How does ROTC work?
Attending college on an ROTC scholarship differs from attending a service academy because ROTC students attend traditional colleges like Rutgers, Kansas State, Providence, and UCLA.
They are essentially part-time military students living on an otherwise conventional college campus.
ROTC students enjoy traditional “college experiences” while also fulfilling extra military obligations that culminate in them becoming commissioned officers in the U.S. military.
ROTC scholarships are offered by the Army, Navy, and the Air Force.
You apply for these scholarships in the spring of your junior year in high school. If you win a scholarship (which often covers full tuition), you then have to match that scholarship to a college that has an existing ROTC program. Then, you have been accepted to that college to make a match. This is an important point to understand.
Just because you receive an ROTC scholarship doesn't mean you can attend any college you want.
First off, you have to match your scholarship to a school that actually has an ROTC program (of which there are many) and then you must, on your own, get accepted to that school.
CASE STUDY
Just because you win a Navy ROTC scholarship and Princeton University happens to have a Navy ROTC program, does not mean that you automatically get into Princeton as an ROTC student.
These are two separate and distinct steps.
If you’ve won a Navy ROTC scholarship and you want to go to Princeton, you still have to apply and get admitted to Princeton on your own, and then try to match your ROTC scholarship with the Princeton ROTC Unit.
They are not a package deal.
Part of your job over the next 1.5 years is to start thinking about what colleges you may want to match an ROTC scholarship with should you win one.
Thankfully, there are a lot of choices ranging from Princeton to Ithaca College to Montana State and everywhere in between.
ROTC scholarship applications typically open in April of your junior year. When the application opens, I would begin working on it right away. It requires you to complete the application itself, essays, letters of recommendation, questions about your extracurriculars, etc.
You also have to sit for an ROTC Officer Interview and take a fitness assessment test.
This process can take several months if you’re not on top of it.
My sons took this advice for action. They found out that they had won Navy ROTC scholarships in September of their senior year, months before they had to submit any college applications. In an upcoming post, we’ll discuss why this can be such a big advantage.
With all of this in mind, it’s important to start thinking about what types of ROTC colleges you’re interested in now, because that will dictate the grades, SAT scores, extracurricular activities, summer jobs, and letters of recommendation that will be expected of you when you apply.
Admissions officers at Princeton, for instance, will expect a much different student profile from admissions officers from Fordham University.
You’ll want to make sure you are calibrating your high school activities and class rigor with the type of college you aspire to attend someday.
WHERE ARE THE ROTC PROGRAMS?
The Navy offers ROTC programs on about 150 campuses.
The Army and Air Force offer ROTC programs on over 1,000 campuses across the country.
When you consider all three branches, there is a wide variety of colleges and universities that offer ROTC programs - from very selective to not as selective. You will find programs at Stanford, San Jose State, Harvard, Texas Tech, and so on.
Check the link below to see all the different colleges with ROTC programs in each of the branches in each state. Use this link as a reference as you begin to build your target list of colleges that have ROTC programs that you’re interested in.
As you can see, there’s a lot to think about. That’s why I’m giving you an early heads-up so you can keep your head on a swivel and pay attention to what’s going on out there.
Even better would be enrolling in ServeWell Academy’s online mentoring program, where I walk you through the details of all of these topics week by week.
ROTC Program Finder:
If you're enjoying this content, consider enrolling in our online mentoring program, where I teach lessons like this every week (starting in 9th grade) to students who aspire to attend service academies and ROTC programs. There's not better way to prepare for the rigors of the application process.
