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My son was recruited for heavyweight crew w/out ever having touched an oar. He visited USNA as a h.s. junior and went to meet the plebe coach, who was not encouraging. At all. Son was offered NAPS, and one night there, while ironing his pants, an officer came into his room yelling, "What are...

JJ, if you'd been turned down for medical, your DoDMRB exams would have told you that. Great that you got a nom, though. 1. Tech major might help, but more important is trying to mimic the plebe schedule your freshman year - calculus, chemistry, etc. 2. Use nom sources from your home of...

Listen to MIDNDAD. He may have simplified the progression a little, but he is spot on. Get into USNA. Get Marines out of USNA (find time to work on fitness while there -- very important), knock yourself out @ TBS, choose a MOS that fits the "needs of the military," and be a happy hero.

willc, go to the Service Academy Preparatory School thread and look @ history. You'll find lots of background on NAPS.

Rick Clothier has retired as head coach of the Naval Academy rowing after 38 years. Rob Friedrich, who's been there 11 years and is very well-regarded, will replace him.

USNA just appointed a new men's rowing coach, which might explain a new "outreach" program. My former-Mid son rowed @ the Academy w/ no previous experience, so here are a couple random observations: Pros: Great for fitness, great for camaraderie, great to get to know upper classmen in a...

Time2 got it right. Add to the King Hall construction the new Supe's decision that 1/Cs would have fewer meals off the yard (meaning King Hall had to serve more than they'd budgeted for) and it was pretty miserable for a while. But apparently food is decent now.

You're getting good advice here. I hope you'll listen to it. Take the plane alone. Reflect on the achievement of your goal. Have meaningful moments. You deserve it. Your parents also deserve to experience this. Great that you don't want to be rude, but you don't want to be unkind either...

Couldn't agree more, AF68. In fact, Sec. Gates himself was weepy. His remarks were just amazing. I didn't hear much for a minute or two after he said something like, "Every day, I thought of the men and women in uniform as my own children..." as I was crying too hard. I've been to a half dozen...

^^ Pretty funny, Austynx. I visited Newport a couple times and just loved it, while son had something very much like your experience. "I liked it, too. For about a month." I call crew an "orphan sport," though others might disagree, and I don't mean to insult to an extremely demanding sport...

JJBsDad, my son was in the NAPS class of '07. He felt as if USNA plebe summer wasn't all that rough because he'd experienced the NAPS summer. I don't know what that means, just that he did fine @ USNA plebe summer, and he credited NAPS w/ that. RE: his academic experience, he felt as if NAPS...

Keep saving, Navy's Finest09! You'll want extra funds for transportation when you can get away, and you'll be happy to have money for opportunities that present themselves. Thank you for your service to date, and good luck @ USNA.

Another inbound PM headed your way, Austinl.

Apex, as a parent of a former NAPSter (not a prior), I can only address (1). My son (now a 2nd Lt) never reported feeling second class. I have to admit I asked about this often, because of comments I read here and elsewhere. I'm told NAPSters are especially popular during plebe summer, since...

Let him call the shots. Have everything ready for "home is unchanged," but be prepared for surprises. Might want to sleep and experience the joys of solitude, might want to spend all his leave w/ friends from h.s., might just want to be w/ family. Try not to book him for anything. All these...

Well done, William, and congratulations. Good of you to post this encouragement.

Congratulations, William. You've got an impressive profile, and clearly deserve this. I hope applicants who are turned down for NASS will read your post. It's discouraging to hear a NASS 'no' before the USNA application's even begun, but as you've shown, the two aren't necessarily related.

Congratulations to you and your son. NAPSters get amazing opportunities -- if you really are a jarhead, you'll be as dazzled as we were that our son's NAPS graduation ('07) speaker was Colonel John Ripley (just a year and a half later, son was @ USNA for the colonel's funeral there -- check it...

As usual, '85 is right about most everything USNA. One small distinction -- when our Mid graduated in '11, he could request as many tix as he wanted for Commissioning in the stadium (meaning, as long as weather allowed, which it did). He got a couple more than we needed, but it was no loss...

I second MIDNDAD's suggestion re: staying an extra day. We stayed two extra days, as son was in a wedding @ USNA, and it was great to be able to decompress, get his belongings sorted and shipped, etc. Also smart to ask your Mid what s/he wants. Ours wanted us to rent a little distance...