<p>I was accepted to both the University of Chicago and the United States Naval Academy. Can anyone give me some insight that would help me render a decision?</p>
<p>Well- One is a free education. Does that matter to you? In exchange for that “free” education, you have a multi-year military obligation. How do you feel about that? At USNA you will be tested beyond belief and lots of physical requirements must be met. At Chicago (there may be a swimming test) you can basically sit on your butt for 4 years.
To me, this decision should be pretty clear. Do you want to serve your country in the Navy? Or not.</p>
<p>Hey, wait a minute. It’s a pretty grueling swimming test. You try stepping out of an unheated pool with your hair still damp in the middle of a Chicago winter, lady.</p>
<p>^^ Don’t go there. The pool is heated. I have been there. I have a UChicago degree and spent plenty of time in those pools. :)</p>
<p>I understand that at the naval academy there are lots of physical requirements that must be met and that i am capable of meeting. I also understand that the academic environment is very competitive. However, Chicago is one of the top academic schools in the country, and if I attended UChicago, I’d be running track so its not like i’d be sitting there doing nothing physically. 
I don’t mean to sound like an idiot its just that this decision is driving me crazy.</p>
<p>I really like the UChicago running program. My kid was a recruit there a few years ago (didn’t attend). Will you run at Navy, too? It IS a tough decision, but it has to come down to whether you want to serve in the armed forces.</p>
<p>goonskill, why did you apply to USNA? Are you having doubts about life at USNA or military life afterwards?</p>
<p>im not really doubting either … its more of a split between uchicago and navy</p>
<p>Robert Frost has at least a framework for making the decision</p>
<p>[1</a>. The Road Not Taken. Frost, Robert. 1920. Mountain Interval](<a href=“Authors - Collection at Bartleby.com”>1. The Road Not Taken - Collection at Bartleby.com)</p>
<p>You are clearly at a fork in the road. This is YOUR life.</p>
<p>Try thinking of it this way- will you regret NOT serving? NOT having “Annapolis” on your resume? 4 years from now, will you have grown more as a student and, more importantly, a person, at the Naval Academy, or at Chicago? Both are tremendous schools- find which one will help your personal growth, and I think you’ll have your answer.</p>
<p>Good luck, and congratulations!</p>
<p>It strikes me as an unusual decision. Chicago is one of the most intensely intellectual atmospheres in the U.S. The Naval Academy is associated with academic excellence, but I assume that it’s of a more pre-professional, technical mode. The Academy is all-expenses-paid and comes with a guaranteed career, so there are a couple of obvious attractions. But if the U. of Chicago appealed to you as a traditional university experience, I’d have trouble imagining that the USNA would satisfy your intellectual drive.</p>
<p>Getting shot at in a god-awful desert with a bunch of haters or chillin’ with a latte in Obama’s hood…</p>
<p>I don’t see where the dilemna is in this decision???</p>
<p>In short, go to Chicago. If all in the US goes to hell, that’s what Canada’s for :)</p>
<p>
That is because you haven’t been at an academy. The academics are intellectually rigorous and all of them put out more than their fair share of Rhodes scholars. The academies offer the opportunity to do research and, in many ways, adhere more closely to a traditional liberal arts education than other colleges. The core curriculum requires all students to take advanced math, philosophy, languages, english, sciences, as well as various engineering and business classes.</p>
<p>The Naval Academy is really intense. You spend your first year being tortured and constantly called a plebe. If you’re not gung-ho about it before you set foot on campus, it’s probably not the right place for you. Heck, even the kids who’ve been dying to go to Annapolis their entire lives start to regret their choice a bit at some point during the experience.</p>
<p>If you’re having major doubts about going to the NA, if it’s not what you DEFINITELY want, then you shouldn’t go be going there</p>
<p>When we looked that the University of Chicago, by chance I ran into a young woman who had spent a year at the Air Force Academy and then transferred to the University of Chicago. I met her after she had finished her first year at Chicago. Her observation was that the students she was around seemed to think that being accepted to USAFA was the prize and that in itself made them a cut above. At Chicago she found a much more academic setting filled with students who were more intellectually curious.</p>
<p>Chicago is a wonderful school and was my daughter’s first choice until she got an offer she felt as though she couldn’t refuse; she also completed the initial application for the Air Force Academy, but withdrew it. Depending on what you want to do, you have opportunities at the academies that regular colleges just don’t offer. The military gives huge responsibilities to you when you are very young. However, civilians ^^ always say that the academies provide a “free” education, but the cost to attend an academy is huge: you give your life to your country for as long as you serve. It isn’t for everyone, but you know that.</p>
<p>I am guessing that you have to give the Naval Academy a decision fairly soon. It’s a huge decision.</p>
<p>goonskill, you will get a good education at either school (albeit a radically different atmosphere). The real question is what you want to do when school is over. Four years go by very quickly and then real life begins. What do you see yourself doing five years from now?
I say this from experience as a Mom of a U.S. Navy Ensign who is glad he made the decision to serve. It’s not for everybody but there are many positives for those inclined to take that route.</p>
<p>Go to USNA and be a fighter pilot. Probably one of the funnest jobs in the world.</p>
<p>Why did you apply to each school? Both are great places, but for different reasons. If your goal is to serve in the Navy, I’d recommend USNA. It is built to prepare naval officers. It is a great education for “general use” (i.e. you’ll learn a little about a lot). You can probably expect to learn things from Kant and Hobbes to the basics of nuclear reactors.</p>
<p>What are your goals, and why does each place attract you?</p>
<p>Erin’s Dad,</p>
<p>Knowing several Rhodes Scholars from service academies, including AF and Navy, I can tell you that their intellectual drive is not the same as those from places like Chicago. This is neither good nor bad, in the sense that (1) the Rhodes folks look at qualifications beyond academic excellence, including leadership and an interest in making a difference for the world so to speak (both of which skills the service academies develop well) and (2) our society needs many kinds of leaders.</p>
<p>But, back to the OP’s point, the nature of intellectualism in the service academies and more particularly, on active duty, is very different from what one finds in the civilian world (and especially UofC and its peers). in the military, unless you are one of the “anointed” ones (i.e. Rhodes Scholar, distintuished grad etc. from an academy) you are likely to be in roles that emphasize things other than intellectual development. </p>
<p>The OP should consider that the service commitment after a service academy education is a long time, and there is NO flexibility in terms of when, where or what. You may get choices, you may not. FYI, in my active duty days, we filed our preferences for duty location and such with our personell managers in Washington. We called it our “dream sheet”. I found my assignments in practice were true compromises, carefully balancing all my requests and sending me to places equally distant from everything I asked for. Your mileage may be different, but maybe not. And it may or may not matter to you - many folks find the nature of a military career path to be quite comforting, and there are many rewards to military service, too.</p>