Culver Military Academy

<p>Hey everyone, I'm looking at going to Culver Military Academy. I am scheduled for a visit, and am applying for the Duchossois Family Scholars, and the Batten Scholars Program..I heard Batten is more academically oriented, while Duchossois is more for communication and leadership types of people. How hard is it to get those? If you don't receive a scholarship, how much money can you apply for in financial aid? How hard is the ssat's? What happens in the interview? Is the school very mixed, like are the boys and girls together at times? Is it possible to get a weekend job in town? Sorry for all the questions, but it really seems like a great school. The entrepreneur program seems amazing, is that for certain grades, or..And also, I read that you could take flight as an elective. Can you do that? </p>

<p>Thanks Everyone!</p>

<p>Lucas Carroll</p>

<p>Hi - our family has a 2013 graduate from CGA and a class of 2015 at CMA - both having a great experience. </p>

<p>In the regular interview - you visit for a day, and a student guide takes you around to visit classes. This pretty much sold my daughter on the school - she visited a humanities class and participated in the discussion, and walked out convinced she wanted to go to the school. </p>

<p>The school does seem to be well mixed - lots of close friendships (not dating, friendships, though there is plenty of dating also) between boys and girls. Classes are co-ed, music and art (orchestra, concert band, jazz band) are co-ed, and some of the sports (fencing, swimming, track, etc) practice together and seem to have a good co-ed vibe. </p>

<p>CMA has its governing system (military activities) and CGA has its governing system (prefect system) - similar but different. I feel that my kids got/are getting the best of both worlds - a co-ed school, but with some of the strengths of a single-sex school as well. </p>

<p>One very interesting side-benefit of the student government systems is that by the time you graduate, you have been interviewed for jobs and you have interviewed others for jobs - experience I sure wish I had had when I was starting out in the working world. Don’t know about the possibility for weekend jobs - town is pretty small. The Center for the Entrepreneur is talking about setting up a student-run cafe, though - that might be something to ask about. </p>

<p>Flight - I don’t know if winter school has it, summer school does - if so, it’s in a simulator - they used to actually have flight training, but there was a crash some years ago, and the airplane part of the program was discontinued - the air field is now a vegetable garden and a rugby field (my CMA student doesn’t know I’m writing this, but if he did, he would be saying “tell 'em about Rugby!” - so for the record, there is a Rugby program, and it’s great - the varsity does well, the beginners get developed, and many of the developmental players go on to JV and varsity slots). </p>

<p>Scores - range is pretty wide - they have top scores there, but also lopsided scores (my 2013 graduate was one of them - strong verbal, “needed help” in math) and folks who may not come in with good scores but leave with stronger scores. IMHO, part of the magic. </p>

<p>I probably know least about your financial questions - sorry not to be more help here. The Batten and Duchoissois scholarships are obviously big deals, but my impression, having met some of the winners of same, is that the process is fair. There is a lot of financial aid available, but probably best to ask the admissions office directly. </p>

<p>Feel free to PM me if you have more questions</p>

<p>Thanks a lot ssacd, I’m scheduled for a visit Friday, so we’ll see how it goes! Lots of information online, some contradicting, but almost all good. I’m looking forward to the visit, and am really excited for the opportunity. Its either Culver, or the local high school, so I’m rooting for Culver.</p>

<p>Thank you for that ssacd! I’m going to have to apply for scholarships myself, so if one of you could click my profile and tell me if I could possibly get in soon, that would be great. By the way Lucas, I’ve heard that the Duchossois is less competitive than the Batten. I would apply for both, though.</p>