Opportunities Video

I'm Keith Antonia the director at Cadet admissions here my job to find high school students and college transfer students are interested in participating in a world-class leadership development and education program while they're getting a bachelor's degrees my staff and I receive applications for admission to the university and evaluate those and determine whether or not you're accepted for admission to the university and participate as a cadet in the Corps of Cadets by way of further introduction I'm a 1981 graduate at the University of Connecticut I majored in General Business Administration and I am a product of the Army ROTC program there So the day I graduated from Yukon I went straight into the Army as a lieutenant what I intended to do is to serve for three years as a soldier in the army and then get out the army and go do something else with my life and I wanted to serve for three years because I felt that I only data service to servicemen and women came before me in either fought our nation's wars or served in a peacetime military to preserve and protect my freedom, my liberty, and my way of life so I said okay I'm gonna serve three in and get out but I ended up staying in the Army for twenty years instead of three years So what happen? What many change my mind? first of all the army gave me the job that I wanted to do as an officer they met I want to be an infantry officer in a min infantry officer and second they sent me where I wanted to go. I wanted to go to for Fort Bragg North Carolina to the 82nd Airborne Division because I wanted to be a paratrooper platoon leader so they sent me there and as soon as I got there I took command of my 40-man rifle platoon and start jumping out of airplanes and stuff know the night with my guys in early nineteen eighties when I was a lieutenant in the Army Center but I into Grenada to help remove the cubans of Ghana Grenada establish a democratic form a government after bloody communist coup they also sent are but I know to Sinai Egypt to go help keep peace between Egyptians in israeli for several months and i got married a year into the army had my first born son two years into the army and so when my three year service obligation came up I wasn't even thinking about getting out now I was having a blast most at a time sometimes it can to stop you to call too hot, too tired, to hungry, too wet, to physically exhausted but overall it was a very satisfying gratifying job so I decided to stay I spent the rest of my career then all in Airborne Ranger units so I have two tours with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg I have two tours in eight years work in special operations with the 75th Ranger Regiment in 1989 I jumped into panama the first ranger battalion helps ease to realz acumen international airfield grab general noriega there the president a country and bring him back here to face money laundering drug charges I also have two tours training Army Ranger students one tour in in the Benning Phase of Army Ranger School and my last job in the army was the commander the mountain phase Ranger School which is just a few miles north here of our campus now I tell you a little bit about my background and experience salute you know how it got some credibility when I talk to you about the programs are the opportunities that are available for you as students at North Georgia, as cadets in the Corps of Cadets but also as a lieutenants in the United States Army after you graduate from college done there are three major paths you can take a few if you come to the dahlonega campus you can be a civilian student, get your bachelors degree leave go off in a civilian world you do not have to be a cadet in the corps of cadets here at the Dahlonega campus we have about 5,500 undergraduate students of those 5500 undergraduate students about 800 are cadets in the corps of cadets the other two major paths you can follow have to do with you being a cadet in the Corps there's a commissioning path and there is a non commissioning path either path that you take you are to sign up for leadership minor because it's very easy for a cadet corps cadets earn a leadership minor you only have to take a couple extra classes and when you graduate with a bachelor's degree you get a minor in leadership so the non commissioning path is the path in about 25 percent more so market at stake every year and that is you come here you participate in the corps cadets you take Army ROTC courses and when you graduate you can still go off in the civilian world so what I am telling you is that there is no military service obligation connected with being a cadet in the corps cadets and the final path you can take is a path about seventy-five percent of our cadets take as the commissioning path you come here participate in the corps cadets you take Army ROTC courses and onday you graduate from here you get your bachelors degrees from the president of the University a leadership minor for the present University any commissioned as a second lieutenant United States Army from the president of the united states at that point you can either serve in your state Army National Guard in US Army Reserve or in the regular army it's your choice done if you want to commission as an army officer you must be qualified you've got to be physically qualified you've got to be healthy you've got to be emotionally qualified you've got to be academically qualified you must be physically fit if you meet all of the qualifications and then can commission as a second lieutenant either in the regular army or in the reserve or guard if you decide to commissioned as an officer in the army there are fifteen different basic branch jobs officers do in the army. 6 of those jobs involve fighting the enemy and nine in those jobs involve supporting the fight so for example the jobs in a fall fighting infantry the infantry jobs is to close and destroy the enemy by means of course combat direct fire battled the season terrain you can also be an armor officer can be commanded opportunity m1a2 Abrams main battle tanks they also run around another combat vehicles you can be a combat engineer and be responsible for the mobility and counter mobility functions on the battlefield so your job will be to build things Dec things and put bridges across rivers blow things up do route reconnaissance you could be it air defense artillery officer be responsible for shooting at any missiles or aircraft they're coming in on friendly formations you can be an artillery officer and should the big guns indirect fires in supporting maneuver forces and you can fly you can be in Army aviator and fly attack helicopters reconnaissance helicopters cargo helicopters assault helicopters Calvery helicopters so those are the jobs have to do with fighting the enemy but there are many other jobs you can do is an officer where your job is not necessary to fight so for example you could be an army intelligence officer you could be a military police officer and be responsible for the law enforcement functions on the battlefield you can be a signal officer and be responsible for all the communications of units you can be a transportation officer and be responsible for moving vehicles and weapons and equipment soldiers around on the battlefield you can be a quartermaster officer be responsible for Supply you can be a medical service officer and be responsible for Casualty treatment an evacuation on the battlefield and there are several jobs you can do but it doesn't really matter whatever job that you have as an officer in the United States Army you're going to be a leader and within a few months after you graduate from college you're going to be be putt in command 30 or 40 soldiers and you're gonna be responsible for everything that those 30 or 40 soldiers do or failed to do you're going to be responsible for keeping them in good physical condition you can develop physical fitness training program for them you can participate in it with them sometimes you're gonna get out front lead you're gonna be responsible for training your soldiers on their individual and their collective tasks required to be successful either in a peacekeeping operation or if it ever comes down to it in a combat zone you're gonna be responsible for all the operations management logistics management maintenance management, human resource, management awards awards, punishments, moral and discipline everything to your soldiers do or feel you will be of your shoulders because your the second lieutenant your the commissioned officer your in command and it takes four years to create an army officer you go to West Point graduate with a bachelor's degree in a commission as a lieutenant or you go to one of 273 Army ROTC programs that are embedded in colleges and universities across the country like this one get your bachelors degrees take the military science curriculum graduate and commissioned as a lieutenant in the United States Army to be a Lieutenant in the army will be a very physically demanding job you know be a very mentally demanding job but it will be a very rewarding job and as an officer and a professional of arms today happens to be one of the most respected profession that you can enter done let's talk a little bit about the corps cadets here on campus because we are unique were one of only six senior military colleges in the country the others are the citadel, VMi, Texas A&M Virginia Tech, Norwich and us what makes a senior military college two things: 1 we're not Junior Military College where four year passes degree-granting institutions and two is by federal law we have a corps of cadets it exists on our campus here 24 hours a day seven days a week so if you come here it's going to be a little bit like going to West Point you're not going to do what I did at the University of Connecticut where I wore civilian clothes and lived in a survey and/or and one hour week our uniform on and I went to my military science class and that was it here you're going to be wearing a uniform all day you'll be in uniform with fellow cadets who will be in uniform with you going to classes mixed in classes with civilian students, and the civilian students get along very well everybody understands this is a senior military college your also going be living in separate Cadet residence halls and there are no civilian students who live in our cadet resident halls only cadets when you first get here you're gonna be assigned to a team of cadets in about 45 cadets you will be their buddy they will be your buddies you will be forced to be buddies your team then we belong to a squad of cadets which belongs to a platoon of cadets which belongs to the company of cadets approximately 100 cadets generally speaking all the cadets in the same company live in the same residents all on the same floor so you're living with all your buddies the whole time that you're here your company is gonna belong to a Battalion of Cadets which occupies an entire cadet resident hall and a battalion of cadets belongs to the Boar's Head brigade which consists of 2 battalions and a regimental headquarters and approximately 800 cadets your first year here you're just privates in the Corps of Cadets with hardly any leadership responsibilities but that'll be good because then you can focus on your academics academics has to be your number one priority here but your second year you can be promoted you're gonna become a junior sergeant the corps of cadets and you're gonna be responsible for leading some the other cadets in the corps maybe five or 10 I'll what do you do as their leader you're gonna do things like make sure they get the right time in the morning They put the uniform on they get to the right location but you're also gonna make sure your cadets are physically fit fitness is a component of our program here you're gonna make sure your cadets are academically successful because part of their success depends on you your their leader you're gonna help them solve problems they might be having with their problems in their personal lives problems in academics and problems with the corps cadets and if you can't help them solve their problems you're going to get them the help they need in your gonna be their leader and that is what you start doing here your sophomore year your junior year you'll have more rank you'll be a platoon sergeant a first sergeant a sergeant major you'll have more cadets to lead and more projects and things to manage in the corps of cadets in your senior year here you'll be an officer in the corps cadets with tremendous leadership responsibilities so the corps of cadets serves as a leadership laboratory where you're putting in the practical use the skills and the theory that you learn about leadership and character development in the classroom we're not looking for young men or women who need discipline and structure to succeed in college were looking for disciplined young men and women walking leaders after they graduate from college there are certain pay and benefits for becoming an army officer the starting salary for a brand new second lieutenant today is about fifty five thousand dollars a year within four years you you are promoted twice the start out as a second lieutenant you get promoted to first lieutenant after about 18 months in the army and less than four years after you graduate from college you'll be a captain and a brand new captain in the army with four years time in service makes eighty nine thousand dollars a year in addition to that you get 30 days paid vacation every year which is a really good benefit you don't have to pay any health insurance for you or your family you don't pay into retirement plan you can still retire after twenty years with a substantial retirement pension but I think that the best benefit is the tremendous leadership and management experience it you're gonna get as a junior military officer that you will not get in any civilian job right after you graduate from college the scope of your duties and responsibilities will far exceed the scope out the duties and responsibilities have anything you can conceive doing right after you graduate from college so the pay the benefits aren't bad for being an officer in the army but obviously you cannot go into the army because of pay and benefits see have to go in for the right reasons you gotta go in because one you want to serve your country in uniform you think that's important two is that you enjoy a physical mental challenge because it will be physically and mentally challenging and three is that you want to be a leader done let's talk about admissions standards for prospective of cadets first let's talk academics you're gonna need at least high school seniors the at least a 2.8 GPA on a 4.0 scale you also must take the SAT or the ACT we take either-or if you take the SAT I need a 440 in the math component and a four eighty in the critical reading component if you take the ACT any at least 18 a math at twenty in the English achieving the minimum SAT grade point average will not guarantee you admission to the college the higher grade point averages and the better your SAT or ACT scores are the better your chances are being accepted for admission this past year our average incoming freshmen grade point average was 3.21 in our average combined critical reading and math SAT was 1098 so if you're in that range you're probably gonna be good to go we're also looking for young men and women who are physically fit and those who want to be leaders as far as college transfer students we need at least a 2.5 GPA grade point average in all of your college work done let's talk about what it is going cost to come to the university as a cadet your first semester will cost approximately ten thousand dollars now what is at ten thousand dollars include includes your tuition fees room meals books uniforms deposits your dorm room stuff so all your billable expenses is ten thousand dollars your second semester will be about eight thousand dollars it's two thousand dollars cheaper because you don't have to pay for uniforms you've already paid your deposits you've already bought the stuff you need for your dorm room so every semester after the first semester will cost approximately eight thousand dollars now let's talk about what benefits you get to pay for school if you're a Georgia State resident then the state of George is going to give you a grant for up to seven hundred fifty dollars at the end of each semester just for being a cadet corps cadets see receive up to fifteen hundred dollars a year from the state of Georgia if you're on the hope scholarship then the hope here is worth about four thousand dollars year the whole pays a hundred thirty-seven dollars per credit hour we cost about a hundred and sixty dollars per credit hour if you're out-of-state resident you will pay in-state tuition thus saving about twelve thousand dollars a year by coming here as a cadet instead of as a survey in student now if you want to commissioned as an Army officer there's a ton money to help you pay for school first of all at the beginning of your sophomore year you can sign an agreement if you're qualified to do so with the sector the army this as I promise like get my bachelor's degree from the president of the University president of the United States at this point it doesn't matter if you go to the regular army or the guard for the reserve if you sign an agreement your Georgia State resident into things happen first of all your Georgia grant will double and instead of getting up to fifteen hundred dollars per year in grants you will now receive up to three thousand dollars a year in grants from the state of Georgia and second, out-of-state residents and Georgia State residents will start receiving in ROTC stipend of three hundred fifty dollars a month your sophomore year four hundred fifty dollars a month your junior year and five hundred dollars a month your senior year in addition to that in the summer between your junior and senior years of college the army's going to send you to Fort Lewis Washington or to Fort Knox Kentucky and there you're going to participate in a four-week leadership development and assessment course along with thousands of other cadets from across the country who are about to become seniors in college who want to commission in the army as an officer and you"ll get paid a little bit of money for that about 850 bucks now let's talk about scholarships that are available we're gonna be talking about Army ROTC scholarships leadership scholarships Georgian military scholarships for Georgia residents and guaranteed reserved scholarships done let's talk about the Army ROTC scholarship first nationwide this year in 2012 11,000 high school seniors applied for the Army ROTC scholarship about 5,000 those eleven thousand completed their scholarships and became eligible for the scholarship 2000 about 2,000 at those seniors were awarded the Army ROTC scholarship now if you apply for an Army ROTC scholarship and the army offers it to you and you accepted then you're going to agree to serve the regular army for four years after you graduate from college so I like to see this scholarship comes with a guarantee good-paying jobs with good benefits after you graduate from college now half of those scholarships are four-year Army ROTC scholarships for your benefits kick in the beginning at your freshman year the other half our three-year advance designee scholarships your benefits do not kick in until the beginning of your sophomore year now the eligibility requirements are listed on the slide you have to be a US citizen good moral character you have to have at least a 2.5 grade point average you have to have a 920 SAT but you also must apply for admission in gain acceptance for admission to the university that you're looking at. Now, what does this scholarship pay for? a lot of people think that this scholarship is a full scholarship but it is not by federal law either page your room and meals or your tuition and fees but not both here at North Georgia you probably want the scholarship to pay for your own meals because ruin meals cost more and tuition and fees it will also give you twelve hundred dollars a year for books and it gives you three hundred dollar-a-month stipe in your freshman year you received a four-year scholarship and it gives you $350 almost I bet your sophomore year for pretty much year and five hundred dollars a month your senior year see you still have to pay tuition and fees you have to pay for uniforms in deposits and stuff for your dorm room if you're on the hope scholarship is your Georgia resident the hope will pay up to four thousand dollars per year for your tuition if you're from out of state you pay in-state tuition now this is a pretty competitive scholarship this past year we had about 380 applicants for these 42 Army ROTC scholarships Out of those three hundred 80 applicants about 200 really serious about coming to our university so the higher grade point averages the better your SAT scores are and more leadership positions you hold in your sports extracurricular activities and outside school interests the more competitive you're going to be for the scholarship done now we're going to talk about the Georgia military scholarship this scholarship requires you to commission as a lieutenant in the Georgia Army National Guard after you complete your bachelor's degree at North Georgia so you don't want this scholarship if you want to go to the regular army you do want this scholarship if you just want to stay in the state of Georgia you graduate from college and get a job or continue on with your education we are funded for 42 of these georgia military scholarships every year from the state of Georgia and are only available our university to be eligible for the scholarship is almost the same as for an Army ROTC scholarship except you must have a 3.0 grade point average and your grade point average we're going to consider your electives when we factor your grade point average you're also going to be a soldier in a Georgia Army National Guard while you're a cadet corps cadets under this scholarship now what does this scholarship pay for? well it pays for everything so it pays your tuition fees books room bills in uniform in addition to that you're gonna receive pay and benefits by being a soldier in the Georgia Army National Guard from the Veterans Administration and from ROTC done let's talk about leadership scholarships every year we get money donated by private individuals to the University and they say okay give this money to high school seniors who want to be in the corps so I control this money I am NOT looking for rolls scholars and Geniuses rather I'm looking for those who have participated a lot of extracurricular activities sports part time jobs and things like that I use your application for admission to the university as your application for the scholarship in all you have to do is email me in essay that's less than one page because I don't want to read a book on your leadership experience in high school and your goals for college and after done were the only university in the country as a guard unit on our campus so when you do your weekend drills if you're a soldier in the Georgia National Guard you're gonna be training with the guard unit we have on our campus all the soldiers at the guard unit our campus are also cadets in the corps cadets they're all college students they're all in Army ROTC and they all want to commission is army officers so let's talk now about the pay and the benefits you get as a soldier in the garden or the reserve first of all all soldiers in the guard or reserve will receive tuition assistance you get up to four thousand five hundred dollars a year to pay for your tuition so your first semester now will cost about eight thousand dollars instead of ten thousand dollars that eight thousand dollars will include your room your meals your uniforms your books you deposit your fees in your dorm rooms of okay it does not include tuition because tuition is either paid for by the hope scholarship if you're Georgia resident or by the tuition assistance programs for being a soldier in the guard or the reserve so the question is how do you pay that eight thousand dollar college bill well if you enlist in the guard or reserve you're gonna go to Army basic training and advanced individual training while you're in basic training and AIT you get paid you're gonna get paid about thirteen hundred dollars a month take-home pay and you're going to live for free you live free army barracks and you're going to eat free army Chow and the Army is going to control every second of your time see you can't spend any of your money so when you complete basic and AIT you might have four or five thousand dollars in the bank so you take that for five thousand dollars you use it to help pay down this eight thousand dollar collage bill so now all you have left the pay is about three or four thousand dollars for your first semester instead of ten thousand dollars so where do you get the other three or four thousand dollars that's where your get it from your parents or you get federal financial aid or you can also take out a loan if you take out a loan througho the financial aid office and you agree to serve one year beyond your active duty service obligation after you commission as an officer the army will pay back up to twenty-five thousand dollars in student loans for you your next semester is going to cost about six thousand dollars let's talk about how you pay for the next semester after you get here you're going to train one weekend a month with the guard unit we have on our campus or the reserve unit within a 50-mile radius. For that weekend you're going to get paid, and you're going to get paid about two hundred dollars for that weekend for drill pay thats take-home pay after taxes and you're gonna get three hundred forty-five dollars a month for the veterans administration the for Montgomery GI Bill benefits so you're going to make 545 dollars a month every month that you do your weekend training in addition to that at the end of the semester if you're Georgia resident you'll still get your 750 grant for the state of Georgia then in the summer you're gonna do two weeks have annual trade and for doing that annual training you get paid about a thousand dollars so now if you're smart with your money and you save a big chunk of it and your five hundred forty-five dollars a month that you're making and if you're Georgia resident another 750 dollars at the semester you heard another thousand dollars in the summer you can pay a large chunk your next semester college bills however you still are going to need some help now this gets better twice the first time it gets better is when you become a sophomore when you become a sophomore you're gonna sign your agreement to commission is an army officer you're gonna become a contracted ROTC cadet well simultaneously you're still a soldier in the guard or reserve so you can enter what is called the simultaneous membership program and when that happens your pay goes way up so now here's what you get: every month you get two hundred fifty dollars a month weekend drill pay you get three hundred forty-five dollars a month Montgomery GI bill from the Veterans Administration you get three hundred fifty dollar-a-month GI Bill kicker for the veterans administration for being in the S&P program and you'll get a three hundred fifty dollar-a-month ROTC stipend so you make one thousand three hundred dollars a month every month that you're a sophomore if you're a Georgia resident at the end of the semester you receive grants up to fifteen hundred dollars because you're Georgia grant doubled when you signed your agreement to commission is an army officer so now if you're smart with your money you save a big chunk of your 1300, 1330,1300 Georgia residents 1500 you can pay almost all of your next semester college bills yourself without any financial aid borrowing from your parents or taking it out of your savings or whatever your junior year ROTC stipend goes up a hundred dollars a month so now you're making fourteen hundred dollars a month and your senior year your ROTC stipend goes up fifty dollars a month so now you're makin 1450 dollars a month in addition to that, during your junior and senior years if you occupy key leadership position in the corps cadets for example if you're a first sergeant or company commander or Battalion commander, Battalion SGM, or regimental commander, regimental SGM your in a few key staff positions the University will pay you another six hundred dollars a month and will pay your room and meals which is over eight thousand dollars a year now I said this gets better twice the second time it gets better is on the day you graduate from college on the daye you graduate from college you're going to get honorable discharge as an enlisted soldier in the Georgia Army National Guard so you'll be out once you get your bachelors degree from the president of University you get your leadership minor from the president of the University and you can still Commission into a regular army as a second lieutenant if you commission into the regular army you're starting salary will not be fifty five thousand dollars a year now you're starting salary will be sixty-six thousand dollars a year because the time that you spend as a soldier in the guard or reserve while you're in college will count for time in service for active duty pay purposes so you will be in 01 over three or four years time in service making sixty six thousand dollars a year within four years after you graduate from college you'll be a captain making about ninety five thousand dollars a year done you can also apply for federal financial aid there are Pell Grants and work-study jobs available for lower-income families but they're also loans you can get no matter how much your family makes to apply for federal financial aid you're going go online to our financial a page on our website and fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid done you can apply for admission right after you finish your junior year of high school all we need is your transcript through the end of your high school your SAT or ACT scores in your proof of lawful presence verification and of course your application for admission to the university if you're really interested in the corps cadets and I strongly encourage you to come back for national leadership Challenfge weekend we do national leadership challenge weekend once each semester it's a way to experience the corps, yes, first hand before you make a final decision to come to our campus as a cadet you come here Friday afternoon you leave Sunday morning you'll be here with about 200 other high school students who are looking at the possibility to come here also as cadets. We are going to break into small groups have twelve to fifteen or so prospective if cadets and you have to mentors who will be cadets in the corps of cadets who will follow you through the program you go to mountain ranger you"ll do repelling of their clips in their towers inner walls you'll do rope bridges across rushing mountain streams you will see could add organizations do demonstrations you do obstacle courses and things like that but really the value the program is those two mentors who are with your group from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning they will tell you the good the bad and the ugly about being a cadet in the corps of cadets and you'll know whether or not you want to come here after you finish national leadership Challenge weekend done if you decide to come to the university is a cadet you're going to make it great decision you're going get great value for your money first of all, you're going be living in contemporary residence halls you're, going to live in patriot Hall which houses $350k yes is located up on the hill with a stunning mountain view the tennessee valley divide right next to it is Liberty Hall which is our third cadet residents all that house is 250 cadets is almost a duplicate Patriot Hall. You're also going to eat in modern dining facility, you're gonna study in a beautiful library technology complex, you're going work out really nice fitness center.You're going to be part of one of the top Army ROTC programs in the country you're going to be coming to a university that was listed as one of Kiplinger's best public college values in the United States and you're going to get a big *** for your buck done done