<p>My DS has a congressional nom to USMA and from what we can tell he is triple qualified, no appointment yet but there is much time ahead for that. Meanwhile, as he is working to put together his Plan B, which is to excel at college, excel at ROTC, apply again, repeat until appointment to USMA. </p>
<p>Im just becoming aware about the existence of civilian prep schools, but Im not sure I really understand them especially in comparison to ROTC. Im not talking about senior military colleges like the Citadel, Im talking about civilian versions of USMAPS such as NMMI or MMI, at least that is what they seem to offer. My sons SAT scores seem to be higher than what usually is considered a USMAPS candidate (these are things Ive heard from 3rd parties, not from USMA).</p>
<p>My initial question is <em>not</em> about which school is best overall or anything like that. It is more general than that. </p>
<p>My question is this: How does USMA value the experience at these civilian prep schools vs. USMAPS vs. any given ROTC program? </p>
<p>For example, it seems an extraordinarily high rate of USMAPS cadets go on to USMA. That also seems to be the case for these civilian prep schools.</p>
<p>Is there some general data that indicates going to a civilian prep program is more likely to get a candidate to USMA than an ROTC program (overall, I know its a generalization)? </p>
<p>Or does USMA consider civilian prep candidates on the same basis as any given college (whether it is a senior military college or not) and their ROTC program?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance, y'all always are so helpful.</p>
<p>My son went the civil prep route in 2006 and is now in the class of 2011. He had a 4 year AROTC scholarship at an in state college in addition to being offered the civil prep option. He chose civil prep because it was almost a guarantee he would get into USMA the next year. </p>
<p>The candidates that are sponsored by the West Point AOG (Assoc. of Graduates) to attend civil prep are given a partial scholarship to attend a military junior college (NMMI, MMI, etc). These candidates have an appointment reserved for them the next year if they do well at civil prep. The statistic we were given back in 2006 was that 95% of sponsored civil prep candidates receive their appointment. Of the other 5% most of those voluntarily drop out. </p>
<p>If a candidate is not sponsored to attend a civil prep military junior college but chooses to attend as a “self-prep” there is no more guarantee they will be accepted the next year than the candidates that do ROTC at a civilian college. They will be in the same candidate pool as everyone else.</p>
<p>Had my son not been a sponsored civil prep candidate he would have done ROTC and reapplied.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about USMAPS other than my son was not a candidate for it because his grades and SAT/ACT scores were too high. My understanding of USMAPS is that most of the candidates selected for it are either recruited athletes or prior service. These candidates are guaranteed to get an appointment as long as they do well at USMAPS.</p>