My son was awarded a USAFA appointment and also NROTC at a highly ranked and sought after college for NROTC, Purdue. He had an extremely difficult time choosing. His major is AE and he wants to fly. Has his private pilots now and his goal is a military pilot. He was denied by the USNA, his first love and choice. He will not re apply to USNA next year and doesn't see the benefit as the SA and NROTC would get him to the same spot in the end and he would have to re peat his first year if he did re apply. Purdue has been his dream college. Either way I told him his decision was a win win and at the end of the day no one cares what you chose and you are the one who has to live it, do it and complete it. Not me. Not your friends. Not the nay sayers who say what they want. YOU!
I first have to say my son has always had a passion for the Navy fleet and what the Navy stands for. He did not have that same passion for AF, however we went out for the visit and spent a lot of time with the right people. I hooked him up with a retired AF flight instructor who showed us the USAFA airport, it's planes and met the flying team and soaring coach at our visit. This is a protected area and no one can access without someone who has the clearances. The dorms nice and huge, the AE labs to die for and the grounds gorgeous. There were times he was dead set on going, then he would get confused cause all he saw was a SA. If it was the USNA, a no brainer. So after a few days away and sending him back to Purdue within the same week after our return so it was fresh, he talked to the NROTC group, toured the dorms, the grounds, the AE program with a one on one for the 2nd time. We had our first visit last year. He was told by the NROTC that only 10% of all kids who applied to NROTC were chose this year and that Purdue is highly ranked so do not take this opportunity lightly. We are here to help you succeed and will do all the paperwork and requirements to get to your goals with you-so the unit is a huge factor in his decision. He returned after that visit feeling much better about his choices and that he was making the right choice. His goal as I said is to fly. USAFA has many excellent opportunities to do that however they are not Navy and USAFA cannot offer a history of 100% success getting cadets into the pilot program. Of course that is if he is medically and visually qualified. His passion lies in Navy. The last thing I want for my son who has worked hard to be in this spot is to go into something half hearted and wonder what if. We even investigated cross commissioning and it was almost nearly impossible and just didn't feel like the right thing to do for him after all the USAFA would have given him. The USAFA retired pilot even flat out said this to him and to go with your heart.
My son realizes what a tremendous honor it is to be selected in to any service academy. He weighed the pros and cons of each USAFA and NROTC at Purdue. Both have exceptional academics in AE. NROTC at Purdue like the USAFA still has its professors teach the class and not TAs, they also have tutors hired just for their cadets. The classes are small and the labs fantastic. They have the same fleet of planes and better than the USAFA did for their flying team. He could still be on the flying team in his free time at Purdue and is trying out and realizes the rigors of his academics, flying, commitment to NROTC and Sunday cleaning the stadium are all now part of this choice. He realizes he will have a lot of outside influences impacting his decisions-drugs, alcohol, parties, girls etc. that he may not have had at the SA and he understands the consequences of those mistakes or distractions and how to use his time management skills wisely he has acquired. The other is NROTC at Purdue is extremely professional and organized, he just didn't feel that at the USAFA for cadets who wanted to be pilots and as I said Purdue has an excellent NROTC program, leaders and unit so that does matter.
The USAFA did tell the kids at our appointee tour visit over and over your first year will completely suck and you will want to quit every day but that is why we put you through that so you know how to make decisions under pressure as you learn to lead. I believe ROTC will do the same just maybe not to the exact same level and maybe he will need to teach his classmates how to shine their boots etc he has already learned from CAP that most kids won't know at ROTC and will definitely know at a SA. The other is where does he want to be when he graduates and someday will be leading and flying less as he ranks up. Purdue is not a shabby degree and sought after, maybe not the same caliber what a SA would but I have seen a co worker who went to the USAFA who hasn't done much with that and it hasn't open up many doors or created a higher salary as I would have thought. I also read that the CEO of Boeing went to ISU as a AE and Neil Armstrong went to Purdue as NROTC majoring in AE.....what it comes down to I told my son is opportunity is what you make of it. I hope you have seen that as where you are now making this win win choice vs your friends and class mates. But also my son asked if I would be upset he didn't pick the USAFA. I told him we have worked for this your whole life together (I am a single mom), and I know your heart, I hear the passion and excitement when you speak of the Navy. I know you have weighed the pros and cons, talked to people and researched this to the highest degree good, bad and ugly for both sides. But if your heart is not in it I do not want you there and I would be unhappy if you were not happy. I support your choice, I am proud of you for researching it all maturely and handed him a slip of paper I wrote on about a month ago when this decision weighing started that said 4-8-2016 you will chose Purdue. He hugged me and said thanks Mom. Gold wings for this kid all the way! Good luck!