Are the Service Academies Prestigious?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, U.S. News ranks West Point at #12 among Liberal Arts colleges, tied with Colby and Colgate.
Do you consider Colby and Colgate "prestigious?"
The Naval Academy is at #21, so deemed somewhat less prestigious.

Colby and Colgate are not prestigious schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, U.S. News ranks West Point at #12 among Liberal Arts colleges, tied with Colby and Colgate.
Do you consider Colby and Colgate "prestigious?"
The Naval Academy is at #21, so deemed somewhat less prestigious.

The Naval Academy was #12 or so a couple years ago, and nothing in particular has changed.

right. And your point?

Sorry, did you mean West Point was #12 a couple of years ago? If it was Naval Academy then it has dropped a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our current Secretary of State is a Harvard Law graduate — after West Point.

That's OK. Every school has a few deplorables.

What problem do you have with his honorable service and towering intellect? You’re bitter.

Nothing wrong with his education or service. They didn’t save him though from bigoted views and consorting with Koch brothers, Trump, etc.

Cite one “bigoted” view. You might want to speak with more respect when it comes to the Secretary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Air Force Academy isn't all that prestigious, but West Point and Annapolis are. But it's still very specialized. Grads concentrate in engineering, defense contracting, etc. I've heard from others that they have a fairly low percentage who go on to professional schools, largely because they have multi-year service commitments and a lot of them end up getting married too, are fairly far along in their careers when they finally go civilian.

In terms of prestige, I would put them a notch or two below the ivy league foremost employers. But for some employers, particularly those in the defense industry, probably a notch above.

Untrue. YOu don't know what you're talking about--there is not such thing. If you think there is a field like that, please explain it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Annapolis and West Point, yes. Coast Guard and Air Firce, not so much.

Coast Guard often has higher SAT averages for admitted students. It's arguably more selective than Annapolis and West Point.

--Annapolis grad

My USNA (Annapolis for the unitiated) grad husband is encouraging our DH to go Coast Guard.

[Anonymous]

Yes, they are prestigious.

[Anonymous]

People are trying to evaluate the academies by the USNews categories, but they are really in their own category.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are trying to evaluate the academies by the USNews categories, but they are really in their own category.

True. The 4 year college part can be compared to other colleges, but you can't view them as colleges in isolation from the rest of it. They're 4 year colleges + six year service commitments. So they really are not like any other colleges.

[Anonymous]

I admire the students that attend the service academies but I wouldn’t consider them to be prestigious in the same way I might Stanford, MIT, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Annapolis and West Point, yes. Coast Guard and Air Firce, not so much.

Coast Guard often has higher SAT averages for admitted students. It's arguably more selective than Annapolis and West Point.

--Annapolis grad

My USNA (Annapolis for the unitiated) grad husband is encouraging our DH to go Coast Guard.

?

(Maybe DS or DD?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Air Force Academy isn't all that prestigious, but West Point and Annapolis are. But it's still very specialized. Grads concentrate in engineering, defense contracting, etc. I've heard from others that they have a fairly low percentage who go on to professional schools, largely because they have multi-year service commitments and a lot of them end up getting married too, are fairly far along in their careers when they finally go civilian.

In terms of prestige, I would put them a notch or two below the ivy league foremost employers. But for some employers, particularly those in the defense industry, probably a notch above.

Untrue. YOu don't know what you're talking about--there is not such thing. If you think there is a field like that, please explain it.

No need to explain, but yes, there is a field in that. Big field in that. Outside the military there is not as much prestige but inside there is. That is where it matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our current Secretary of State is a Harvard Law graduate — after West Point.

That's OK. Every school has a few deplorables.

What problem do you have with his honorable service and towering intellect? You’re bitter.

Nothing wrong with his education or service. They didn’t save him though from bigoted views and consorting with Koch brothers, Trump, etc.

Cite one “bigoted” view. You might want to speak with more respect when it comes to the Secretary.

I only give respect when it's earned. He has not earned it.

https://vimeo.com/192276878/33c5857cb8
http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article204911534.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Air Force Academy isn't all that prestigious, but West Point and Annapolis are. But it's still very specialized. Grads concentrate in engineering, defense contracting, etc. I've heard from others that they have a fairly low percentage who go on to professional schools, largely because they have multi-year service commitments and a lot of them end up getting married too, are fairly far along in their careers when they finally go civilian.

In terms of prestige, I would put them a notch or two below the ivy league foremost employers. But for some employers, particularly those in the defense industry, probably a notch above.

Untrue. YOu don't know what you're talking about--there is not such thing. If you think there is a field like that, please explain it.

There certainly is the "field" of defense contracting, but not sure about a specific "major". Maybe business. That seems to be a popular major for the defense contractors I know. Along with STEM degrees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Air Force Academy isn't all that prestigious, but West Point and Annapolis are. But it's still very specialized. Grads concentrate in engineering, defense contracting, etc. I've heard from others that they have a fairly low percentage who go on to professional schools, largely because they have multi-year service commitments and a lot of them end up getting married too, are fairly far along in their careers when they finally go civilian.

In terms of prestige, I would put them a notch or two below the ivy league foremost employers. But for some employers, particularly those in the defense industry, probably a notch above.

Maybe the ones who exit as soon as their military commitment is done don’t go on to additional schooling,but career officers usually have multiple masters degrees by the time they retire. They may not be from top 10 schools but they are often given a year just to focus on school. Heck, my FIL got an MBA from UVA in the Air Force and went on to get PhD in economics from Wharton way back in the 60s.

I agree on their graduates not being in top professional schools. I had only one service academy grad in my law school class, and I just asked my wife about her medical school class and she had none. We were both in top 10 schools.

Your wife and you are both woefully ignorant of the world and how it works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Air Force Academy isn't all that prestigious, but West Point and Annapolis are. But it's still very specialized. Grads concentrate in engineering, defense contracting, etc. I've heard from others that they have a fairly low percentage who go on to professional schools, largely because they have multi-year service commitments and a lot of them end up getting married too, are fairly far along in their careers when they finally go civilian.

In terms of prestige, I would put them a notch or two below the ivy league foremost employers. But for some employers, particularly those in the defense industry, probably a notch above.

Maybe the ones who exit as soon as their military commitment is done don’t go on to additional schooling,but career officers usually have multiple masters degrees by the time they retire. They may not be from top 10 schools but they are often given a year just to focus on school. Heck, my FIL got an MBA from UVA in the Air Force and went on to get PhD in economics from Wharton way back in the 60s.

I agree on their graduates not being in top professional schools. I had only one service academy grad in my law school class, and I just asked my wife about her medical school class and she had none. We were both in top 10 schools.

I personally know service academy graduates with PhDs from Harvard, Princeton, Chicago, and Oxford, so you and your wife are pretty ignorant.

This is a pretty dumb comment. Why am I ignorant? I went to Columbia for law school, while my wife went there for medical school at the same time. One service academy grad in my class, and none in hers. I can't change those facts. Maybe they were all at Harvard, Princeton, Chicago, and Oxford getting PhDs, but they definitely weren't at Columbia in law (except for one) or medicine at that time (not giving the exact year, to keep some anonymity, but not ancient here).

Not all the world’s intelligent people attend Columbia or exclusive prep schools. Did you know that a service academy graduate was once President of Columbia?

Given your complete lack of information and awareness of everything, I would never hire you as a lawyer or your wife as a physician.