Tom Cruise flying fighter jets in the long-awaited Top Gun sequel is enough to motivate even mildly patriotic high schoolers to consider trading a typical college experience for a service academy. If the United States Naval Academy, Military Academy, Air Force Academy, Coast Guard Academy or Merchant Marine Academy is on your radar this application season, here’s what you need to know.
SERVICE ACADEMIES: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
YOU’RE IN IT FOR THE LONG HAUL
Before you undertake the lengthy application process, make sure you are prepared to devote the better part of a decade to the armed forces. Not only will the four years of your college experience be dominated by military training; but, in exchange for providing you a full college scholarship, the academies also require you to make a minimum five-year commitment to their branch of the service upon graduation. It’s easy to be enamored by the squadrons of dress whites lining the Annapolis Bay or the Cessnas soaring over the Rockies. Before you proclaim your “need for SPEED,” do your research to understand the opportunities—and demands—in each branch of service. Be prepared to discuss in an interview why you want to commission into that part of the military, and where you’re interested in serving as an officer after graduation: is it submarine warfare in the navy? The corps of engineers in the army? Are you, in your heart of hearts, a soldier?
SERVICE ACADEMIES ARE STEM SCHOOLS
To meet the highly technical operational needs of the military, service academies have rigorous STEM curricular requirements. At USNA, all students graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree—even if they major in one of the very few non-STEM offerings like history—due to the intensive STEM core curriculum. At USAFA, two of the academy’s “institutional outcomes” prioritized for all cadets include application of engineering problem-solving methods and scientific reasoning and principles of science. The most competitive and well-prepared applicants have earned high scores in AP Chemistry, AP Physics, and AP Calculus B/C in addition to scoring 750+ on SAT math or 34+ on ACT math and science sections.
LEADERSHIP, TEAMWORK, AND PHYSICAL FITNESS ARE KEY
Service academy applicant pools are crawling with varsity team captains and standout athletes who are drawn to the highly physical and emotionally demanding nature of the military. While it’s not a prerequisite to have earned a varsity letter in high school, the academies require you to participate in at least one club, intramural, or varsity sport team throughout your four years of college. If you haven’t captained a high school sport, they’ll look for leadership titles in other arenas, such as class president or lead roles in musicals. You’ll be expected to discuss in an interview how you’ve worked in team settings, and how you’ve led a group of peers to navigate challenges. Not only is a physical fitness test a criterion for admission, but it’s also a bar that cadets and midshipmen must clear every semester for four years.
THE APPLICATION PROCESS IS LENGTHY AND COMPLEX
Start your service academy application process in the spring of your junior year and be aware that most applicants won’t receive official admissions decisions until April of their senior year.
Step one: Fill out the preliminary application (like this one for USNA) to verify your eligibility to apply. Rising seniors can also apply to attend a Summer Seminar at USNA or USAFA, Summer Leaders Experience at West Point, or Academy Introduction Mission at USCGA for a weeklong simulation of life at a service academy (applications open in Jan/Feb of your junior year). We strongly suggest pursuing these summer opportunities to gauge whether or not the military academy experience would be a good fit.
Step two: Start your application for a nomination. For most applicants, this nomination will come from one of your two U.S. Senators, your congressional representative, or the vice president. Others may qualify for a nomination as children of Medal of Honor Awardees or deceased, disabled, POW or MIA veterans, or from junior or senior ROTC units. The nomination application involves essays, letters of recommendation, and an interview.
Step three: Schedule your Department of Defense Medical Exam and familiarize yourself with the stringent standards and abundant disqualifying conditions, including eczema, severe acne, food allergies, cavities, and asthma. Those who are medically disqualified can file an appeal, a process which often takes until May of your senior year to be resolved.
Step four: When you’re feeling healthy and up to the challenge, complete the Candidate Fitness Assessment with your gym teacher or a military-approved proctor. Designed to measure your physical readiness for the service academies, the test involves a mile run, shuttle run, kneeling basketball throw, and a series of pull-ups, push-ups, and sit-ups.
Step five: Complete school-specific supplemental essays. Last year, for example, the USNA asked applicants to respond to the following prompt: “(1) Describe what led to your initial interest in the naval service and how the Naval Academy will help you achieve your long-range goals, and (2) Describe a personal experience you have had which you feel has contributed to your own character development and integrity.”
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IT’S NO WALK IN THE PARK
As you’ll experience if you attend a summer seminar, daily life at a military academy includes waking up at the crack of dawn for mandatory physical fitness training, showering and dressing within sixty seconds, drilling in formation, and generally doing a lot of push-ups with people yelling at you. You’ll have restrictions on what you can wear and where you can go during your very little free time. On top if it all, you’ll have highly demanding coursework and an obligation to serve in the military for five years after you graduate. If you’re still excited about service academies, kudos to you! You’re among the few and the proud (side note: if you’re a marine hopeful, you get commissioned through USNA).
CONSIDER ROTC, TOO
If you’re interested in complementing military preparation with a more “typical” college experience, you might consider applying for an NROTC or ROTC scholarship at a participating school (see army and navy schools). Here’s what you need to know:
- If you want to keep your scholarship after your first year of college, you’ll need to sign a contract committing to 5 years of active duty in the navy after graduation, or 8 years in the army.
- In exchange for tuition, room, and board, you’ll have several hours of mandatory physical training per week plus curricular requirements in calculus, physics, military science, and leadership.
- NROTC candidates must commit to a STEM major, but ROTC candidates have no major requirement.
- The (N)ROTC scholarship application is separate from each college’s application, but earning the scholarship can give you a bump into a more selective school as long as you are academically admissible to the school.
- Be sure to check which school hosts the (N)ROTC unit that interests you; if you want to do NROTC at Cornell or George Washington, for example, your unit will be right on campus. If you want to go to Brown and do NROTC, you’ll have to travel to Holy Cross. It’s important to consider the extra logistics, costs, and time that a cross-town unit would require.
Anita holds a BA in Philosophy from Princeton, where she is an alumni class officer and former interviewer, and an MA in English from Middlebury. At Princeton she also contributed her drive and competitiveness to the women’s lacrosse team, winning an NCAA Division I National Championship and three Ivy League Championships while earning national scholar-athlete academic distinction and the Connie McAllister athletic department award for “effort, selfless dedication, enthusiasm and heart.” She brings these qualities to her relationships with students as she helps to bring out the best in them.
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