Hi, I accepted an offer to USMAPS about week ago and well quite honestly, its pretty hard to find stories of people's experiences at the prep school. From your perspective, what can I expect for this upcoming year and ccbt?
Congratulations! You are headed to an excellent experience which will allow you to get your feet wet with military life and expectations in a somewhat less intense environment than the baptism by fire that is direct admit. The leadership and teaching staff are top notch and very much focused on your success, and long as you take it seriously and do your part academically and physically, it is a golden ticket to USMA. A very high percentage of kids made it down the hill this year, I'm not sure of the exact numbers but I would guess around 90% and their elation at receiving their appointments and celebrating at graduation was something I'll never forget. During the more challenging times, and there will be some, keep your eye on the prize. The days will pass away quickly and in no time at all, you will be at the end celebrating too. For the kids that didn't receive appointments for whatever reason, be it academic, physical, behavioral, it was incredibly disappointing for them.
This was a very different year thanks to Covid, with the CC's unable to leave post and parents not allowed on post for pretty much the whole year. They had one long break over Christmas, but were not allowed to come home for Thanksgiving or Easter. Toward the end the CC's got some OPP's on weekends and when parents were allowed, could meet up with them for a few hours (no overnights) or head in to Highland Falls or the PX with walking privileges or venture a little further when the distance they could go was expanded and go to the mall or restaurants in neighboring towns. Hopefully you are going to have an experience this year which more closely resembles pre-covid USMAPS, because frankly the boredom was at times very challenging for many of the CC's. During a normal year, you will have a lot more freedom to do what you want than they did.
As a parent I can't speak too specifically about the CCBT experience other than to say that you should break in your boots and be physically ready for it before you report. My CC would tell you he even kind of enjoyed it and didn't find it extremely physically difficult, if anything, more mentally. He got one phone call about halfway through, and used one of the cadre's phones (you won't have yours) so tell your parents or whomever might be getting a call from you to keep their phones charged at all times and answer every single call, even if they don't recognize the number. One interesting thing that I didn't expect was that I hardly recognized my CC when I saw him in April. Over the course of the year he had gained 25 lbs of muscle and looked like a different kid. He is in the best shape of his life and more than ready for USMA. After CCBT ends, your family will be able to mail you whatever snacks and things you want. We mailed our CC a big box of drinks and snacks every month, and whatever else he wanted or asked for. They are called "boodle boxes" at USMA, and your family can either do it themselves if there are specific things you like or Amazon has some already made up and can be sent to you directly. Or not at all and you can buy whatever your want yourself from the PX. Totally your choice.
The rooms are nice, maybe a little nicer than your average dorm room with a dividing wall between you and your roommate for privacy. You will share a bathroom with your suite mates (so four of you total with a bathroom between the rooms). You will start off the year with one roommate and then switch halfway through the year. No ability to choose or request specific roommates, all are assigned. You will also have work details and leadership opportunities there. My CC made some really great, close friendships at USMAPS which went a long way with helping him get through this very challenging year.
They did some really fun things in celebration of the end of the year, a formal river cruise on the Hudson, the Graduation Ball and many went in to NYC during their one and only overnight privilege weekend in May.
Good luck, work hard and don't forget to enjoy the experience along the way!
