same team.