<p>i am the typical asian who wants to go to uc berkeley / ucla but recently i have been interested in westpoint. what are the pros and cons of westpoint? i heard if you graduate from westpoint you can basically get a job anywhere. true?</p>
<p>Yea, they have great job placement in the Middle East.</p>
<p>some cons, non traditional college experience since your a cadet, so much stricter, less partying, etc, mandatory military service afterwoulds</p>
<p>pro, start out as an officer afterward from one of the best military schools so could have a great career in the military, and probably good job placement if you quit right after your mandatory service is up I would guess.</p>
<p>oh damn. ima strike oil</p>
<p>My brother will be graduating from West Point '09. Academically, it is very challenging, but he made "star man" one of the highest honors at the academy. He is a Mandarian chinese major and an east asian studies minor but has had great opp. and experience within almost all Asian countries/ asian diplomats and studying abroad. Became a candiate for the East-West scholarship and was accepted for the Rotary International Scholarship and will be attending grad school free of fin. obligations. Regardless of having to serve for the military, he has told my family that it has been a great opp. for him as well as a great experience. I recommend it if you want to experience a lot.
^Pro</p>
<p>Con: You will not get to experience the freedom of a typical "college student." Once you graduate you cannot "drop out" from serving your country - I heard it was around 5-7 years of service. Beast is a pain, and you have to sign up for some sort of thing like "air assualt" your sophomore year (if i am correct?)</p>
<p>i really want to do it but my mom thinks ima be shipped off to iraq and die in car bomb explosion</p>
<p>Ha, really? I'm sure it's a common fear. It is of my mom too, but my brother has been extremely successful because of West Point, considering his connections and ties with China and Japan now (for being a normal typical white male). More so then he would have been if he would have went to Columbia or MIT. Definitly being connected world wide through governmental affairs is a plus! But theres no reason why you wouldn't be successful any where else. But I know at West Point you get to choose what division you want to go into, and you would be smart enough NOT to put Infantry in your top three. But yeah Iraq is almost a guarantee to go to Iraq but you would be more valued than a regular "joe."</p>
<p>I read an article in a pretty reputable newspaper about West Point sophomores and juniors being sent off one week, and being read off the deceased list a week later. Life seems to be in limbo at the military academies these days.</p>
<p>EDIT: I have no connection to West Point so I have no idea how true or false this is.</p>
<p>That is not true!</p>
<p>dude beefs thats not funny man</p>
<p>Dude, I'm pretty sure I read it on this website too.</p>
<p>Just a comment that you can give to your mom, it's good to know a little bit about military tactics:</p>
<p>The casualties in wars are rarely the COs (commissioned officers), originally consisting of the aristocracy and what you become after graduating from a military academy, so the odds of you being "blown up by a car bomb" are pretty low.</p>
<p>This is even truer in the Iraq Coalition.</p>
<p>Kinetic</a> Debris Blog Archive Iraq War Casualties by Rank is a good source (of top chart, only right two are COs).</p>
<p>Commissioned:
Second Lieutenant: 21
1st Lieutenant: 55
Captain: 81
Major: 20
Lieutenant Colonel: 8
Colonel: 6
Brigadier General: 0
Major General: 0
Lieutenant General: 0
General: 0</p>
<p>Enlisted & NCOs (non-commissioned officers):
Private: 510
Specialist: 542
Corporal: 157
Sargaent: 520
Staff Sargaent: 307
Sargaent 1st Class: 83
Master Sargaent: 15
First Sargaent:
Sargaent Major: 4
Command Sargaent Major:
Sargaent Major of the Army:</p>
<p>Got bored so didn't find the rest. Also, I have family that's gone to West Point and it's a great place to be assuming you don't want to go for the "traditional" college experience.</p>
<p>iCasualties:</a> Iraq Coalition Casualty Count - Fatality Details</p>
<p>Free, topnotch education- if you can get an appointment.
Very rigorous physical training requirements.
Excellent job placement and boost in admission to law/grad schools.</p>
<p>Cons- It's the military. It isn't for everyone. How good are you at taking orders? And, eventually, giving them.</p>
<p>I know a young woman who graduated in 2007. She is extremely impressive, cute and fun. She said West Point was very hard, but I think she is glad she made the choice to go. She just got back from a brief tour in Iraq.</p>
<p>my mom knew someone who went to the naval academy and his service involved him working on a US naval base on our soil as a doctor (he went to med school after the academy before doing his service i guess?). you're not necessarily always shipped off somewhere</p>
<p>Yes, quite a few grads from WP will deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan (they did sign up for the Army, after all). No cadets are ever deployed...why would the government send a half-trained college student to do an officers job? Beefs, perhaps you were reading WWII history (when WP cut its programs to graduate more officers). Maybe you read about a cadet dying in a car crash (it happens occasionally). Most likely you were listening to someone talking about something they knew nothing about.</p>
<p>keep in mind that you will be graduating West Point four years after you sign up; the military situtation in Iraq et. al may (or may not) be radically different</p>
<p>yeah i am really interested because i know graduating from westpoint will be like no other experience ever. hey mom, did that girl you know who graduated say hard because of the academics, physical training, discipline, or all?</p>
<p>Not much is easy, but it's the combination of factors and the fact that the day is only 24 hours that really creates stress for people.</p>
<p>to the OP, read the comments at John</a> T. Reed's comments on headline news and don't miss his post at Does</a> the U.S. military produce leaders?</p>
<p>The link I give is to a guy who is a real estate investment advisor; ignore the posts about real estate. What you want to read are his comments about the military, since is is a West Point (its 2 words, BTW) grad and is pretty dialed in to the military. Take a close look at what he says about the Academy and leadership.</p>
<p>zing! .</p>