<p>My son is a junior in high school and just came to me a few weeks ago about possibly doing navy ROTC in college. I don't know much about it and have been online trying to get some info. He said he would like to apply to the US Naval Academy as a reach school. Any suggestions from parents out there on how to get started on the Naval Academy app??</p>
<p>Go to the Service Academies page on this forum and check the Naval Academy page.</p>
<p>Also check out [United</a> States of America Service Academy Forums - Powered by vBulletin](<a href=“http://www.serviceacademyforums.com%5DUnited”>http://www.serviceacademyforums.com)</p>
<p>Finally, and most important, go the Naval Academy webpage and check it out. Your son should get in an application for a spot in the Summer Seminar ASAP. That will start the application process for him.</p>
<p>izzyro,my S commissioned through NROTC last year. I’ll be happy to answer any rotc questions. He did not apply to USNA but UMDAD gave you go advice on the academy.</p>
<p>I did go on the website that UMDAD suggested and it’s helpful. Thanks again.</p>
<p>He should go through the entire USNA website - look at the program, majors offered, sports and clubs. If he is excited by that he can start his application. I am not sure if they are taking applications for this year’s summer seminar but they might be able to get him in.
[United</a> States Naval Academy - Home Page](<a href=“http://www.usna.edu///homepage.php]United”>http://www.usna.edu///homepage.php)
[USNA</a> Admissions Home](<a href=“http://www.usna.edu/Admissions/]USNA”>http://www.usna.edu/Admissions/)
Here is the link for the catalog and you and he should peruse this as well:
[United</a> States Naval Academy Admissions Department - Catalog](<a href=“http://www.usna.edu/Catalog/]United”>http://www.usna.edu/Catalog/)</p>
<p>After he completes his preliminary application - which he can do today - the Academy will issue him a Candidate number if they think he is or will be qualified. This information will include the name and phone number of his BGO (Blue and Gold Officer). He should contact this person and tell him/her that he is a candidate and would like to schedule an interview.</p>
<p>He also needs to contact his US Representatives and Senators. Go to their website and look for their Service Academy information. This has instructions on how to apply to them for a Congressional Nomination. He should download the applications and see what is required. Most are very comprehensive and require recommendations and he might want to secure those before school lets out this summer.
Later in the application process he will get information from DODMERB for his qualifying physical.<br>
He will also need a fitness test: CFA. He should look online at the instructions and practice the events in advance of the test.
Many motivated candidates complete the application including nomination applications in early fall.</p>
<p>My only other advice is to take the SAT and ACT, early and often. There is no penalty for retaking the test and they superscore. Qualifying for admissions is heavily dependent on test scores.</p>
<p>I understand the use of the summer seminar and the requirement of plebe summer. My question is, do mids come home each summer from end of May to August. Or do they have requirements to stay in Annapolis at the yard?</p>
<p>All academies (to my knowledge) have three blocks of 3 weeks each. One of those blocks is for leave (vacation time). The other two are used for training. For instance, at the Air Force Academy, the summer between freshman and sophomore year has a leave period, a period for survival training, and a period that is open for different options (I did parachute jump training). Between Sph/Jnr and Jnr/Snr years you generally give basic training or survival training during one of your periods.</p>
<p>Thank you,</p>
<p>To the OP: The USNA runs a short summer program for HS juniors who think they may be interested in attending the academy. No obligation, but you have to apply, pass a review and then pass a medical exam to qualify. And it’s all on the government’s dime. So investigate.</p>
<p>It’s been 27 years since I graduated from USNA, but I agree with all of the above advice, with a few more thoughts and bits of information. </p>
<p>Each representative and senator can have up to 5 appointees in each academy at any given time. So some years there may be 2 midshipman in a class from the same district instead of just one. Since not all congressmen have applicants or qualified applicants each year (think Montana or the Dakotas, e.g.), their appointments go unused and are turned back in to the academy, who then selects additional applicants from the pool of qualified candidates who didn’t get a congressman’s appointment. Your son will need to apply to both senators plus your representative.<br>
Now, not all representatives and senators conduct personal interviews (none of mine did in NJ), so they are selecting candidates based on objective and possibly subjective criteria. The objective stuff is all on the application paperwork - grade point average, extra curricular activities, sports, volunteerism, civic activities, etc. But what does a congressman resort to when a few candidates of very similar or comaparable qualifications are vying for his one appointment? That’s his dilemma or opportunity to decide. But I would suggest two things to any potential academy-parent hopefuls: 1) it can’t hurt to be a volunteer on your local representative’s campaign (regardless of your party affiliation) or on one of his pet projects, and 2) find a chance to introduce your son/daughter to the representative/senators (state fairs, town hall meetings, etc). It’s only human nature; ask yourself how you would make a choice between 2 or 3 good and equal candidates. And along with advice #2, it might help to coach your kid a little on making a good impression - good posture, smile a lot, firm handshake, outgoing & enthusiastic greeting or introductory discussion. It’s a competition! Think American Idol: part talent, part popularity. The academies can do more with an enthusiastic average-intelligence person than they can with a genius dullard.</p>
<p>Which leads me to my next piece of advice, IF your son gets in. This will sound controversial and will be easily argued, but at Major-picking time, I highly recommend selecting a course that will be easiest for your son to get good grades. Everyone gets a BS degree, so nobody gets a free or easy ride. And notice I am not suggesting what an easy course is - for some that is Physics, others are better at English. However, once you are immersed, it’s very attractive to go for a challenging course of study. After all, everyone there is a survivor and is used to being a success. Well, unfortunately, there is a top of the class, a middle section, and a bottom. EVEN IF everyone were a 4.0 student, someone is at the bottom of the class. And from graduation day until the end of their career, the class standing can have a permanent trickle-down effect on job assignments, promotions, etc. Of course there are exceptions - look at all the West Point “almost-failed” war heroes who made it to 4-star general rank. But for the typical officer in today’s political world, there is a mold for each graduate that is tough to break free from for many years. If it’s any consolation, regardless of the major, most graduates make little or no use of their academic specialty, and get loads more education (and even other degrees) once they move into military specialties like aviation, submarines, Marine Corps or Surface-line (ships). But getting back to my point, it’s much better to start out life as a new ensign, having gotten the best grades possible and being closer to the top of the class, with the best set of orders and the ship of his choice, earliest flight-training class, etc. The guys at the bottom of the class still earn everyone’s respect, but only get orders to whatever is left over. Just a bare fact of life. </p>
<p>Okay, that’s probably more than you needed or wanted to know, so I’ll shut up now. Good luck to you and your son, whatever direction he follows. You’re already a good parent, looking for advice for him! Best wishes.</p>
<p>Note that as of last year there is a cap set on majors. Only a certain percentage of each class can be group 3. And it is now a very low percentage. There now must be a mandatory amount of mids that are group 1 (engineering) and group 2 (hard sciences/math) and then group 3 everything else. So if you are looking poli sci to fly it has now been capped and tightly capped. You select in order of preference your major but it can be changed based on the needs of the service, so be mindful of this.</p>
<p>Kat
also there is a new mission statement to increase the number of marines, again based on the needs of the service, especially that now that we are a nation at war</p>
<p>To the best of my knowledge, there has always been a limit on majors, at least for the past 3 decades. During my time, it was 80% technical, 20% non-technical (although again, everyone gets a BS, so everyone gets a chance to learn a bit of chem, physics, elec engineering, etc). I don’t know if breaking it down to more than 2 groups changes the ratio between technical and non-, but it seems like more of an adjustment than a new policy.
As for the higher number of Marines, that’ll be good for now. Some years they actually run out of Marine slots with more midshipmen in line trying to get in. ‘Needs of the Navy’ always dictates how many people and who can go where. That will continue in Quantico and Pensacola and Norfolk and every other corner where training & orders occur. Another reason to try to stack the deck academically near the beginning of the process!</p>
<p>Nominations:
Most US Representatives and Senators have a nomination committee these days. Many times the Congressman will only rubber stamp the nomination slate and leave the pick totally up to the committee. In my district, my US Rep has a non-partisan committeed comprised of former military officers, business leaders and school leaders. They are responsible for reviewing applications and conducting interviews.</p>
<p>For those who will apply next fall - they should consult the web pages of their US Representative and both US Senators for application requirements. These are quite involved usually with a requirement of letters of recommendations and essays. Normally they are due in the Fall.</p>
<p>Politics is not required.</p>
<p>Members of Congress usually have committees that judge each applicant’s merit.</p>