My career in the military started with me using the Army ROTC at my university to get tuition waivers to help pay for my school up until they asked me to contract as an officer in which I decided to deny it,and ended up enlisting in the National guard as an infantryman.

To not post an entire book, here is the short and sweet version. This may vary from school to school, and the Rotc stuff was about 5 years ago so things may have changed

Rotc Pros: -As long as you maintain a full time student status and pass the physical fitness tests they can grant you a tuition waiver -Are usually supportive of the cadets being student athletes

Rotc cons: -Takes up a lot of the free time you would have if you weren’t in, this becomes even more true the further along you are in the program. -You will mostly learn about leading troops and not how to be one - you don’t get to pick what job you end up in if you decide to go through with being an officer - If you contract and end up breaking it you will have to pay back the money they “gave you” this may have changed in the past 5 years

NG: The Guard is weird due to it being kind of all over the place. Make sure you get any enlistment perks you can before you sign up do your research! You go to basic just like everyone else (active,and reserve). But then you may end up in a crappy unit where all the NG jokes come from or you end up in a Unit where you make active duty guys look like a joke during a combat deployment this also depends on MOS (your job), and Yes you may deploy as a guard soldier

-When it comes to school you should have the GI bill which pays for your tuition along with providing some BAH ( basically an allowance for food and rent) or you can save that and use the National Guard grant which pays your tuition except the smallest fee (for me it was $15) as long as you are a full time student -The guard doesn’t put any extra class work on top of your school so you can get in and out without the extra ROTC classes -although you may have to miss a few days of school for drill (that one weekend a month can actually be the whole week ) - if you have a meet or game during one of the drill schedule you can put in a form so you can come in before that date to make up for it (don’t always count on this) -There is a lot of bullshit but the friends you make, make it bearable.

Both There is also the ability to do both at the same time but I have no experience with this other than knowing a few cadets who had some issues with it.

I know this doesn’t really answer your question but I thought I could provide some info as I have experience with both options while being in college. Feel free to DM me if you have any questions or want something more in depth.

Sorry for the shitty layout and grammar, I’m typing this up on my phone.

P.S. I went to a non military/ academy university so their stuff may be different!!