AN ANALYSIS OF U.S. ARMY CADET COMMAND ADVANCED CAMP PERFORMANCE AND SURVEY DATA

Abstract

In this thesis, we use several statistical techniques to identify subsets of Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadets who demonstrate a propensity for strong or weak performance at Advanced Camp, which is the final summer training event in the ROTC program designed to train and evaluate officer-candidates in various aspects of military performance. We analyze cadet survey responses prior to Advanced Camp to gain insights about levels of preparation for the rigorous training event. Finally, we develop models to predict a cadet’s Advanced Camp performance score and his or her order of merit listing (OML), or rank among same-year ROTC cadets. A cadet’s OML impacts his or her branch assignment upon commission. We use data on approximately 6,000 ROTC cadets from Advanced Camp in the summer of 2018 to conduct our analysis. We find that cadets who attend academically rigorous schools outperform their peers at Advanced Camp and in overall OML. Additionally, we find that cadets who receive two-year active duty scholarships or Green to Gold hip pocket scholarships also outperform cadets who receive alternative scholarships at Advanced Camp and in OML. Our predictive models successfully project a cadet’s Advanced Camp performance score and OML ranking. Ultimately, we find that Advanced Camp performance scores are a crucial component of a cadet’s OML.