Graduation: What to expect

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majortheta

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Let's say for the sake of discussion that I am appointed to the Naval Academy and I survive/thrive the four years there. Graduation is coming up. What should I expect in the months leading up to and the months after graduation?
 
I think some of this information -- at least the part after graduation -- has been discussed before. Try searching under service selection, post graduation, careers, etc. If that doesn't answer the mail, if you re-phrase the question so it isn't so broad, that might help in a better answer (i.e. USMC service selection? SWO? Naval Aviation? etc).
 
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times".:shake: And you get that Ring Nocker Ring.
 
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I think graduation is lifelong highlight for most grads. It's a whole week of great events culminating in a celebration of achievement with all of your classmates who've been along with you for the ride.

The time leading up to graduation is fairly busy. You take final exams, pack up your stuff, make arrangements to live wherever you will be going next, fill out lots of paperwork. Get whatever new uniforms you might need and what "household" stuff you might need. You then have a bit of time off before Commissioning Week. As noted, it's a week of lots of great events and, in between, plenty of free time to spend with friends and relatives.

After graduation, you have a month off. Most people travel but you can do whatever you want to do. After that . . . well, as noted, lots of prior threads on schools, etc.
 
It's an awesome feeling finally getting that commission. Hands down, one of the best days of my life. I still can barely stop myself from smiling just thinking about how great it felt to toss that cover into the air and get my first salute.

...And then less than 24 hours later you're just another clueless Ensign/Second Lieutenant and the real hard work starts.
 
Concur with what was said above. I think between Spring Break and graduation my firstie year was some of the most fun I ever had. Academically we were all solid, we knew our futures, we were excited and anxious for what was to come. I think we spent nearly every night drinking, but hey it was fun! Graduation week is a culmination of 4 years of hard work. You want to share that with family and friends and your classmates. They made us stay in the hall the night before graduation and I remember all of us being thankful for the brief reprieve from all of our families and a chance to just hang out and catch our breathes. Once graduation hit and the parties finished that night, it was on to wedding after wedding that week. Most of us traveled and got settled in new locations during our leave. Service assignment will dictate what those few months after graduation will look like. SWOs go to the fleet, most go to school for a quite awhile. Tons of threads on this.

Hurricane.... I thought the same thing until two things happened at TBS. I was on duty like day 2 of TBS and a new 2ndLt showed up and didn't know how to report to the Officer of the Day. And then my room mate showed up and said, "Wow! This is so much more military than I ever expected." I felt ok about my level of cluelessness after that!
 
One other thing about graduation . . . as we were lining up to go into the stadium, one of the officers organizing us said the following: "Look around. This is the last time you'll ever be together as a class."

Most of us were so anxious to get into the stadium and get our diplomas that we didn't really pay attention to those words. After all, we'd been together as a class for four years. What was one more time?

It wasn't until about a year later, when one of my classmates was killed in an accident, that those words hit home. You spend four years together as a class, together at so many events. You don't really think about graduation being the last.

So, take the extra second and look around at all of those who made it through right along with you.:thumb:
 
This is some good information. I am more interested in knowing what the few weeks before and after graduation are like. What caused me to ask this was that I read on the USAFA website that they have 60 days of paid leave after graduation. I was mainly asking about those sorts of logistics.
 
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