Introduction
I really wish I found more information on the web when I was applying for the NROTC program. There isn’t a whole lot of information on how to be competitive, what they look for, and other good things to know. I’m writing this article today to help you understand everything I wish I knew before applying for the program. This article is best put into practice if you have at least six months before your first meeting with your officer recruiter. If it’s sooner than that do not worry, there is still a lot you can do.
So what is the best way to be competitive for a NROTC / ROTC Scholarship?
If I were to note the top ways I stood out on my application, they would be the following:
- Get good at running and the fitness tests
- Start SAT classes early and commit to getting good
- Be the team captain of something
- Do extracurricular activities to show you’re motivated
- Practice the interview questions by recording yourself
- Write down the top most challenging life struggles you’ve overcome
- Reach out to people already in a ROTC program
- Start the process early
Physical traits to stand out
Get good at running.
Being able to run well, and ideally faster than your class competitors is a really good and visible way to stand out. Throughout your application process, you’ll have multiple opportunities to run a 1.5 mile or 3 mile run depending if you want to go Navy, Army, Air Force or Marine Corps.
Officers in general are expected to be really good at running, so already having exceptional conditioning makes you a more likely candidate to get selected. If you don’t score well on your first fitness test, ask your officer recruiter if you can run another one a couple months later before the selection board closes. This shows dedication and your ability to grow as a future leader.
Buy a door stand pull up bar if you are going Marine Corps.
The first fitness test I did for my officer application process didn’t go that well. I only got 11 pull ups out of the 23 max.What helped me increase my reps was getting a door stand pull up bar and doing a massive set ups every day until I took my next fitness test. You are expected to show up on day one and absolutely crush your fitness test, but rather improve over the application process in the fall semester.
For other branches such as Navy, army, or Air Force, do you hundreds of push-ups and sit ups every day until it’s easy. None of the exercises you do on a fitness test are they demanding, even if you don’t work out that much. The sooner you can make these exercises muscle memory free your body, the easier it will be to perform well.
You don’t need to be able to swim or backpack during your application process, because they do not evaluate combat fitness until you are accepted into the program.
Academic ways to stand out
Officer recruiters will look at your average high school GPA as well as your current one. They will also factor in the difficulty of your major and where it falls on the tier difficulty list. Academics are uniformly weighed it differently depending on which branch you are applying for.
The Air Force and Navy expect higher academic scores than the Marine Corps and Army.
SAT and ACT scores are also factored into your application process. You will also have multiple opportunities to update your test scores if you continue to take SAT and ACT‘s throughout the application process. It’s as easy as sending your office recruiter an email and a screenshot of your updated score.
If you are trying to be a pilot in any of the branches, you will not take your ASTB until you show up to your ROTC unit. You also do not need to take the ASTB test, as that is only for enlisted recruits.
You do not need to take both the SAT and ACT.
Bills are waiting equally depending on which score you want to use more even if you have a score for both of them. I don’t think it makes you more competitive to have two scores from each of these types of tests, I recommend taking one, taking classes, and getting good at scoring well for that particular test.
Leadership ways and other things to stand out
Be the team captain of something
I was selected to be the team captain of my cross country and track team the senior year of high school. By holding this position, I was able to talk about leader ship traits in principles with credibility and demonstrated that I have put them into practice in some form.
If you currently don’t have any leader ship positions to show forth, I recommend joining a club at the school and demonstrating good initiative within the club that you can call leader ship experience. Leader ship experience doesn’t have to be limited to clubs and programs at your high school. A lot of people am I full of competitors or team captains for extracurricular activities such as being chaperones or cub scout leaders. having work experience at an entry-level job also counts.
Participating in programs like UNICEF, debate clubs, counselor classes, and even EMT classes demonstrates leader ship and initiative to improve oneself.
It also shows that you make use of your time when not in school, and care about relevant concepts related to the military. Any type of volunteer work. any type of volunteer work also counts.
Be able to talk about how your past experiences have made you a better leader. This is important to do and not only the interviews, but the essays as well. The essay prompts are essentially getting at trying to ask you why you’re a good leader because of what you have gone through and experienced this far in your life. Take all these extracurricular programs and experiences you’ve had and the able to relate it to military leadership.
Practice interview questions out loud and record yourself.
Not everybody is good at being interviewed, and it is definitely possible to improve your communication abilities by running through interview questions a few times. A lot of the questions I remember for my interview related to how I demonstrated leadership team captain on my cross country and track team.
Other questions deal with things like: how do you deal with poor communicators on your team? What types of things would you look for in someone that would lead you? being able to talk intelligently about the 11 leadership principles and 14 leadership traits would also help you distinguish yourself.
I practice for my interview by recording myself talking about the things I just mentioned, and working on not seeing the word Um too many times.
Read books about the military and leader ship in general.
It is entirely possible to have a thorough understanding of what Virdon bad leader ship looks like just by reading books and autobiographies a famous leaders. These are also great talking points you can bring up in your interview and it also shows that you spend your free time educating yourself about being a leader. Some good book recommendations to start with would be “The essential Woden” MCDP1 war fighting, and other books from the commandants reading list.
My experience applying for the scholarship
It definitely helped that I ran cross country and track all four years in high school because it let me stand out as a runner during the fitness test. I’m also glad I stuck with a sport that led me to eventually be the team captain and demonstrate leadership in that area as well. I don’t mean to sound conceited, but mainly to show you that you can be a leader in any field in high school which can set you apart from your competitive pool. As the application process for ROTC comes closer for you, try to see if there’s ways for you to gain real world leader ship experience if you don’t already have some.
I also did all the things we talked about such as buying a pullup bar, reading books on leader ship, and practicing my interview multiple times. I dedicated several hours to writing the best essays I could that depicted me as a leader.
I did not stand out at all when it came to academic excellence.
I had a 3.2 average GPA, and a 3.5 GPA at the time of applying for a scholarship. I had below average scores on the SAT, and didn’t have an ACT score to show for it.
I’m confident that I was excepted for the scholarship based on how well I was able to articulate my character, determination, and leadership potential.
If you don’t get selected for the scholarship program right away, don’t get discouraged. I got excepted on the late board and receive my notification for the scholarship in the spring semester before I graduated high school. Plenty of college freshman reapply for the program and get picked up for scholarships after their first year. The chances of receiving a scholarship only go up if you stay in the ROTC program as an applicant.
Conclusion
Thanks for reading! Hopefully this helps bring to light some things you can do to be competitive for a ROTC scholarship. It really is a great option if you want to be in the military while going to school and to commission as an officer. If you have any further questions or comments, feel free to send me an email at theyouculturr@gmail.com and I’ll do my best to respond. Until then, be sure to check back regularly for new articles.