Why did the Citadel application not require essays?

[mwbluebeard]

My son has decided to apply to the Citadel, although USCGA is his first choice. We're in SC, and Charleston is looking good to us parents with the price of gas so high! It is a long drive to CT.

I'm curious - why were there no essay requirements in the Citadel application?

Also, I noted on this forum others saying that by this time of year, they already had admission decisions for The Citadel. Is this "late" for applying to The Citadel?

Are there full scholarships that are not ROTC?

How are homeschoolers viewed?

 

[sabes]

Hi! I'm a Citadel applicant as well and wondered the same thing (plus I had an amazing essay that I wanted to submit!!)...so I called the admissions office and asked. lol. I'm very blunt. =)

Not only do they not require an essay, but if he submits one, they won't read it. Their rationale is that the application should speak for itself. The type of student they're looking for, they said, is not one who needs to explain him/herself in an essay.

At face value that's a bit vague but I think I understand what they mean: they know what they want and they can identify it based on the information gathered by the application.

It should be noted though that the admissions officer with whom I spoke said that if there was any doubt about a student, they would ask the student to submit an essay and/or come in for an interview, for further evaluation.

They DO accept recommendations, although they're not an extremely important factor.

The Citadel issues rolling decisions; from what I gather, most applicants get a decision about 2 to 3 weeks after submitting their applications. Some students apply at the end of their junior year; these are typically the students who know exactly what they want to do and where they want to go, and as you can imagine those candidates are few and far between. However, I've heard of Citadel applicants being accepted as late as March so it's definitely not too late! (The deadline for consideration for merit scholarships was October 1st, though.)

I don't know how they look upon homeschooled students... sorry

As a side note - I hear ya on the gas prices!!!!! And having spent about 6 months in CT, I can tell you that CT gas is among the most expensive in the nation. For the entire summer it was about $0.30/gallon more than gas in Massachusetts.

 

[mwbluebeard]

Thanks - that explains it. He is sending his appl. tomorrow.

Now, I suppose he should be applying for ROTC scholarship. I'll ask him about it.

Do you know much about that?

 

[sabes]

Now, I suppose he should be applying for ROTC scholarship. I'll ask him about it.

Good idea. I don't understand why anyone actually pays for college, lol.

Do you know much about that?

Actually I do. I graduated from HS in 2007, applied for, received, and turned down an Army ROTC scholarship (couldn't afford room and board and books), and now I'm going through the whole application process again.

It's a pretty straight-forward process but can get a little confusing at times - much less confusing than applying for a SA, though, lol.

Has he already applied for the scholarship? If not I'd recommend he does so ASAP; it's easier to get the scholarship the earlier you get the application done (although I'm sure he won't have any problems getting it), and it's free and online. About 2 weeks after he completes it he'll get a letter saying "Send us your scores and transcript [if applicable]" and a week after that he'll get a letter with contact information of local Professors of Military Science who can interview him. He'll also get information on how to schedule his physical. The physical is no big deal; there are lots of DQs but waivers are pretty easy to get (as long as he doesn't have a debilitating case of asthma or anything like that, lol). About 2 weeks after he completes his physical he'll get a letter saying whether he's physically approved or disproved, and he'll know whether he got the scholarship by May.

I know that's not very detailed but I wanted to give you a "map" of sorts. Let me know if you have any questions!!!

 

[flyersboy114]

It is not late at all. The Citadel was sending out notifications in July saying if you turned your application by like July 29th you would know in two weeks. I dont think they're deadline is till christmas or something though. I turned mine in on like september 15 and found out two weeks later. Just get everything in and I'm sure he will find out soon

 

[mwbluebeard]

thank you very much!

I appreciate the time you took to answer my post.

 

[VMINROTChopeful]

homeschool should be fine. i was partly homeschool for about half of high school and i got accepted to all the sr. military colleges and even got full ride offers. so i don't think being homeschooled hurts you at all.