What is ROTC?

Upon completion of Officer branch training and a first assignment, Army Officers may pursue additional specialized training and post-graduate education opportunities. You will most likely be assigned to advanced leadership positions and to staff positions. Also, you may develop doctrine, teach military tactics, or serve as advisors. Army ROTC is an elective curriculum you take along with your required college classes. It gives you the tools, training, and experiences that will help you succeed in any competitive environment. You will have a normal college student experience like everyone else on campus, but when you graduate, you will be commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army. At that point, you will have a wide range of interest areas you can specialize in, called branches.

Learn more about Branches and Specialties at the official Army website.

For more detailed information and specific contact information, visit the Virtual Branching Office website.

Who Are We Looking For?

Those who succeed in the Army ROTC program are students who excel and want something more out of the college experience. Generally, these students are scholars who keep their grades up, athletes who are physically strong and leaders who have a great desire to learn. Students must maintain a 2.0 semester GPA each semester to be in ROTC.

How Does This Work?

Army ROTC courses are divided into the Basic Course and the Advanced Course.

The Basic Course comprises elective courses that you can participate in during your freshman and sophomore undergraduate years without any obligation to join the Army. Any student with an interest in ROTC or leadership opportunities within higher education may participate in these courses to satisfy elective course credits within their degree works. As a student in the Basic Course, you will have many opportunities to develop yourself as a future leader of your organization, your community, and your country.

The Advanced Course comprises courses that must be taken by ROTC Cadets in order to graduate and commission as a United States Army Officer. Students who decide to contract with ROTC take these courses during their junior and senior years (undergraduate) or during their two years as a graduate student. These courses are not open for non-contracted students to take as an elective for their degree works; students must be contracted within Army ROTC to commission as a United States Army Officer in order to take these courses and must take courses in sequence to fulfill prerequisite requirements. A student must be a U.S. citizen or a U.S. permanent resident with eligibility to receive U.S. citizenship upon graduation.

Army ROTC students who enter the Army ROTC Advanced Course or receive an Army ROTC scholarship must agree to complete a period of service with the Army by contracting as a Cadet within the Department of Military Science.

• You can serve full time in the Army for three years (four years for scholarship winners)
• Selected Cadets may choose to serve part time in the U.S. Army Reserve or Army National Guard while pursuing a civilian career

ROTC is an experience that you can't get anywhere else, and your leadership skills will be challenged every day. Contact our Recruiting Operations Officer within the Department of Military Science for more specific details on your Army ROTC service commitment.

Snapshot in History

Matthew Morrow (Class of 2027), a first-year student in this photo, takes a break to greet the camera during Task Force Baltimore's Joint Field Training Exercise. This four-day exercise involves junior and senior ROTC students across Morgan State University, Coppin State University, the Johns Hopkins University, McDaniel College, Loyola University Maryland, and Towson University. It is considered the final (and hardest) test for junior students during their spring semester before they report to Cadet Summer Training at Fort Knox, Kentucky to be assessed against all other ROTC students nationwide to compete for their future component and branch assignments. Students typically train for three years for this exercise. Students lead their peers in groups of 40 during tactical missions that are designed to push them past their threshold (breaking point). They are then assessed and coached on their leadership attributes and competencies. Matthew Morrow challenged himself as one of the only first-year students to ever volunteer to be assessed at Task Force Baltimore's Joint Field Training Exercise.