ROTC

[Anonymous]

OP here: thanks so much and appreciate all inputs from people with ROTC experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is about to start as a Freshman on an Army ROTC scholarship.

The application, for the first round, was due before any of the college applications. He was awarded the 4-year scholarship in the second round, before he had been accepted to any colleges. The scholarship was assigned to one school from the list of his top 3 choices he listed on his application. He did not list a major, as he hasn't declared one yet. He may have listed areas of interest.

He has since transferred it twice, first to the school he was first going to go to, then the school which he was waitlisted at, where he will now be attending.

After college, he will likely go Active Duty and might be stationed far away. He might also be deployed. He is a military brat and moved a lot as a kid, including living in Germany. He knows what he is getting into.

It is a wonderful opportunity and a great experience

Signed,
A Mom who did ROTC and served on Active Duty for more than a decade

So you can transfer the scholarship from one college to another?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is about to start as a Freshman on an Army ROTC scholarship.

The application, for the first round, was due before any of the college applications. He was awarded the 4-year scholarship in the second round, before he had been accepted to any colleges. The scholarship was assigned to one school from the list of his top 3 choices he listed on his application. He did not list a major, as he hasn't declared one yet. He may have listed areas of interest.

He has since transferred it twice, first to the school he was first going to go to, then the school which he was waitlisted at, where he will now be attending.

After college, he will likely go Active Duty and might be stationed far away. He might also be deployed. He is a military brat and moved a lot as a kid, including living in Germany. He knows what he is getting into.

It is a wonderful opportunity and a great experience

Signed,
A Mom who did ROTC and served on Active Duty for more than a decade

So you can transfer the scholarship from one college to another?

The "transfers" PP was talking about are all during spring of HS senior year as kid was changing initial plan on where to attend college due to waitlist admissions.

[Anonymous]

It's impossible for there to be one answer to the question of whether ROTC is a good choice. It completely depends on the kid. I did Navy ROTC, went to an incredibly good school, and after graduation, hated it more than I can describe. But, it was completely predictable that I would not love being in the military. Too bad no adult helped me realize that (since I was about 16 when I decided). Like you said, it's an amazing scholarship, and a guaranteed job, but you are owned by them afterwards, and you have to make sure your son or daughter is going to be ok with that. I felt trapped and miserable. But I was with people that flourished, so you have to really think hard about whether it is the right decision for your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have experience with ROTC and how it dovetails with admission to highly selective schools? We can afford to pay for school but just wondering if ROTC would be good to explore for the leadership experiences, no debt and five years of guaranteed job out of school.

You are aware that this “guaranteed job” will require your kid to go wherever they tell him, including combat zones? Your kid won’t always be able to come “home” for thanksgiving and other special holidays. Your kid could get assigned to a base in Germany or Korea or Guam; your grandchild could be born and raised there, making it hard for you to visit often. It’s a lot more than just a “guaranteed job.”

Most of my fellow Naval ROTC friends did not see combat, including the one Marine. If your kid is smart enough (and engineering/science minded) they can apply for nuclear service. Not just a guaranteed job out of college but also great for the resume if they don't want to stick around in the Navy long-term.

That said, I was stationed here in DC, and some people consider this combat zone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have experience with ROTC and how it dovetails with admission to highly selective schools? We can afford to pay for school but just wondering if ROTC would be good to explore for the leadership experiences, no debt and five years of guaranteed job out of school.

You are aware that this “guaranteed job” will require your kid to go wherever they tell him, including combat zones? Your kid won’t always be able to come “home” for thanksgiving and other special holidays. Your kid could get assigned to a base in Germany or Korea or Guam; your grandchild could be born and raised there, making it hard for you to visit often. It’s a lot more than just a “guaranteed job.”

You think most just out of college kids are going to have leave to travel home for Thanksgiving and “special holidays”? I wouldn’t want my child to produce grandchildren right out of college, either.

We live in an area with lots of military officers and while yes, there are some tough deployments, we also have friends who’ve moved from here to England, Belgium, Japan, Norway, DC (that’s the worst) and Germany. Not exactly hardship posts and they and their extended families get to see each other often. Also lots of retired military parents at little kids’ school in their 40s and 50s collecting military pension and working for contractors. It’s not a bad life. They usually get a year here or there to do (paid for) masters degrees while active duty too.

OP, my childhood friend’s husband did ROTC as an engineering student, became a pilot, and is now a base commander. FIL was orphaned as a kid and did ROTC at UVA to pay for college. Studied electrical engineering and was stationed in Florida testing missles during Vietnam.

Parents of "little kids" while in their 50s is definitely not common among military active duty/retirees.

NP: It's fairly common around us to have military retiree parents in their 40s/50s with prek-6 aged kids. Esp folks who got married after military retirement or 2nd marriage. Those seem to be the majority of dads who volunteer in ES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have experience with ROTC and how it dovetails with admission to highly selective schools? We can afford to pay for school but just wondering if ROTC would be good to explore for the leadership experiences, no debt and five years of guaranteed job out of school.

You are aware that this “guaranteed job” will require your kid to go wherever they tell him, including combat zones? Your kid won’t always be able to come “home” for thanksgiving and other special holidays. Your kid could get assigned to a base in Germany or Korea or Guam; your grandchild could be born and raised there, making it hard for you to visit often. It’s a lot more than just a “guaranteed job.”

You think most just out of college kids are going to have leave to travel home for Thanksgiving and “special holidays”? I wouldn’t want my child to produce grandchildren right out of college, either.

We live in an area with lots of military officers and while yes, there are some tough deployments, we also have friends who’ve moved from here to England, Belgium, Japan, Norway, DC (that’s the worst) and Germany. Not exactly hardship posts and they and their extended families get to see each other often. Also lots of retired military parents at little kids’ school in their 40s and 50s collecting military pension and working for contractors. It’s not a bad life. They usually get a year here or there to do (paid for) masters degrees while active duty too.

OP, my childhood friend’s husband did ROTC as an engineering student, became a pilot, and is now a base commander. FIL was orphaned as a kid and did ROTC at UVA to pay for college. Studied electrical engineering and was stationed in Florida testing missles during Vietnam.

it depends on the occupation, but Army bases tend to be in locations that people would not otherwise choose to live. Navy on the other hand...

[Anonymous]

What about Air Force? Are bases generally in desirable locations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about Air Force? Are bases generally in desirable locations?

Generally not in large metro areas. But open your mind a little, there’s a big world out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I'm aware and this is for my daughter!

Women deploy and get stationed in remote locations too.

Look, very few parents, esp. ones on DCUM, aren't aware of how the military works.

Most parents on DCUM have the luxury of deciding whether they want to do military/ROTC knowing it’s dangerous. All of the kids I know who did ROTC did it because it was the only way they could afford to go to a 4 yr college and live at it.

[Anonymous]

OP, which branch is your DD interested in?

We are an AF family and DH has never been overseas (except work trips to S. Korea). The key is getting into certain career fields that aren't really needed to go overseas much. It's not a 100% guarantee, but the odds are in your favor for certain fields. DH was a "space guy" when there was no "space force." Space command is in LA, Colorado Springs, and DC. That's it. So, there is no need for a space career field person to go over seas. Now, if they need a Major to do something in a combat zone, and your number comes up, that's where you go.

But ,DH was always able to pre-select his assignments by getting picked by a certain organization BEFORE his name was on the list of people who need to be assigned somewhere. So, he had more opportunity to determine his plans.

Anyway -- AF or Space force is a good place to be, especially for women. It's the most equitable and requires the highest test scores to enter. And it's the least "who-yah!"/testosterone-ish military branch.

[Anonymous]

Is getting an ROTC scholarship hard?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is getting an ROTC scholarship hard?

It can be tricky (bureaucratic process) if you're unfamiliar with how things work. I was able to manage my way through despite not knowing what I was doing, but I was going into a STEM field and had very high SAT scores, so I think I appealed to their metrics.

[Anonymous]

This is a really cool thread, thanks for the info!

How does the process work with military paying for med school?

[Anonymous]

There are some extremely selective colleges with ROTC programs. I understand getting the scholarship and gaining admission are two separate processes. But if my DC gets the scholarship, and X college is listed as his first choice, can the ROTC unit for X college help in any way with admissions? In other words, is there an admissions hook there, however slight?