Back up plan
Luigi does have a point though......I have examples that aren't exactly the same, but still relevant.
I teach at a public university (almost 30 years) in aviation, which is a tough industry to break into....lots of ups and downs, bad pay, lousy hours, etc....you gotta stick with it during tough times or you don't make it. (sounds like the USCGA sometimes!
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More and more students (and their parents), come in as freshman each year, with elaborate "backup" plans in case their primary one doesn't "work out"....and more and more students end up using their backup plans. Parents seem to want a "sure thing" nowadays, and there isn't such a thing! The first time the parents hear bad news about the industry, their student doesn't get straight A's their first semester, or their kid runs into a problem with their training (and everyone has problems at some point), they revert right to their "backup" plan and leave.
I don't mind having an idea of a plan, but some parents get so worked up about it (and this is transferred to their kids), that the backup plan ends up becoming reality. It's gotten to where we can almost tell who isn't going to last a year, simply by their (and/or their parents) constant mention and over emphasis on their backup plan.....they just aren't that committed and they jump at the first problem.
In our case at the Academy, we figured that if swab summer didn't work out, (medical or some other issue), my daughter would come home, try to get into the local college and if that didn't work, enroll in the local community college, then use freshman year to sort things out. If that had happened, would it have delayed her eventual graduation? Maybe....but that wasn't our biggest worry...what's one more year? If she had decided to leave during the year, (and she never did consider leaving), she would have re-applied to some of the colleges who had admitted her previously, and I am sure she would have gotten readmitted.
It's interesting that in the last two years I have had two former academy students (one AFA and one USMMA), leave their respective academies at the two year point, and transfer into our program and into one of my classes. When they hear I have a daughter at a service academy they like to talk to me about their experiences. And although they are both doing well here and like it, both now regret their decision to leave and wish they had stuck it out.
So I generally have to go with Luigi on this one.....have a generic backup plan in place......but don't go overboard.