NROTC/College Program options

[KnightNArmor]

I don't think anyone here is questioning your desire or seriousness for joining the Navy. They are just responding to what you posted.
In some ways, you could take this as lesson number 1. All officers need to have a thick skin (speaking as a Marine Phrog pilot). So don't take offense to what people said.

...end soapbox....

In response to the last part of your last post. It is totally possible for you to work and achieve both goals. The question is how hard are you willing to work for what you want?

 

[Mavric09]

College Programmer is a perfectly legit way to go. I was a college programmer when I came in. I worked my ass off for a year, volunteering for everything that came up, made sure I had a lot of face time around my unit so if names came up on the staff side that maybe mine would be one of them, worked hard on my grades. Three years later as a company commander now I've learned that your LT will submit anyone who is passing all the standards, 2.5+ GPA, Good Medium PRT (or whatever your units minimum is), things like that. Obviously, you want to be as competitive as possible. Also, your CO will usually have 1 sometimes 2 (depending on the year) full ride scholarships he can just give out to the top candidates. And even if you have to ride the program out for another year, since you would be coming late, if you're showing potential there is a great chance for your Jr year to get picked up on advanced standing. That gives you a mid stipend put doesn't pay for school. In four years of watching college programmers go through the ranks, if your dedicated to the program, motivated and even slightly competitive they'll eventually get to you and get you a scholarship. I'm in one of the larger units in the country and everyone who's wanted one got one eventually, some just took longer.

 

[christaphurrr]

College Programmer is a perfectly legit way to go. I was a college programmer when I came in. I worked my ass off for a year, volunteering for everything that came up, made sure I had a lot of face time around my unit so if names came up on the staff side that maybe mine would be one of them, worked hard on my grades. Three years later as a company commander now I've learned that your LT will submit anyone who is passing all the standards, 2.5+ GPA, Good Medium PRT (or whatever your units minimum is), things like that. Obviously, you want to be as competitive as possible. Also, your CO will usually have 1 sometimes 2 (depending on the year) full ride scholarships he can just give out to the top candidates. And even if you have to ride the program out for another year, since you would be coming late, if you're showing potential there is a great chance for your Jr year to get picked up on advanced standing. That gives you a mid stipend put doesn't pay for school. In four years of watching college programmers go through the ranks, if your dedicated to the program, motivated and even slightly competitive they'll eventually get to you and get you a scholarship. I'm in one of the larger units in the country and everyone who's wanted one got one eventually, some just took longer.

+1, not only for your advice, but because I'm going to be following that path as a CPer starting in the fall

 

[iceman2115]

Thanks a lot for the advice! I will definitely start preparing myself even further now, via training etc., so that I can be College Programmer in the fall as well.

 

[Hawk12]

Do your best and you are likely to pick up some sort of scholarship eventually. So long as you are not an assbag, show commitment to the Navy and dedication to your work. Try to stay as visible (in a good way) in your unit as well. This is coming from a recent recipiant of a 3.5 yr scholarship majoring in poli sci. If your PRT scores aren't great make sure you show willingness to improve and do so, a trend of improvement is by far the best thin you can do.