Making of an Officer

Soldiers talk about the ROTC program and personal experiences. ROTC benefits: civilian network, graduating as a second LT (same level as graduating from a military school like West Point), freedom of choice, freedom of decision making. Sold...

But they do not have to major in ROTC. They focus on some other things and participate in activities whether it is fraternities or sports, because those are things that are going to carry through for the rest of their lives. It does nothing but help you grow up. If you have someone telling you what to do and when to do it all the time than you do not have that freedom of choice and freedom of decision making that you do if you go to ROTC. It definitely takes a motivated person to do well in ROTC and life in general. We want people who have technical and scientific understanding, whether it is in engineering or biology.

It is my desire to become a pediatrician and to take care of children. I respect the Army's organization, but I also know that I have to work hard to be where I want to be. To work with soldiers that work hard to keep safe and to be able to give back and to send them home at the end of the day is probably one of the greatest feelings in the world. We have people who do sociology, history, a whole variety of majors because the Army is representative of America. Hopefully I am going to get into the military intelligence field. If I want to be a vet or if I want to be a doctor, the Army would pay for schooling, which is really nice. After graduating from Hopkins I plan to go to law school. Taking on a challenge like Ranger school is just the first step I can take to push myself to the limits to find out what it takes.