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## Intro....What Is the ROTC Scholarship [00:00] Welcome, welcome everyone. Uh this is uh Eagle Training on a Tuesday uh and Tuesday uh April 22nd. I want to thank you so much for joining us. Um we're so excited to to be talking about a really important subject of how to get uh ROC scholarship. And I have a very very special guest as you can see that is joining us. Um and we're just uh so privileged and honored uh to have him here uh because he is an expert in this field and thank you so much for everybody joining us here. Um I know that you have joined me in in a number of u so if you are if you are new welcome. If you are uh existing then welcome back. Uh if you could do me a favor in the chat, if you could let me know if you are a parent or a student and then also if you could let us know uh what um you know what year your student is um graduating that would be really great just so we kind of have an idea of uh the kind of mix of people that we have on tonight. So again, okay, we got some parents here. 2030. Woo. Okay, so we got some youngans which I love. Excellent. They're starting early. Okay, we got some 2020ers. Great. Excellent. Okay, so we're going to go ahead and get started um for a very very important subject and and uh this is something that I wanted to um really present to everybody for a long time and uh I was just so privileged to have our special guest here. So tonight what we're going to do is we are going to cover the following here is uh what is an uh an RTC scholarship? you know what the what is the process to apply for one, how to prepare for that process, uh tips on gaining uh an RT SC RT scholarship, some of the pathways that lead to it, and then of course we'll leave uh for some question and answer. ## How Much Money Does It Actually Cover [02:00] But for all intents and purposes, first of all, I want to introduce our special guest um has been of of course uh very very close to me uh for a very very long time. And I do want to introduce uh Michael Vava. Uh as you can see there, uh he is a former Marine Corps uh lieutenant colonel and also an attorney, what they call a JAG. Uh served as an active duty officer for 22 years. So um Mike, thank you so much for your service. We really truly appreciate that. Um his mentorship has truly truly impacted so many students guiding them through s you know secure uh to secure military ROTC and academy scholarships exceeding $4 million. And you can see the laundry list of schools there that he's helped students get into. Amazing schools like USC, Cornell, Northwestern. I mean that's a those are the top 20 schools, you know, in the nation as well as the US uh Air Force Academy. Um so Michael currently serves as a corporate counsel at Khi uh Biootherrapeutics in San Diego. Uh but also um again thank you for your service Mike. Uh he was you know deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 serving as a JAG for the Marine Infantry Regiment uh of over 8,500 Marines in Fallujah and Ramed in uh in Iraq. Uh and of course um he has so many credentials. He holds a masters of of laws from the from judge advocate general's legal center uh and a school at the University of Virginia, a jurist doctor, a JD from Pepperdine University School of Law, and of course there's bachelor's from Loyola University in Chicago. So, lots to say there. So, Mike, thank you so much for joining us. Um we're just honored to have you tonight. So, thank you so much. Um, all right. So, why don't we go ahead and get started because we have a laundry list of people and they're excited to hear about this. So, so I can you just first of all provide us, you know, a lot of people say RTC, what what do you mean by RTC? So, can you give us what is an uh what is RTC? What is RTC scholarship? Yeah. Um, RTC scholarship stands for reserve officer training uh core. It's been around literally for decades. um at at countless universities. You listed some of the universities. Um what it does is if you get an ROC scholarship, uh it pays for all tuition fees. Wow. So I like to use USC. I mean tuition there is 80,000. Uh the package is $100,000 a year. Now so if you get you get a four-year scholarship, it's about 400,000. Uh that's paid directly to the university. uh it does not come to me or to the parents. So, you're not taxed on it. And again, this is um non- tax. So, really, if you think of it, a $400,000 scholarship, you really need to make 600,000 to make Wow. that pay 400,000. Let's think of that. Um rooming board depends on the university. Um some universities do not pay room board. Um some universities, I'll give you an example like University of San Diego. Some of my students chose that specifically because University of San Diego pays for all tuition fees and room and board. Wow. University of San Diego is not a cheap school to go to. It's a private uh Catholic school. Uh some ## Which Branch Should You Apply To [05:30] schools will like USC again I I know these schools. I've gotten kids into schools. They'll pay they'll they'll chip in say 10,000 a year for room board. You get also stipen for books. Uh, you also get a monthly stop for expenses and that's based on year. So like your senior year, you're getting like $400 a month for quote living expenses. That's a lot of money. Um, the every summer you do summer training. You're paid for that summer training. Correct. Um, uh, and we've had kids go to Europe. They've, you know, Spain, they they sometimes just stay here in San Diego. I mean, they they go all over the place. They'll go to uh you know, Marines go to Quanico, Virginia. I mean, the summer trainings are incredible. Um what's the payback? Uh students agree to serve up to four years. Again, it's depending on the job. Um if you're a pilot, payback's a little bit longer. Again, the value is up to 400,000 a year. Again, it depends on the university you go to. You go, if you go, they have scholarships for Stanford. They have scholarships for Harvard, Yale, all fees, all fees, uh, all all tuition fees. So, so Mike, how does that work with respect to the the military branches? Like, does each military branch have, you know, their own kind of scholarship that they provide? How does that work? Yes. So, the Army, Air Force, and Navy all have their specific ROC scholarship. The Marine Corps falls underneath the Navy and they have their own uh specific requirements. They're pretty much I want to say pretty much the same, but they they they ask for very similar things, but depending on the scholarship, they may ask for for um more certain metrics to say that. Got it. Okay. So, and does it does any does every school have a different type of branch or does like all branches apply to those schools? Like how does that work? Yeah. So, you have to look at the school. The larger schools usually have all branches and and I and I'm I'm very familiar with let's just use USC UCLA there. It's a conglomerate that it's under one command. They they have Air Force, Army, and Navy at both universities. So these bigger schools will have it. Again, it depends on a school, but usually the bigger school like a Michigan, Northwestern, they're going to have all three branches. Got it. I see. And and um and again, I know that you'll be talking about some of the things, but with respect to just giving the in people who are on the call here from an ROC perspective, ## What Happens Once You’re in ROTC [08:15] um when you enter into the school, I assume you have some obligations. Of course, you're doing you have ROC. There's like a cla There's classes, there's exercises, like how does that look like? Yeah. Uh you take what would they call military science classes? Uh if you're in scholarship, uh depending on university, um and I I I just use like say USC because I'm very familiar with it. Uh you treated like an athlete, meaning you get first choice classes because you need to graduate in a certain time period. You know, there's no six-year program. So, so, so they want you to get the the classes. So, you get head of line privileges in all the classes. Um, so there's not there's none of this, oh my gosh, I got I couldn't take the class cuz I was full. No, you get frontline privileges for classes. Um, uh, after you're done, say when you're done after four years, uh, that's when your service starts. And there's something that they won't tell you which I know but really that first year is sort of like a gimme meaning you could do the whole first year and it doesn't and if it doesn't work out it's a wash. You don't own anything. Yes. Really now. Yes. That's something they kind of won't they don't always tell you, right? Uh but it's there. Um, it's really after that first year when whoa, you know, your third year if you want to drop that's a different story. Now you have to do now you got to pay them back. Now you got to pay back if you drop out your junior year different story, right? Now you have to pay back $300,000. I see. So the first year it's almost like a trial period. You can test it out, which of course they don't want you to test it out. They want you to last the whole time, but you could test it out. if it really isn't for you, you finish out your first year, there's no obligation. You they you don't have to pay them back. Yeah. No harm. No harm, no foul. But then second year, if you finish up your second year and and then you decide, oh my gosh, you know what? This is really not for me. Does that mean then that you have to pay back whatever amount contributed? Right. Well, let's just say you are now in contract. You're you're now in contract. I see. You you have an obligation. You you have an obligation. Yes. You got it. Okay. And then and I assume when you graduate now, you're commissioned as a as at a certain level as an officer within that that branch. Is that correct? Yes. So if you are in the Army, Marine Corps, you you or the Air Force, you're commissioned as a second lieutenant. If you're in the Navy, uh you're commissioned as an enson, which is the same rank as a second lieutenant, just a different title. Got it. Okay. Okay. So yeah, I mean the the draw not the drawbacks but the the balance here is that you have someone that is paying the entirety of your school most of the time the entirety of the of your school and then of course as a as uh to to give back you are part of uh you know when you graduate you're going to be a military officer and you contribute uh up let's say four years and and or maybe a little bit longer depending upon the ## The Real Benefits....Free College and Guaranteed Job [11:30] the type of work that you're doing for for that brain. Correct. Normally it's it's four years, you know, but it it all depends, you know, if you're a doctor, obviously it's more. If you're a pilot, it's more, but usually the standard contractual obligation is four years. But the benefit here is you get out and you have a job. I mean, exactly. You basically have a job. You have a guaranteed you have a guaranteed job. you know, your senior year in high school, you you know that your your college is paid for or at least majority of your college is paid for and when you graduate, you have a guaranteed job. So, you're you have a pathway for the next eight years and a job that is definitely has again benefits such as uh medical and and all and you know and and equipment and certain things that have all of those things. I mean, that's just something that part of the military that they're going to provide. Is that correct? Yes. I mean, you get the best leadership training, um, the best tactical training, and of course, the most important thing, the the opportunity to serve your country. There you go. Excellent. Okay. So, you know, of course, um, nothing comes for free, right? So, uh, there is a process to apply for an ROC scholarship, okay? It's not just you, you know, put do a little bit of paperwork here and then you submit and they pick you, right? So, there is definitely a process. Um I am familiar with that because my son went through through that. I know you Mike your son, you know, went through that. So there's a lot of opportunities here, right? So let's let's step us through the process of applying for the scholarship. Okay. So here we go. Okay. And I and I and I saw some uh uh questions. You do have to be a US citizen to apply, correct? And the second question is, is there a track to go from to MD? And the answer is yes. And we we'll cover that in future slides. Yeah. Yep. So, so, so there is a there is a pathway to go straight from four years of undergrad straight to med school and I got a student that track. ## Application Requirements....ACT SAT Fitness and Interview [13:30] But let's let's let's just talk about the application process. Sure. Sure. Yeah. The best time to start is the spring of your junior year. So, really right now the re and and I'll go into that. Um uh they do require an ACT SAT score. That's why I say um apply spring because you're probably gonna have your student will more than likely have to take that at least once if not twice. Okay. Um you also have to take a physical fitness test. That's why I recommend you do it start in spring. So you get your student, you know, in shape. When I say in shape to test for that physical fitness test, you know, um some uh branches like the Marine Corps, they require pull-ups, some require push-ups. So you want to train for that specific test. Some require a three-mile run, others only require a mile and a half run. Like Navy's a mile and a half, Marine Corps is three. I think Army's two. So, you need to test for that physical fitness test. And what are they looking for? They're looking for leadership. So, how do you get leadership? You know, if you're a varsity athlete, captain of your varsity sport. Doesn't necessarily have to be athletics. It could be, hey, are you part of the student government? You know, president of your student class. But the key is leadership because the military as an officer you are recruited to lead um our finest young men and women. Uh another part that uh that is uh of probably the most important part is the interview. The interview is about 50% of the application. So and that interview is one chance. You get about 15 20 minutes. You're going to be interviewed by an officer. That officer then grades you. So that's how important that interview is, right? Because you have grades, you got their ACT scores, you got your leadership, right? You got your letters of recommendation, etc., etc. But that interview is very important. So, you know, you got one chance to nail it. And that's something that, you know, we prep you on. Uh the the the the ROC package, if you start now, will be done by August, September. That's plenty of time to get everything in. Um and then the ROC boards will start meeting in October. So I I'll give you an example like Air Force they or or um the Navy. I'll just give you that because I'm very familiar with the Navy and the Marine Corps. The Navy does a board every month. So they'll start their boards in in October, November, December, and at the end of each month they will then announce your who got the scholarship. The Marine Corps will do two boards. one in the fall which meets in October and one in the spring which meets in March. So the the students who do this on time one will know by November if they got scholarship and then they place that in their application that I have an ROC scholarship which carries a lot of weight. U again results could be published as early as November. Um, and the reason I recommend that folks apply early, so you start applying now, is you could have multiple bites at the apple. If you if you apply late, right, January, February, March of your senior year, you only may have one bite of the apple. So what you're mean what you mean by that is is because they start meeting in October. They probably go to what? February, March, like how far? March. February, March. Okay. So I'll give you an example. The Navy will have a board that meets every month, October, November, December, January, February, March, and they'll publish their results at the end of every month. So, if your student doesn't get it on the first board, they may get it in the second board, they may get it in the third board. Got it. But if you apply in March or February, Sure. you you've lessened your chances. Of course. Yes. I mean, Marine Yeah. Yeah. And the Marine Corps has two boards, one in October and one in I think March. It's always best to get it early. So if you don't get it the first time, they'll tell you what you need to sharpen up so you look better in the second board. And that's something too they give you feedback. So it'll help out your patterns the second board. Mhm. So with the application process really you're talking about and we would talk about that a little bit about preparation everything else but what you're saying is is that that's why it's really key to start you know in spring because you need that time to really get ## Best Time to Apply and Why Spring of Junior Year Is Crucial [18:00] better prepare get the be at the best shape be at the best uh you know grades the best scores whatever it is. So that by the time you get to your package and you're submitting it August and September or so that um then what happens here is that you can post the most successful the best application you can you can have of course be prepared for your interview. Um and then you're it's a waiting game basically. It's just uh you know October, November, December, January, February, March or just you're just waiting to see if you get in. Okay. Excellent. Great. Um, correct. Okay. So, you know, we talked about the process. Um, and we we I just touched upon it. Of course, like I mentioned, it's not just signing on a piece of paper and then that's it. There's a lot there's preparation that's involved in just getting through this because you know I remember for my son it it it literally started about a year a year in advance because you're you people just don't start running or kids don't start running if they're not used to running or they're not used to pulling up or or they're not used to writing like because there is a I guess the writing piece right so there's a lot of things right exactly so step us through how would how how is the best way to prepare prepare for the application. What's that look like? So, the first thing you do is you need to do is study and complete the ACT or the SAT. It's either one and and I mean this each one each student, some students do better in the ACT, some students do better in SAT. Um, I would focus one or the other, right? And it may take two, three times to get that score you need. That's why I say start it early. What kind of score are we talking about here, Mike? Like what's the Oh, depends. It depends. Um if you are going Air Force, you need a very high ACT SAT score. And there is asked, is there a minimum required for SAT? The answer is yes. Um you if you look at the minimum on the website, okay, that's not the correct minimum. I mean, they're going to tell you this is the minimum, right? In reality, the you're going to need a higher score. Um, I know the scores depending on, you know, is it Navy or Air Force, you're going to have a they're going to request a higher ACT score, right? If it's Army or Marine Corps, which is very physical, they're going to the the ACT score may be not as competitive, but your physical fitness better be really high. So, again, prepare for physical fitness. Um, you know, the they're going to give you a physical fitness test. It's usually some sort of upper body pull-ups or push-ups. You do a plank. Now, the the days of sit-ups are over and then you do a run. Um, and depending on the service, Marines is three miles, Navy is 1.5, I think. Army's two. So, you know, you prepare for that. And that and you want ## Leadership Traits ROTC Boards Are Looking For [21:00] to get the best score on that, right? Uh, you want to prepare for the interview and and we prep the students over and over and over again for the interview. the suit that you wear. And I like to say, you know, blue suit, white shirt, red tie, red, white, and blue, right? For the female students, you don't have to have a shirt, but you get it. You know, blue suit, white shirt, uh, you know, you get a conserve haircut, right? Uh, you know, some kids, yeah, I had some students with big wavy, you know, surfer haircut. Gosh, they their hair was beautiful, but they had to get, you know, a military haircut. uh get you got to prep letters of recommendation. They usually request three, you know, one from a coach preferably. Uh they're going to ask someone, say your counselor and and a a teacher, you know, usually your English or math teacher. You're going to have to draft a personal essay and it's something we coach the students on because there's key language that they want in that personal essay. Then you got to prepare the application. It's all done online. Um and it's all pointsbased. You know, do you have a foreign language, right? How many years were you varsity? Correct. How how much leadership did you have? These are all based on points. Uh points based. So are you a one-year varsity or you three-year varsity? Get more points. Are were you captain or were you just a varsity uh uh student? Were you student body president or were you just part of student uh uh student government? So all these things are point-based. Uh preparing the application, you know, we go through it many many times over and over again. And then of course there's a medical um that is a whole different you know challenge in itself u and that's something that we could talk about offline but you do have to take a medical. Got it. So kind of going through this because again again again had the experience of course you have many many experiences but you know for the ACT SAT the one perspective I know that I had is is that with let's say the air force and the and the navy they're really looking for individuals that are going to be probably going into some type of engineering field STEM those yes they're looking for STEM majors you know engineering a lot of them are engineering majors mechanical engineering and they they are very um they rank the the the the majors, right? The STEM majors, computer science, engineering, they get a very high ranking. While if you're maybe a I'll just make this up. I was a history major, right? That would be a lower ranking for Air Force and Navy. For Army and the Marine Corps, it doesn't matter what your major is. Um they're not very STEM focused, you know? I mean, they will they'll really lean into the physical fitness and leadership. Yeah. And that's that's where in line and we talk about this with all of our families is that regardless if you're going to a school and you're going into an engineering or let's say STEM major, you still need a high ACT SAT because you got to be competitive. I mean, that's basically it. You have a lot of students that are going to be taking uh or going to be submitting their applications with high ACT SAT scores. So that matches um I know the physical fitness test again there are certain times that they you know that they're looking for and just for everybody's knowledge here is that there is a scoring system that uh that they have um again and so what happens is you want to hit max score for each of the areas. Is that correct? uh as much as possible. I I like to yeah I I I always like to say the maximum is the minimum. Meaning I've done this many times and many of my students were the number one uh on the and and I'll give you an example. If in the Marine Corps, you know, the maximum is 20 pull-ups. The kids who get the scholarships all have 20 pull-ups. Okay, I see. Got it. Right. If you can do 22 pull-ups, that's even better, right? Because I mean that ## Prepping Your Essay Letters Resume and Interview [25:00] shows more. But if you only get 12 pull-ups, that might be a challenge. Right. Right. Yeah, of course. And again, that's right. You want to have you want to put, you know, the best chance of getting in and and so you want to have those scores. You want to have the highest scores you can because you've done so well in each of the individual. That makes perfect sense. Um, exactly. Of course, personal essays. I mean, we can go through all the the application and then of course you mentioned the medical and and you do get because everybody has to understand is that remember they're investing $400,000 on you. So they're they're wanting to know that you are a fit candidate, smart candidate, and that you can that you're there's nothing, you know, issues, right? Medical issues with you because they're investing that, right? They're investing that in you, right? Yes, there's invest and and I'm I'm talking something as simple as vision. They just want to make sure that your eyes are um you don't you don't have bad eyes, right? Right. You know, as long as it's correctable at 2020, right? You don't have to have perfect vision. You want to be a pilot, well, you need 2020. If you're not a pilot, it's as long as it's correctable to 2020. Correct. That makes sense. I think so. Okay. Great great ad great uh advice for this. Okay. So, you know, uh we've talked about the what it is. We've talked about, you know, um what the process is and how to prepare for it. So, what are some helpful tips when you're going through this process on how to apply? Uh Mike, what is what is what what you know what what do you give some some tips here? So, sure. Uh again, I said start and apply early. Yes. You don't want to be that student, you know, scrambling at the last minute asking for a letter of recommendations. You you you haven't prepped for the for the for the mile run. You know, you you haven't prepped for the ACT score and you're jamming it in last minute. You know, I I think that's applies for everything. Also, apply to multiple ROC scholarships. I've had students apply for both Navy, uh, Air Force, and Army. and then they get two out of three and then they pick the one they want. It just gives you more options. And so there's no there's they don't talk to one another necessarily or anything to say, hey, no, no, no. And then you could also apply Yes, you could also apply for the servicemies as well as ROC scholarships. I've had students get accepted to service academy, they don't want to go because they want the college experience, so they take the ROC scholarship. Got it. I got it. Um, again, we I we talk about, you know, applying early, so you have multiple bites at the apple. So, if you get your package in early, right? And then you go to the October board and you're not selected for that October board, they're going to tell you, hey, this is what you kind of need to improve on. You resubmit for the November board. They're say, "Hey, your ACT score maybe needs a ## What Happens If You Don’t Win the First Time [28:00] little bit more work. Maybe um, you know, your runtime was a little bit too slow or something like that." I mean, they're they're they're gonna give you feedback and then you could maybe polish up on that feedback and and then we work through that. And of course, I like to say, you know, as much as possible, the maximum is the minimum. You're going to see that uh you know, you're going to see, oh, this is the the ACT SAT score. It's very low, right? Um they're going to say the GPA, all you need is a 3.0. Uh and maybe um an ACT of 25, you know, that those are the minimums. Um, and I like to and when I say the maximum, I I I always like to say, you know, the kids who get the scholarships are the ones who max out the push-ups. Say it's 82 push-ups. They do all 82 push-ups. If the kid does 50 push-ups, that might be challenging, right? Um, the mile and a half run, I think the max is nine minutes. Don't quote me on that. You know, six minute mile, that's very achievable for these young students. If you can get nine minutes, you know, six minute mile, I mean, you're gonna do great, right? Right. Vice a nine minute mile, right? Yeah. And again, it makes sense because it's just like with college admissions and going to just I mean, not with the SCAR, but just you have thousands and thousands of not thousands thousands students who are applying to schools. Of course, this the the schools are looking at the top the top students. I mean, that's just how it is. That's life, right? And so with this even more so, especially if they are and you see all those young individuals, yeah, it's paid. I mean, it's they're con they are they are literally investing in you. And so, it's one of those things, you know, they're investing in you and they and you need to you need to, you know, show them that yes, you are a great candidate, of course. So, that makes perfect sense. I did not realize that that you know it cuz normally like with your with the um college application it's one and done. I mean you you you put it in there and then that's it and you can't do anything. But that's a that's really great that each and every stage you can still improve, you can still add and maybe they probably like that too because they show like really and I'll give you an example. I had a student um they this is the Marine Corps. They they picked the top three kids at that board. Uh, one of my students was number one and then the other student was number four. And I asked the captain, I go, "What was the difference between number three and number four?" And the captain said, "Seven." I said, "Seven?" Yeah. He said, "Yeah, if he had run seven seconds faster, he would have gotten the scholarship." So that young that young student prepped for the run. The next board he improved his run time by two minutes. So he got two minutes faster. The board didn't even ask. They said, "What was his run time?" And they said it improved by two minutes. All 12 ## Special Tracks....Nursing Law Medicine and Pilots [31:00] members raised their all 12 board members raised his hand. He got the scholarship. And that's another thing. The board it consists of 12 officers. Okay. Um eight of the 12 must raise their hand, say yes. Right. Um they prefer 12 out of 12. And then and then then everyone's all the recruiters are are just like anything else advocating for their best candidates. Wow. Okay. Okay. Wow. That's wow. A lot of insights. Amazing insights. Things that we probably I wouldn't have known again of course and um it's so appreciative that you have all these tips. So we talk about uh Mike you talked about is and there were some questions about all right you know where can this lead to right where where can where can where can these opportunities lead to and first of all amazing opportunities because one you get your you get your your whole hopefully your whole um education paid for you get great leadership training all of that. What are some of the pathways that that this can lead to? Okay. Sure. Mhm. Okay. Um I like I always like to say next 6 months will determine the pathway for your student for the next 8 to 12 years. Meaning he's 17 18 years old when he's applying for it. He gets a four-year scholarship, right? So there's four years in the program and then he then has a um uh responsibility, right? He has a contract for four years, right? If you're a pilot or the aviation contract, you still have to apply for that. So, you get the ROC scholarship, you go, you know what? I want to be a pilot. Um, you apply for that. You get that pilot aviation contract, you you're then in the Navy and the Marine Corps. You're then sent to Pensacola, Florida, and they're going to pump in another $23 million into for training to learn how to be a pilot to fly at the best. Um uh uh the question is, can a green card hold or apply for citizenship? You have to be a US citizenship. US citizen when you're when you're in the program. Yeah. Yes. First thing I can say is are you a US citizen? Um uh so there's a nursing track. So all the all these services except the Marine Corps because they're part of the Navy has a nursing track. So if you want to be a nursing student, you apply for the nursing scholarship and then you get the best training and then you you serve as a as a Navy nurse, Army nurse, you know, Air Force nurse. Someone asked about the MD program. This is probably one of the most hidden best secrets and this just came up uh very recently. I got one of my students into this. Um, she wanted to be a doctor. We got her a Navy ROC scholarship to USC. So that's $400,000. It's $100,000 a year. And now the Navy recently be in back in the bad old days, my time, you had to serve your four years and then you apply to med school. No, they have a direct route now where you do four years undergrad, right? Navy pays for it and then you can go directly to med school for another four years if of course you got to apply to med school have the grades and stuff like that and then the Navy pays for that also. Wow. So you have yourself eight years. So you have yourself potentially because vet school's expensive. I've looked around. It's you you you have yourself a 7 $800,000 scholarship at the age of 17 and then you do your residency and then you do you practice medicine. I I got a student in I mean wow at 17 18 she knew your pathway for the next what is that eight years you know four and four for medical school and then your residency probably for the next 12 years she suit you they're paid for and then they also have a law program um some of the services it depends on the service again I'm more familiar with the Navy and the others is they have a direct route you you apply for the law program so you go from four years of undergrad. If you get accepted into the law school into the in the law program, then you go to you go to law school. Um and then you're then then you're then you're uh um uh your time starts. But of course, if you're they're paying for law school in three years, you're going to have a longer payback period. Sure. Amazing. Incredible. I mean there's it just you know I I think a lot of people don't realize all the opportunities that are available with respect to you know uh ROTC programs um the type of money that's involved of course again there is the obligation of course and and for many people it's amazing is the obligation to serve your country serve your country yes of course serve your country travel the world serve your country exactly travel the world and serve your country and you're getting ## How ROTC Can Help You Get Into a Better School [36:00] some amazing education. And I do know that there, you know, again, now for everybody on the call here, you still have to make it into the school. I mean, you know, you still have to apply to the school. Um, you still have to go and do your, you know, you have to you have to have the grades and you have to have everything else in order to make it to that school. But again, if you're if you're if you have a chance in that, then you also have a chance at the ROTC scholarship in a sense of getting paid getting it paid, right? I mean, that's just Yes, sir. And the the question popped up about the reserves. Most of the time they're looking for an active duty um obligation. Again, $400,000, right? Um they're looking for a active duty obligation, but there are services. I'll give you an example. um uh uh is you know army they do have a reserve program right? Oh, okay. Yes. Um, they have tracks. You want to go active duty or you want to go reserve. Some some students decide to go to the reserve track. Some decide to go the active duty track. But most of the services, I'll give you example, the Navy, um, the Marine Corps, the Air Force. There's one track. It's the active duty track. Got it. Okay. It's that's why they recruit you, right? Right. Of course. They want someone that's going to be full-time there all, you know, committed and dedicated. Right. Committed. Yes. So, so the answer is the reserves. There are uh but it's it's uh se it's um depending on the service. Um and it's it's it's different for each service. And I know Yeah. Go ahead. One more thing I I want to add. Um this isn't for all schools, but some schools will give you consideration. If you get the scholarship, that helps out tremendously. Other schools don't, and I know that for a fact. Um u because that scholarship is worth a lot. They know their student is vetted. Uh they've done the drug test. You know, they they have the scores. They'll give you consideration and they will help out. It it'll help out in the application proc in the in the admissions process. It depends on it depends on the school. You know, some schools they don't care. Um you know, other schools, wait, you got the scholarship. Hold on, let me let me let's take a look at you. Right? And again, schools, it's a business, right? So, some of them they're going to see, they're like, wait, someone's paying full full amount for your for your for your sal for your tuition, everything else. Hey, you know what? We'll take that, right? And we understand that. But then I didn't even think about that too, Mike. Yes, you're right. the vetting process and for everybody that's on the line, the vetting process is so extensive that you know the candidates that are coming out here are outstanding candidates. That's just how they're outstanding candidates. So, you know, ## Tips from a Former JAG on How to Stand Out [39:00] it's one of those things where why not why wouldn't you want to have that type of individual at your university and is being fully paid? Uh I mean that's like you can't you can't go wrong there, right? Um no, no. So, one thing I I always advise my students on their college admissions, you know, you're applying to X University, you put on there that I have a let's make it up, an Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, ROC um scholarship, right? Because you found out in November, right? Yes. So, you can apply. Yes. Then you can and you can put that on your application, which depending on a school makes a big difference. And you can also even if it's let's say you apply in October but if you get it you can you can update them and say hey I just got the scholarship right because I've seen that happen too um and that has turned the tide for some students you know yeah it has turned the tides um for and and I know this for a fact um uh where they they inform the university and all of a sudden the I'm sorry becomes hey congratulations. Yeah, exactly. So, so it it can definitely affect uh the the the actual accept process. It can it it can I'm not going to say 100%. But it can and I've seen it I've seen it happen. Yes. Wow. Excellent. Well, so uh we're coming to the end here. Uh we're at quarter till but Q&A. I know there's been a number of questions that people, you know, have been asking. First of all, I always ask this question. if you all can give me some reactions or so. I always want to know was this information, you know, relevant, pertinent to all. If you could give us just some reactions because I always love to see uh there it is. Yay. Okay, so we have some hearts and everything else, which is great. Thank you so much for that. Now, do does anybody I know there was so many questions already asked and and Mike, I know you went through them already, but first of all, let me see if we have any uh other questions. Okay. So, there's I don't think there's any questions in the Q&A, but um is there any other questions that people in the you know are that are listening in? Do you have any other questions here? Let me just make sure that I have because we answered about you know what if there's not the country yet so that we we got through that. It's got to be US citizen. Is there any minimum required SATs? Typically again if we're if you're normally for the SATs you know what I've seen for ACTs again you know 34 34s or highers kind of like 35s you know the higher end you know. Yeah. Well I I I always say a good baseline is like a 30 right. Yeah. Now if you're going for maybe air force you're going to be looking at a higher. Yes. Of course. If you're looking for the Marine Corps, Army, could be a little lower, right? Could be. But a good baseline to shoot for or at least look at is I I the reason why I know the ACT is for some reason most of the students I work with do better on the ACT than SAT. Yeah. I don't know why. I I don't know why. And a good baseline is like a 30. You know, that that's something that to consider. So if your student say the first time they takes it gets a 27 more than likely their score is going to improve dramatic you know up to five points and it could be sure they take it and their baseline is a 29 it's probably going to improve. Uhhuh. Okay. So we do have a question Mike here. Um is is there a way to go for ROC and take a BSMD program during the same time? Okay. So just a little caveat here. So again, BSMD program is one where it's an accelerated program. Uh typically it's be ranging between six to eight years of where it's direct to medical school. Um you know so that the student already knows once they they if they get accepted that they're that they don't need to apply for medical because it's a direct medical school program. But curious, Mike is for this question, you know, the rigor of ROC, is it possible to do these accelerated programs like a BSMD program and also still do ROTC? I I don't have a answer for that because I've not had a student um apply for that, but I do know there is training that you must complete, right? Okay. um that's required summer training you got to go to off mechanics school you got to go to NSI naval in doctor I forgot what it stands for um so the program that I am aware of that I personally know because I helped get a student in there was four years undergrad the student went in as a premed bio major right and if they still have to take the MCAT and get the good grades and then they could apply to med school if they get accepted in med school, the Navy then will then track track them. So they go directly to med school for another four years and then you know so it's a eight eightyear period. In the bad old days when I went in is you you you did your four years at the university ROC. You then had to serve four years active duty and then you could apply to med school. I see. Or they or they recruit you directly from med school. Got it. Yeah. But then you got to pay for your own undergrad. Sure. Sure. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. You know, the the BSND programs are are somewhat new uh with this accelerated timeline for and like I said, you don't have to apply to med school because you already know you're it's an automatic path to med school. Basically, you don't have to. Some of them you have to take the MCAT, some of them you don't. But the situation here is that I guess maybe this is a new nuance that we would have to kind of research. Mike is I would have to research that one and and and that would be I'd have to check. Um but that would be a fabulous if they had that hey you you do your four years at Xun University with that ROC program and then you could go directly to um uh med school and you don't have to apply for it. Right. That's something that that I would have to we'd have to look into. Um okay great. Um okay let's see. Is there any other questions from the gallery here? Any other questions? Let's see. I always ask three times. So, uh, second time. Is there any other questions from the gallery here? And I know that we had so many questions. And Mike, you've been amazing in answering all these. Uh, let's see. One more time. Oh, there you go. Thank you. So, all right. So, I think I think we're at time here. So, first of all, um Mike, we want to thank you so much for joining us and being a special guest. Uh incredible information. Uh again, always thank you for your service and all the things that you've done for us, for the country. Um and um you know we are so appreciative with all the information you've given to us because I know that this has been a important topic for a lot of our families uh asking about you know the military option but also just the scholarships as well. Um I'll end this by just asking a question. Uh any last words uh from from you? Anything that you want to give to us with respect to this topic or so? Yes. Um, one thing the board looks for really is the student. Does he want to serve um, uh, you know, is service, you know, why do you want why do you want to be a military officer and really serve the country, you know, to give back to um, something bigger than myself? Yeah. You know, that's what they're looking for. Okay. Uh, uh, they want someone who wants to be serve in the military, be a military officer. Yeah. That makes perfect sense. Well, again, thank you, Mike, for joining us. I know that uh you have such a a busy schedule, but you know, thank you for for providing us some time to give us some amazing information. For all those on the line, um again, we thank you so much. We know that you could be spending time with your friends and your family or doing some other things, but you're spending time with us. So, thank you so much for um joining us and um you know uh we'll have some more information and hopefully Mike we can invite you back if there's certain other uh aspects of the scholarship or or academy you know maybe or so um that you can help us with that and you can see all the reactions we got lots of reactions so that's great thanks everyone appreciate it have a wonderful rest of your evening and we'll see you in your next training talk to you later bye-bye