<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>I'm in Annapolis visiting the Naval Academy. From California.</p>
<p>I actually visited today. I'm a recruited athlete and I am basically in. As long as I get the congressional recommendation, I'm set. This is my dream school. This is my number one choice. By a lot.</p>
<p>So here's the situation. The George Washington coach called me today and asked if i wanted to come to check out GW tomorrow.</p>
<p>I've got an official visit lined up with Columbia, Duke and Dartmouth. Should I even consider George Washington University? </p>
<p>Im on a flight that leaves tomorrow morning at 6 am. Either I change my flight to tomorrow night, or I keep it and miss out on the visit tomorrow.</p>
<p>What do you guys think i should do?</p>
<p>thanks.</p>
<p>ps. i want to be a political science major. focus on international studies/relations</p>
<p>GWU is good in IR (I’d say in the top 20 in the US), but I don’t think it could hands down beat the Naval Academy or Columbia. I’m not that familiar with Dartmouth or Duke’s IR rep, but I’d say they’d be below Columbia and the Naval Academy.</p>
<p>Plus, if the Naval Academy is your 1st choice, don’t doubt yourself too much. If you’re in love with it as much as you seem to be from your post, it’s probably your best fit.</p>
<p>Fundamentally, you’ve got to forget which college experience is your #1, and realize that the Naval Academy is a CAREER choice, a lifestyle choice, more than a college choice.</p>
<p>If you are not highly committed to Officer Training, aka leadership training, than do NOT attend the Academy. More than 100 who enter drop after the first year because they were more interested in a free eduction than in serving their country as a military officer. The Academy is not like ROTC, which is 10% military training, 90% normal college life. The academy is 100% military training from the minute you set foot on campus.</p>
<p>If you are settled on serving as a Naval Officer, why are you even considering GW, Duke, Columbia, Dartmouth… well, actually GW and Duke both have NROTC units, but the other two do not. So I can see that even if you are settled on starting your life as a Naval Officer, you might cosider NROTC at Duke or GW vs. the Academy. But the other two opotions don’t make sense to me.</p>
<p>You have nothing to lose by visiting GW. It is a great school. Until you have a firm admissions offer in hand, you have nothing. I know a top athlete heavily recruited by a top 3 LAC who was assured admission by the head coach and later was rejected. The young man had to scramble to find a school and ultimately ended up at a tier 1 state school.
Although your acceptance to the Naval Academy looks very promising it does not hurt to have a plan B.
Good Luck with your college search.</p>