Up to par?

[DVessey]

I'm not quite sure that selection works that way any more. I just finished with my ROTP application today, and during the interview it was explained to me that acceptance to RMC/ROTP is based purely on marks and the essay you submit (academic potential), not your military potential. Military potential is now calculated at the end of first year to decide what trade you will be accepted into. While being involved is great, it does not fully come into play until the end of first year.

I also heard about that change - that MOSID's will only be determined at the end of the year -  I just finished a week of recruiting with the Red & White Club here on PEI. Just because MOSID will not be determined until the end of first year does not mean they don't judge military potential.
I really hate to play in the rumour mill, and also to contradict what a recruiting Capt has told you, but take a step back and think about it. The CF needs *leaders*, not egg heads. If a leader happens to be an egg head, then that's a bonus. I hope that it was just a misunderstanding of the Capt or between you two.

 

[stefwills]

Another question, I was wondering weither or not I should include originals of awards, certificates, licenses etc... in my ROTP application. I asked a recruiter at the CFRC Ottawa and he told me that I could do that. My father who is retired CF said that theres a chance they might go missing during the whole process? I was going to hand them in, but should I hold off and wait for the interview to bring originals and just supply copies for the aplication?

 

[medaid]

PHOTO COPIES!!!!!! DO NOT PUT IN ORIGINALS!!!!! There is a chance that your awards will go missing, and to prevent that from ever happening, I would advise you to NOT put in originals.

 

[stefwills]

Ok thanks. I met with one of my references today to talk about my application (a Chief Petty Officer First Class) and he said he used to do recruiting for the program and he said if I include my originals they will make copies. Ill probably give copies though and bring the originals if they ask for them.

 

[medaid]

Yup, more then likely they'll ask to see the originals, and they'll just stamp "CERTIFY TRUE COPY" on the photocopies.

 

[stefwills]

I was in talking to one of the recruiters at the CFRC Ottawa and he clarified this situation for me. The application is NOT based purely on your marks and your essay, those are just the only things sent in to RMC along with the ROTP questionnaire. The rest of your application (awards, reference letters etc..) is kept at the CFRC for the recruiters to evaluate there. Correct me please if this information is wrong, but this is what I was told not one week ago.

 

[Lumber]

I was in talking to one of the recruiters at the CFRC Ottawa and he clarified this situation for me. The application is NOT based purely on your marks and your essay, those are just the only things sent in to RMC along with the ROTP questionnaire. The rest of your application (awards, reference letters etc..) is kept at the CFRC for the recruiters to evaluate there. Correct me please if this information is wrong, but this is what I was told not one week ago.

CFRG HQ is at CFB Borden. The rest of your ROTP application should go there. They way it used to work, at least the way I was explained it, is that all ROTP applicants files are sent to Borden to see who actually makes the cut to become an OCdt (at least through ROTP). Then, the files of all either all of those who make the cut, or maybe just the best of those, I'm not sure which, get sent to RMC. RMC then has a selection board that sits, sifts through all those applications, and decides who they they want to attend RMC, filling all the required quotas as they go.

Since some of those quotas used to be based on certain numbers of trades (example, RMC is accepting i.e. 30 Pilots), and since trades aren't being selected until the end of first year, I'm not sure how this is going to affect the acceptance process. Any insight?

Also, as for the whole essay part, I find this slightly humorous, but it also worries me. I have many engineering friends here who are both strong academically and are also strong leaders (at least from what I've seen of them on course). However, these same individuals can't write a decent essay to save their lives. As an artsmen, I've proofread many of their essays for them and absolutely torn them apart. I don't think they've handed me one essay so far that actually had a thesis.

Maybe they won't put too much emphasis on just how good the essay is, maybe they'll look more at the content. If not, I think RMC could miss out on accepting some very strong, very competent potential officers. Can anyone offer any insight into just how they will be examining and evaluating these essays?

P.S. As per, I've generalized. Not ALL engineers are bad at writing essays, but most engineers here will be the first to laugh and say "what? a thesis? what's that?". They generalize themselves. Don't mean to offend anyone.