<p>OK, so i thought i’d never apply to a westpoint or the academy. that was up until a few days ago when my parents decided not to help me financially in any way and make me go to westpoint or the academy. </p>
<p>i already finished the questionarre online for west. and academy. westpoint had scheduled an appointment for me w/ my congressman saturday, so i was going to ask him for both a westpoint and academy nomination. is a congressman nomination enough for both?</p>
<p>I got my westpoint kit already and am almost done filling it out, but i dont really know when the PAE is due and who can fill it out for me. The same goes for the medical examination.</p>
<p>and for my rec’s, westpoint wants a math, eng, and lab science teacher from physics or chemistry. the problem is my physics and chem teachers retired and i’m taking bio ap. my bio ap teacher is a physics teacher too so can i use him as a lab rec?</p>
<p>i really would rather go to the air force and didn’t know if i could switch from army to air force (if i didn’t get in to academy) while in westpoint or would i have to wait unitl i graduated?</p>
<p>thanks for your help and tell me of any major differences in the academy and westpoint application process.</p>
<p>coqui:
Nomination interview: It depends on the MOC and the number of applicants from the district. Some will only give an applicant a nomination to a single service academy, thus creating opportunities for more constituents, others will nominate for more than one. The committee will probably inform you during the interview, and if they give only a single nomination, be prepared to choose which academy is your preference.</p>
<p>Recommendations:
Those teachers retired, but (hopefully) did not drop off the face of the earth. FIND them. Your school has their addresses and phone numbers and can contact them and give them your contact information. I would be very careful in following the application directions. AP Bio is NOT a lab science. The same recommendation requirements will hold true for USNA.
Options: What about applying for an ROTC scholarship? I don't think it is too late. Unless you are really gung-ho service academy, and well prepared for that way of life, you might not be happy there. ROTC would give you an option which would be a blend of civilian college life as well as military experience.
PAE goes in as part of your application, I believe. Read the catalogs from the academies for the directions as to whom may administer it, and what the deadlines are.
Good Luck
CM</p>
<p>If you really don't want to go to an academy, don't. Students who don't get financial help from their parents for college can become "financially independent" from a financial aid point of view and receive aid directly from a civilian school. Your parents won't be able to take a dependents deduction for you on their taxes. I have a real issue with people who are forced to go in the military because of their parents. If my daughter decided to throw away her LOA's to USMA and USNA and go the civilian route I might be disappointed but her decision is hers, just like her life. We would help her financially, just as we have her brother. Good luck, sounds like you have some big decisions to make.</p>
<p>The other option is to do what many dedicated students do:
Search for and apply to as many scholarship sources as they can find. Your guidance office should have web sites of numerous free resources.<br>
Get a job, work part-time while in school, find a co-op program, take out a loan, try to get yourself emancipated financially. TALK TO GUIDANCE counselors about the ways to make it work.<br>
Do not go to a military academy only for the financial piece. Students there pay for their education in so many other, intangible ways, that if you are not dedicated to the lifestyle, will not be worth it.
Good Luck CM</p>
<p>Coqui, I agree with the general sentiment here--If you're only applying to an academy because your parents won't pay your way to another school, then please stop now. You won't make it through, anyway. I'm no psychologist, but worrying about what you need to send in to WP or AFA is the least of your problems at the moment. There are lots options--many already discussed above. Community college--it's cheap and effective. Enlist? ROTC? Work? All viable, honorable options...</p>
<p>Have we all forgotten the real reason why a man or woman should make the decision to attend an Academy?</p>
<p>Tell me if I'm wrong, but I thought that going to the Academy was a way to serve your country, to become a well-equiped soldier to defend the United States. </p>
<p>Don't get me wrong, the education will be great, but it's truly not a "free education." I will be paying with my time, energy, and skills -possibly my life. </p>
<p>Coqui- Make the right decision. Don't go to the academy for your parents, and don't go for the 4 years of seemingly free education. What I wouldn't like to see, honestly, is you getting accepted and going for those reasons, and beating someone who wanted to actually serve their country by going to the academy. </p>
<p>that's true, and its not like i dont want to defend my country, it's just i never really had much interest in the academies. i actually had my congressional interview saturday and i told them air force ac was my first choice even though i got a LOA from westpoint. i also had my westpoint interview the same day and the guy told me westpoint is no fun. so i'm concentrating on the afa. </p>
<p>i know i made it seem like i dont want to go at all, but i don't mind the military aspect. i don't mind the 8 years afterwards, i just was never planning on applying until a couple weeks ago. i understand that someone else may want to defend their country, but i would like to too. its just i've been concentrating on "civilian" schools for so long that its hard to all of a sudden think about going into a completely different environment than what i was preparing for.</p>
<p>i know this sounds cheesy but i really would love the oppurtunity to go to afa and be in the military, i just never really thought seriously about it becuase i wasn't to informed. my parents have told me that they are willing to let me go somewhere else if fin aid is good, but they want me to have an academy as another option. i think it was all reverse psycology because now i'm more interested in going to afa than before, but we'll see what happens.</p>
<p>coqui, assuming you're competitive for an appointment to USAFA, please turn it down. I've seen nothing in your postings that would lead me to believe there's much chance of you completing your freshman year, much less all four years and the commitment that follows. Please notice how enthusiastic and committed the vast majority of the others that post here are. It would be a real shame if you went to USAFA or USMA, thus taking the slot of someone who might really want to go, and then dropped out when you discovered it wasn't "fun." Frank and terse, I know, but that's how I see it...</p>