My resume and standings?

MD_Mom_1
Mon, 07 Jun 2010 10:05:50 +0000

My husband is a West Point graduate and taught Army ROTC. At least two of his cadets went on to very successful military careers. One is currently a one-star still on active duty and one just retired as an O-6.

As a mom of a student who is soon to be considering college and thinks he wants to follow his dad’s steps into a military career, I will not encourage him to attend an academy (although if that is what he wants, I will support him). I want him to experience a more traditional college life. Although his dad would love not paying tuition, I think he sometimes regrets his loss of a college experience. He also atttended West Point before they let women in, so it really was a different time.

What is my point? There are many, many fine ROTC officers. An academy education may give you some advantages for networking, but two years of schooling is difficult to give up. People attend the academies through all sorts of different paths, so you certainly would not be the only one who is not fresh out of high school. Likewise, your language training will be very useful in today’s military. I would encourage you to at least apply for the NROTC scholarship at FSU; then you have a choice.