<p>Hello, I am 17 and will be a senior in the fall.</p>
<p>I am considering serving in the Navy and advancing within that career in the future. However, I have other, stronger career goals outside of the military, including Business. I would either pursue a career in the military or Business/etc, but not both. Therefore I am not currently planning on pursuing acceptance, since I am not certain about delving into a military career.</p>
<p>What disadvantages would I face if I attended a private university, and then enlisted in the Navy after graduation? Should I decide to pursue that career, would I be at a disadvantage having come from MIT/Stanford/Ivies etc?</p>
<p>Would I always be a step behind the Annapolis graduates? I understand that they start as officers, and they probably have better credentials for advancement.</p>
<p>I want to weigh out the necessity of attending the Naval Academy for someone who is considering that future career, and if it would be best to adjust my sights elsewhere. How far could I go in the Navy without a diploma from the academy? Thanks</p>
<p>78 views and no comment? lol</p>
<p>What is the meaning of life? Who am I? Is the Irs really here to help? </p>
<p>It’s never a necessity to attend USNA.</p>
<p>Someone’ll bite on your questions … :eek: </p>
<p>79 …lol</p>
<p>Many (I believe most) USN officers come from accession sources other than USNA. Non-USNA grads have been CNO. </p>
<p>The general view is that a USNA degree helps in the short term b/c you have spent 4 yrs in the military so are ahead of the curve on basics of military life. However, the general view is also that the non-grads catch up quickly. You can be very successful in the USN with a degree from a civilian school, with or w/o NROTC. </p>
<p>USNA is VERY different from a civilian college. Spend some time investigating what it has to offer and the various commitments, responsibilities, etc. that come along with the benefits. Only you can decide if it’s right for you. I can only say that, if you really have zero interest in making the USN/USMC a career, USNA may not be the best approach for you. It’s not that you must want to be a career officer to attend USNA; however, I’m not sure that using it as a transit point for another career is the best way to start out. Though some may disagree with this view.</p>
<p>flyingllama, I’m in the NROTC program at Drexel University in Philadelphia. I’m not trying to persuade you not to apply to the Academy if you think you have the academics, but just from how you sound in your post, I can almost 99% guarantee you’ll be better of doing NROTC at a college that you like. Naval Academy doesn’t even have a business major, let alone any of its concentrations eg: accounting, finance, etc. Naval Academy has a tremendous amount of resources available to midshipmen there and a much more structured and rigorous military environment. As an ROTC mid, you’ll end up in the same exact place a naval academy mid (a commissioned active duty officer), and everyone has to take the same general naval science, engineering, and math requirements. Both ROTC and Naval Academy mids also go on almost the same summer cruises although it varies slightly sometimes. However, ROTC offers you much more independence in college. </p>
<p>Just to give you an example, I’m a midshipman going into my 4th year here and have worked full time for a big 4 accounting firm for six months and part time for about a year, starting out as a summer intern. This is all while I manage my ROTC duties, PT, Drill, naval science classes, and go on summer cruises. You won’t be able to do something like that in the Naval Academy. In fact, you don’t even need to do ROTC at all, you can just go straight through officer candidate school or another officer commissioning program, but ROTC pays full tuition, pays for your books, gives you a monthly stipend, etc and at some schools even room and board. Best parts are the summer cruises though where you learn a lot and get to test out different communities and travel the world! good luck and PM me if you have any q’s</p>
<p>hey thanks
would joining rotc during college be the only way to cover tuition / loans?</p>
<p>could i take loans at first, stay out of rotc, and then later decide to join something that would pay off my loans completely? like a post-graduation enlistment in the navy or something</p>
<p>Be aware that enlisting and commissioning as an officer are very different things.</p>
<p>Enlisted personnel do most of the technical, hands on work. They are paid less, as well.</p>
<p>Officers are the mid to upper management/leadership. They tend to do more administrative/leadership work, and are paid more.</p>
<p>ok thanks for clearing that up</p>
<p>so is there a way to become an officer after graduation has passed and get my loans rid of? or is rotc/academy the only way to do that?</p>
<p>flyingllama, the answer is no there is no way to join the navy and for the navy to just repay you for all your past college expenses. There are other programs like the BDCP program where the navy will pay you a salary to finish college and you go into OCS after college, without participating in any ROTC drills. However, realize that these types of program don’t take any consideration on how high your tuition is or how high your expenses are besides maybe your living location (eg: it is more expensive to live in new york city than oklahoma). i have heard from sources that most of these programs are going away though from the Obama administration. Technically though, if you get a full ride to a college, or are not paying that much to go to a good state school, it might not be worth doing ROTC if the tuition isn’t that much. I know ROTC guys who go to UCLA in state, and their tuition may only be a few thousand dollars, where my tuition may be upwards of $40,000. Regardless of your tuition, you still are in the same program, so you have to weigh the pros and cons. I’d say generally, ROTC is a terrific deal if its for a private college that costs a lot that you’d never be able to afford without a crapload of loans. Some join ROTC in lower cost colleges, or drop other academic scholarships they have for ROTC, but those people are joining a lot more for the ROTC experience.</p>
<p>btw, you can check out another thread that i’ve been answering questions on my specific ROTC unit here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/drexel-university/619111-drexel-rotc.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/drexel-university/619111-drexel-rotc.html</a></p>
<p>great, thanks for that info</p>