Why so much red tape?

Last week, I reviewed what motivates some students to pursue service academy appointments and ROTC scholarships. 

For some, it was a call to serve, others wanted world-class leadership training, international travel, personal challenge, real-world experience, or the generous financial assistance. 

If these reasons weren’t so compelling, not many students (or parents) would be willing to endure what it takes to get to the finish line. 

Applying to one of these programs is not like applying to a traditional college. 

There are a lot more moving pieces, it’s very process-driven, and unforgiving. The process also starts a lot earlier. 

To make matters even more challenging, most students apply to multiple programs (either a service academy and its comparable ROTC program, or multiple service academies, or multiple ROTC programs, or some combination). 

Translation: this is not for the faint of heart. 

Here are a few checklist items that you will have to manage in addition to what you would normally manage when applying to traditional colleges. 

ROTC:

• Fill out an ROTC application
• Write an ROTC personal statement
• Have transcripts sent to ROTC selection board
• Have standardized test scores sent to ROTC selection board
• Take part in an ROTC Officer interview
• Communicate with your ROTC regional representative
• Request letters of recommendation for your ROTC application
• Connect with current students in your ROTC program of choice
• Arrange for an ROTC medical examination
• Take an ROTC physical fitness exam

Service Academies:

• Fill out (1) Congressional nomination package
• Write a Congressional nomination personal statement
• Fill out (2) Senatorial nomination packages and essays
• Submit VP and/or Presidential nomination packages (if applicable)
• Request letters of rec for all nomination packages
• Take part in a Congressional nomination interview panel
• Fill out the service academy application
• Write your service academy personal statement
• Have transcripts sent to the service academies
• Have standardized test scores sent to the service academies
• Request letters of recommendation for your service academy application
• Communicate with your liaison officer (B&G, ALO, or Field Force Rep)
• Conduct an interview with your liaison officer
• Arrange for a medical examination
• Take the service academy physical fitness test(s)

As you can see there are quite a few steps to manage — and this is just the tip of the iceberg, assuming you only applied to one service academy and one ROTC program.

Imagine applying to multiples of each?

Of course, this list doesn’t include what needs to be done to apply to the traditional colleges you would want to apply your ROTC scholarship to (if you won one).

That’s a whole different process that runs alongside what I just described. I have been doing that for 12 years as well, and it ain’t pretty.

It includes filling out the Common App, requesting letters of recommendation, sending transcripts and test scores, writing the main essay, writing supplemental essays, and so on.

WHY NOT STREAMLINE?

You might be wondering why the military makes this so hard.

Why don’t they streamline the process and make it more manageable?

Can’t they cut out some of the red tape?

Answer: Probably not.

All of the red tape is due, in part, to the fact that the military is a big, slow-moving bureaucracy and streamlining paperwork and processing is not exactly its strength.

Also, the process creates a natural filter.

As the process stands now, someone with a casual interest in the military (either service academy or ROTC) will probably not go down this road.

There are just too many obstacles standing in the way of someone who is not highly-motivated. This reluctance to embrace the long process reduces the workload for the selection boards.

If 2-3x more students applied, many of whom were not overly motivated, it would swamp the admissions officers. There would be too many applications.

These bureaucratic hurdles serve as a way to attract only the most motivated applicants and families and screen out the window shoppers.

The other reason the military doesn’t want to encourage applicants who are wishy-washy about the program is that they don’t want to invest a lot of time, money, and resources on those people.

Those are our tax dollars at work.

They don’t want to see a big spike in people who quit 6 months into the program because they were not prepared for its rigors.

They want to do the screening upfront so that they can maintain the quality of candidates who make it to the service academies and ROTC campuses. 

In my opinion, the red tape (and bureaucracy) is worth it if you have studied the programs and believe you are a good fit. 

However, just because a service academy or ROTC program is a good fit for you, does not mean it will be easy. 

It is intentionally not easy and overcoming these hurdles is a big signal that you are up to the challenge.