D3 Athletics and ROTC

<p>Wow. She sounds like she’s solid – and I’m not talking about the physical stuff, but the attitudes/values you mentioned about team work, service, inspiration of loyalty and so-on. You should be proud!</p>

<p>Here are a couple of quick points from the perspective of one who looked at this route (the ROTC part, not women’s hockey) as a fall-back option for service academies (my son has an appointment to USAFA).</p>

<p>There are several aspects about the ROTC process, and they are different whether Army, Navy, Air Force. One is they are run through the recruitment part of the Service, unlike the service academies. I only say this because you have to insure you’re getting good info, and it might not be what you are told by a Recruiter. For example, my son had a day where all the recruiters came to school, one saw him in a Marine t-shirt (he went to the Naval Academy Summer Seminar) and struck up a conversation. When told that he had applied to the academies, the recruiter said “but this will make your college free.” So, it is best to get your information directly from A/AF/N ROTC units where you can. </p>

<p>You should check out all the options, but one thing is how each allots their “scholarships.” Some are 4 year, some 3 year. Some maybe be “tiered” by the major – engineering and technical majors get 4 years, soft majors maybe 3 – but each program, and sometimes at the unit level as well, may be different. I say “scholarship” because as some may point out, the paperwork you sign if you accept one is similar to a loan application – you have a pay-back obligation that you should understand, should your daughter decide “this isn’t for me.”</p>

<p>Last, even the best ROTC scholarships ordinarily will not include dorms/meal plans – although with some schools, the local units have arrangements for this aspect of college to be provided as well. They work with their schools for other FA and it may be that with your daughter’s hockey skills they can do more, although there may be other NCAA rules that could intrude that I’m unaware of – but it is usually on a school (ROTC unit) basis. You might also check out [United</a> States of America Service Academy Forums - Powered by vBulletin](<a href=“http://www.serviceacademyforums.com/]United”>http://www.serviceacademyforums.com/) which has a whole section on ROTC plus public and private military colleges.</p>

<p>There are lots of exceptions to the above, and others with greater experience will have more input, or even point out my errors – no problem! But, those are some of the things we learned and you might look at as you try to understand the process. Best of luck!</p>