Here's my take:
I've done a few different routes to the cockpit- Navy ROTC, Marine OCS, and Navy OCS.
I started in Navy ROTC, with a 3-year guarantee. Get a 3.0 first year out of pocket, the next 3 years are on the Navy. When I was in my second semester I met with my class advisor to go over my grades and stuff. He asked, "What do you want to do in the Navy?" I answered, "Fly jets." He said, "Well, with these grades you're going to be driving ships." Basically, in Navy ROTC (and I imagine AF ROTC isn't too much different) your grades determine your rank. Higher your grades, higher your ranking. When it comes time to pick 'jobs' the start with the #1 guy and give him his choice. Then the #2 guy and give him his choice. And so on. When they get to you, you pick what you want and if there's still slots available, you get it. Otherwise, you get something else. I wonder what slots go first in the Air Force?
So, if you want to drive planes, and go the ROTC route, you HAVE to do well in school in order to be competitive for a job you want. If you are a C student, I guess you better plan on doing something in the USAF besides flying.
For me, I got a 2.98 GPA and had the option of paying to stay in ROTC or drop out. I dropped out.
Fast forward a year. I went to the Marine recruiter, took all the tests, got an air slot (1 of 2). All set with an OCS report date. 2 months before Quantico I get the call..."Yeah, uh (Toonces), one of our air slots got pulled so I have to put you on a ground contract. But, hey, don't worry about it. When you get to Basic School you can compete to get an air slot instead...." Turns out that's about a 1 in 100 chance. So I did my first 6 weeks of OCS, and when it came time to go back for the second part I declined. I had no desire to drive tanks.
Fast forward another year. Senior in college, still want to fly jets. Call the Navy recruiter. "Hey, I want to fly jets." He says, "Well, we need jet pilots, come on down." Took the tests, got accepted into the Navy as a pilot and after graduation reported to Pensacola and proceeded to get my wings.
So, here's the bottom line. ROTC is a great program that will pay for your college and offer you a guaranteed job making decent money, and you will learn a skill that will be useful somewhere for something. You also can get the GI Bill in the military which might not seem like a big deal now, but a few years from now when you're looking at getting a masters, the GI Bill is great to have. I used it to get a masters degree. The downside of ROTC is that it is sort of mickey mouse business, and it sort of drags out the whole military indoctrination process for 4 years. It's a bit of a pain, alot of silly things you have to do.
If you're goal is, like mine, to fly or else, then I don't think ROTC is necessarily the way to go. Sure ROTC gets you in the front door, but you have to really kick bum in school in order to be competitive for a pilot slot. I was a horrible student, so leaving ROTC was definately the right call for me.
OCS, Navy or some other branch, is a safer option if you're goal is only to fly. The downsides are that you won't know if the military is hiring pilots until you've missed your chance for ROTC. Also, you'll have to pay for college. Also, you'll still have to do well enough in school to have a competitive application for OCS. Of course, you can go to OCS for something besides pilot, but then you've sort of wasted the chance to go ROTC in the first place.
Either way, there are no guarantees. You are doing the right thing by considering your options carefully. It all really depends on what your goals are in the military and in life. I think the military is a great deal. I've been very lucky and I have no regrets. I'm facing about 2 of the next 3 years away from my family starting next year, so it's not all happy times, but overall I think the military has alot to offer, besides just getting to fly cool planes.
Good luck!
A few questions when you have the time. First, what do you fly, and was it competitive or like you said, where basically they needed pilots and were happy to get you?
Second, mind sharing a few sentences about what life has been like so far in the Navy for you, especially dealing with aviation part of it?
Right now, I'm considering getting my college degree without joining an ROTC program. That way I can really focus on my grades and then go over my options once I get my degree. From there I have two choices. Either continue living the civilian life and go to work as a engineer, or go to Officer Training School, or what ever each program is called for whatever branch.
I don't want to fly helicopters, and I don't want to join the Army, so right now I'm looking at either the Air Force, Navy, or Marine aviation. If I had my dream choice, it would be flying fighters in the Air Force, with Navy being second choice. (Is the Marines more in support of ground troops then A2A? But I really want to earn my wings, and don't mind going Navy or Marine if that bettered my chances of getting in the cockpit, as I'm think that the Air Force would be the most competitive of the three to get a fighter slot. Right?
Right now, I'm wondering just what are the differences between being a pilot in the Navy verses the Marines?
Also, I'll continue to search google, etc, but does anyone know of a good site that kind of compares the three side by side?
donkey
PS: Thanks for all of the help so far guys, appreciate it.
Oh, and forgot to add, that just as a little indication, I'm a senior right now with a 4.17 GPA, with AP Calculus, AP English, and AP Biology being my hardest classes (Advanced Drama, Civics/Econ, and psychology being the other three).