BYPASS, I was awarded the scholarship to Ole Miss, but wanted to go to Tulane instead. I found out about my scholarship way before I figured out where I wanted to go. I wound up doing NROTC at Tulane, but since I didn't have the scholarship, I had to wait until after my freshman year to pick a 3 year scholarship up. This was way back in 1997-98.
I wound up giving up NROTC and not applying for the 3 year, figuring that if the Navy was what I wanted to do, then I could always go to OCS. Five years later, after an ok job and plans to go to law school, I realized it was a huge mistake to not pursue a scholarship because I really want to be a naval officer and fly. I am in the process of applying for OCS as a SNA right now.
If you want to be a pilot, then do NROTC since us schmucks applying for OCS only get the leftover slots after the academy and NROTC have their say. It is the best of both worlds. You get a good "normal" education for free and you get comissioned the same way as an academy midshipman...and go to the best school you can get into since the Navy will pay for an excellent civillian education.