Are service academies like West Point considered prestigious?
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Anonymous
That has nothing to do with prestige. Many independent thinkers go straight to community college for the flexibility, and many others don't care for prestige either way. |
Anonymous
Is a 20 year military pension a decent chunk of change annually -- it also includes free VA health care for life? Does the 20 years to earn a pension start at age 18yo when you get on campus or not until you graduate at 22yo? What's the minimum required to serve after graduating from West Point? Do you still get a small pension if you only serve for the minimum? |
Anonymous
I don't understand. If kids are unable to think for themselves and just learn to follow the orders, what's the point? Late teens - early 20s are the years when kids really open their mind. What is this "prestige" you are speaking of? |
Anonymous
The title of the thread: "prestigious." Prestige isn't measured by "produces the most independent thinkers." |
Anonymous
OMG. You will fit right in. Knows one, but not two. Good day! |
Anonymous
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If the question is "does getting into a service academy mean this kid had better stats than my kid" the answer is no.
If by prestigious you mean will this look amazing on a resume and possibly launch the kid to a very impressive career, yes. It's strange to me how many people are trying to prove that this is not a prestigious path. People (employers and voters) hear West Point and pretty uniformly think, "oh, wow!" Does it mean this person thinks outside of the box and is going to buck authority? Probably not, but I could say the same of almost every Harvard grad I've ever worked with. |
Anonymous
Here's an article detailing the cheating and rule-bending for athletes and other underrepresented students. One example that is pretty jaw-dropping: Dummies who fail courses are allowed to re-take the courses in the summer. But the courses in the summer are basically fake, everyone knows they're fake and the rigor is non-existent, so dummies are pushed thru to graduation. And military academies have apparently become obsessed with being good at sports. http://americanmilitarynews.com/2017/10/exclusive-former-west-point-professors-letter-exposes-corruption-cheating-and-failing-standards-full-letter/ |
Anonymous
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My high school boyfriend went to a service academy (he actually didn't get in anywhere else). It's a really interesting environment. They will not let you fail. College is such a time of independence, and there is zero independence at the academy. They assign you a tutor, make you come to study sessions, your professor meets with you if you're struggling, and it's all mandatory. Contrast that to a major university where all the responsibility for getting help falls on the student. I think that when you require all students to take physics and calculus, you have to have such systems in place though, or a good portion wouldn't make it.
The school gives you a local "host family" who is your home on weekends, can drive you places, etc--so that level of independence is gone too. You eat in the cafeteria all four years, so you never have to manage a budget or cooking, just academics (with aforementioned tutors and study groups assigned to you). I remember it feeling like an extension of high school when I would visit, and how different it was from my own school. I would think very highly of a female graduating from the academy, because holy cow the level of harassment I witnessed was insane, and anyone who can survive that can get through anything. The guys were okay--some were super smart, some super patriotic, most were fairly middle of the road and were chasing a free education (at least the ones in my bf's social circle). A handful were prior enlisted folks going through to get the officer credentials. Quite a few had gone to the prep school for a year first to get their grades up to be eligible. This was mid 2000's. Maybe it's changed? I wouldn't think of it as prestigious, but I would think of a graduate as someone who would be dependable and goal oriented, which is a fabulous thing for most would be employers to seek. |
Anonymous
The #1 thing that has changed is, today, your college is probably far more coddling than it was then, but the service academy stayed the same. We live in Annapolis and the "host family" aspect is alive and well but it's not really the dynamic you describe. |
Anonymous
| Well, no. I would only consider the op 5-7 LAC's prestigious. |
Anonymous
You are obligated to five years of actual service after graduating, and then three more in reserves. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-army/2019/07/15/service-academy-graduates-could-see-longer-military-obligations/ You can choose to stay active duty, but there isn't a guarantee that you will keep being promoted. Of course, coming from an academy certainly helps, but if you aren't promoted, you need to get out. You don't get any pension if you don't make it to 20 yrs. unless you opt for the Blended Retirement (https://www.militarytimes.com/pay-benefits/2018/10/22/not-many-troops-are-opting-into-the-new-retirement-system/). As for how much you make in retirement after 20 yrs. It depends on what rank you are. But, if you are a Lt. Col, it ends up being about $45K (before taxes) per year after retirement. Health care is provided after 20 yrs., but it's not exactly free. Compared to buying insurance on the open market or even paying a portion via your employer, it is low cost. That changes once you hit 62. Then you are forced off of Tricare and into Medicare + Tricare for Life. DH will actually have to pay $3500 per year once he hits 62. That's kind of a harsh hit. But, I guess TFL will pick up a lot of the cost-sharing that normally a person would pay under Medicare. So, while it is a big hit, and it is more than he pays now for all medical expenses now, it should act as a "ceiling" for his medical expenses (at least for things that are covered by Medicare). Prior to Medicare, you either have Tricare Prime or Tricare Select. The costs of those have been increased recently. It's not free. https://www.tricare.mil/pharmacycosts |
Anonymous
Do you know anyone in the military? A Second Lieutenant will command 25-50 soldiers. Responsible (with the Platoon Sergeant) for everything- including all equipment. A 2LT is 21-22 y.o. A Captain will command 100-200 soldiers. Responsible (with Senior Enlisted leadership) for everything- including, sometimes, millions of dollars of equipment. A Captain is 24-28. What is the average Ivy League grad in charge of? Themselves? A desk? Someone’s money? Surely not many responsible for someone else’s safety and well-being. And I say that as an Ivy league grad. Do you truly think the education at the academies is designed to churn out service men and women who can do nothing but follow orders? These young men and women are the ones giving the orders based on the mission provided. To believe they are merely robots is misguided and naive. |
Anonymous
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Let's see...
People who chose to go to the military academies are willing to die for OP's right to right to free speech. Harvard? No. Yale? No. etc? No. |
Anonymous
| Yes. I am extremely impressed at Ivy League. I am more impressed at West Point. |
Anonymous
| If my son made the independent free thinking choice to go through the rigorous application process for the service academies, (while his peers and their parents looked down their noses at his free thinking choice) and was accepted and decided to go I would be incredibly proud and impressed and relieved that whatever he ended up doing career wise he will will have made unbelievable connections. |