<p>I'm staying at West Point from Oct 23-24 for my candidate visit. Anyone else going for fall break? I wonder what they let you do there; hopefully I get to go to some interesting classes(Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict? probably not). Just have to wait and see.</p>
<p>How did you get an overnight? Do you have an LOA? I was invited to USNA for an overnight, but USMA site said they invite those with a lOA or offer of appointment.</p>
<p>Write back how your visit went. Good luck.</p>
<p>"(Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict? probably not)"
ha you have no idea what your getting into. You will follow a plebe around and attend "hu-ah" classes such as chemistry or MA 103 (math) etc. the closest thing you will get to anything like what you listed is MS class where you will learn the color of each branch and other stuff along those lines</p>
<p>voxist - how was your visit? I'm having mine Nov 13th-14th, and am very excited to go!</p>
<p>Yep, they set me up with a plebe four months fresh out of Beast. Already grizzled as hell though.<br>
Positive:
-The campus is absolutely gorgeous, it's basically one giant postcard.
-MS 103- best class I attended. Involves a staff sergeant teaching basic infantry tactics and throwing books at cadets when they're not paying attention.
-other classes, with 10-15 kids, felt exactly like high school
-the camaraderie between cadets. You could just tell that these guys were already family. I also attended a memorial for a TAC who had recently died of cancer; although I wasn't part of their company, for that time I felt like I was.
-the food. It's awesome
-the ceremony. It was great standing in the back for breakfast formation, shivering my butt off while everyone else stands stone still. I also remember taps. Just walking, talking to my cadet escort when he suddenly drops everything and salutes, everyone else around us does the same thing in the same direction. Makes me feel awkward.
-my cadet escort. He was exactly like me, only miserable. I wonder if I'll be that grizzled coming out of Beast.
-its West Point</p>
<p>Negative-
-how everyone treated me nice since I'm a candidate. It's totally not going to be like that
-complete lack of privacy. Tiny 2-cadet dorms. No partitions in the shower room. Thank God they at least have toilet stalls. It's like prison.
Hopefully they desensitize me in Beast
-other classes, with 10-15 kids, felt exactly like high school. But, like Army 2005 points out, I didn't come there looking forward to English.</p>
<p>I received an offer of appointment a few days before I left, so while I was there, I officially accepted. Now I just have to wait.</p>
<p>I think the word you're looking for is Retreat rather than Taps. :)</p>
<p>I'm a plebe here...
Beast is pretty miserable, but if you just keep a good attitude, you'll be fine. And you get desensitized to showering with a bunch of dudes pretty fast during Beast. And yes, you won't be treated nice when you get here, but it does get better, and it's totally worth all the crap you go through.</p>
<p>"He was exactly like me, only miserable. I wonder if I'll be that grizzled coming out of Beast."
I'm sure marines4me can share some first hand knowledge about the range of emotions that plebes experience. Just like the admissions process the entire West Point experience is a "roller coaster" ride. There will be good times and bad, and with the help of your buddies and a lot of determination you will get through it all. A lot probably depends on how you choose to react to whatever is thrown at you. A good attitude always helps, but isn't always enough. Everyone has "gloom" periods.</p>
<p>Hi skirbyy - we posted at the same time.</p>
<p>"it's totally worth all the crap you go through" - that probably sums it up for most cadets.</p>
<p>the rooms at west point are much larger than we have here at marion for the record, we have no stalls for either type of toilet and the showers are free of any obstructions that might hinder our ability to clean ourselves</p>
<p>but we get to leave on weekends</p>
<p>The rooms (at least in MacArthur) are a LOT bigger than the dorm room my son had as a freshman at USC. I was surprised there was that much space. Granted there were two cadets in the room I saw (my daughter's)---three to a room would be a different matter!</p>
<p>Yup, three to a room is pretty tight, but then the plebes don't have the personal items that regular college students have in their rooms ;)</p>
<p>Three girls in a triple as a firstie...our room never looked clean, only because we all had so much stuff! but then again, we were firsties...no one really cared :) Three in a two as a plebe and that only worked because we didn't have anything, as other posters have said.</p>
<p>Voxist,</p>
<p>If you don't mind my asking, who was the TAC? My son's TAC was battling cancer a couple years ago and I haven't heard about him lately. He was one of the finest individuals my son has ever met and I sure would like to know how he is doing. You can PM me if you remember his name.</p>
<p>He was D2's TAC NCO.</p>
<p>That sounds right, I spent my time with D-4</p>