Frequently Asked Questions

If you do Army ROTC, you will generally have more options upon commissioning.  We can commission you in the Active Duty, Army Reserve, or Army National Guard.  Air Force and Navy ROTC cannot commission you into the Reserve or National Guard.  This allows more options for you because if end up with an incredible opportunity on the civilian side (new start-up company, fortune 500 company, your own business), you can now branch into the Reserves or National Guard, and then continue your civilian career. 

The Army allows you to branch into the Active Duty, Reserves or National Guard and will usually provide you more options, and more places to be stationed around the country and, in some cases, overseas.  With the Army scholarship, the first year is “free of charge” – meaning you can try it out, and if it is not for you, then you can decide to go another route.  With that said, you then assume all financial responsibilities.  There are also more specialties inside the 17 branches within the Army.

The balance is easy and many of our cadets are in D-1 through D-3 athletes, or play in club and intramural sports.  Bottom line, if you could manage it in high school, then it can be managed in college. You must attend at the very least Military Science class or Leadership Lab once a week, but attending both is preferred.  This usually applies only during the freshman and sophomore year. By junior year, we expect you to manage your time with academics, ROTC, extracurriculars, and personal time, especially since summer training follows junior year. Nonetheless, we are very accommodating!

The PMS (Professor of Military Science) interview can be conducted by the PMS or the ROO (Recruiting Operations Officer) and, on rare occasions, the APMS (Assistant Professor of Military Science).  With that said, this is not something that needs to wait until the last minute.  Show us that you are proactive – get your application filed out, get your fitness test from your P.E. teacher or coach, and get the PMS interview scheduled out.  We will likely not be able to accommodate you if you decide to schedule the PMS interview the day of the deadline.

For freshman and sophomore students, you can bank on ~10 hours of committed ROTC time each week, and that includes commute time.  Physical Training (PT) is three times a week M,W, Th, mornings. Military Science Class and Leadership Lab (LLAB) are on Wednesdays. If you have a class during your Military Science class time, you can coordinate with your instructor about making it up at another time. Commuting from satellite schools will also take up some time, and you will have some work from MS class from time to time.  As a junior and a senior, you are looking at about ~12 hours of ROTC time per week.  Each semester, a three or four-day Field Training Exercise is mandatory for one weekend.  There are also tons of Color Guard and volunteer opportunities spread throughout the semester that are not required but also available.

Transferring the scholarship is super easy.

1. Request the transfer in the portal

2. Upload your acceptance letter to the school you want to transfer to

3. Write and upload a 1-paragraph response of why you would like to transfer. 

4. Work with your assigned scholarship advisor/technician and be sure to inform them that you want to transfer.  You can also email the ROTCScholarships@army.mil email and it will eventually get picked up by one of the technicians for action.

Many will receive an AF and Army scholarship even if the AF/Navy waiver is already approved.  With that being said, the Army as a whole is much larger and has thousands more applicants and waivers to go through and that takes time.  This is not something to be alarmed about, and you need to choose the service that attract you more based on options, opportunities and what profession you would like to serve in. The Army ROTC is generally much more lenient than the other services so if your waiver was accepted by another service, chances are it will be accepted by the Army.

Of course, simply email the “Contact Us” tab and either the Director of Scholarships or the PMS will reach out to you and set up a call. They can also put you in touch with current cadets in the program.

This can get complicated but you need to have the required documents filled out correctly, be medically qualified by DODMERB, and have passed a physical fitness test.  If you have a medical waiver still outstanding, we must wait for that to come back before we contract you.  Additionally, you will need to start your security clearance and get a military Common Access Card (CAC) to pay for your scholarship as well get you registered with the Army IgNited system.  These processes will be clarified to you at our New Cadet Orientation, in the first week of school. The goal of the New Cadet Orientation is to work with you to become contracted as soon possible so you can the benefits you earned.

Nothing is better than getting paid to work out and stay fit.  ROTC will allow you to exercise your leadership traits while staying physically, mentally, and spiritually fit thru rigorous academic means, as well as bringing the inner spirit of one’s self out.  Below we provide a great 12-minute workout to prepare for the upcoming year.  Do each exercise for 1 minute, with 30 second between exercises:

-       Jumping jacks

-       Wall Sit

-       Push ups

-       Abdominal crunch

-       Box/chair jumps

-       Stationary squats

-       Kettle Bell Swings

-       Triceps Dip on chair

-       1-min Front plank

-       ¼ mile run

-       Stationary Lunges

-       Left side plank

-       Right side plank

-       Lunges

Simply put - 96%.  Over the last several accessions seasons, the MIT Army ROTC program has had 87 out of 90 seniors receive one of their top 5 branch choices of the 17 available branches.  Additionally, the program has had 89 out of 90 seniors receiving their #1 component of choice – Active Duty, Army Reserve, or Army National Guard.

The scholarship covers the Tuition and Fees in total OR the Room and Board of $6000/semester flat rate.  Importantly, if you take the Tuition and Fees scholarship, it will also cover the healthcare provided by the university.  All scholarship cadets will also receive a $420/month stipend and a $600/semester for books.  If you do not select the room and board scholarship, you must pay for room and board out of pocket (university financial aid can be applied here if you qualify).  Also, be sure to check with the university financial aid and see if the university offers a better deal (tuition and fees OR room and board).  You can still participate in ROTC regardless of if you are on scholarship or not.

Show up to the new cadet orientation, fill out the paperwork and start coming to classes.  Once that is done, we will enroll you on the back end. 

Your commitment will vary based on the branch and component you select.  For Active Duty service it is 4 years active and 4 year in the Inactive Ready Reserve (which counts for the time you are in college), so basically 4 years.  For Reserves or National Guard, it is 8 years.  For branching Cyber, the commitment is 5 years for active duty or 8 years for Reserves. For Army Aviation, the commitment is 10 years after the completion of flight school, so realistically, it would be a 12-year commitment.

No. To commission into the Army, you can concentrate in any major you would like to. 

Yes, 100% and it is encouraged during your freshman or sophomore year.  It is advised against in your junior or senior year as you are preparing for Cadet Summer Training and Commissioning. If you chose to do study abroad, you will have to work with your instructor on how you are going to make up the work you miss in military science classes.  Do keep in mind that you can get additional accessions points if you choose to study abroad, which will help you obtain your branch of choice.

The Army allows you to attend graduate school to become a Lawyer, Chaplain or Doctor – to include a specialty like veterinarians or dieticians.  To start this process, you will need to put together a packet your junior spring and submit it to higher headquarters, who will hold a board to decide if you get selected.  For this to happen, you must branch into the Active Duty force.  The Army does not pay for your post-baccalaureate education, but in many cases the university you attend will end up giving you some financial aid.

1. Be a U.S. citizen

2. Be at least 17, and under 31 in year of commissioning

3. Have a high school diploma or equivalent

4. Have a high school GPA of at least 2.50, unweighted

5. Have taken the SAT or ACT

6. Take the Physical Fitness Assessment

20. How do I become competitive for a scholarship?

Scholar, Athlete, Leader – Extracurricular activities, Varsity sports, Community service and/or a job. Some examples are listed below.

1. BETA Club

2. Boy/Girls State and Nation

3. Civil Air Patrol

4. Boy/Girl Scouts

5. NHS

6. Band/cheer/chorus/debate/Drama

7. Class Officer

First off, it is simply the opportunities within our program and the visibility of being part of the top universities.  Multiple general officers, business CEOs, and highly successful people will stop by and want to talk to you, interact with you or hire you out of college.  Second, within our program we have the Hackathon (SOCOM Ignite), STEAM Ahead, Ranger Challenge, and Military Strategy Initiative Clubs.  These are only offered in our program (except Ranger Challenge) and provide an outlet for you to explore.  Additionally, we will send you to leadership conferences, military and civilian internships, and provide you the best instruction across the country. Finally, the Undergraduate Research Opportunity -only offered to ROTC Cadets – with the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN) creates a paid or credit gaining opportunity for you to work with nanotechnologies with the world’s greatest researchers. 

Yes. We will accommodate your desires because since your extracurriculars earn your accessions points to get the branch you want.  Only on Wednesday afternoons is ROTC a hard requirement.  But even with that policy, we have made exceptions to allow students to take a class or fulfill an academic requirement or sport.  Ultimately, it comes down to having open communication between you and your Military Science instructor.