Prep School Story

I get tired reading these stories of "news" about things that happened several years past. Why not a story about athletes the excel in academics, leadership and their sport? The Academy is aware of the issues and are making efforts to fix them. I am frustrated with those who promote their biased agenda as impartial news.
 
I get tired reading these stories of "news" about things that happened several years past. Why not a story about athletes the excel in academics, leadership and their sport? The Academy is aware of the issues and are making efforts to fix them. I am frustrated with those who promote their biased agenda as impartial news.

It *is* tiresome to read these things, but you can't close your eyes to them, either. Being aware of problems, or potential problems allows you to nip it in the bud before it becomes an issue. I also suspect the article is written now because there are plans in place to fix the problems. How much worse would it be to read something with no answer to the problem?

-- Proud Mom to 2018 USAFA cadet
 
At least some of the 8 Sept 2014 article seems CURRENT.
The school provides about a fifth of cadets entering the academy and a big share of its top athletes, including 17 of the school's 22 varsity basketball players this year and 69 of 189 football players.
 
I did find something very disconcerting during I-day and that was the number of parents who asked me, "Did your daughter get her appointment through athletics or academics?" Seriously shocked me at the number of times I heard variations of that question.

-- Proud Mom to 2018 USAFA cadet
 
The article would be better if he also looked at the historical data involving those prep school athletes as to whether they graduated and fulfilled their 5 year service commitment. (I have no clue). The Academy has determined that athletic competition and success are important parts of training future officers. I am not trying to start another debate on that. Competing for students to attend USAFA entails making it known to high school students and have a reputation for success in all areas. It is a tough sell especially for women's sports. You have to have a young women who wants to go to a service academy (that probably eliminates 99%), qualified to attend, and have talent. Many of those athletes add to the diversity of the Academy, as well as, non-athlete prep school attendees.
 
I don't disagree with that. I would expect that ALL appointees are athletic and have great academics (among other things.) That's why my surprise at the question. Maybe I'm naive?
 
I don't disagree with that. I would expect that ALL appointees are athletic and have great academics (among other things.) That's why my surprise at the question. Maybe I'm naive?

It is because of articles like this and ignorance that those kind of questions get asked. You are right, those things, academics, athletics, and leadership and community involvement create your total profile. It would be like a parent of a male applicant asking if your daughter got in because she was female.
 
I think you were asked because a higher % of the females are athletes. In DD's squadron close to half are athletes, would have been more but for injuries.
 
It is because of articles like this and ignorance that those kind of questions get asked. You are right, those things, academics, athletics, and leadership and community involvement create your total profile. It would be like a parent of a male applicant asking if your daughter got in because she was female.

Yup - got that question twice, but from other parents at her high school. I found it incredibly insulting. :unhappy:
 
I think you were asked because a higher % of the females are athletes. In DD's squadron close to half are athletes, would have been more but for injuries.

Maybe. I don't know. I found myself telling them that she had great grades/ scores (don't they all?) and explaining why she wasn't an IC (recovering from ACL tear.) Sad that I felt the need to explain it, though. Oh well. I'm over it! :thumb:
 
This is the first "official" confirmation I've ever seen that one of the primary purposes of the prep school is for recruited athletes.
"The primary purpose of the Preparatory School is to give consideration for enrollment to nominees to fill officer accession objectives for minorities, including women, for enlisted applicants who, by their professional performance and demonstrated ability, deserve consideration, and for recruited athletes that meet all enrollment criteria," Johnson said in a statement.
 
Why? There are plenty of cadets here who openly brag that they wouldn't have gotten in without sports.

You misread -- I was referring to the comment that girls get in because they are female. That's insulting.

As for the ones bragging that they only got in because of sports ... let's see how they handle the academics. ;-)
 
It is a very crazy topic. I've been around this for quite a while. Doesn't matter if it's prep school or straight to the academy. I've seen some who get in and all the had were academics. I've seen others not get in because all they had was academics. I've seen some get in primarily through their athletic achievements. Yet others who were some of the best athletes in the country not get in because it was obvious they only had athletics and they never would have made it academically. The same goes for all the other diversity categories that you can imagine.

The hard part is getting some to understand the whole person and the whole class that the academy is looking for. How do you answer a kid with a 3.9 Gpa and excellent ACT scores why they didn't get in but someone with a lower gpa did? I can honestly say that most of the time, the academy does a good job of getting well rounded cadets. And contrary to what some May think, excelling in athletics counts just like excelling in music, academics, jrrotc, CAP, and many other activities. While I don't believe that a star athlete who has a 2.0 gpa is non advanced classes should get an appointment; I also don't believe that the word athlete should automatically mean that the individual can't make it through the academy and be a great officer. I know plenty of cadets who were also athletes who went on to grad school and finished near the top of their academy class.

My son, graduated the academy a couple years ago, was also an athlete. Because of how good he was in high school in sports, we were asked if that's how he got into the academy. Fortunately he received his appointment early in October and we could show he made it to the academy 100% on his application and not sports. Even though he was later recruited to play sports, he already had his appointment. Then again, he had similar prejudices during high school. No one expected a star athlete to also be in the IB program and graduate number 1 in his class with a 4.0.

Bottom line, no one should be judged. Athlete, female, black, Asian, etc...
 
It is a very crazy topic. I've been around this for quite a while. Doesn't matter if it's prep school or straight to the academy. I've seen some who get in and all the had were academics. I've seen others not get in because all they had was academics. I've seen some get in primarily through their athletic achievements. Yet others who were some of the best athletes in the country not get in because it was obvious they only had athletics and they never would have made it academically. The same goes for all the other diversity categories that you can imagine.

The hard part is getting some to understand the whole person and the whole class that the academy is looking for. How do you answer a kid with a 3.9 Gpa and excellent ACT scores why they didn't get in but someone with a lower gpa did? I can honestly say that most of the time, the academy does a good job of getting well rounded cadets. And contrary to what some May think, excelling in athletics counts just like excelling in music, academics, jrrotc, CAP, and many other activities. While I don't believe that a star athlete who has a 2.0 gpa is non advanced classes should get an appointment; I also don't believe that the word athlete should automatically mean that the individual can't make it through the academy and be a great officer. I know plenty of cadets who were also athletes who went on to grad school and finished near the top of their academy class.

My son, graduated the academy a couple years ago, was also an athlete. Because of how good he was in high school in sports, we were asked if that's how he got into the academy. Fortunately he received his appointment early in October and we could show he made it to the academy 100% on his application and not sports. Even though he was later recruited to play sports, he already had his appointment. Then again, he had similar prejudices during high school. No one expected a star athlete to also be in the IB program and graduate number 1 in his class with a 4.0.

Bottom line, no one should be judged. Athlete, female, black, Asian, etc...

You mean like being "transparent". :wink:
 
I have a real problem with articles like this one. Just to preface, our son was a prep student in 2013 and is in the Class of 2017. He was not a recruited athlete although he did walk-on the wrestling team.
The article talks about almost 150 athletes and 29 team managers as if all of these are recruited athletes. This is not the case. At the beginning of the school year, all preppies are encouraged to join a team. It would be impossible to field teams in the prep school without a great number of walk-ons. I know the wrestling team was comprised of over 50 percent walk-ons. And of the 7 recruited wrestlers, one was dis-enrolled early in the year and 2 did not receive appointments. My son’s roommate was a recruited soccer player and he was one of just a couple recruited soccer players.
The article states that 17 of 22 basketball varsity players and 69 of 189 football players are preppies this year. Let’s beak that down a little further. 17 of the freshmen through senior basketball players are preppies. That is just over 4 per year. For football the number would be just over 17. So for the 53 football players on the prep squad probably less than half are actually recruited.
If I recall correctly, about 180 preppies were admitted to the academy Class of 2017. That would be 15 percent of the class not one fifth.
To point out a couple of incidents that have happened in the past that involved preppies and act like things never happen with direct entry cadets is just wrong. There are unfortunately bad apples in every bunch.
I personally feel that the prep school was very beneficial for our son. He was on the dean’s and athletic director’s list first semester and made superintendent’s list last semester. He is also taking 22 hours this semester with a major in operation’s research and minor in German. He was also on of two chosen for the El Pomar Student Leadership Experience. Not sure all this would have happened without the year at prep school. Sure would be nice to sometime read a positive article about the benefits of the prep school.
 
Brace for it, the Superintendent has called for a full IG inspection of the athletic department. It was even mentioned this past weekend on ESPN while talking about college football (as well as a UK paper which means it's gone international.)

It's only going to get worse before it gets better. One thing that keeps getting mentioned is that this involves a tiny fraction of cadets. But you know the media - they smell blood.

Personally, I want to wait until the IG report comes out. If there really is a sub-culture, then it has to come to light and be eliminated.
 
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