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Getting involved with the Unit at your school

mike172

GO NAVY
So, if you are not lucky enough to get awarded a scholarship, how do you go about becomming a active participant in the unit so you can pick up a three year? Should one call the unit prior to going to school, or wait until you are actually at the school to go see whatsup?
 

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
pilot
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
^^Huh? I presume the OP is asking about NROTC, and you generally can't get involved in midshipman stuff unless you are, indeed a midshipman.

By all means, give them a call as soon as you're interested. Some units will have a Freshman Indoc session before school starts and may require you to make it up on your own time during the school year if you join after the academic year starts. Plus, if you are involved in NROTC, you will be expected to take Naval Science courses as part of your curriculum even as a College Program mid. You will be required to double up on them to catch up if you miss a semester/quarter/whatever.

The staff at your unit will have better, more up-to-date gouge than we can provide here, so get on the horn and talk to them.
 

arbor

I'm your huckleberry.
pilot
Absolutely second ^, get in touch with the Unit ASAP, participate as much as possible from day 1. It's possible you can pick up the scholarship after the first year and even get paid retroactively for that first year. Again, that's just one circumstance, better to ask them for more info about it.
 

Pcola04/30

Professional Michigan Hater
pilot
Get the gunny and MOI on your side asap......sharp uniform, fresh haircut, always volunteering etc. etc. The rest should take care of it self.

Best of luck
 

navy09

Registered User
None
Assuming you don't pick up the 4-year scholarship, get in touch with the NROTC Unit's recruiting officer and let them know that you want to join the College Program. As a CP, you'll still be a Mid, but you won't get any money. As nittany said, you can't really be involved if you're not a Mid.

Just get involved, put yourself out there, and get good grades. As a CP, you'll be eligible for a 3.5, 3, 2.5, 2-year scholarship, or advanced standing (stipend for junior and senior years). Chances are, if you're not a -bag and you're not an idiot, you'll pick up a scholarship (no guarantees though).
 

redmidgrl

livin' the dream
Contributor
You'll be a CP Mid, but you're still a Mid. You can get as involved as you want, BUT, as a warning, grades and PT come first! If you let ROTC take over your life in your attempts to earn a scholarship, and you let your grades and PT become affected, it will be a lot harder to earn that scholarship. Grades first, then PT, and then volunteer...

I hope this helps!

Red
 

bunk22

Super *********
pilot
Super Moderator
Assuming you don't pick up the 4-year scholarship, get in touch with the NROTC Unit's recruiting officer and let them know that you want to join the College Program. As a CP, you'll still be a Mid, but you won't get any money. As nittany said, you can't really be involved if you're not a Mid.

I was going to say, as I recall, this is how you do it. Though that was back in 1988 so things could be different by now. I interviewed once, picked up the CP thing (not hard at all) then picked up a 2-year Scholarship.
 
Got my commission through the unit as a 4-year College Programer.

But, in recent years there has been a major shift in the available number of college program slots the boards have available. Saw many a good Mid/friends get turned down even though they were 'fully qualified' in all fields. Don't quote me, but something like 2 slots available just over a year ago. Not sure on the current status, but your best bet is to just pick up a scholarship as soon as you can.

That being said, just as others stated above; GET INVOVLED ASAP. Call the unit. Become a Mid. Start participating. Work towards establishing a trend of good grades. Have the LT's put you in for scholarships via the national boards and ask about the CO's scholarships too, all once you get some grades in the books of course.

HTH. Good luck and continue to ask questions if you have them.

-jai5w4
 

navy09

Registered User
None
Got my commission through the unit as a 4-year College Programer.

But, in recent years there has been a major shift in the available number of college program slots the boards have available.

This is very true. Several semesters ago the board stopped awarding advanced standing briefly. Since then they've awarded some, but seem to be tending toward scholarships. I don't know of anyone on advanced standing in my unit (140+).

As many others have said, grades are paramount...if you get a 4.0 your first semester, you'll have to be really jacked up to not pick up a scholarship.
 

MIDNJAC

is clara ship
pilot
its mostly about grades from what I saw in my class.....there were a couple guys more "involved" than me who never got picked up and ended up getting the boot from the program.....and big surprise, they had < 3.0 cum. GPA's. Do well on the PRT, get good grades, don't do anything retarded that will get you kicked out and the rest should follow. Then again, FWIW, I have no experience to speak of in the last few years, but 3 yrs ago this seemed to be the case. As for getting involved before you actually join the unit, I think the most you could hope for is taking a Naval Science class or two with the permission of the unit staff. I highly doubt that this would help you get a scholarship. If you DO join as a college programmer, do not delay in taking your first year of calculus and physics....if you are serious about the program and getting a scholarship, this will become apparent if you waste no time getting these requirements out of the way.
 

raptor10

Philosoraptor
Contributor
A Scholarship midshipman has to have both calc courses and both physics courses done before his sophomore and junior year (respectively) to keep the scholarship. Its much, much harder to pick up the scholarship if you aren't tracking with the scholarship middies.
 
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