Chance me for USNA please!

NROTCgrad
Wed, 11 Jun 2014 14:10:17 +0000

“I have changed my mind about NROTC and will be applying. Will the admissions council somehow be notified of this?”

I am confident (but not totally certain) that, yes, USNA will be automatically notified of your application for an NROTC scholarship. For one thing, USNA counts applications for NROTC scholarships as applications to USNA (I know that sounds weird, even perhaps deceptive, but it is a fact). Also, USNA will soon assign you to a “Blue and Gold Officer” and you should make sure that he or she knows of your NROTC application.

My advice is to apply for the NROTC scholarship soon (this summer, if not this month) because it will increase your chances of getting assigned to your first choice of college. The Navy chooses your college, but tries to accommodate your preferences. They assign you to your college based on a quota system. If an opening still exists at your preferred college, when your are awarded the scholarship, then they will assign your there. “First come, first served” in other words. However, be careful to not choose colleges which might be too competitive. If your scholarship is assigned to, say, Yale but you do not get into Yale then you go back to the bottom of the list for being assigned to college.

The University of Kansas is required to be on your list of five preferred colleges, and it must be in the top three. Personally, I recommend making it precisely number three and choosing other colleges that you like better for numbers one and two.

I see that you are very interested in Berkeley. It does have NROTC; just make sure that you are likely to get accepted. Just a couple of months ago, a student here on CC was rejected by Berkeley even though his NROTC scholarship was assigned there. Eventually, he declined the scholarship after he came off the wait list at the University of Chicago where his family is paying almost the entire cost. (I have no idea how somebody could get accepted at U.Chicago but rejected by Berkeley) Personally, I always recommend both the University of Rochester and Tulane University because they both offer free room and board to all ROTC scholarship students, plus they are good schools which most NROTC scholarship students can get admitted to.

I think your chances for the NROTC scholarship are excellent, because it has more emphasis on academics compared to sports and leadership. I would be surprised if you do not get a NROTC scholarship.