Challenges of evaluating from the west coast

SGTLee

SGTLee

5-Year Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2014
Messages
196
Greetings to all and I am so glad I found this forum. I am former enlisted US Army and have a 17yr old who is a strong candidate for a military academy. He attends an all male private college prep high school, honors classes with 3.6 GPA, active US Sea Cadet, SAT's are TBD but he has a prep tutor and initial scores are solid but not out of this world, community servant, letters in wrestling, really strong letters of recommendation from high ranking enlisted/officers in the Navy, and he feels drawn to Navy or Coast Guard but is open to others. With all this, I do believe the federal academies are still a longshot from all I've researched (we live in a massive district in SoCal with tons of prospects) and we're seriously exploring the military college tract (VMI, Citadel, TAMU, Noriwch, UNG). We all feel that a military college/academy would be much more of an experience for him than ROTC in a public university. I've called all the private/public academies and while are were very cordial, I just can't get a good feel from 3K miles away. None seem to have any presence out west or recruiting effort (and there are some great kids out here that just do not have the visibility into these academies). I've had to hunt, scour, "invite myself" to small alumni lunches, called alumni through referrals, but to arrange visits from VT all the way down to SC is expensive and unrealistic right now. This forum is like a lifeline and I appreciate it so I have two questions - (1) Can someone decipher the terms used in here (ie DS, DM, etc)..sorry to ask but I couldn't find a reference and (2) Anyone know of these academies (VMI, Citadel, Norwich, etc) having rep's anywhere in California (we're in Orange County). I really want my son to continue speaking/exploring and it would helpful if we could make that connection, keep in touch, and then arrange those visits this summer or spring break. Also curious if they recruit for sports as he may be a prospect for their program? Thanks all as we used to say at Fort Jackson..Victory starts here!!
 
the President of The Citadel Club of Orange County/LA is Dave Smith '89, email is david@smithandsmithproperties.com (818) 992-7712
I'm an alumni rep in the DC/Baltimore area but would be glad to provide any info you need, PM me for contact info.
 
Sgt Lee: You can find the list of Alumni recruiters for VMI at this link: http://admissions.vmi.edu/contact/alumni-contacts/#toggle-id-5. In Orange County there are at least two recruiters:
(Michael Soares `75- Orange County 949-706-0248 & John J. Burgess, Jr. '67 -Mission Viejo 714-588-8801 )
Additionally there are several more in Southern LA County, as well as Riverside and La Jolla, so there are definitely Alumni recruiters near you who will be able to help you and would be happy to do so- feel free to call one. Finally - feel free to PM me with your questions about VMI and I will be happy to help out.

It sounds like you are interested in one of the sea services- I would suggest that you should also look into Cal Maritime in Vallejo- (across the bay from SF). Excellent program at an instate school- no small financial consideration.
https://www.csum.edu/web/about

Good luck
 
Thank you both Bob and Bruno. I will contact those individuals as well and get my son in the loop. Bruno - we did actually investigate the Cal Maritime Academy and so far have not found it to be very appealing aside from the focus on maritime services and tuition. As with any son/daughter, their direction may change in college and my boy seems to favor a more structured environment with additional branch options. Cal Maritime has a "mixed" reputation from what I've gathered so far but that does not necessarily rule it out. In addition, my son would like to continue his wrestling in college and Cal Maritime has no such program. Again, not the end of the world but something to consider. Thanks gentlemen.
 
Bob - I am new to this board and apparently I can not PM until I have a few more posts. If you can PM me, that'd be great and I'll respond. I'll also contact Mr. Williams. Thx.

Geoff
 
SGT Lee: Also, if your son is interested in wrestling in college, have him e-mail the coaches at these colleges/academies now. Due to NCAA rules, there is a limit to how the coaches can respond, etc, but if it is currently wrestling season on the West coast (as it is here in the NE), you can at least get on their radar and keep them updated on how his season is going.
My son contacted coaches(soccer) from many of the colleges he was interested in for ROTC, and also USMA. We were in contact with them from his Junior year on, and this year (his Senior year) we regularly sent updates during the season, and then updates as sectional, regional and state awards came in. For most sports the student can call the coach their Junior year, but the coach cannot initiate contact. You can send e-mails, videos, etc also. Even if you are not sure he is ultimately going to be interested tin that college, contact the coach anyhow-you want as many possibilities as you can find. It is a tiring process, especially if it is not a local school. We also spent time (and money!!!!) the summer before his Senior year travelling to camps at a few of the schools.
Good luck!
 
STG Lee,
There is an acronym list under the Community Information and Feed back section of the Forum. I will PM you a contact of a parent of a current Norwich Cadet and I am checking to find out if there is a Norwich Representative in Orange County. There is a college fair April 27th at the OC Convention Center and Norwich will be represented there. The contact I know will be there 1:30-4:30pm.
 
In addition, Norwich sometimes offers to fly highly qualified students that have been accepted but not committed to Norwich to visit campus, attend classes and stay with a Rook for 2 night. At least they did that for DS in 2011. Norwich paid for the trip. My son did have a 4 yr AROTC scholarship to several schools, so maybe that's why. SGT Lee, I sent you a PM with an Orange County contact.
 
Sergeant,
If your son is a HS junior, be sure to take him on some trips to look at schools. Your son will learn more about the school than he ever could on-line. My wife, kid and I visited schools from Gonzaga, to San Diego State to the US Coast Guard Academy, and many schools in-between. My kid has been able to narrow his wish list while actually walking the terrain. Yes, it can get expensive, but it's still much cheaper than him spending a year at the wrong college.

On a side note... you mentioned Ft Jackson. When I was a young LT right out of school, I spent some time at Ft Jackson. I frequented what the locals called "Five Points". Had I not just graduated college, I would have definately applied to the University of South Carolina there in Columbia. I learned right away that some of the prettiest girls in the world go to school there. Surely you told your kid about the University of SC, right?
 
West coaster

We are in CA as well. Our boys sound similar. Cal maritime is the only Ca school my DS applied to. We went to the norwich meeting about 6 months ago. Nice thing is that for attending, they waived the application fee. Norwich will fly your son out for a visit if he is accepted. My DS found their corps of cadets to be more army than his preferred navy. He did like the campus though and some of the programs they offered. We have managed to take our son back east not with visits. It was a TON of driving. One trip he visited USNA, Virginia tech, and VMI. Most recently we visited USMMA, Norwich, and CGA. All visits have been a strain financially, but very eye opening for our son. He was glad to have visited as it changed his mind on a few if the schools. One thing he did mention, is that the visits that included shadowing a student were more worth the trip than the ones where he just visited the campus.

As we look forward to sending our boy back east for college, one of the factors we have been considering is the cost of transportation. It's a little different flying back and forth multiple times a year than just driving.

As for coaches, your son needs to contact them. There are usually questionnaires to fill out on the school's website. My son also followed up with email if the coach didn't contact him.
 
Thanks Heyriddle..I am going to note that college fair and attend with my son. Will also contact the folks referenced on here for more info. Invariably, I know we need to visit and just a bit concerned about breaking the budget flying/driving across the east coast. Interesting about Norwich offering a fly/stay opportunity and I'll explore that as well. Also, I did get a lesson in coach contact and now that my son is a junior, we are chatting with one or two. Seems like the dialogue has been positive and moving along in parallel with our research.
 
SGT - to PM just click on the persons name and a page will open up. To check messages click on the link in the upper right hand of the page that says "private messages".
 
Also if your son is interested in the Coast Guard Academy then I would recommend calling them and asking who your local Academy Admissions Partner (AAP) is. AAP's are often alumni and are available to talk and answer questions. They are located all over the US.

Sent using the Service Academy Forums® mobile app
 
Also, you mentioned UNG. If you have questions, CoachBart is a great UNG resource and can offer info about wrestling too. It's an all-Army school though.
 
We are in the same boat, we live in Washington state. DS was able to visit The Citadel for an overnight but I'm not sure if we will be able to swing additional visits to other schools he is interested in. In addition to financial reasons, finding the time is difficult and will require sacrifices, besides how busy he is with school and EC's, my husband and I have commitments as well. I really wish we had planned ahead better.
 
meh, I don't think you can ever really plan ahead for something like this. We live in the NE, so some of the schools DS (HS senior and youngest of 4) wanted to visit were "relatively" close, but still 6 - 7 hours drive. I think the only reason we really had time and were able to fit it in is because he is the youngest and the other 3 were out of the house and did not need carting around! For the older 3, when they visited school, if they were far, it became our spring break vacation. Oh how I look forward to a "real" vacation this spring!
 
Thanks everyone

Apparently I need to post one more time to be able to send PM's. Sigh. Lawman, message received and will respond privately. In regards to the USCG partners program, that's great to hear but I can't seem to find the actual list of "regional" contacts on their website. Any help there? Also, and please bear with me, but the UNG contact for sports, CoachBart, is that his username in this forum or? From what I can tell, UNG does not offer wrestling and any help would be appreciated.

Thank you!
SGT Lee
 
Rats, happened again, lost the long PM. Gotta run now but will try to resurrect it in a day or two. Lawman
 
Roger that. No worries and looking forward to hearing back. Thanks again to all!
 
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