Recent content by FALgarand

I know of one high school romance that survived the Academy, though later evolving into a friendship that's lasted decades. You never know. If you have a warped sense of humor, an old Navy line is "What do you call your girlfriend after your 12 month tour?" "Six months pregnant."

If true - if USNA expressly does not want coach recommendations - I would say that reflects poorly on the academy's evaluation process. Mere participation in sports, even sports honors such as MVP or All-Conference selection, do not necessarily reflect the student's leadership, character, or...

Dang. Sorry. When and how did you learn?

Terrific advice from people here. I might only add the suggestion of doing additional objective RESEARCH. What is the state school's AFROTC commissioning rate? If low, then find out why. Has he spoken to current AFROTC students there? How prepared is he at the prospect of being denied of...

This is often said, but is there a definitive statement from an SA confirming it? Since the primary value of test scores is to predict college performance, at what point do college grades define the re-applicant rather than test scores? Would be curious how much weight SAs put on test scores...

Relax. Be glad you are weighing options. IMO it's healthier than having a singleminded, do-or-die obsession with USMA, or for that matter, any SA or any college. Seriously, what happens when there is an accident, some life tragedy, anything, that causes a wash-out before R Day? Their life...

FWIW, I hope my post didn't inflame; that wasn't the intent. I'm sympathetic to disadvantaged applicants. My point was more generic and to point out that boys - as a whole - are being disserved by our educational system. The problem doesn't necessarily manifest in the SA application process...

Ironically, everything you wrote about minority students can be said for a larger and more socially significant demographic: male students. Put mildly, our educational system is failing boys. Boys have lower GPAs and lower standardized test scores than girls. Boys are far more likely to...

In the identical boat here. Did you attend Cal Maritime Day last Saturday? Son went and really enjoyed it and will be happy to go there. Pulled the trigger on the deposit as we're pessimistic on USMMA at this point. If this forum is any indicator, a wave of appointments were made first week...

Maybe in the old days, like maybe the 1400s, sex was something kept "in the dark". Anymore, and for a couple generations, children have been constantly and relentlessly bombarded and saturated with sex, 24/7/365, on internet, TV, cable, satellite, books, grocery store check-out line magazine...

Soon enough the kid will be working the rest of his life, doing the same-old-same-old 24/7/365, year after year, until he's dead. Experiences such as college sports, or academy, come literally once a lifetime. For the life of me, I don't see what the rush is.

First, congrats. Second, would you mind sharing a one-line summary of your stats/ECs? It would be interesting data.

Again, it depends on what "education" means to you. If "education" means graduate school and a research career, then SAs offer no unique advantage. If "education" means access to wealth accumulation, consider a state maritime academy as their grads earn some of the highest starting salaries in...

No one ever sees anything BUT the "surface of people's applications" on these forums. That's kinda a given. All posts by anyone - rejected applicants, appointees, parents, admirals, whoever - are equally unverifiable. Nonetheless, people seem to enjoy the exchanges on these forums and assign...

While you're gathering data, consider checking some of the recent threads on denied applicants and the astonishingly impressive profiles many of them presented. It will sober up any discussion of "what are my chances".