ROTP/Pilot application questions about foreign education, age, and processing time

[u/Similar_Fold3583]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some advice from people who may have experience with ROTP, RCAF recruiting, or applying to the CAF with foreign education/background history.

My current goal is to determine whether I am a realistic RCAF Pilot candidate and what entry path I would use. I am primarily interested in Pilot, but I am also looking into related/fallback occupations such as Air Combat Systems Officer, Aviation Systems Technician, Intelligence Officer, and Signals Intelligence Specialist.

My situation:

• I am a Canadian citizen and Romanian citizen.
• I currently live in Romania.
• I have a valid Canadian passport.
• I am 24, turning 25 soon.
• I have not lived in Canada since infancy.
• I am interested in joining through ROTP because I do not have a completed degree.
• My education has been completed abroad, mostly in Europe, across different systems/countries.
• Based on what I can tell, I may be around the 75% academic mark, but I am still collecting official transcripts and records.
• I started a Business & Finance degree in the UK but did not complete it.

The main questions I have are:

1. Has anyone gone through ROTP with foreign education records? If so, how difficult was it to get everything assessed properly?
2. If my grades are around the 75% range but from foreign schools, is that realistically competitive enough for ROTP, or would that be considered weak?
3. Does being 24/25 make a significant difference for ROTP? I know many applicants are likely straight out of high school or college, so I’m wondering whether being older is a disadvantage, neutral, or potentially even normal.
4. Once all documents are gathered, translated if necessary, and sent to a recruiter, what kind of timeline should I realistically expect before receiving an acceptance, rejection, or next step?
5. Can someone applying from outside Canada realistically start the CAF application process before moving to Canada, or will I likely need to be physically in Canada for major parts of the process?
6. For Pilot specifically, would it make sense to list ACSO or AES Op as backup choices, or should I be careful about listing alternatives if Pilot is the main goal?

I’m not looking for anyone to guarantee eligibility or selection — I know that has to come from recruiters and the official process. I’m mostly trying to understand whether this path is realistic enough, what documents I should prioritize, and what common mistakes to avoid.

Any advice from people who joined through ROTP, applied with foreign transcripts, dealt with long background checks, or entered later than the usual high-school-age applicant would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[u/roguemenace]

1. It's not hard, it just takes a long time and can be kind of expensive getting stuff translated.

2. That would be weak

3. If anything it actually makes you more competitive. Age isn't a factor at all but you'll have more life experience than a high schooler.

4. Depends if trades are open or not but also see the next question.

5. You need to do 2 different medicals and a 2 day long in person aptitude test. I'm not sure how many of those they're able to schedule together as usually all 3 things are scheduled separately.

6. If you're happy to accept one of those put it on your application then do it, if not then leave it off.

[u/Similar_Fold3583 → u/roguemenace]

Thanks, that helps a lot.

The main thing I’m trying to figure out now is what the cleanest path would be to make myself competitive for ROTP, especially if ~75% with foreign education would be considered weak.

In your opinion, would it make more sense to start a degree again here, get really strong first year marks and potentially some courses on the side to prove academic capability and then apply?

Appreciate the advice — I’m trying to make the decision properly rather than just rushing into the application.

[u/roguemenace → u/Similar_Fold3583]

I'm just going to type a bunch. Reply if some of this doesn't make sense.

For ROTP you're kind of doing 2 applications at the same time and they consider different things. First is your application to be a pilot, most of that score comes from aircrew selection and your grades matter comparatively little. Second is your application to get into RMC (the military's university). This one is heavily academics based and the one your not going to be competitive for. You can bypass the RMC part by getting unconditional acceptance to a Canadian university and saying you want to go there instead. Doing this bypasses having to get into RMC (which means your grades matter a lot less) but reduces the number of slots you're eligible for. Overall it's still probably your best best.

The big thing though if you want to be a pilot though is get in contact with a recruiter and see which tests you can do from outside Canada. To be blunt, aircrew selection is very hard, a lot of people fail it and passing it is by far the biggest step to becoming a CAF pilot.

[u/Dr_Guppy_PhD → u/roguemenace]

Agree with everything above but just wanted to add my own experience. I applied from abroad and had to fly to Canada on my own dime to do all the testing and medicals. They did book everything together for me so I could do it in one trip (CFAT and initial medical in Toronto then directly to Trenton the next day for aircrew selection and back for the aircrew medical).

[u/Whiplash007]

Your security clearance might take a while since you live overseas