Offered at more than 1,100 colleges across the nation, the United States Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps, or ROTC, is both the oldest and largest single source of Air Force Officers. Its roots go back to 1862 and the passage of the Morrill Act, also called the Land-Grant Act, which introduced military training programs at colleges founded through land grant. The ROTC program as we know it today was created with the passage of the National Defense Act of 1916. In 2018, over 41 percent of the Air Force’s Officers were ROTC graduates.
The ROTC program is divided into a General Military and a Professional Officer Course, with the latter reserved for juniors and seniors. To participate in and receive a commission through the Professional Officer Course, participants must be United States citizens, meet minimum legal-age requirements (other age requirements apply to certain specialties and for scholarship applications), meet Air Force physical specifications and pass an Air Force Physical Fitness Test, pass the Air force Officer Qualifying Test, pass a Field Training Course, and lastly be selected by a board of Air Force Officers.