How to Apply for a 2021 ROTC National High School Scholarship

The 2021 Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) National Scholarship season began on June 12, 2020. Army ROTC National Scholarships are for qualified high school seniors planning to attend a four-year university and are interested in training to become a future officer in the U.S. Army. If you have already graduated high school please contact the Eastern Washington University (EWU) ROTC office because we have other scholarship options available.

EWU ROTC Cadets from the class of 2019 commission as officers into the U.S. Army.

ROTC National Scholarship Requirements

Be a U.S. citizen
Be between the ages of 17 and 26
Have a high school GPA of at least 2.50
Have a high school diploma or equivalent
Score a minimum of 1000 on the SAT (math/verbal) or 19 on the ACT (excluding the required writing test scores)
Meet physical standards
Agree to accept a commission and serve in the Army on Active Duty or in a Reserve Component (Army Reserve or Army National Guard)

If you meet the basic requirements, below are the instructions on how to apply for a ROTC National Scholarship. You can get about 75% of the application completed in under an hour.

ROTC National Scholarship Process:

Step #1: You need to complete an on-line application that you can access through this link. Applicants must initiate the on-line application by 4 February 2020. Remember your login and password for your cadet portal. Your login is the email you use to establish your account.

Click here to download step-by-step instructions of how to create an ROTC application.

Step #2: Submit high school transcripts (at least through junior year) and SAT or ACT scores. You can upload PDFs through your account in the Cadet portal.

Step #3: Take the ROTC Basic Fitness Test. A coach or PE teacher can administer this for you.

Click Here to download the Fitness Card.

Step #4: Conduct an interview at one of the university ROTC programs (ideally where your first choice of college is). We can do this any time here at Eastern after you start the on-line application. We are more than willing to conduct a Skype interview if you live several hours away. Please reach us through our Contact page or call 509-359-6110 to setup an interview.

Make sure to read the below articles to help you with the ROTC scholarship process:

ROTC National Scholarship Timeline

The Army understands high school students could still be in the process of taking SATs and ACTs during their senior year. Because of this the Army has three different boards that meet throughout the year to select ROTC scholarship winners. Below is the board timeline.

1st Board

09 October 2020: All four steps listed above must be completed on the GoArmy site before this date to be considered by the first board. The application will not be considered if any of the steps are not completed. A benefit of completing the ROTC packet in time for the first board is that even if your packet is not selected it will be looked at again by the second and third boards thus increasing your chances of receiving a scholarship.

19 October 2020: This is the date that the first board convenes and reviews every packet that was submitted by the 09 October 2020 deadline.

2nd Board

15 January 2021: All four steps listed above must be completed on the GoArmy site before this date to be considered by the second board. The application will not be considered if any of the steps are not completed. A benefit of completing the ROTC packet in time for the second board is that even if your packet is not selected it will be looked at again by the third board thus increasing your chances of receiving a scholarship.

25 January 2021: This is the date that the second board convenes and reviews every packet that was submitted by the 15 January 2021 deadline.

4 February 2021: This is the deadline to initiate new 2019-2020 ROTC scholarship applications. If an application is not initiated by1159pm EST it will not be considered by the final board. Those who already have an application open can continue to modify it passed this deadline.

3rd Board

05 March 2021: All four steps listed above must be completed on the GoArmy site before this date to be considered by the third board. The application will not be considered if any of the steps are not completed.

15 March 2021: Board convenes and runs until every packet that was board ready by the start of the board, has been reviewed.

Please view the below video for more information about submitting an ROTC scholarship application.

ROTC Scholarship Selection

Selection for ROTC scholarships are highly competitive and at EWU ROTC we recommend getting your application complete and seen in time for the second board. The majority of scholarships are issued from the second and third boards and getting the application complete by the second board will increase your chances of receiving a scholarship. Decisions on the scholarships awarded are usually released two to four weeks after each board. Periodically check the Selection Status tab on your GoArmy application to see if you were selected.

An ROTC National Scholarship recipient to Eastern Washington University received scholarship benefits worth $77,000.

If you were not selected after the third board do not give up hope of receiving a scholarship. There is a secondary process for applicants to earn a scholarship. Any ROTC program can make an alternate offer to applicants that were not offered a national award. We get most of our new, incoming freshman on scholarships using this alternate process. Applying for the national scholarship is simply the first step. It is very simple and easy for us to make an alternate offer, but you first have to put together the ROTC application.

Please contact the EWU ROTC office for any additional details about how the scholarship selection process works.

Follow EWU ROTC

Keep up-to-date on all the latest news and notes from the EWU ROTC program and Cadet Command in general by subscribing to our website using the sign up widget in the right sidebar. You can also follow EWU ROTC at the below social media channels:

Remember if you have any questions about the ROTC National Scholarship process, please leave a comment, contact our office, or reach out to us through our social media sites. We are here to help and want you to be as successful as possible to receive an Army ROTC scholarship.

Go ROTC! Go Fighting Eags!