'Best and brightest' article from hometownannapolis.com

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..................................and they are (according to you) recruiting lower performing poor white kids.........................
I neither said nor implied this. Please read my statement again.
All I said was that in certain areas where lower SATS than historica cutoffs are common, a candidate now has an opportunity for the remainder of his package to be scrutinized. And I have never heard of one of these candidates being 'recruited', merely allowed to stay in the competition. The high WPM wins out in the end regardless.
 
This is where disagree. According to the USNA:
"The mission of the Naval Academy Preparatory School is to prepare selected candidates morally, mentally, and physically, with emphasis on strengthening the academic foundation of individual candidates for officer accession through the U.S. Naval Academy."
Really, nothing to disagree about. I agree with this statement completely. It is a mission statement, how they do it. My input was who they do it to. Perhaps this is where we disagree.
 
Any BGO's out there counseling these 10,000 white applicants about the "real" Navy, or is this one of the reasons it required a Freedom of Information Act request to pry these numbers from the USNA?
Really nothing to counsel about. For each and every one of the 600 or so congressional nominations, either the most qualified or the one selected by the MOC himself gets in. That 30 or 40 more districts send appointments means the national pool is slightly lower but it was a bonus to those candidates in the past who could utilize national pool slots made open by underutilized districts, not a right. Perhaps a few more decreases in the national pool due to newly increased SecNav appointments out of NAPS, but none affecting the MOCs primary/principal nomination process.

Selection for NAPS has always been a crap shoot and no candidate should ever count on it.
 
These Mids would have to be quite exceptional.
One of the first lessons learned at USNA and reinforced daily until one leaves the Navy is teamwork and helping others along. About day two of plebe summer one of the first laws of the Navy that they learn is that the chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Everyone brings something to the table evenif it is only being the s**t screen, deflecting everything from the upper class so everyone else can do their job. Helping someone in academics will be paid back over the years tenfold.
 
One of the first lessons learned at USNA and reinforced daily until one leaves the Navy is teamwork and helping others along. About day two of plebe summer one of the first laws of the Navy that they learn is that the chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Everyone brings something to the table evenif it is only being the s**t screen, deflecting everything from the upper class so everyone else can do their job. Helping someone in academics will be paid back over the years tenfold.

At West Point, the phrase is "cooperate and graduate."
 
First off, to work completely within the framework of existing law, completely above board, the forty or so Congressional districts which had historically not provided candidates to the Academy were targeted. Qualified candidates were located, recruited, and admitted as their district's most competitive candidate. This has been the source of the majority of the increase. Nothing two tracked at all about it.

Call me a skeptic, but unless USNA releases admissions data (the forty congressional districts which had historically not provided candidates to the Academy and number of candidates from those district) to support such claim I don't believe it. It briefs well, that doesn't mean it is true.

A thing for you to consider, all of MD's Congressional districts are well represented in SAs, however several MD Congressional districts encompasses Baltimore City and PG. By my tracking (I could be wrong), not much success to locate qualified candidates, recruit, and admitt them from Baltimore City and PG by USMA. I know I should do more outreach in the inner city school, but I get more skeptical everytime I visited an inner city school.
 
Okay - how many minorities are non-recruited athletes?
It took a Freedom of Information Act request by a newspaper to get the stats that were in the article. I'm not sure if what you are asking is published anywhere or whether a call to the USNA will get an answer. If you find out please share with the rest of us.
 
I am just curious since most of the discussions seem to lump recruited athletes and minorities together which makes an assumption.
 
The data, obtained under FOIA request by The Annapolis Capital, is shown below for those who are interested in the truth. The proof of a two-tiered system is right here:

SAT score averages by ethnicity, who attends NAPS, and a timeline graph on minorities admitted


Admission statistics by ethnicity for the classes of 2012-14

:cool:

I am curious as to why only two minority groups (Hispanics and African Americans) are featured in these stats....where are the Pacific Islanders, the Asians....?? Are the other minority groups lumped in with Caucasians?
 
I am just curious since most of the discussions seem to lump recruited athletes and minorities together which makes an assumption.
What assumption?
The 300-member NAPS Class of 2011 (Naval Academy Class of 2015) contained 190 minority students and 110 recruited athletes, with some individuals being counted in both categories, according to Naval Academy documents.

For the Naval Academy Classes of 2009-2013, 312 African Americans entered the Naval Academy, 180 (58 percent) of whom came through NAPS, according to documents obtained under FOIA.
 
IMHO, it should say "recruited money-generating sport athletes." There is a huge difference in how hard they work to get in a football player verses say....a diver. :thumb:
 
I am curious as to why only two minority groups (Hispanics and African Americans) are featured in these stats....where are the Pacific Islanders, the Asians....?? Are the other minority groups lumped in with Caucasians?
How did the author of the article respond to these questions when you wrote him?
 
My son, an African American, was admitted directly to the Academy with the Class of 2013 (and as I see on the stats only 1 of 40 African Americans). He was a non-recruited athlete with good SAT scores, graduated in the top 7% of his high school class, had a nomination from one of our State Senators (who was a former Secretary of the Navy). Our son, like most applicants, was a Varsity athlete in high school (football and baseball). Like most MIDS, it was his dream to attend the Naval Academy. He was a leader in and out of school. He is a Group II major. He does play a Varsity sport at the Academy in addition to maintaining an excellent GPA. He was nominated as a Midshipman of the Quarter and is a leader in one of the campus organizations.

One of his roommates is also an African Amercian. Extremely good student in a Group II major. Went to a private prep school. Was not a recruited athlete but plays a Varsity sport.

Another of my son's classmates, an African American, is a Group I major and doing quite well. Fine leader. Also, not a recruited athlete. Plays a Varsity sport though.

Just wanted to put a little bit of a face on three of the 40 African Americans admitted with the Class of 2013.

So proud of these fine young men.
 
The ONLY reason athletes were brought into the subject, was because it was being implied that JUST LIKE MINORITIES, athletes are held to a different application standard than the "Rest" of applicants; and that if they want an athlete bad enough, and their application isn't really strong enough, they will put them into the Prep School; thus pretty much assuring them the following year of an appointment. There is no correlation; nor any implied; that athletes were ALSO minorities. Simply that there are 2 groups "Supposedly" that make up the bulk of prep school slots. 1) Minorities that don't have good enough stats to get in on their own; and 2) Athletes that the academy wants, but don't have good enough stats to get in on their own.

Visitor: You really need to get that work "ROSTER" out of your head. The roster means absolutely NOTHING. There are about 60 FRESHMEN, DOOLIES, NOOBIES, POS, SLIME, whatever we want to call them this year; that have been offered an "INITIAL" spot on the Falcon Football Team. The Falcon football team is made up of Varsity (D1-A) and Jr-Varsity. The Bulk of Freshmen, Doolies, etc.... will play on the Jr-Varsity team. Just like a traditional college won't play a TRUE FRESHMAN, they will make them a Red-Shirt. Well, the Air Force academy takes their Freshmen, and puts them on Jr-Varsity for a year.

Now; out of these 60 freshmen, you showed 13 went to the prep school. I'll buy that number. Well, when they receive their appointment, and become freshmen, they are a year older, have an extra year of football experience, are usually bigger/stronger, etc... They are generally "Ready" to go straight to the Varsity (D1-A) team. That's why 13 were on your "ROSTER" that you have a hangup on. That's the difference between a traditional school having a "True Freshman" and a "Red-shirt Freshman". So, you're looking at about 20% of the incoming freshmen football recruits, having gone to the prep school. Unfortunately, you don't see that 80% of the freshman class DIDN'T go to the prep-school. You also don't see that unlike a "Scholarship Player" on a traditional school, there are no guarantees for an athlete. There are plenty of recruited athletes that are on the team, and are cut before, during, and/or after the very first season. There are some that are cut the 2nd year, 3rd year, even going into their senior year. Not every recruited athlete; even from the prep-school; stays on the team. Unlike the traditional schools, if you are cut from the team, or you quit the team, you are STILL A CADET and will eventually graduate and become a commissioned officer.

Yes, you are going to see that pretty much ALL the freshmen on the "ROSTER" came from the prep school. They have a year up and more experience compared to the other freshmen coming out of high school. There's no need for them to go to the JV team.

Now; what really matters, is the same thing that is being discussed about minorities. Are their GPA's, SAT's, etc... considerably lower that most applicants? Are they attending the prep-school because there's no other way they'll get accepted, or because they are lacking in a particular area, that the purpose of the prep-school is there specifically for. "Speculation is NOT ALLOWED". I know too many athletes that have graduated and have moved on to medical school, grad school, pilot training, and many other advanced educational opportunities. Some of these started out at the prep school. Therefor; if you want to go research, then you find me the air force athlete at the prep school who had a 2.X gpa. Who had a 4XX Sat or 20 ACT. The air force got into a lot of trouble a few years back for making the prep-school a "Farm Club" for athletics. I'm not saying the prep school students are perfect; but I don't believe the air force has gone back to the very thing that got their butt pulled over the coals; filling the prep-school with athletes and minorities that can't get in normally. Remember: Prep-school candidates still have to get nominations when they apply. While their chances are excellent for receiving an appointment, which it is, that still depends on them receiving a nomination. Same with the minorities.
 
So proud of these fine young men.
And well you should be.:thumb: IMHO - we need more candidates like your son. And if the USNA would appoint (and could find) more like him we probably wouldn't have this thread. Well maybe we'd still have to discuss the lowering of standards for recruited athletes.:wink:
 
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Call me a skeptic, but unless USNA releases admissions data (the forty congressional districts which had historically not provided candidates to the Academy and number of candidates from those district) to support such claim I don't believe it. It briefs well, that doesn't mean it is true.

A thing for you to consider, all of MD's Congressional districts are well represented in SAs, however several MD Congressional districts encompasses Baltimore City and PG. By my tracking (I could be wrong), not much success to locate qualified candidates, recruit, and admitt them from Baltimore City and PG by USMA. I know I should do more outreach in the inner city school, but I get more skeptical everytime I visited an inner city school.
Perhaps you ought to latch onto the coattails of Congressman Elijah Cummings, MD 7th District. He seems quite adept in finding qualified candidates for USNA in inner city Baltimore. Since he is also on the USNA Board of Visitors, his hand is probably in the drive to recruit the historically underrepresented dsistricts. Yes, it has been well documented. Or at least it was until Academy officials discovered that the rest of the world might not be as excited as they were about ensuring that all congressional districts were afforded equal opportunity in representation to USNA.
 
Perhaps you ought to latch onto the coattails of Congressman Elijah Cummings, MD 7th District. He seems quite adept in finding qualified candidates for USNA in inner city Baltimore. Since he is also on the USNA Board of Visitors, his hand is probably in the drive to recruit the historically underrepresented dsistricts. Yes, it has been well documented. Or at least it was until Academy officials discovered that the rest of the world might not be as excited as they were about ensuring that all congressional districts were afforded equal opportunity in representation to USNA.

I specifically know these stats!!!! Each year the seventh district has about 10 applicants from its portion of Baltimore City and Baltimore County. The other 30 come from the portion of Howard County. (Howard county is consitently ranked in the top three of the best places to live, including public schools, in the COUNTRY)

Also some insider knowledge told me that this year Senator Mikulski nominated most of the "qualified" candidates from the city.
 
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