USNA OOM ranking question

B

bandad

10-Year Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2010
Messages
205
DW and I attended a banquet honoring the Class of 2019 USNA appointees from our state. In addition, the top ranked Firstie from our state was honored with a sword. The Firstie that received the sword had a top resume including 4.0 GPA, a National STEM award in their major, and other leadership and service accomplishments at USNA. What surprised me a bit was their class ranking/OOM. Mid was in the mid to lower thirtys in the class. I understood their are typically ten or so 4.0 perfect GPAs per class. How is it that the Mid was ranked so much lower? It is certainly an honor to graduate with distinction, but how did so many other Mids pass this 4.0 Mid in OOM.

bandad
 
This is where his physical fitness scores, military grades and conduct grades come into effect. There is an academic GPA called QPR and then there is a final score that factors all this in. OOM factors in all these things. There is AOM, academic order of merit and MOM, military order of merit. He could be a B or C PRT guy, could be ranked lower in military performance or got put on restriction at some point. All these things come into play. My room mate was a top 10 grad. She had a 4.0 most semesters and the PRT was always her nemesis. She always passed but was short of an A normally. She probably would of been top 3 if she had As on her PRT. She also got some demerits first one year that knocked her down to a B in conduct.
 
I think your OOM gets a bump from varsity athletes and course overloading too, right? And I certainly agree with that...
 
Athletics can bump a PE grade. Not sure how much. There is an Instruction that covers the break down. Some sports also get addition Fit Reps. As a basketball player our team Captain wrote them and our Officer Rep signed them. This is done because we are gone from the hall so much and some of the stuff we do is overlooked. We spend a lot of time volunteering with youth clinics, signing autographs, etc. Most of us voluntarily give up leave to work camps because we want to represent the school and team. Also our leadership within the team is not seen by others outside the team. Not sure on the overloading piece. It could, I am sure the instruction covers it. But then again I had a few semesters of 21 hours and that wasn't considered an overload.
 
I opened the instruction and realized I can't even remember reading this thing once as a Midshipmen. I think my room mate did, but since she fell into the super genius category she had a reason to. I was in the trying not to flunk out category! Ok so really only Plebe Year, did much better after that!
 
I know this is an old thread, but I something I read in a somewhat recent news release isn't making sense to me.

A 2019 grad was ranked #1 in AOC, and #8 in MOM. But her OOM was #23. What factors go into determining OOM besides AOC & MOC to cause that drop? I know there is the physical side, but it appears that this is a subcategory in MOM.

In the end it is what it is, but I can't stand when things don't add up in my head. Keeps me up at night.
 
brewmeist said:
I know this is an old thread, but I something I read in a somewhat recent news release isn't making sense to me.

A 2019 grad was ranked #1 in AOC, and #8 in MOM. But her OOM was #23. What factors go into determining OOM besides AOC & MOC to cause that drop? I know there is the physical side, but it appears that this is a subcategory in MOM.

In the end it is what it is, but I can't stand when things don't add up in my head. Keeps me up at night.
Click to expand...

OOM includes academic grades, PE grades, conduct (demerits), military performance, and I think the PRT is figured in somehow. You could be straight A’s in academic classes, but a fat misconduct hit can knock you down several places. Someone who is all about the books but doesn’t contribute in company may get a low performance grade.

I think “aptitude” is the current term for military performance.

Here’s the link to the USNA instruction, something to read while you’re pondering.

 
Last edited:
It is what it is.

My son told me that plebes get a B in boxing from the professor automatically no matter effort and skill at the end. Upperclassmen told him only the ones that could validate boxing at the beginning get an A.

He will still do his best at all he does and not worry about it.

My son told me that an upperclassman was giving him advice on majors, etc. He said he has gotten all As ... but fighting one tough class this semester where he might get his first B.
 
.
What about the Anchor(s) in each class ... the Last of the Best? You would be surprised at how many of those went on to achieve great things, many very non-obvious kinds of things.

As an exercise, let’s generate some frequency tables showing the Relationship of a “Measure of Achieving Greatness” to “Class Rank”. The results will possibly surprise you.
.
 
Anybody who graduates from an academy is a huge success. I'm just curious about the calculations of the rankings.
 
Dr. Strange Love said:
.
What about the Anchor(s) in each class ... the Last of the Best? You would be surprised at how many of those went on to achieve great things, many very non-obvious kinds of things.

As an exercise, let’s generate some frequency tables showing the Relationship of a “Measure of Achieving Greatness” to “Class Rank”. The results will possibly surprise you.
.
Click to expand...

My father is a retired professor.

He said the studies show the top ranked students aren’t any more successful.
 
A1Janitor said:
My son told me that plebes get a B in boxing from the professor automatically no matter effort and skill at the end. Upperclassmen told him only the ones that could validate boxing at the beginning get an A.
Click to expand...

Different from what I heard from my Plebe - he got an A in boxing and did not validate. An upperclassman (a fountain of knowledge, I'm sure) told him that if he validated wrestling (which he did because he wrestled in HS) he would get a B but it shows up as an A in MIDS (according to DS).
 
ders_dad said:
Different from what I heard from my Plebe - he got an A in boxing and did not validate. An upperclassman (a fountain of knowledge, I'm sure) told him that if he validated wrestling (which he did because he wrestled in HS) he would get a B but it shows up as an A in MIDS (according to DS).
Click to expand...

Maybe a different instructor?

My son said many plebes have As in naval history, except for one professor who grades extremely tough and most of the class have Cs.
 
More mids get As today than in my day. I can't remember anyone who had a 4.0 -- even the brightest guys and gals. Cs, Ds and even Fs were routine, even for those who studied really hard. Ac Boards were common and many didn't survive them. During our 2/C year, the class average (as in everyone taking the course, not just my small class) in EE wires (a mandatory course) was 65 (a D) going into the final exam. They were facing 500 people in summer school . . . so they gave us an "easy" final.

If you were in the top 20% of your class, you had about a 3.2, which of course means that 80% of the class had less than that.

I don't know if grading is easier, kids are smarter, and/or the academic help program is better. Probably all of the above.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top