Reply to U.S. Naval Academy - What is the "college" experience like?

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "U.S. Naval Academy - What is the "college" experience like?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=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.  [/quote]

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[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics