VMI

C5

C5

New Member
Hey guys! I'm new and I'm really looking forward to becoming a pilot in the military. I know it's a tedious journey and requires a lot of hard work, but I am willing to work hard. I'm in 11th grade in high school and I am in four ext. activities: marching, concert, jazz band, and high school robotics team. I'm a section leader in all three bands and I am the president as well as one of the two robot operators on the robot team. The sad thing is that I'm in general courses. It takes me a bit to learn advanced stuff so I guess that'd be the reason why I'm in general.

Now I was thinking about VMI because it's military based ROTC. I got a letter in the mail saying that I should take AP courses. Know I know the courses would help me there greatly, but are they really needed to get in, or is this a school only for the super smart because I'm not one of the super smart. LOL. I maintain about a 4.0 GPA and I do outstanding work in class, so says my guidance counselor. Would this stuff aid at all for getting in? Can someone give this lost aspiring aviator some help? I'd greatly appreciate it!
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Thanks,
C5
 
It would be best if you did take the AP courses. Not only for getting in, but would help you out when you are there as well.It sounds like you have your extra-curricular activities down, so you should have a strong application!!

NOW,are you sure you want to attend a Military college? Remember, those may be the best years of your life, the first few at a military school suck
 
Would I just be better off going to a regular college ROTC? Thanks for the reply.
 
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Would I just be better off going to a regular college ROTC? Thanks for the reply.

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Either way you should end up at the same destination, but the road there will differ. Had I went to a military school, I feel I would look back and regret the fun I never got to experience at a "Normal" school. IMO both will get you to where you need to be to get a pilot slot, the rest will depend on your attitude. If you feel that you may go really "wild" on your own at a normal school(to the point it messes your grades up) then maybe the VMI would be best. Good luck
 
Great! Thanks for giving me advice. My councelor would help me much. Thanks again!
 
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Great! Thanks for giving me advice. My councelor would help me much. Thanks again!

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No prob, what Imhere for. ALso, if you still want the academy style, look into playing a sport. They liked to see that on the application. Even if its a "club" sport at your school. As always, Good luck
 
Rrrrrrrrrr....That's kinda hard for me. See, Robotics is kinda my sport.
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I would not be able to do both because of our build meetings and practices. My school robotics team is under the organization of FIRST, a program that inspires high-school students in the fields of science ad technology. Would that look good in for sports?
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I dunno. I could explain what FIRST is in depth if you don't know what it is.
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C5
 
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Rrrrrrrrrr....That's kinda hard for me. See, Robotics is kinda my sport.
grin.gif
I would not be able to do both because of our build meetings and practices. My school robotics team is under the organization of FIRST, a program that inspires high-school students in the fields of science ad technology. Would that look good in for sports?
grin.gif
I dunno. I could explain what FIRST is in depth if you don't know what it is.
smile.gif

C5

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Tel them you do the robot wars on television!!!
 
I guess you could say that.
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FIRST is a different type of robot competition. We have to build a bot to play a certain game. I consider it to be battlebots sometimes. LOL.
 
Depending on how hardcore your marching band is, that's a sport in and of itself; espically if you're on the drumline.
 
Why not just go to a regular college and learn to fly on the side? Then you can apply to OCS after graduation. That is what I was advised to do by my family members that I have in the military. This unfortunately didn't work out since I ruined my shoulder in College Football.

I was advised to go the OCS route and avoid ROTC in order to avoid getting shafted by uncle sam. If you want to be a pilot I would get something in writing before signing any papers. I have had two friends that were promised varoius flying positions and now one is flying a desk and the other is driving a tank...


just my .02 worth
 
C5,

As you probably know there are 3 major ways to become an officer (and pilot), through an academy, through ROTC in college or through OCS/OTC. Many know that there are military colleges like VMI and the Citadel that are 24/7 military. Others are regular colleges/universities which have ROTC as a class you have the option of taking in addition to your regular courseload. A third one you might consider are about half way between the two, senior military colleges that are apart of a "normal" civilian university. These allow you the advantages of attending a military college , at the same time you get to, for lack of better terms "experience college life" too. I went to Virginia Tech which is one of these. The others are Texas A&M, North Georgia, Norwich. You might want to look into these as well as VMI. I know VT and Texas AM have Army, Navy/Marine Option, and AF ROTC, I'm not sure about the others.

As far as your question about AP courses, speaking as the former admissions officer for the Corps at VT, AP classes are great to have, but just don't get any Cs in them! Some counselors tell you in HS that if you get a C in an AP course, its the same as a B in a regular course. That is not true! Also make sure you don't sacrifice you academics for you extracurricular activities. Thats another mistake a lot of applicants make.

If you have any questions for me please PM me.

Don
 
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Why not just go to a regular college and learn to fly on the side? Then you can apply to OCS after graduation. That is what I was advised to do by my family members that I have in the military. This unfortunately didn't work out since I ruined my shoulder in College Football.

I was advised to go the OCS route and avoid ROTC in order to avoid getting shafted by uncle sam. If you want to be a pilot I would get something in writing before signing any papers. I have had two friends that were promised varoius flying positions and now one is flying a desk and the other is driving a tank...


just my .02 worth

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Were did u play College Football?
 
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I believe Bandit Driver is a Western Michigan alumni.

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Ahh....By the way your new football coach Bill Cubit was one of my coaches for two years at Rutgers before he moved to Stanford as the OC. His son Ryan, who is the starting quarterback at WMU is also a friend of mine and I played at Rutgers before transfering. I think I told you in Vegas, not 110% sure though. John are you a senior? Is Emily a senior as well?
 
Heya man,


Yeah we're really excited about Cubit here. Of course to be real honest, I'd be happy if bozo the clown was coaching us after this last season (1-10 with our only win to a Div. IAA school, we even lost to Illinois). Cubit was the OC here before he went to your school actually, and was around when we were good and actually contending for the conference championship. I think you did mention to me that you were friends with Ryan. Quite honestly he's what I'm worried about the least. Our offensive has been fine for the most part, but our defense has lost us 3 games with less than 2 minutes left in the game; two of those times we had a 14 point lead.

And yup, I'm a senior finally. I'll be here until December 2005, though, taking an extra semester victory lap. Emily's actually graduating on Sunday after 3.5 years of school.
 
Does anyone else find it interesting that upon graduation one receives a reserve commission, yet one cannot enter the Air Force Reserve or Air National Guard afterward, like the Army allows?
 
From what I was hearing where I used to work, that might be changing in the coming years for the Air Force. I have known of a couple of instances of people going directly from AF ROTC to the National Gd/ Reserves. But that is very very rare and by far the exception to the rule.

Don
 
The reserve commission thing is just a way for the AF to screw you when they need to downsize. Back in the early 90's, when they military was making its big cuts, the guys with the reserve commissions got the axe first.

You get a regular commission when you pin on major. Of course by that time, you have id' yourself as a company man anyhow, so they probably won't be showing you the door unless things really hit the fan.
 
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