SA Visits

I am thinking of making an academy visit or two during my school's spring break (April 5-9) since it is the only convinent holiday to visit them being so far away from where I live. Will the service academies still be in session on these dates or do they have spring break during the same time? Also, what are the dates for their Christmas break as I may be able to visit during this time as well?

On the admissions website is an Academy visitation link - they have available dates.
If you have any questions call admissions. Visitation is not available during Christmas break - which is only about 10 days anyway.
Spring break is in March - April should be fine.

Christmas Leave is December 20 to January 3. But don't count on getting a visit near that date because that is when Term End Exams are so I doubt they will allow visits. Spring Break is March 12 to March 21 (including Parent-Plebe Weekend). That means you will be able to visit during your Spring Break.

When I got invited to an overnight they told me the specific availible dates so you can always call and ask.

From the WP website:

You are quite a ways away. What I'd suggest doing, since the tours are not open during holidays nor weekends, is you head up to NY on a Saturday/Sunday or some weekend and schedule a tour for that monday. They end relatively early, so you could be on your way home after, perhaps even making it back by nightfall and be ready for class the next day. You'd only have to take one day of school off that way.

Do you think at this point it is a good idea to do an overnight visit or should I just do a day visit with my being so far away and not having many chances to visit?

2012, are you a sophomore? You cannot do an overnight visit until your senior year, and then only if you are either a recruited athlete or an LOA recipient. Maybe this summer you can participate in one of the athletic sports camps...that might be a good option for you to see what it is like on post. Otherwise, see if you can take a family trip up to visit. It's about a 14 hour drive from the metro area, but there are dozens of flights a day into all the NYC airports from ATL. SWF is the closest airport, but there's only one flight per day into there.

Would it be possible to apply for a daily visit for Juniors this early in the year?

Anyone can do a daily visit...it's the overnight visits that are limited.

I don't know about West Point, but for Air Force, anyone could do a daily visit, but if you were at least a second semester junior, you could also arrange a meeting with your counselor while out there. As mentioned, overnight visits were only for recruited athletes or LOA's (or appointments at some point) - although I have heard them honoring them from another academy - ie. if you have an LOA from Navy, AF would allow you to come on an overnight since that probably means you're a strong candidate who they should be looking at anyways.

My son did the daily visit last year at AF and found it to be interesting to talk to a doolie (plebe) and visit classes. But as far as actually getting "inside" I agree with mom3boys about the sports camp for this year and then the Summer Seminar next year. My son did the soccer camps at both AF and WP (back in middle school) and they got to live in the barracks, eat in the Mess Hall, see all the facilities, and had a lot of contact with cadets to get info, ask questions, etc. And obviously SLS is a great opportunity for the following summer that you'd want to be trying for since it's all of that, but with the focus more on military and academic opportunities, plus a lot of info on just the whole application process.

Good luck!

AVT said:

Would it be possible to apply for a daily visit for Juniors this early in the year?

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Yes, anyone can do a daily visit. They last from around 0900 to 1245. Not as fun as the overnight but enough to give you a taste.

mom3boys said:

2012, are you a sophomore? You cannot do an overnight visit until your senior year, and then only if you are either a recruited athlete or an LOA recipient. Maybe this summer you can participate in one of the athletic sports camps...that might be a good option for you to see what it is like on post. Otherwise, see if you can take a family trip up to visit. It's about a 14 hour drive from the metro area, but there are dozens of flights a day into all the NYC airports from ATL. SWF is the closest airport, but there's only one flight per day into there.

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Appointment to the Prep (USMAPS) school also qualifies you for an overnight visit but, as stated above, none of that will happen before your senior year in high school.