ROTC, scholarship programs

[Motherland]

Alright, I haven't flown or been active on this board for a long while, I hope you'll all forgive me, but I figured this would be a good place to ask about the ROTC considering the density of military personnel on this board...

But one of my friends recently enlisted (I think? he took his ASVAB and signed some sort of contract I guess) in the Navy and was kind enough to refer me to a recruiter and then not tell me about it.. anyway I got a call on the way to work the other day and scheduled an appointment at school since service is always something I've been interested in, although lately I haven't put a whole lot of thought into it or pursued it (this was the first time I'd had one-on-one with a recruiter).
Anyway we did some basic screening and such and I took what I suppose was some sort of screening pretest (it was like a 20-30 minute test, I'm not really sure), and then I suppose I did pretty well on it because he immediately started talking about me enlisting for a nuclear program, which is what my friend is going in for.
Well, honestly, for a myriad of reasons, I'm not really interested in enlisting. Since I was a kid, though, I've always wanted to be an officer (I even wanted to go to Annapolis for a long time). I mentioned this to him, as well as that I want to go to college, and he told me about the NROTC scholarship program.

The NROTC scholarship program is awesome (or at least it seems awesome from the way he sold it to me). I would think that the other services offer similar deals...?

There's some pertinent information that goes with this, obviously.
I absolutely, positively, 100% want to be starting college next fall. My recruiter told me about an enlistment path to becoming an officer but I don't really think it's for me.
All of the universities I've been looking at have ROTC programs... as a Pennsylvanian, and someone who wants to be on a big campus, my top choices are naturally Penn State, Pitt and Temple. Penn State has one of the largest ROTC programs in the nation from what I understand.
Based on what I've seen the only requirements are minimum SAT scores in math and critical reading... in which I scored 600 and 690 respectively (and 710 in writing which, though it won't help me for this will hopefully help me get into college haha). I've got an 89% GPA which puts me about in the top quarter of my class if I remember correctly, and that's before the current marking period's grades go in. We don't do the 4.0 grading scale for whatever reason. I don't have fantastic participation in extracurricular activities or a varsity letter, however.

Basically what I want to ask about is what experience people here have with ROTC programs and the subsequent service period (for the Navy it's 5 years), and I suppose if anyone knows what my prospects may look like for an ROTC scholarship program? This is something that really seems like a golden apple dropped on my lap, I wanted to look into the ROTC but I didn't know it could do so much for me. Thanks a lot.

[Masherbrum]

Just posting to merely Thank you in advance for your future Service to this Country.    Also, to wish you the best in your studies and I pray that you just do the best you can.     

[Motherland]

Thanks... although I'm still not certain where everything's going as of yet.

[mthrockmor]

It's been years though you are headed the right direction.

I would approach this slightly differently. First, what branch, Navy? What job do you want to do in the Navy? If in the Nuc program, better study physics in college. If you want to be a surface warfare officer, you have much more variety to choose from. Also, each service has a very specific office that handles recruiting just for officers. Regular recruiters who handle enlisted personnel may be somewhat familiar with officer programs though don't chat with them, ask for officer recruiting. This will even get a bit more specific as they have officers who do nothing but recruit pilots.

Get this sorted out first.

Once you have chosen your end goal the question is how to get there. I have an intern who dropped out of high school, then got a GED, enrolled in a community college and four years later is in his second year at Harvard Law School. You have so many options, it is all about grades and grades are about hard work.

You could go right to a high end 4-year university, or two years at a community college then transfer. It may have changed but they used to have 2- and 4-year ROTC scholarships, and within those categories other scholarships. The high end cadets would receive all tuition, books. The rest received $100/month. Again, options but takes some research.

Also, have you considered joining the Guard or Reserves to help pay for college? You get the GI Bill, plus drill pay each month, then a possible ROTC scholarship. My nephew is getting back from Afghanistan, enrolles in January and between GI Bill and drill pay will have over $500/mo.

There are lots of possibilities with an ROTC scholarship being a small part of geting you where you want to be. I hope that helps some.

Boo

[Puma44]

My parents were very happy to hear their son landed a Air Force scholarship in college; full tuition, books, and $100/month cash back in the day.  An ROTC scholarship is a great way to get college, military training, and real life to happen all at once. Graduation from college gives you not only a degree but an officer's commission in the service of your choice and, with good fortune, a pilot training slot.  

[Motherland]

You could go right to a high end 4-year university, or two years at a community college then transfer. It may have changed but they used to have 2- and 4-year ROTC scholarships, and within those categories other scholarships. The high end cadets would receive all tuition, books. The rest received $100/month. Again, options but takes some research.

Also, have you considered joining the Guard or Reserves to help pay for college? You get the GI Bill, plus drill pay each month, then a possible ROTC scholarship. My nephew is getting back from Afghanistan, enrolles in January and between GI Bill and drill pay will have over $500/mo.

The program I was pointed toward asks for an application before you start college, and if accepted you get $180,000 toward tuition (considering I'm not going to UPenn or any other Ivy League school that obviously means 'free' for me), along with a gradually increasing allowance to help with other expenses ($250 - $500), then with 5 years of service commitment afteward. There was a three-tier list of major preferences but according to the web page (I'll have to find it) you can take whatever you want, it may just be harder to get in if you're on one of the lower tiers.
I want to go to school for a chemistry or engineering related field anyway, which is in high demand I guess, especially engineering fields from what I understand, (and a tier I major according to the Navy) so that's not really a worry.

I would approach this slightly differently. First, what branch, Navy? What job do you want to do in the Navy? If in the Nuc program, better study physics in college. If you want to be a surface warfare officer, you have much more variety to choose from. Also, each service has a very specific office that handles recruiting just for officers. Regular recruiters who handle enlisted personnel may be somewhat familiar with officer programs though don't chat with them, ask for officer recruiting. This will even get a bit more specific as they have officers who do nothing but recruit pilots.

I guess I should have realized that there are recruiters specifically for officers...
Regardless, I didn't really think seriously about trying to get selected to be a pilot due to my lack of a 4.0 GPA, perfect SAT scores, 20/20 vision, illustrious sports record etc., or is that something that's more accessable than has been suggested to me? Because it's something I'd definitely be interested in...

[Maverick]

I went ROTC but that was Army and back in the early 70's.

The first thing to do is ask some questions.

Primary question. Are you really motivated to serve? Is this something you want to do or do you just want to "try it out"?

What grade are you in now? Have you played sports in HS? Did you letter in the sport? What are your grades now and your over all GPA?

First off forget the enlistment to Officer option. The recruiter can say all kinds of stuff but the final word comes form the Navy (or whatever service you are going into) and they will say what options they will give you after you sign on the line.
 
The best thing for you to do is to pick the college if you have not already done so and apply for admission. Once you have determined what college talk to the ROTC department there about your options. Find out how many scholarships are available and nail down the requirements for them to make sure you qualify.

If you do get a scholarship you will have different service requirements than a student who is planning on just staying in the Reserves. A scholarship will mandate a specific minimum active duty time, at least 4 maybe more years. Then an additional amount of time in the Reserves for the term you signed up for. At the conclusion of that period you can resign your commission and leave the service.

If you are going to make the service a career look very VERY carefully in the retirement options. They are changing and not for the better.

Reductions in force are coming so look at what specialty you will be looking into and how likely it is to have a job to go into.

[Pigslilspaz]

Been looking at ROTC myself, for the airforce. Already planned on signing up for the AF after I get my Bachelors in Aerospace Engineering at Cal Poly SLO. Right now, I'm in my 2nd year at the CC in SLO, and planning to transfer after next year (freshman year was a trainwreck, hence the 3rd year at CC).

Would love to get my hands on anything that can help with school since my parents aren't paying a dime on my school, and they both make too much for me to get financial aide. Actually got accepted into Poly, but wouldn't be able to afford it on loans, so I like paying only an 1/8th for the first 2-3 years for the same education.

Any advice, or someone who already took this route?

[mthrockmor]

For both of you I am happy to take some time offline and help you sort out best options. I wish I were 16-20 again and had someone help me get it right, instead of reinventing the wheel, poorly might I add.

For starters, life is about networking. Motherland, I would make a couple phone calls to include the head of the ROTC dept where you want to attend. Ask to schedule an appointment, get a solid haircut, dress like you are going to church and sit down with him/her. Understand that ultimately their job right now revolves around one thing: Finding the best possible material to defend our country for decades to come.

Put yourself in their shoes, they get two applications. Both are pretty solid, yada, yada, yada. One is from that young man who came to my office, asked me for advice and followed through with everything. The other looks good, don't have a clue who he is. Who do you think is getting the scholarship?

Also, stay away from the enlistment recruiters. They are great people who are not rewarded for swearing in future officers, but future enlisted personnel. Their plan will likely get you commissioned by only after a 3-4 year stint as enlisted. Ask directly for the officer in charge of officer recruiting, in addition to the head of the NROTC Program.

I can give you lots of suggestions about what I kind of know though these two people (officer recruitment officer and NROTC head) KNOW what the answers are. I am sure both would be happy to help you chart out the next 5 years of your life that ends with you in uniform, commissioned.

Boo

[mthrockmor]

Any advice, or someone who already took this route?

I mentioned the National Guard or Reserves. Some MOS' have rather hefty bonuses. I am more familiar with National Guard, in some states they also have a loan repayment program. Reserve is Federal, they also have some great tuition assistance programs. 16-weeks of basic training can go a long way towards getting commissioned.

Boo

[mthrockmor]

I guess I should have realized that there are recruiters specifically for officers...
Regardless, I didn't really think seriously about trying to get selected to be a pilot due to my lack of a 4.0 GPA, perfect SAT scores, 20/20 vision, illustrious sports record etc., or is that something that's more accessable than has been suggested to me? Because it's something I'd definitely be interested in...

Again, good questions for those two. When I was doing all of this 20/20 was a must, in my case not allowed to even apply because of a college football injury. Now days they will consider applicants where eye surgery corrects to 20/20. And while being the local athletic stud is commendable who many of them know what a link trainer is?

When I took the AFQ/NFAT (?) for Navy back in the early 1990's I was surprised at how many questions reflected Navy history. Ultimately, all things being equal they want someone bathed in Navy. If you know who flew of the first ship, and what that ship was; who is David McCampbell, what saved the day at Guadalcanal, or what happens at a Navy Turkey Shoot...you are Naval Aviation material. You are joining a club with a long, deep culture. These things matter.

Boo