Just Wondering

<p>I am a high school sophomore girl. I was just wondering what types of things Navy looks for. I have a 3.8 gpa all honors 4.3 weighted 200 psat varsity as a freshman in lacrossse (goalie) two years jv crosscountry very little community service. Also on debate. What should I look into?</p>

<p>You're off to a good start...you should look into achieving some leadership positions and getting involved in community service. Good luck and keep asking questions as you've come to the right place.</p>

<p>Hold on to it! Keep those stats up, hold onto that GPA and make it to your junior year.</p>

<p>As for community service, with what you have i dont think not having any would kill you - you seem very well qualified as it is. Maybe a once a week volunteer gig would help but with your load dont stress it too much.</p>

<p>You should look into your soul and figure out why you're applying to such a godforsaken place.</p>

<p>What do you mean? Waht do you have against the Naval Academy?</p>

<p>For starters? It's a terrible place to live: nearly impossible to keep up any semblance of your former self. I think this quote sums up the feeling. </p>

<p>'And here, bound by an inescapable fate, borne forward in spite of ourselves in a single rank by this great adventure, we are obliged like the weeks and nights to resemble one another. The frightful narrowness of communal life compresses us, adapts us and blends us into each other. It is like some kind of fatal contagion, with the result that one [midshipman] looks like another, even if you do not observe us from such a distance that we are only a few grains of dust rolling across the plain.' -henri barbusse</p>

<p>Did you go there? If you did maybe it just wasn't for you I want to see if it clicks for me. Its not me only choice.</p>

<p>Sorry my* I really suck at typing.</p>

<p>hey one and all, maybe oneironaut is really going through "The Dark Ages".... Let's cheer him up, not berate him.</p>

<p>Oneironaut....if people don't have these feelings about life at some point in time, then they aren't feeling people. Take a moment to look up....see a tree or a bird or a plane or another person and remember you are living in a country with food and medicine and safe running water and hot showers and working freeways and you didn't wake up to the sounds of bombs directed your way today. That's alot to be thankful for. This mom lives in an extended family situation by choice ( think monastery or convent) - and has for 30 plus years, for a Christian family ministry outreach. Talk about finding how to be yourself amidst dealing with 12 other permanent members and their personalities, individualities, quirks.... We do it because there is a bigger issue at stake for us. </p>

<p>Hang in there....these days will pass. </p>

<p>Send me a personal email and I'll mail you some homemade Peske cookies. That will help cheer you up. (This is a SERIOUS offer, by the way)...I hope you take me up on it.</p>

<p>peskemom and don't quite understand if you are saying that I'm berating Oneironaut. I asked a few question because i want to know what he thinks. Your post really confused me.</p>

<p>No, HecticLife, peskemom is not at all saying you are berating Oneironaut. She is speaking directly to Oneironaut, assuming that he or she is a mid at the Academy and experiencing a difficult time -- and is encouraging him/her to "hang in there", it will get better soon. And she really will bake cookies if you need them :)</p>

<p>Parents of mids and cadets get used to what is called a "roller coaster" ride -- times of intense joy and excitement alternating with very difficult times (the winter months in Annapolis are called "The Dark Ages" -- not just because of the weather.)</p>

<p>If you hang around this board for a while you will occasionally find a post from a mid or cadet who is struggling -- maybe Oneironaut is one. They deserve a chance to vent because it really is very, very hard -- most things worth doing are and the ones worth doing most are usually the hardest.</p>

<p>It is important that you, as a prospective mid, understand that the Academy experience is not a single moment in time, nor is it the same for any two people. My plebe would not agree with what Oneironaut has written above and would strongly encourage you to attend Summer Seminar next year and consider whether the Academy experience is right for you.</p>

<p>hecticlife....let me say I wasn't sure if you were or were not berating Oneironaut....but you're comment about 'maybe this isn't for you' is something that, if one is a struggling mid - might certainly be seen as a negative, 'downer' comment. while I don't have a mid there yet....I have heard many stories from my husband, USNA class of '72 - about his 'dark, down times' there at the Academy- so I think I am more acutely attuned to the emotional content of Oneironaut's postings than a high school junior might be. So my intention was both to cheer up Oneironaut and help us all reach out with support.
oiixxg 's comments about the rollar coaster ride of midshipmen life is more than accurate.</p>

<p>Oneironaut...check back in and see there are folks across the country who really are proud of what you have chosen to do....to willingly put yourself through a military college training program to be an officer and lead others in service to our great country!!! Thank you for making this choice! Hang in there!!</p>

<p>
[quote]
You should look into your soul and figure out why you're applying to such a godforsaken place.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>No, wait. Let me guess....</p>

<p>1) You were turned down for an appointment
2) You got expelled
3) You're just another mindless liberal troll</p>

<p>Which is it?</p>

<p>Just wondering.... :rolleyes:</p>

<p>Good call Zap ;-)</p>

<p>"mindless liberal troll" ?????</p>

<p>Now Zaphod
Look, I come from the same neck of the woods as you. I can talk the same talk as a good ole New Yorker with the same edginess you do. I still think this is a bummed out kid at USNA who just vented in a safe place - not someone we need to poke fun at.</p>

<p>I hearby announce that I will be vindicated! This is a challenge to oneiraut...
chime in and prove me right!</p>

<p>You are a mid in the Dark Ages, not some spoiled sport wanna be, right???</p>

<p>Oh, and my the way Zaphod - I never offered YOU cookies when you vented on this site - my error....want some??? :-)</p>

<p>
[quote]
"mindless liberal troll" ?????

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Congratulations! You can read!</p>

<p>Was I unclear?</p>

<p>
[quote]
I still think this is a bummed out kid at USNA who just vented in a safe place - not someone we need to poke fun at.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>If that is a Mid, then he/she bloody well needs to learn to represent the Academy better.</p>

<p>In the worst moments of my time there, it never would have occurred to me to describe the place like that, and certainly not without the context that once the bad parts pass, the good parts are well worth the agony.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I hearby announce that I will be vindicated! This is a challenge to oneiraut...
chime in and prove me right!

[/quote]
</p>

<p>SECONDED!</p>

<p>Come on, buddy! If you ARE a mid, and you're thinking like that, you need HELP.</p>

<p>If you're NOT a mid, I stand by my earlier assertion, 100%.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Oh, and my the way Zaphod - I never offered YOU cookies when you vented on this site - my error....want some??? :-)

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Oh, my goodness! Thank you, but I must regretfullly decline. I just spent a week binge-eating while waiting for news about a new job, and I'm afraid I'm now in desperate need of a diet!</p>

<p>Got the job, BTW. RTP, NC, here I come (again)! :D</p>

<p>Congrats on your new job, Zaphod....
just because YOU are on a diet doesn't mean when your daughters are with you THEY can't have any homemade peskemom cookies you know!!</p>

<p>just some 'food for thought' </p>

<p>:-)</p>

<p>"Congratulations! You can read!</p>

<p>Was I unclear?"</p>

<p>No, you just come off as one of those one dimensional political types in a lot of your posts--everything you see as contrary to your way of thinking must be part of some liberal conspiracy---everything good in American life is the result of the work of one party, everything that goes wrong is the result of the other party's interference with the former's grand plan. In the meantime neither serves the people very well.</p>