Transition from Civilian College to Academy

I was just wondering how well students from civilian colleges transition into the Naval Academy. I feel that most NAPSters and Foundation students would know each other already, and kids straight out of high school have kids their own age. I feel like kids who reapplied after 1, 2, or 3 years of college might be left out in the blue. Can anyone chime in? If any previous appointees had this situation and had a great time at Annapolis, please say it!

not true

Concur with Pat... not true at all. For one, regular college is absolutely nothing like the Academy in any way. As you can see from the stats of previous classes there are tons of Mids who come from a variety of high school programs, home schooling, Prep schools (and no not every prep school kid knows each other), NAPS, previous college experience, and prior enlisted. Common interests and personalities are more of a driving factor in who gets along with who more than age. You can walk the halls of Bancroft today and see a cross section of all these groups rooming with one another and best friends. Heck its not like Plebe Year folks are going out and sharing a beer and talking about "back in their college days." Actually I would probably say the more people reference back to their college days, prep days and NAPS days it would probably get old and be a factor in bonding with classmates. The bottom line is regardless of background... you are all going through the same thing at the moment at that is equal playing field for the whole thing.

acemaverick said:

I was just wondering how well students from civilian colleges transition into the Naval Academy.

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DD's roommate spent a year at a civilian college. We got to spend the last 10 days with her and she didn't report (or appear to have) any issues fitting in socially, emotionally or academically.

Bottom line: cherish that appointment should it come; you’ll do fine.

Plebe Summer will even the playing field.

I had a candidate with 2 full years of college attend USNA. Did extremely well.

From the mids I know personally, people who go to a year of college usually perform better than kids straight out of high school and have very few problems fitting in. Only if they make it an issue ("Back at A&M we did this better...") does it become an issue.
One of our new plebes spent two years at a (very prestigious!) civilian school before coming to I-day and is doing fine.

I have a sponsor mid who had been recruited initially by USNA, wasn't sure the fit was right, went to civilian university, knocked forehead on desk saying what was I thinking, applied to USNA, got in, is doing superbly in all areas. Had done well in college courses, had experience living away from family and home, and had the additional maturity to fit in with the SA life. Sure, the "lifestyle" was different, but once you know you want immersion military and the commissioning goalpost is in sight, then everything falls into place in terms of transition.

During the last admissions cycle the Academy called one of the people who wrote a letter of recommendation for me and the only questions they asked were regarding my age and if they believed my age would lead me to having problems with taking orders ect. After that incident I almost feel like having the college experience and being on my own has counted against me in terms of admissions.

just in case you are wondering, I have never been in any trouble with the law, nor was I ever disciplined in school at ANY time. Have been working since I was 16 and supporting myself since I was 18. I think that the academy is worried that having the experience of being on your own makes you less malleable...which is really unfortunate because I think that the experience has made me 100% more confident in my abilities and in what I can bring to the Naval Academy and to the service.