USNA or USAFA?

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pkelly6

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After an academy day session, my daughter is now giving Air Force some thought. Someone mentioned easier as a female to get into USAFA vs USNA. Thoughts?
 
PKelly, I think its great she is exploring her options, but regardless of ease or difficulty getting into one or the other, it is about what she would be happiest doing. I am sure some of the BGOs can give stats about differences between the two academies much better than I could ever dream of. I am guessing percentage wise the schools are about the same. But, it is not about that. More than anything she needs to really evaluate does she want to serve in the Air Force or Navy/Marine Corps? If she thinks the idea of being a ship for 6 months is the worst thing she could ever imagine (and not just as a SWO... pilots, Marines and a ton of other people go on ships without being SWOs), Navy may not be the right place. What is she leaning towards service selecting (obviously this can and does change)? One of the great parts of Navy (obviously I am biased towards Navy!) is there are so many service selection options between the Navy and Marine Corps. What does she want to major in, is it offered at one or the other, or both? And most importantly when/if she visits both schools, which one did she feel at home at? If she plans to play a sport at the varsity or club level, does one school have it or not? A better team at one or the other? A coach she prefers? These are all things that should be the most important factors when selecting a SA to attend.
 
That is exactly what I told her. What's important is where she wants to serve and begin her career. I was just curious about the validity of the statement made to me.
 
As for any candidate to any SA, the difficulty of gaining admission varies a LOT by state/Congressional district. Some states rarely have many applicants, others may have dozens (or even hundreds) of people competing for spots, so I think it's hard to generalize country-wide that one is harder than the other.

Both USNA and USAFA report having ~20% females in the student population.
 
I have a daughter at USAFA, whose roommate from Summer Seminar several years ago is at Navy. My DD only went to USAFA SS but this other gal went to both. I think there are many variables to consider. Obviously what you want to major in, and the EC's that are available are important. Where at USNA I think there is more of a concentration of water based programs, at USAFA there are many air related programs. In this past year my daughter has gotten her soaring wings and jump wings. My DD is not really a water person, I know the swimming requirement is less at USAFA than at USNA from comments from her SS roommate. Funny though my DS who is applying this year is a competitive swimmer, but his total end goal is to serve his country flying heavies (cargo aircraft). So, while USNA is on his radar, his real goal is USAFA. So, IMO it really depends on what your daughters end goal is.:thumb:
 
Don't be surprised if she changes her mind a couple of times. The summer seminar visits tend to tip the decision to the final choice.

We still laugh about our daughters reactions after attending both.

The Navy pushed the kids hard and kind of beat the snot out of them a bit. SeaTrials were run by Seals her year and she came home with wet cloths that were full of sand and smelled bad. She was tired and brusied a bit. She loved it!

Next week was Air Force. Did a lot of fun things but her comment was it felt like summer camp. In her mind Navy was where the action was and now she understood why the Mids called it the "Chair Force Academy"

Today we have a Marine 2nd LT
 
I am also deciding between USNA and USAFA. I went to NASS and the one thing I most loved about it was the sense of community and I expect to find that to be the same at USAFA. USAFA is my first choice because like NavyHoops said, I am one of those individuals who would find it horrible to be stuck on a ship for 6 months. However, if I do not get accepted to USAFA and I do get accepted to USNA, then the likelihood that I go to USNA is about 70% because I consider the collective benefits I get from even going to an academy and in particular the Naval Academy. Some of these benefits are that I'd have a greater chance to fly planes in the Navy that I would in the Air Force and the second benefit is that I would still be living the type of lifestyle and in the same community as I would be at any Academy.
 
MIDNDAD said:
Don't be surprised if she changes her mind a couple of times. The summer seminar visits tend to tip the decision to the final choice.

We still laugh about our daughters reactions after attending both.

The Navy pushed the kids hard and kind of beat the snot out of them a bit. SeaTrials were run by Seals her year and she came home with wet cloths that were full of sand and smelled bad. She was tired and brusied a bit. She loved it!

Next week was Air Force. Did a lot of fun things but her comment was it felt like summer camp. In her mind Navy was where the action was and now she understood why the Mids called it the "Chair Force Academy"

Today we have a Marine 2nd LT
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I think most USAFA cadets would take offense to your "Chair Force Academy" Statement. Not only do they do the AFT and PFT at an altitude of over 7000', they do not get any compensation for the altitude as do permanent party, they don't even take the same test as permanent party, it is considerably harder. I am not taking anything away from USNA, just saying more than a few would disagree. Whereas it may have been easier at Summer Seminar, there is absolutely nothing easy about BCT 1 and BCT 2. I would never mock any service academy, unless you've walked more than several miles in their boots. I am sure they all have their strengths and weaknesses. I am sure every summer is just a little bit different, in fact I know they are as I have now had two of my children go through it. It depends on the class(C2C's or C1C's) that is in charge of running the show.
 
I struggled with this same decision last year. When I started the application, I was 100 USAFA, but USNA kept sending me stuff about NASS. I finally just decided to apply, and I got into NASS, but not USAFASS. When I left NASS, I was Navy 100% for all of the reaons listed above. They pushed us hard, and I had bruises in places I didn't know you could get bruises in. I was sore for the next week after going through Sea Trials. With that being said, I am now a C4C at USAFA. I went through and tried to list the pros and cons of both academies, as well as the life after th academies. For me, what decided it was this: what is the one fun thing you get to do during BCT/Plebe Summer? This is the academies way of showing off some of their programs, and it is the first thing you get to do pertaining to the service, and not just the beatings of BCT/ Plebe Summer. At USAFA, you get to fly a glider and spend a day at the airfield. At USNA, you get to go out on sail boats and go around the bay for a while. While flying is my ultimate goal, and both have that as an option, it is what the Air Force does, not what the Navy focuses on.

There are subtle differences between the academies and how they are run. With that being said, it is not the academy that is the end goal. It is the commission and the service to our country. If I had a promised cross-commission, I would have probably gone to USNA and crossed over to USAFA, simply because I loved the USNA campus so much. This place has grown on me for sure, but USNA is just simply amazing and nobody can take that away from it. With all of this being said, just remember, it is the end service, not the Academy that the decision should be based on because the Academy is simply a 4 year stop in the greater adventure.
 
cadet15 said:
I struggled with this same decision last year. When I started the application, I was 100 USAFA, but USNA kept sending me stuff about NASS. I finally just decided to apply, and I got into NASS, but not USAFASS. When I left NASS, I was Navy 100% for all of the reaons listed above. They pushed us hard, and I had bruises in places I didn't know you could get bruises in. I was sore for the next week after going through Sea Trials. With that being said, I am now a C4C at USAFA. I went through and tried to list the pros and cons of both academies, as well as the life after th academies. For me, what decided it was this: what is the one fun thing you get to do during BCT/Plebe Summer? This is the academies way of showing off some of their programs, and it is the first thing you get to do pertaining to the service, and not just the beatings of BCT/ Plebe Summer. At USAFA, you get to fly a glider and spend a day at the airfield. At USNA, you get to go out on sail boats and go around the bay for a while. While flying is my ultimate goal, and both have that as an option, it is what the Air Force does, not what the Navy focuses on.

There are subtle differences between the academies and how they are run. With that being said, it is not the academy that is the end goal. It is the commission and the service to our country. If I had a promised cross-commission, I would have probably gone to USNA and crossed over to USAFA, simply because I loved the USNA campus so much. This place has grown on me for sure, but USNA is just simply amazing and nobody can take that away from it. With all of this being said, just remember, it is the end service, not the Academy that the decision should be based on because the Academy is simply a 4 year stop in the greater adventure.
Click to expand...

There's an exchange program you can do your junior year if your qualified. You spend the semester at another service academy and do everything their cadets/mids do.
 
kdc246 said:
I think most USAFA cadets would take offense to your "Chair Force Academy" Statement. Not only do they do the AFT and PFT at an altitude of over 7000', they do not get any compensation for the altitude as do permanent party, they don't even take the same test as permanent party, it is considerably harder. I am not taking anything away from USNA, just saying more than a few would disagree. Whereas it may have been easier at Summer Seminar, there is absolutely nothing easy about BCT 1 and BCT 2. I would never mock any service academy, unless you've walked more than several miles in their boots. I am sure they all have their strengths and weaknesses. I am sure every summer is just a little bit different, in fact I know they are as I have now had two of my children go through it. It depends on the class(C2C's or C1C's) that is in charge of running the show.
Click to expand...

Zoomies do in fact NOT like the phrase Chair Force.... or Air Farce....


That's said, let's not suggest that the Naval Academy is "hardcore" or anything like that. Some of the posts would suggest that. Not the case.
 
First of all, anyone that makes it into any of the service academies is someone special.

That said, the inter- service academy rivalries are alive and well.

http://byufan.net/date/2007/10/page/2/

The attached link is a picture of one of the best pranks pulled off by Naval Academy Midshipman who were on exchange at the AF Academy in 2007. One of my daughters best friends was part of the crew that pulled this off and the planning and execution that went into it is a great story.

Go Navy! Beat Air Force!

Crash them Zoomies!
 
pkelly6 said:
After an academy day session, my daughter is now giving Air Force some thought. Someone mentioned easier as a female to get into USAFA vs USNA. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

You've already got some good advice so I'll be brief.

For a family life - the Air Force is much better than the Navy.

For career options, the Navy is far more diversified with many more options. One can advance through the ranks in just about any community. In the Air Force, you're either a pilot or you're not. Although the Air Force types would never admit it - but you're a second class citizen if you're not a pilot.
 
You may have some "wings" on your blouse but if they aren't pilot you are second class. See Navigator, FAC, ATC, Aircrew Officer, Aircrew Enlisted, Flight Nurse etc..:rolleyes:
 
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USAFA orUSNA

The family life does seem to be better from USAFA post gracuation. Keep in mind although the ratios for both Academies are approximately 20% women. More women seem to apply to USAFA, at least that holds true for our region. That being said, it is the “best of the best” at either Academy and admission just got harder the mandate to lower class size.
 
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