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My school doesn't offer Navy.

RC-8015

New Member
First, a little context: I'm a recent High School graduate who was strongly interested in both USNA and NROTC. I received a nomination from my congressman (the recently-ousted Majority Leader, for context on competitiveness), and a spot at both Summer Seminar and CVW, both of which I really enjoyed. I was crushed, naturally, to learn that I received neither an appointment nor a scholarship, or even acceptance to any NROTC school.

The reasons are entirely my own: Despite a 2270 SAT, I had a pitiful GPA, resulting from a tendency to learn whatever interested me instead of what I was assigned. So, while I know a great deal about Nuclear Reactors and Iraqi politics, and speak passable German and French, I nearly failed AP Chemistry and Spanish. It was, in short, a dearth of maturity, one for which I hope to have made up by now. Regardless, I was fortunate enough to be accepted to a reasonably well-regarded large Liberal Arts school, despite my less-than-stellar academic record.

I'm an incoming Freshman at JMU, which lacks the two things the Navy would most want for a NROTC MIDN: a real Engineering program and a NROTC program. It does offer two close substitutes: an ABET-accredited General Engineering degree and both Army and Air Force programs. As such, I intend to attempt to transfer somewhere with a NROTC program, but in the meantime, I had a few questions that I figured some of y'all would be able to answer:

1) I understand that a student enrolled in the College Program, or otherwise affiliated with NROTC, is unable to apply for a 3- or 2- year Navy scholarship. Is a student enrolled (but not contracted) in AFROTC or AROTC similarly restricted?

2) If the answer to the above is no, would it be more worth my while to enroll in either AF or Army to gain the military experience, or to focus solely on my grades to gain a better shot at a Navy scholarship and acceptance to whichever school I may desire? Would AF or AROTC help my application significantly?

3) If y'all suggest that I enroll in ROTC, does anyone have a perspective on whether Army or AF would be more useful for a prospective MIDN?

4) Bit less specifically related here, but nonetheless: I have always struggled with over-loading my schedule, but I do want, in addition to the requisite Tier-3 Eng major, to study Economics (One of my best subjects, and useful for life post-Navy) and a critical foreign language (Chinese, Russian, or Arabic). I'm coming in with 30 AP credit equivalents, which should help, but is this even remotely possible with or without ROTC on top?

5) Most important question of all:
What percent get jets?

Thank you very much for your replies.

Regards,
RC-8015
 

RiseR 25

Well-Known Member
Have you thought about NROTC at Embry-Riddle? I knew a guy who went College Program there and had his freshman year retroactively payed for by a Navy Scholarship the next year.
 

RiseR 25

Well-Known Member
Don't worry about question number 5. Its not a question of percentage of jets but rather your performance and the needs of Naval Aviation.
 

CommodoreMid

Whateva! I do what I want!
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Don't join AFROTC or Army ROTC if you don't want to be in those services. This isn't JROTC which is a club for high school kids who want to play military; it's a commissioning program. You'd be wasting the time and resources of those ROTC units. Unless you transfer schools, OCS is your best hope. Keep your grades high, do things in college that show leadership experience, and keep in shape
 

RC-8015

New Member
RiseR, I wasn't aware of the possibility of reimbursement, but that certainly wouldn't hurt! And as croakerfish pointed out, the "what % get jets" was meant to reference the common annoying question, and not actually ask it myself.

CommodoreMid, good point. That was mostly the answer I was expecting; I just wanted to make sure that I didn't miss an opportunity to demonstrate a continued interest in pursuing leadership opportunities and a military career. You're right in that there are better ways to do so without wasting government resources.

Thank you all for the replies, as well as for everything else I've learned from lurking here for the past few years!
 

RiseR 25

Well-Known Member
My bad, I was wondering why you had it listed as #5 and said it was the most important question. el oh el. Yeah the retroactive scholarship helped him a lot, he worked his butt off and earned it.
 

kstrick7

New Member
Also if you do plan on transferring to Embry-Riddle, or any other school for that matter, make sure your courses will transfer over so you don't have to take a class twice or spend money on a course that has no equivalent at the transfer school. It's not a fun situation to be in!
 

ajohn921

New Member
pilot
None
If JMU refers to James Madison, stay there! I dont regret any of my choices regarding school choice or ROTC, but when I used to visit my sister at JMU, I'd question it. Beautiful ladies everywhere and a lot more of them then guys. The quality and quantity drops significantly from Pensacola to Corpus to Meridian... Enjoy college.

I graduated two years ago, so they may have changed some policies, but I entered my unit as a College Programmer and picked up a 3 year scholarship. It was a crapshoot on how many they gave out per year, but that may still be possible. Also, I dont know if BDCP (Bachelor degree completion program or something) is still around, but they would pay you as an E-5, I believe, and then youd go to OCS after you graduated.

If you decide to stay at JMU, joining another service's ROTC wont help you get into the Navy. As said above, ROTC's job is to send officers to the military, not solely an extracurricular. Focus on your grades and join some clubs or get a job. Those will help far more on an application then a year or two with the zoomies.

If you do transfer, that kind of schedule load will be extremely difficult. The Navy will require you to take a class per semester with the LTs in addition to calc, physics and social sciences. I managed two degrees, but I was a history major. Of the engineering majors I knew, many of them needed a 9th semester to graduate. If you want to do engineering, go for it, but dont feel like you have to. It will certainly help get you a scholarship, but I knew a lot of humanities majors that had scholarships.
 

WEGL12

VT-28
Also, I dont know if BDCP (Bachelor degree completion program or something) is still around, but they would pay you as an E-5, I believe, and then youd go to OCS after you graduated.

BDCP is no longer around or if it is they won't accept anyone into it. Too bad because it was a sweet deal. Personally I think the benefits after commissioning are almost as good as getting E-5 pay in college.
 

ReconJos

Female Penguin Emeritus
None
Another option nobody has mentioned yet is to reapply to USNA if you still have any interest in pursuing that route. I worked with a candidate a few years ago who did not get in first try, did NROTC during his freshman year at Marquette, reapplied, and just finished his Plebe Year at USNA. The male:female ratio is definitely not in your favor, though!
 

navy2014

Member
This would involve considerable effort... but have you looked into whether you're allowed to do NROTC at VMI? It's 55 minutes away from JMU, and I'm sure it would be almost impossible to coordinate, but I know that other schools nearby that don't have ROTC for any service send kids to VMI, and that the NROTC people at VMI were recently wondering whether they should attempt to draw more people in from other schools.
 

CommodoreMid

Whateva! I do what I want!
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
The schools have to have crosstown agreements which are listed on the nrotc website. If that agreement doesn't exist you can't do it, despite proximity.
 

Kayeshorter

Member
I went to a school with no NROTC option (Pepperdine U.), and the "crosstown" option meant a 45 minute drive to UCLA in LA traffic 4 days a week. Quite honestly, if you can afford school without unreasonable student debt and don't mind waiting, just work your tail off during undergrad, max out that GPA and stand out within your student body, and then apply to OCS your junior year. You'll have more time to live the college life (study abroad, join a fraternity, speaking from experience here), and do things that your NROTC and ROTC friends won't get to do. My ROTC buddies felt held back in many ways, and not having the burden of NROTC gives you options. See it as a detour, and not something that will ruin your chances of becoming a naval officer.
 
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