FormerRecruitingGuru
Making Recruiting Great Again
Not true. Billets/ship selection is split an equal third between USNA, OCS, and NROTC.
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USNA Curriculum
- Thread starter Charles Edward
- Start date
Not true. Billets/ship selection is split an equal third between USNA, OCS, and NROTC.
Eh, about 80% of a typical plebe class winds up graduating. That's better than most civilian colleges. Typically you get a bunch of people dropping out during plebe year (realize it isn't for them) and another batch at the end of sophomore year (once you start junior you're on the hook to repay the Navy).
Also, the 'leg up' thing is a myth.
I'd argue that USNA kids have a nice little "leg up" in the first few months as baby SWO, but I agree with Fester and Rufio that it has nothing to do with service or ship selection.
RadicalDude
Social Justice Warlord
Honestly man, it's not quite as dramatic as you're making it seem. You don't have a ton of "free time" out in town and your day is pretty structured towards making you succeed in school. If you can get through the door they do a lot to take care of you and make sure you can graduate.
Charles Edward
Member
Makes sense. I'd imagine that USNA spends quite a bit of effort to vet the applicants to make sure the right candidates are accepted. The way the elite college admissions process is nowadays, I'd bet most of the accepted students have already taken a year or more of calculus in high school, for example.
That being said, generally speaking, do kids who attended USNA prep or a year (or more) of college have an advantage once they are plebes? Perhaps the courseload is not as demanding or can be handled better than someone straight from high school?
Charles Edward
Member
What kind of "leg up" are you referring to, please?
After living and breathing Navy 24/7, and being exposed to a dedicated "SWO Practicum" in their senior year, USNA grads seem to get up to speed onboard more quickly than the ROTC/OCS guys. After several months it's all a wash; and with BDOC (new SWO accession training) it may be even more of a wash now than when I was a new guy.
Charles Edward
Member
Got ya..thanks.
Admissions is getting better and better at choosing applicants who are most likely to choose those majors - think people who took a lot of science and math, and people who went to "technical" high schools and whatnot.
To your other questions: About 33% of each class is from some form of prep school or college, though I suspect those numbers will go down with time. I do not think they are a good predictor of future success. My plebe roommate was home-schooled and graduated among the top of my class.
Courseloads are heavy. I was a non-STEM major in Econ, but my B.S. of Econ is significantly different than a B.A. in one. My B.S. required that we did correlation / regression analysis (think proving correlation is or is not causation). When I talk to a B.A. Econ major, half them say "yeah I've heard of that," and the other half look at me cross-eyed. So even within my major, there was a heavy emphasis on math, despite it not being a "STEM" major.
Life at the Academy is busy, but structured. My other options were Penn State and Villanova. I think because there was less of a social life, and there was such a culture of excellence at the Academy, I was driven to work harder (i.e. being good at school and being in great shape are both highly valued among your peers at the Academy) and given the resources to do so - and I think my grades from college were better at USNA than they would have been at Penn State or Villanova where I think I would have partied a little too hard. I can genuinely say I appreciated the regimented lifestyle in terms of being a resource to get the grades I earned.
Not to mention, YP Cruises where you know the basics of conning a ship - especially the commands and positions. I imagine learning how to conn while earning the rest of your pin is a bit stressful and that's a nice load off.
I dunno. In my experience, nobody was impressed or gave a shit that you showed up knowing "red right returning" stuff. The Boat School kids that checked aboard with a "well I've basically been in the Navy for four years..." attitude also didn't impress anyone.
If the Academy gives you anything on graduation, it's not being a total stranger anywhere you go. Pretty much anywhere in the Navy, there will be guys you know from school, or at least one degree of separation. Always a couch to crash on or a car to borrow or someone to grab lunch with. Eventually everyone gets there, but it's nice to have that as ENS Timmy with six months in the Fleet.
If the Academy gives you anything on graduation, it's not being a total stranger anywhere you go. Pretty much anywhere in the Navy, there will be guys you know from school, or at least one degree of separation. Always a couch to crash on or a car to borrow or someone to grab lunch with. Eventually everyone gets there, but it's nice to have that as ENS Timmy with six months in the Fleet.
I'm agreeing with Fester for a second time today - weird. The benefit that I've seen USNA guys have is just "getting it," as a DIVO, a little quicker. How to execute tasking from the boss, manage time, etc. Basic shit. As an ROTC guy I felt a bit behind them initially.
Not being an aviator, I would roughly equate USNA YP time to IFS/Cessna experience relative to standing OOD in the fleet or flying a grey a/c.
Yeah, I'm not saying it's someone earning a TAO or OOD qual. I'm saying, it's one less thing to worry about and something ROTC guys have next to 0 experience doing. But, Fester's most previous post is on point.
Charles Edward
Member
Good to know.
Charles Edward
Member
Why do you feel that the prior college/prep school numbers will go down?