My DS is a junior and is being recruited by DI colleges for both swimming and water polo. He is an average student–average GPA and average SATs. The Naval Academy is extremely interested in him for water polo, even though his grades are below their standards. I originally thought they may want him to do a prep school year, but they said they may be able to work around his grades (I guess they are very interested!). Now I am not worried about my son handling the strictness or discipline associated with service academies. He does very well with structure and discipline. He is interested in the Naval Academy and all it represents. However, I am worried about the academic environment–will it be too challenging? Would he be set up to fail? I am wondering if anyone knows about how athletes are handled at Navy–are they offered tutoring or any other special services? I can’t imagine that my DS would be the only athlete at the Naval Academy who might come in with below standard high school academic credentials.
Athletes at s service academy don’t get the same breaks they would at many colleges. If the coach is actively recruiting your son he must feel that he’s capable.
USNA will tutor him as much as needed, give him a easy major, let him repeat failed courses, allow him to take summer courses so he doesn’t have to take as many during the normal school year and ensure prof’s give him as much time as needed, send him to “Academic Excellence Center” etc… They take care of their athletes.
Thanks dad1019 and Wje. I have been thinking they must believe he can reasonably keep up. And I couldn’t imagine–although I know they have many brilliant athletes–that they didn’t have players on the football team or basketball team who were also coming in as “average” students. We are meeting with the coach again in a few weeks and before we move more forward in the process, I will make sure all the resources are fully explained.
I know a few recruited athletes to Air Force, but in the end they decided to play somewhere else. I think you’ll be able to judge as you go through the process whether the military life is for your son and if the school is right for him.
I’ve worked for and with AFA grads and most seem smart but not brilliant. They had special qualities to make them good cadets, and I think most worked fairly hard while in school (one of the qualities, work hard). One guy, who had been top of his high school class, eagle scout, national leader, etc., majored in history and was sitting in the same sized cube I was at work.
Hey swimmom88, I’m a mom of a USNA 2011 grad who is a Marine. I’m also an Admissions Liaison Officer for USAFA. In addition, I sit on our local Congressional Admissions Panel to select appointees for USNA, USMA, USMMA, and USAFA. I don’t really know where dad1019 got his information about the ability to “repeat failed courses” but it’s not entirely up-to-date. Academic probation is a big deal and “failed courses” (as in multiple failed courses) just don’t exist. Summers aren’t spent taking courses to make the academic year easier. They are spent visiting the fleet, gaining essential leadership opportunities, and other very specific requirements that can only be filled in the summer (Leatherneck, Detailers, etc). The mission of USNA is to graduate commissioned officers in the Navy or Marines, not to offer special allowances to IC athletes, allowing them to fail multiple courses. Your son obviously has a lot of discipline to be such a great athlete, but competing in IC is a big strain on any midshipman and my son’s friends who were ICs always had trouble keeping up with academics. Athletes from our Congressional district work twice as hard to maintain their IC schedule and their military and academic schedule. Additional instruction is available and encouraged, but please don’t count on the ability to “repeat failed courses” during the summer. The profs don’t work for the coaches and these athletes won’t get “as much time as needed” to be able to do the coursework. That’s the stuff that IG complaints are made of.
You can find the instruction and other information on summer school at:
http://www.usna.edu/Academics/Academic-Dean/Rules-Regulations/AcDeanNote1531SummerSchool.php
This includes info for taking courses over and for the “Commandant’s athletes” taking courses to lighten the load during the year.
Thanks, dad1019 for the link, that does a great job of defining who has priorities regarding summer school. I think it wise to not presume that all the classes that need to be taken will be offered every summer (or classes that were failed) and also wise to look at the training commitments in regards to summer school. For example, if a midshipman wants to go Marines, they’ll need to attend Camp Leatherneck (for assessment by the USMC in the application for Marine commissioning) and deconflict any possible summer coursework. It seems that in recent years, the Marine slots are more competitive and there are more applicants and those who are granted commissioning into the USMC. Thanks for the additional information.
Thanks for the information. Navy does continue to pursue my son, and once July 1 passes, we will be able to have more serious conversations with them and the other schools interested in my son about how his grades might influence their efforts to get him into their universities. To be honest, my husband and I are seriously considering a year of prep school for him. We just need to make sure his college options are still open if he goes that route.
It will be great for you to have further discussions with the USNA coach, @swimmom88. A regular candidate does not have the option of choosing prep school, it is decided for them by the board of admissions. However, if a coach feels the student would be better served with a year of prep school, then he can request it. If you want prep school, then you’ll have to get the coach to request it.
I wasn’t aware the coaches do the private prep school or naval academy prep school. I thought the Foundation picked the private prep school kids for scholarships? Could you provide a little more information?
There are private prep schools that are funded by the student are not covered by USNA. If a student doesn’t make it to USNA as a high school senior, they can choose to fund their own attendance at a private military prep school. Applicants who are not selected for direct entry are automatically considered for NAPS (Naval Academy Prep School). NAPS is different from the other private prep schools. While coaches are not the ones who select who will go to prep school, they can make recommendations that a student needs another year (prep) rather than going direct entry. Athletes, diversity students and others can then get picked for NAPS. In addition, the US Naval Academy Foundation is a different entity from NAPS that also picks students for scholarships to private preps schools (like NMMI, Northwestern Prep, etc). You are right, @dad1019 that coaches do not make these selections, but they can give their recommendations for their recruited athletes and that carries a tremendous amount of weight.