<p>“It’s not West Point: lots of notches below, and likewise Navy. And lots of upset grads who don’t get flight slots. Engineering, avaition, go Navy or West Point if you’re doing military. do what we did: research. After you see the credentials of USAFA profs, admin compared to Navy and W.P. you’ll understand why it’s great school for B+ students - maybe more picky nowadays.”</p>
<p>Not exactly sure where you’re getting your information, cornelia, but you are incorrect. Both West Point and USAFA are extremely selective. West Point accepts about 9% of applicants, USAFA about 10%. Naval Academy even tougher, 7%. Accepted students at USAFA have higher grades and SAT’s than West Point acceptees. That’s just a fact, you can look up the statistics. Not many B+ students in either academy.</p>
<p>The main difference why one student picks Army over Air Force, or vice versa, should they be lucky enough to choose, is that the mission is very different. The Air Force is all about support of aircraft. Pilots are at the top of the heap, and you get a huge boost in promotions when it comes to the upper ranks if you are a “rated aviator.” The Army supports ground missions. Should you go into the Army, it is extremely likely you will find yourself deployed to the Middle East. Nothing wrong with that, but people need to know what to expect.</p>
<p>“The top 10% finishers at any academy are a parents’ dream come true for a spouse for their offspring.”</p>
<p>I’m not sure why that would be. I’m sure that 11% or even 99% might be a parents dream come true. Fact is, after graduation, nobody is getting promoted nor is talking about what ranking they graduated in after college. I have worked with many people from all of the service academies over the last thirty years, and nobody would even consider mentioning what percentage they graduated for a second. That would be bragging and they would gain no respect at all for bringing it up. As a generalization, officers in the military are very dedicated and try to excel for the purpose of doing the best job they can, but they don’t boast about it.</p>
<p>Engineering or aviation, you go USAFA or Navy. The Army has almost no fixed wing airplanes, you surely don’t go into the Army for aviation unless you’re dying to fly a helicopter. And especially since the OP is looking into aeronautical or astronautical engineering, he’s not going to go into the Army for that.</p>