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<p>Whether the student needs a nomination or not is irrelevant. The Academy has been cooking the books for 20 years.</p>
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<p>Note that risk depends on the war situation and the service branch. For example, in 2003-2006 in Iraq, the Marines were the riskiest branch, followed by the Army. But the Navy and Air Force had death rates lower than that of overall US men age 20-34.</p>
<p>[“Mortality</a> of American Troops in Iraq” by Samuel H. Preston and Emily Buzzell](<a href=“http://repository.upenn.edu/psc_working_papers/1/]"Mortality”>http://repository.upenn.edu/psc_working_papers/1/)</p>
<p>From the quoted article:</p>
<p>I think the onus is on U.S. News to be sure that if theyre measuring the Naval Academy against any other undergraduate institution, that the way that data like this is being gathered is consistent, Kosmacher said. Otherwise, theres no validity to comparing one school to the other.</p>
<p>This is obviously not very high on Morse’s list at the USNews. All the magazine will do is wait for the schools to contact them. Yes, like that will happen. The reality is that the USNEWS could not care less about inconsistencies reported to them. They ignore the reports and continue to report data they KNOW to be false.</p>
<p>This is why schools such as Middlebury and the UC system to report whimsical numbers with impunity. We expect the USNews to report data that has a minimum of integrity, but it has none. They report whatever the school feeds them. The fact that they would be unaware of the way the academies report the data is plain ridiculous.</p>
<p>From the quoted article:</p>
<p>I think the onus is on U.S. News to be sure that if theyre measuring the Naval Academy against any other undergraduate institution, that the way that data like this is being gathered is consistent, Kosmacher said. Otherwise, theres no validity to comparing one school to the other.</p>
<p>This is obviously not very high on Morse’s list at the USNews. All the magazine will do is wait for the schools to contact them. Yes, like that will happen. The reality is that the USNEWS could not care less about inconsistencies reported to them. They ignore the reports and continue to report data they KNOW to be false.</p>
<p>This is why schools such as Middlebury and the UC system to report whimsical numbers with impunity. We expect the USNews to report data that has a minimum of integrity, but it has none. They report whatever the school feeds them. The fact that they would be unaware of the way the academies report the data is plainly ridiculous.</p>
<p>Maybe the academies should just be taken out of the rankings entirely. Who would want to go there based solely on the rankings? You either want to go, or you don’t.</p>
<p>Note that Marine officers are also USNA grads as are SEAL team officers. Those applicants who wish to designate the Marine option for USNA and ROTC have additional requirements upon application and during their 4 years at the Naval Academy as do those applying for SEALs.</p>
<p>There are specific companies within the academy that are “marine” specific.</p>
<p>“Risk” to those families that lose sons and daughters is irrelevant of size when waiting for a casket.</p>
<p>Again, it is self-selected and not for those interested in a “free education”.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>I think it is just nuts to rank the service academies with LACs in the first place. As Kat suggests, I very much doubt if very many students choose to pursue appointment to the academies because of the “free” education, or even pay all that much attention to the quality of the academics as opposed to other colleges, or think much about how much prestige it will give them after they leave the military. Those I’ve known, at least, were interested in a military career, and were willing to make a big, long-term commitment as college seniors–in my opinion, that’s a high cost in itself.</p>
<p>It would be better for the academies to decline to participate in such rankings, in my view.</p>
<p>"…or even pay all that much attention to the quality of the academics as opposed to other colleges, or think much about how much prestige it will give them after they leave the military."</p>
<p>I can say for my son that he did care about the quality of the education he would receive. He does want to be a long term Naval or Marine officer and USNA appealed to him because he feels that it gives officers the best training and education. However, he was interested in what he could major in, how good a school it is, and whether his education would be adequate for his entire life.</p>
<p>One thing I can say for the SA applicants that I know (only a few) is that they are very thoughtful and mature and do think about the things they should be thinking about when applying to college.</p>
<p>You’re right, and it occurs to me that there might be plenty of people weighing a service academy against ROTC somewhere else. But I still think including the academies in overall ratings is silly.</p>
<p>Count me as one who disagrees. Why does anyone want to see how their school is placed in the rankings? I can tell you it burned me that up till this year USAFA was considered a regional college while USMA and USNA were national. What earthly reason would there be for that? If colleges will be ranked based on prescribed statistics then why can’t the academies? And some people do go because it is “free”…</p>
<p>Here is the official version according to Morse:
The USNews follows the Carnegie Classifications and since the academies are considered to be part of the Baccalaureate Colleges–Arts & Sciences, they “should” be listed with the Liberal Arts Colleges. </p>
<p>The USNews, however, has never hesitated to “delist” schools for arbitary reasons. In this case, Morse should consider presenting the academies in a separate listing with other non-conventional institutions. </p>
<p>In addition to the blatantly misleading reporting of the number of acceptable applications, there are several metrics that are not comparable to other colleges, including expected graduation rates, alumni giving, and faculty resources.</p>
<p>Fwiw, not listing the academies with the LACs should not in any way diminish the selectivity and recognition of the academies. It should recognize that such institutions are entirely different from regular undergraduate institutions. This should also remove all incentives to fiddle with numbers. A win-win for all parties involved.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately, such option does not really exist in the Bob Morse World! Schools can still be listed and the USNews will go dig the data from other sources. They are unable to verify the accuracy of data, but will go look for it! Such princes!</p>