Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: DREDIOCK on March 14, 2005, 11:05:17 AM
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Tis the point in my sons life ( He's a junior) where every day he is receiving literature from different colleges from round the nation.
Today was no different. Among the things that came today in the mail he received some mail from West Point along with an enclosed card to fill out for a "West Point Admissions Request"
I thought you had to be appointed to West Point and not just simply make the grade and apply.
Didnt you used to have to be sponsored by someone to even apply?
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Heh... my Daughter had a Congressional and a Presidential recommendation to West Point. Great grades in High School, Honor student and because she didn't have "ROTC or equivalent"
she didn't get in. Basically they told her to reapply afterwards.
But I guess it was best that she didn't get accepted with all the crap going on in the World today.
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You can also get in by applying to and spending a year in their prep school. I knew a guy in the Army who went that route. One of the ****tiest soldiers I've ever been around.
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To get in you need at least 2 congressional nominations. This doesn't mean the congress men go out and recomend you. You have to approach them and ask for a recomendation.
Once you get this done, it's still one of the hardest and most competitive schools to get into.
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one word. pleeb.
;)
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There is some incorrect info in this thread. I'm a USAF academy grad and here's what I remember about how admissions worked when I applied.
First, you need to meet the standards. This is not as easy as it sounds, since to be competitive you need both good grades and extra activities such as varsity sports, school council, scouts, etc. On the other hand, grades below a 4.0 do not automatically disqualify you, and unlike many other universities they are very happy to accept as freshmen applicants people who already have some college experience.
Second, you have to inquire. When you inquire, the service academy will send you an info packet that should fully explain the process, including the next couple of steps. If you are qualified to apply, you should also be assigned a Liason Officer, usually a retired officer living in the local area, to assist in the application process.
Third, you apply, just like any other school. Until you get a nomination however, your application sits and goes mostly nowhere.
Fourth, you get your congressional nomination. Every congressman, both senators and house reps, have 4 slots at each major service academy, and they can nominate 10 candidates for each slot that is open the next school year. As an example, when I applied my representative had 2 slots in the class of 1994 open, so he could make 20 nominations. Of those 20 nominations, about 10 of us were accepted and I think 6 of us actually went. The nomination process in my area involved putting together an application and going in for a formal interview with a board that advised my congressman. No matter how good your on-paper application is, if the congressman's people think you're a tool then you won't get a nomination.
You must also pass both a DODMRB (Dept of Defense Medical Review Board) physical and a fitness test. I do not remember when this comes, but there is also a screening process that comes before your full application and nomination process that weeds out those who are not qualified. Those who do drugs get eliminated at this point, those that smoke are told that they need to quit before entering, and those who are not student athletes are told that they're already years behind their potential classmates and they have until entry to get into shape, or they simply won't be able to handle the physical demands of basic training at an altitude of 5000+ ft.
Somewhere in here, you'll be told you're an official "candidate", which if I recall correctly means you've met the basic requirements and are awaiting word whether or not you've been accepted.
How could 10 of us get accepted from one district in one year you might ask? Some congressmen never have anyone in their district who is qualified to attend. This is very sad IMHO but it's also very true. Some of us from my area simply filled unused slots from other congressmen.
There are other nomination sources. If you're not academically competitive but have an otherwise strong application, as is often the case for athletes or prior-enlisted applicants, they may get accepted to the prep school, after which they're pretty much guaranteed entry to the Academy. The Vice President has some nominations. Medal of Honor winner's children are automatically offered a nomination (Presidential nominations?). There may be others, but I do not remember.
All this info was current as of a couple of years ago, and I do not remember hearing about any major changes to the application and nomination policy. As always, check directly with the source to get the full scoop. Anyone considering applying to a service academy should directly contact the admissions office to get the application packets, and I also very strongly recommend making a visit to each academy you're applying to in order to see what they're all about. All the academies have summer programs and official tours for prospective candidates, and again I strongly recommend going on one of those trips during the application process.
A last note - anyone who really wants to go to the academy should never take NO for an answer. You can keep applying until age 23 without a waiver. If you're turned down the first year, go to college anyhow (any college, it doesn't really matter) and do your best that first semester/year, and re-apply. Keep applying every year until you get too old or they accept you. I had to apply twice to get in because my congressman had no spots my first year, and the one person in my area who got one of those floating nominations got accepted but turned it down. So it's not over until you're too old.
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heh
The Point was my dream.
Still one of the larger if not the largest regrets in my life is in not joining the military.
My son has no such aspirations.
Doesnt mean I'm not going to bust his chops about it though.
I just told him I expect him to know the definition of leather within the week.:D
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join the Marines, we don't have a "academy"
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John: Thought marine officers attended the Naval Academy or are most of them drawn from OCS?
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Originally posted by john9001
join the Marines, we don't have a "academy"
Sure. They accepting 43 year olds these days?LOL
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My dad is a grad from the class of '53. I could have gone (most of his classmates were running the school then) but joining the military back in the early 70s was not a popular thing to do. I regret it every day.
Anyway ... my dad use to interview the canidates from the area, for the congressmen ... it was his recommendation that got the letter written on behalf of the congressman.
Not sure how it is done these days, but my dad sure loved doing it back then ... but then again ... he was a West Pointer inside and out and took great pride in helping choose future West Pointers'.
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Originally posted by DREDIOCK
Sure. They accepting 43 year olds these days?LOL
old guys like you should just give up, its not going to happen.
:D
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your son has about 3 ways to get in..
One attend the prep school.. USMAPS Fort Monmouth NJ either get in directly or thru enlisted testing and application..
Play football..... apply (if he is good then they most likely will send him to prep first though some go straight into Black Knight football...) (beleive it or not some of the cadets are there for their athletic prowlness like any other university.. (army needs cooks and mess hall (excuse me dining facility) operators too...)
Apply directly is the last way and most likely the hardest...
In all 3 instances you will need a congressional reconmendation.. (no exceptions unless you (father / mother) have a MOH and then your offspring are automatically accepted..)
two you need to pass the PAE (this is like a PT test but includes pullups and a agility run test.. nutshell..... pushups, situps, pullups, run....
three you need excellent grades, SAT etc..applying to the military academy is at least as stringint as any IVY league or other aristocratic school... (they do consider enlisted experience heavily though...(think affirmitive action but service oriented)
Consider a 4 year stint @ the point and then a 6 year commission minimum not including stop loss for the unlucky...
Good Luck....
DoctorYo
PS:
One of the ****tiest soldiers I've ever been around.
muhahahahahahahah........
All the info you need :
http://www.usma.edu/
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Marine accadamy grads come from the naval accademy at anapolis.
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Even with alot of preperation and excersise, you still probably wont get in. Thats how hard it is to get into any of these military academies. And some professor at anapolis was complaining that the cadets are'nt good enough. Dam they have some high standards for a bunch of guys playing checkers/chess all the time.
:D
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So if I read it right you have to be an intelligent jock with connections. Nerds need not apply. :rofl
I would love to be part of something like that though. I wanted to join the Irish Air Corps as a pilot. They trained in the Military College here. But the most pilot cadets they recruited in one year was ten. Usually it was six. About three thousand applied. You had more chance of winning the lottery. I believe things have changed now. They can't get enough quality applicants anymore with all the good money jobs floating around.
I'm still available if they're interested. :cool:
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I recieved a congressional appointment to West Point and Annapolis. I got the full acceptance from Annapolis, and never really followed through on West (I didn't really want to be in the Army, from a Navy family). So this coming July I could have the honor of getting my bellybutton kicked at Plebe Summer.
However, I also got the NROTC scholarship, and have been accepted to RIT, RPI, and (hopefully, don't know yet) Cornell. So there's going to be some tough choices.
Any guys here do ROTC or Navy ROTC that could tell me what you thought of the ROTC program?
FYI, my dad is USNA grad, class of '75.
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All I can say is I chose the Academy over ROTC because it's a direct pipeline to your military career. If you really want to do something in the military, it's the best place to start. If you want something else and the military is just a secondary consideration, go somewhere else. The military academies are excellent academic institutions and provide an extremely useful and broad education to every graduate (even a history major will get a couple of dozen math/engineering/science courses) but it's not aimed at creating specialists in any particular field except that of military officer. So if you want to be a chemist, biologist, etc., go to a regular university. If you want to be a military officer and get a great academic background to help you do literally ANY job the military offers, go to the Academy. Regardless of what you want, I have never met an academy graduate who actually regretted their choice. In any case, you can bail out during the first 2 years without commitment if you decide that it's not for you. I think quitting during the first year is a very bad decision for most people because it's tough to take advantage of the academy during your freshman year, but even those who quit can at least say they gave it a shot.
If you turn down an academy appointment and go through ROTC, you'll always wonder. Sure you'll have fun and probably get a fine eduation and will still have a shot at a good military career, but you'll still wonder. And when you see the little groups of people who get their first 2 promotions on the same date, it will bother you and you won't really know why. The only people in the service who don't harbor at least SOME inner jealousy or hatred of the academy grads are the Aggies, but at least they have a good reason for their opinion.
That's my opinion anyhow.
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Eagl,
Don't you also get paid as an E-5 or equivilent while you are attending???? (what other college gives you a salery why you go to school?)
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I don't know what the current pay scale is for cadets, but I don't think it's up to E5 level. Basically it's enough to make it so you have some spending money after you pay for all the crap they make you buy. Like $500 for one particular uniform jacket you'll wear once and then sell back for $100. And a computer. And books that you MUST buy from the bookstore instead of from people who used the same book in the previous semester, because the damned bookstore bastards have the dean by the balls due to the overall small size of the school.
When I was there, the pay scale hadn't been changed in about 10 years, and 10 years earlier it was exactly 50% of the base pay of a 2Lt. That worked out to $500/month before expenses and mandatory deductions to pay off the approx $5000 the school loans cadets when they arrive just to get started. Take-home pay came out to $40-$60/month for freshmen, $125ish for sophomores, $160ish for juniors, and anywhere from $180 to $450/month for seniors depending on how expensive their books were and how often they bought new uniforms.
All sundries such as shampoo, room cleaning supplies, and boot polish came out of that salary btw, so a freshman's $40 or $60 would pretty much go 120% towards necessities. Yes, that's more than 100% and the extra 20% went onto the credit card that 99% of the cadets opened up with either the base credit union or bank. I was frugal and ended my freshman year with only $300 debt on my card. My parents helped a lot too, since helping me with a few hundred bucks worth of stuff was a hell of a lot cheaper than helping pay to go to a regular university.
A year or two after I left, some congressman finally bumped cadet pay up to the surface on the legislative ocean and cadets finally got a pay raise. Most of the raise went to cover the fact that they're now issued laptop computers instead of desktops, but I don't think the freshmen are stuck with $40/month paychecks anymore either.