NROTC vs. Academy

[TigerPilot38]

Which one should I do? Take an offer of appointment to NAPS and graduate from the Academy and try to get a flight slot through the Marines or should I take my NROTC Scholarship - Marine Option and try to get a flight contract. Now I can use this scholarship anywhere but what if I took it to a top academic school like Stanford or Princeton?

 

[jitiola]

You can answer those questions. Now as for our suggestions, I believe we'd all be more than happy to throw some suggestions your way. If your looking for your "normal" college experience , I'd say go rotc. It all comes down to personal preference.

Good Luck.

 

[CWJones411]

Since when can you use NROTC scholarships anywhere?

 

[phrogdriver]

Apparently they're much more locked into a particular institution than when I got mine. As I remember from (holy crap) 16 years ago, I could go to any of the 3 schools I listed on my NROTC app. Now they apparently award the scholarship only to a particular school. You are restricted to schools with an NROTC unit or a crosstown affiliation, for sure, though. I don't know about Stanford, but the only Ivy League schools with NROTC are Penn and Cornell. Go Quakers!!! It's good to get a degree from a good school if you get out sometime, but honestly, the Corps doesn't care whether you got your degree from USNA, Penn, or the Rocko School of Typewriter Maintenance.

Anyway, are you sitting on offers for NAPS and Marine-Option NROTC right now?

First, the NROTC will see you graduating with a commission in 4 years instead of 5 with NAPS.

Second, you can still reapply to the academy from a civilian college. This is what I had planned to do when I went to school. Then I realized this college gig wasn't half bad, and I already had 1 year down.

The Academy v. NROTC debate will never end. There are several threads on the topic. In your circumstances, though, take the bird in the hand and go NROTC. The Academy may be good, but it's not worth waiting another year if you already have an alternative offer.

 

[AllAmerican75]

Go for the best of both worlds and take an NROTC scholarship at a state-sponsored military college. I think I might know of just such a place. . . .

Just stirring the pot.:icon_smil

 

[phrogdriver]

Go for the best of both worlds and take an NROTC scholarship at a state-sponsored military college. I think I might know of just such a place. . . .

Isn't that the worst of both worlds?:icon_smil

 

[SWCS242]

I have a friend who went to Westpoint and another at the USAFA, both have agreed that the difference between the academy and NROTC is this:
Academy= long and hard
NROTC= long and not so hard
OCS= short and hard
Both of my friends also told me that they wish they would have had a normal college experience with full summer vacations, being able to go home on a whim if need be, being able to sleep in and skip class after a long hard night at the bars, and not getting in trouble for breaking "stupid" rules that do not exist at a normal college.
Heeding their advice, I chose not to even look into the academies.
Anyhow, I am not speaking from experience just from hearsay. Having the Naval academy on your resume wouldn't hurt, but college is so much fun, why would you want to miss out on that?

 

[gotta_fly]

Since when can you use NROTC scholarships anywhere?

Some scholarships are more flexible. I got mine early (October 03, I think) so I was able to pick before any of the units were close to full. This worked out because I got my scholarship before I had even finished applying to most of my colleges, so I couldn't have picked a school then even if I wanted to. I guess it just depends on your timing.

WRT the choice between the two for the OP- no one can tell you what's best for you, but if you're going to do a year at NAPS you may as well just spend that year at a civilian school. Phrog is absolutely right- If you do well the result will be the same, since your CO can fast-track your app to the academy, but that way you also have the option of staying with the ROTC route if you like it. You also end up with a year of 'normal' college life so if you do decide to go to USNA you still have that experience under your belt.

Good luck!

 

[DSL1990]

Phrog is absolutely right- If you do well the result will be the same, since your CO can fast-track your app to the academy, but that way you also have the option of staying with the ROTC route if you like it.

how can an ROTC CO fast track an application to USNA? i'm really wondering about this. there are something like 70 ROTC units. each CO can give a nomination to USNA. so i figure that means 70 or so ROTC nominations. But there are on 20 USNA appointments allocated to ROTC by Congress. so that means you have something like a 2/7th chance of getting an appointment from ROTC i think...

(Wink, is this right?)

btw, i just don't get it. if you want a naval career and someone is going to just hand you an appointment to USNA if you will just do a year of NAPS, why would anyone turn that down just to be able to party a bit more in college? that just doesn't make any sense to me. besides, the USNA MIDN seem to have plenty of fun! http://youtube.com/watch?v=XCjp5pxQIPM&feature=related if you are interested in partying in college, probably you should just give up on nrotc entirely and maximize the fun, apply to OCS after your done, or BDCP. i'm not in college yet, so this is just a high schooler's perspective...

 

[H20man]

There is also the stepchild of the service Academies... USMMA

 

[Rg9]

...btw, i just don't get it. if you want a naval career and someone is going to just hand you an appointment to USNA if you will just do a year of NAPS, why would anyone turn that down just to be able to party a bit more in college? that just doesn't make any sense to me. besides, the USNA MIDN seem to have plenty of fun! http://youtube.com/watch?v=XCjp5pxQIPM&feature=related if you are interested in partying in college, probably you should just give up on nrotc entirely and maximize the fun, apply to OCS after your done, or BDCP. i'm not in college yet, so this is just a high schooler's perspective...

Uh... I don't think you really understand everything here. The Academy, as well as ROTC, is not the same as the "real" military. I am VERY glad I did ROTC instead of the Academy.

Sure, you can "party" more in ROTC, but you can also do lots of other things. I traveled around the world, spent lots of time in campus Christian ministries as well as politics, played in a few bands that played shows around town, got plenty of time with my family and non-military friends, still did a lot of the cool military stuff in the summers, and got the EXACT SAME COMMISSION as Academy guys.

They're 2 completely different experiences. I think ROTC prepared me better for military life, specifically in learning how to take care of things on my own. I think Academy guys had a little more difficulty, as most things are taken care of for you there, but they did have the opportunity to network and see a lot of things ROTC guys don't get to experience as much of. One source doesn't produce better officers than the other. I've seen good and bad of both.

Choose your college based on the experience you want AT COLLEGE.

 

[phrogdriver]

btw, i just don't get it. if you want a naval career and someone is going to just hand you an appointment to USNA if you will just do a year of NAPS, why would anyone turn that down just to be able to party a bit more in college?

You can still have a naval career out of NROTC. I can't speak for the squid side of the house, but at least in the Marines, having gone to the Academy will not help your career one iota.

A year at NAPS is just that. A YEAR that you could spend getting college done with and starting that naval career that much sooner.

 

[HH-60H]

I think her point is that if you are considering a Naval career, why worry about partying? Not so much that the Academy will give a career and NROTC will not.

 

[phrogdriver]

Okay. I think that the merits of each life should be taken into consideration though. If two roads both lead to the same place, but one is 25% longer and loaded with potholes and obstacles, I'd think my first inclination is to take the short, smooth road. Again, I don't want to rehash the Academy v. NROTC thing, but in this case, the extra year of NAPS really puts a finger on the NROTC end of the scale.

 

[HH-60H]

Okay. I think that the merits of each life should be taken into consideration though. If two roads both lead to the same place, but one is 25% longer and loaded with potholes and obstacles, I'd think my first inclination is to take the short, smooth road. Again, I don't want to rehash the Academy v. NROTC thing, but in this case, the extra year of NAPS really puts a finger on the NROTC end of the scale.

I agree. That was one of my considerations when I was choosing where to go to school way back when. AF offered me their foundation and Navy offered me the Academy straight up. Even though AF was my first choice at the time, I didn't want to add an extra year of pain when I had a shorter path to choose.