U.S. Naval Academy - What is the "college" experience like?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| I know it is like comparing apples and oranges. But for those who have kids at the USNA, what is the college experience like? Or does one forego almost all of the traditional college experience when one goes down the USNA path? |
Anonymous
|
DH is an Pilot in the Navy (but did not attend the Naval Academy and was an Engineer prior to going to OCS.) Most of the men and women that attend the NA feel like they had a wonderful college experience though it is not the traditional "party school" kind of environment.
The one thing I have noticed is that at the NA students are "babysat" a little compared to most colleges/universities. There is no ability to "skip class" or make other typical college mistakes. They go from living at home with their parents to be taken care of at school. I feel that this can be a disadvantage. As adults, most NA grads that we know are a bit handicapped in that respect. They are comfortable in the military setting, but suffer once they have to get real "civilian" jobs. Many also have huge egos which is off putting. |
Anonymous
|
i had a younger brother that did the one week summer seminar at annapolis and west point before his senior year and liked the culture, campus, and interaction he had at west point a lot more.
he turned down WP for an HYP school, but 3 years in, regrets not taking the WP offer. |
Anonymous
| My brother went to the naval academy a long time themago. I would not call him handicapped socially or otherwise. He is now a corporate CFO and I think he would say he developed his leadership skills in the military. It made a man of him. He also turned down an Ivy to go there. I am sure the social scene has changed, but he never wanted for dates. |
Anonymous
agree 100% all the people I know who went to one of the academies is a standout and very very successful |
Anonymous
|
Academy grads can be the most immature people ever. It's like they skipped four years of learning how to become independent. They also have a certain sense of pretentiousness and entitlement that it takes a while to get over, if ever. They are generally smart, though, and run the military. The education is great.
I am a former military officer who has known and served with many academy grads and officers from other commissioning sources. IMHO the military should take a lot more officers from other top 25 colleges to dilute the influence of the academies. |
Anonymous
Ha this is true, well in one case anyway. My husband used to work for a West Point grad. When my husband gave his notice, boss flipped out -- he wasn't used to underlings with the ability to quit! I think that was a big adjustment for boss, but hopefully after my DH left, boss started treating the underlings a little better since he realized they wouldn't be AWOL if they decided to leave  .
OP there are some message boards for the academies as well as College Confidential, and also quite a few books on Amazon. My DC is interested as well, and there's a lot out there. |
Anonymous
| Sheesh! I didn't expect this to go all nagative!! |
Anonymous
|
My husband got a degree from a school that costs 50k per year, for free, as a military cadet.
One does not need to deal with the academies to become a wonderful leader. The advantage of going this route is that you get a "normal", self aware, maturing, college experience. A win/win. |
Anonymous
... and in some folks' opinion there are a number of non-Academy grads out there who have a chip on their shoulder about their own commissioning source -- even when they needn't have. The Service Academies' student bodies are derived from the same cross section of students that you'll find at other schools. Some kids want to be there, some kids don't. Some kids are there because they want to serve, some kids are there because mommy or daddy wanted them to attend. Some kids are good students, some kids are not. Some will graduate to serve the public with distinction and some will not. A service academy will (typically) NOT take a disorganized, unmotivated student and turn him or her into a amazing leader -- nor will it (typically) take a hard-working, independent indidual and turn him or her into someone incapable of doing their own laundry. It will NOT take a mild-mannered, lead-by-example individual and turn him or her into a high-strung nutcase who yells at subordinates for the slightest reason. What it will probably do is provide a high level of exposure to a military lifestyle and provide continuous exposure to multiple opportunities for your kiddo to challenge themselves in ways they have not done before. This type of exposure is also available to some extent at non-SA commissioning sources which provide a different, yet equally important and competent source of armed forces officer. My family has had folks enter the officer corps via ROTC and service academies and we're equally proud of them all ... I'd say the education is pretty good, depending on the major -- which is the case for most places. A fair amount of credits each semester go towards service-related classes and "leadership" training -- not to mention PE. An engineering student may be missing one or two classes which might be useful preparation to graduate school. One note (which may be dated): the professors seem to be focused on teaching -- not necessarily on research -- and can be more easily accessible to students than professors at a university with a graduate program where the focus is on research and TA's do all the teaching. In grad school I saw a number of professors who considered interaction with undergraduates to be a waste of time -- that doesn't seem to be the case at Annapolis. Will your kiddo have opportunity for something like a "traditional" college lifestyle? No, not really. There are many extracurricular activities, both athletic and non-athletic, that can get underclassmen off the yard. They'll have a fun football team to watch and company tailgaters to attend. More senior students get more privileges. There are multiple ways to blow off steam -- but binge drinking has been an issue. But it clearly still isn't the same experience as a typical non-SA university. For example, the students who attended my morning lab in various degrees of drunkeness might get in a little more trouble in Annapolis than they did at Purdue. |
Anonymous
| My boyfriend in college went to one of the academies. The first two years they were really restricted to campus in terms of owning a car and when he could leave. It loosened up in the last two years. Not a lot of girls at the school but he and his buddies all had girlfriends. They came and partied at my college but they never had parties since they all lived on campus in dorms. They had a good college experience from the looks of it. The academics are tough. He always surmised that the school made it impossible to get grades good enough to transfer to an ivy or other high level school. He studied really hard and had a very average GPA. Something to think about if you think your kid won't stay career and might want to go to grad school. |
Anonymous
My personal experience is similar. When I first moved to DC, my wife (who is from here), referred to graduating from the Academy as being extremely prestigious, and I confess I had never thought of it that way. But I know about a half dozen graduates who have made the transition into civilian life and all of them seem to be doing remarkably well. (They also comprise most of the people in my social circle who are NOT lawyers, so that's nice too). |
Anonymous
I think its important to understand who many of these kids are before you judge what kind of adult they become. Getting in to an Academy is very hard. It's a full time job for two years. A median kid comes from a military family, often from a smaller town, and was an Eagle Scout, class president, captain and quarterback. They were big fish in small ponds who never failed. But they hadn't typically grown up in Silicon Valley, or Dalton. At the Academies, they learn humility, and tend to become risk averse. That shouldn't surprise given the dedication and focus it took them to get in. I think you will find a Dalton or Andover or young officer to be very different than a star from Kansas. The military has a done a great job of geographic diversity, but Officers two generations ago were often from powerful families, and had that polish. I wouldn't say they are coddled at all. But they, often, are judging career risk and reward in a small ball context. Awesome kids, but they do need more economic diversity. You DCUM ears should walk the talk, and produce some office offspring too |