Philmont Boy Scout
Posted on Wednesday, October 20th, 2010 at 1:11 am
ROTC or Service Academy?
I’m in 8th grade and once I get older I would like to become an officer in either the Navy or USAF. One thing I’m wondering is which route is better, ROTC or the service academies? Right now I have all A’s, and I’m taking Bridges classes (They’re basically advanced classes to prep you for high school). I’m also a boy scout on track for Eagle. One thing I’m looking forward to is going to Philmont in July of 2010. I also run track and cross country both of which I plan to do in high school. Once I get to high school I’ll also get involved in a bit more clubs.
Basically what I’m asking is which path is better for me.
It depends on several factors which you have not stated.
1) Career in the Air Force or Navy or serve 4-5 years and return to civilian life. For a career in the Air Force or Navy, having a significant percentage of officers 15-20%, more in certain areas like Air Force Pilots, who have a similar shared experience means something in terms of promotions and even later in civilian life academy grads form a sort of old boys network just as the alumni of any university can. Outside the service it might be more helpful to be an alumni of Harvard or MIT than the Naval Academy or Air Force Academy, but there aren’t a lot of schools that will trump a service academy degree in terms of opening doors.
2) Graduate/Professional School plans. At certain graduate and professional schools, recommendations from professors who have ties to a certain graduate program can be a very important part of winning admission. There is less chance of making such connections at a service academy where about half the faculty does not hold a Ph.D and few are academic stars that one can take classes from and get recommendations from at a world class university that also hosts an Afrotc detachment or Nrotc Battalion such as Berkeley or MIT or their cross town schools Stanford and Harvard. Of the schools mentioned there is probably less chance at Harvard since the academic stars don’t tend to teach undergraduates. Also in certain fields, the level of advancement is so rapid that a five year hiatus from study or work in that area could mean practically starting over in graduate school.
3) Idea of a college experience.
An Rotc cadet/mid leads a fairly regular college student life with the exception of PT certain mornings but this also depends on the detachment/battalion. For instance, at some, if a student is on an athletic team, even a club team that competes in intercollegiate competition, he is excused from PT. So then the extra time required is minimal, just another class for which one usually receives credit and a leadership lab. College student summer experiences for both will be different than for a regular college student, unless a student is not on scholarship his first summer. If a student does not want Rotc or Service Academy summer programs to interfere with summer plans Ocs/Ots may be a better choice.
4) Physically qualified for and desire for a flight school slot in the Air Force. The Academy offers PRK to Academy Cadets wanting flight school slots. At the academy, most years any Cadet who wants a flight school slot gets one. It is much more competitive in Afrotc. This is because each year the Air Force allocates 500 flight school slots to the less than 900 Lt’s commissioning at the Academy and 500 to the 2200 Lt’s commissioning through Afrotc. The 800 Lt’s commissioning through Ots get whatever extra is needed for Air Force needs that year. In recent years that has been around 100.
5) Choice of Major/Financial Aid: High school scholarships for Afrotc and Nrotc(navy option) are overwhelmingly awarded in Engineering, Math, and Certain Sciences. Nrotc scholarships pay full tuition. Afrotc are capped at 18,000 or less except in a few majors including computer engineering, electrical engineering, environmental engineering. This is not a consideration for Nrotc Mo scholarships or for an appointment to one of the Service Academies though the choice of majors is far more limited than at most universities. West Point has a much wider selection of majors than the Air Force Academy or Naval Academy. If financing an education is not a consideration, almost any major is possible in Afrotc or Nrotc. In the College program, scholarships are awarded in a much wider range of majors. Family income is also a factor becsause Rotc scholarships and Service Academy appointments do not consider financial need but only merit. Most “scholarships” currently consider need and disregard merit, treating all students admitted to a university as equal in terms of merit. For instance at Yale:
http://www.yale.edu/admit/freshmen/financial_aid/yale_cuts_costs.html
[Scroll to table at the bottom of the page. Yale has far more aid to distribute than most universities but the principle is the same.]
If you are interested in a service academy read the advice offered on the Usafa admissions website:
http://www.academyadmissions.com/#Page/Preparation
[Be sure to open all the links to the left of the dialog box. Full CFA instructions at end of physical prep link.]
The application and selection process is nearly identical at Usafa, Usma, Usna. It is helpful to read the chapter on admissions of the Usafa catalog. The pie chart on the top of page 7 details the weighting of the whole candidate score by which selection decisions are made, at least for an LOA(letter of assurance) and for competition within nominating sources for the 70% of MOC(rep and senators) who do not choose a Principal Nomination or rank alternates, also for competition for declined offers of appointment:
http://www.academyadmissions.com/#Page/Preparation
http://www.usna.edu/Admissions/steps10.htm
Helpful to look at the class of 2013 profiles to see the academic and extracurricular accomplishments of candidates who successfully competed for an appointment:
https://admissions.usafa.edu/RRC/Class_of_2013_profile.pdf
http://admissions.usma.edu/moreInfo/Profile2013.pdf
http://www.usna.edu/Admissions/documents/Class%20Portrait%202013.pdf
If you have any questions about the above, let me know.
Good Luck!
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