4/c at CGA. Ask any questions!

ekb1398 said:
I don't know the ins and outs of how it works - it's pretty exclusively only for Gov majors, which I wasn't, but my roommate was. We all already had secret and I know he had to go through more security type stuff before he was allowed to start the class. That said, because a lot of the process is already completed, maybe it's easier to finish up quickly and get the interim TS? Not too sure, just know it exists.
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Sounds like they probably did the interim TS then.
 
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You also tend to hear about clubs and rec sports later from friends who drag you to meetings. My 4C was in the musical last weekend (for the first time in her life) because one roomie made her try out. The other roomie has her down at rowing (for the first time in her life) and she's enjoying it. To be honest it's a lot like a normal school, in that the activities have to fit in the standard time slots and that you frequently go with your friends. But it's better in some ways because, unlike regular school, you need two sports per year and you have to find something.
 
What kind of things does a 4/C do on the weekends? I see the hours, but just curious how typical weekends are spent at this year. Also wondering when they get their phones returned, after Swab Summer. After this, what are the restrictions on their personal phones. I know no Social Media the first year, but do they get full use of phones after Swab Summer? Thanks
 
CA946 said:
What kind of things does a 4/C do on the weekends? I see the hours, but just curious how typical weekends are spent at this year. Also wondering when they get their phones returned, after Swab Summer. After this, what are the restrictions on their personal phones. I know no Social Media the first year, but do they get full use of phones after Swab Summer? Thanks
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From my son’s account, WEEKENDS: How much free time depends on three things; 1. When or what is your last military obligation (examples, My son is a Windjammers Drum and Bugle Corps player. So, he was never released until after home football games were completed on Saturdays. Also, you might have duty.). 2. Sports and extracurriculars account for a lot of weekend time. 3. STUDYING!!! The academic course load is mighty packed and difficult. My son, if he’s lucky, might go out on a Saturday night. But, he’s always home by 11pm to have a good night’s sleep before hitting the books all day on Sunday. Some cadets are borderline geniuses or pretty close and do not have to put in as much study time. Obviously, they will have/had more free time. Cadets who live close by go home a lot on weekends. Some cadets spend their weekends, especially longer holiday weekends, at their host family’s home. Some cadets do take trips, but that depends on whether they have “longs“ (overnight) liberty. Most 4/C(s) are happy to jump in the liberty van and go out to dinner, bit of shopping at Target/mall, or catch a movie. After that, most cadets return to the Academy by Uber. CELL PHONES: During Swab Summer, cadets were given back their phones during the afternoon following the completion of the Mystic Flag Ceremony (Google it or search other posts). After returning from their Mystic Flag Ceremony short liberty until 5pm, they once again surrender their cell phones. Other than that short afternoon, you will not see your cell phone until you leave for your Eagle short cruise. Following the completion of Swab Summer, you will receive your cell phone back full time. After-thought: Many cadets use some of their weekend time to workout, shop at the Exchange or Cadet Store on campus, or SLEEP. Catching up on sleep after the grueling weekdays of long nights studying is critical to a cadet’s health, mental and physical. My son says, “Sleeping-in allows my brain to reset making my studying more profitable.”
 
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CA946 said:
What kind of things does a 4/C do on the weekends? I see the hours, but just curious how typical weekends are spent at this year. Also wondering when they get their phones returned, after Swab Summer. After this, what are the restrictions on their personal phones. I know no Social Media the first year, but do they get full use of phones after Swab Summer? Thanks
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They will have their phones after swab summer. They also get to take them during time on the Eagle but rarely have service while there. Weekends depend on whether they have a "short" or "long". A "short" is when they have to return each night by a certain time and if they are granted a "long", then they can stay overnight. Weekends are fulfilled with duty, homework, sports or clubs, church service. Many times my kid will just leave for a few hours Saturday to go to dinner and maybe a Target trip. There were a few weekends she went skiing. They travel usually by Lyft or Uber and sometimes the CGA will have a bus running into town. Homework and studying really does take up most of their free time.
 
momoftwo said:
They will have their phones after swab summer. They also get to take them during time on the Eagle but rarely have service while there. Weekends depend on whether they have a "short" or "long". A "short" is when they have to return each night by a certain time and if they are granted a "long", then they can stay overnight. Weekends are fulfilled with duty, homework, sports or clubs, church service. Many times my kid will just leave for a few hours Saturday to go to dinner and maybe a Target trip. There were a few weekends she went skiing. They travel usually by Lyft or Uber and sometimes the CGA will have a bus running into town. Homework and studying really does take up most of their free time.
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As a point of clarification - a short is overnight, Saturday-Sunday. A long is overnight Friday-Sunday, or on holiday weekends where the Monday is a federal holiday, Saturday-Monday. Anything else is just regular liberty.
 
ekb1398 said:
As a point of clarification - a short is overnight, Saturday-Sunday. A long is overnight Friday-Sunday, or on holiday weekends where the Monday is a federal holiday, Saturday-Monday. Anything else is just regular liberty.
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thank you- I did not realize this!
 
Baseballguy- I was wondering what kind of things Cadets can have after completing Swab Summer. The packing list for SS is so small. What can we (I'm the parent) send at the start of the school year? I know 4/C can have very little, but wondering what they CAN have. Thanks.
 
CA946 said:
Baseballguy- I was wondering what kind of things Cadets can have after completing Swab Summer. The packing list for SS is so small. What can we (I'm the parent) send at the start of the school year? I know 4/C can have very little, but wondering what they CAN have. Thanks.
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I asked my cadet: Can't have: Civvies, social media, appliances, gaming consoles, and we sent him the quick shine shoe polish and he said that wasn't allowed either. For the most part we waited until my cadet asked for things before we sent them. The first thing we sent right after swab summer was a monitor and keyboard. My understanding is that C/O 2025 were issued a monitor, and don't know if they are issuing this year, but my cadet wasn't issued one, and now uses two. Very helpful when working with spreadsheets or drawings, especially if they need to reference another document. I looked through things he asked for that year - a printer, a pillow, a plain white pillowcase only used for inspections, sound cancelling headphones, a bluetooth speaker, a blanket, blue light blocking glasses, lint rollers, school supplies, tide sticks, and swiffer dusters. They have one personal shelf in their room. They don't have a lot of storage space, especially in the triple rooms, and they have to pack it up and move rooms every semester, and store whatever they don't take with them over the summer (typically a local friend or their sponsor will let them store monitors/printers at their house in the summer).
 
VAcadetmom said:
I asked my cadet: Can't have: Civvies, social media, appliances, gaming consoles, and we sent him the quick shine shoe polish and he said that wasn't allowed either. For the most part we waited until my cadet asked for things before we sent them. The first thing we sent right after swab summer was a monitor and keyboard. My understanding is that C/O 2025 were issued a monitor, and don't know if they are issuing this year, but my cadet wasn't issued one, and now uses two. Very helpful when working with spreadsheets or drawings, especially if they need to reference another document. I looked through things he asked for that year - a printer, a pillow, a plain white pillowcase only used for inspections, sound cancelling headphones, a bluetooth speaker, a blanket, blue light blocking glasses, lint rollers, school supplies, tide sticks, and swiffer dusters. They have one personal shelf in their room. They don't have a lot of storage space, especially in the triple rooms, and they have to pack it up and move rooms every semester, and store whatever they don't take with them over the summer (typically a local friend or their sponsor will let them store monitors/printers at their house in the summer).
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Just a point of clarification here: they can't have that stuff in their rooms. They can have that stuff and keep it in the trunk room. In fact, I would encourage it - they can wear civvies if they decide to get a hotel room/AirBnB one weekend, if they go outside of a 75 mile radius of the Academy e.g. New York or Boston, if they go to their sponsor family's house, or whenever they are leaving for breaks such as Thanksgiving, Winter, Spring.
 
It looks like swab DS's (4/c) schedule has "Testing Period" with 0 credit hour. Looks to me he must have flunked something during placement test (he didn't say anything). Anyone knows what Testing Period is? Thanks.
 
CGA2026 said:
It looks like swab DS's (4/c) schedule has "Testing Period" with 0 credit hour. Looks to me he must have flunked something during placement test (he didn't say anything). Anyone knows what Testing Period is? Thanks.
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All of the 4/c have several core classes such as Calculus, Chemistry, Physics (unless they placed out of them) and there are many offerings of those classes. In order to keep testing fair, during 4/c year all cadets take the same tests for those core classes and they all take them at the same time during that testing period. Every 4/c should have that testing period on their schedule at the same time. It is usually first thing in the morning a couple days a week.
 
Thank you!! DS's schedule looks different than what the course catalog example shows for 4/c 1st semester, thus I rang the false alarm bell. And we thought he took placement test during swab summer.
 
CGA2026 said:
Thank you!! DS's schedule looks different than what the course catalog example shows for 4/c 1st semester, thus I rang the false alarm bell. And we thought he took placement test during swab summer.
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The swabs DID all take placement tests during swab summer. But most cadets won't place out of ALL those core classes, so they likely still all have that "testing period" slot. And some will choose to still take those classes, even if they could place out, in order to make sure they have a firm foundation moving forward. I remember being a bit confused by that same thing when my 2024 daughter showed me her 4/c schedule a couple years ago.

After rereading my earlier response, I want to clarify. The "testing period" isn't a period to take the placement tests. Those happened during the summer. The "testing period" is the time when regular unit tests for the core classes are taken throughout the entire semester for those core classes. So if the Calculus classes all have a test on Unit 1 & 2 scheduled at one point, then ALL the cadets will take that Unit 1&2 test for that class during the "testing period" that week, even though their actual class is scheduled at a different time period. The teachers for those core classes coordinate since most 4/c cadets are taking the same classes, so there will not be a case where a cadet is scheduled to have 2 tests during the same period on a given week.
 
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ProudMom7 said:
The swabs DID all take placement tests during swab summer. But most cadets won't place out of ALL those core classes, so they likely still all have that "testing period" slot. And some will choose to still take those classes, even if they could place out, in order to make sure they have a firm foundation moving forward. I remember being a bit confused by that same thing when my 2024 daughter showed me her 4/c schedule a couple years ago.

After rereading my earlier response, I want to clarify. The "testing period" isn't a period to take the placement tests. Those happened during the summer. The "testing period" is the time when regular unit tests for the core classes are taken throughout the entire semester for those core classes. So if the Calculus classes all have a test on Unit 1 & 2 scheduled at one point, then ALL the cadets will take that Unit 1&2 test for that class during the "testing period" that week, even though their actual class is scheduled at a different time period. The teachers for those core classes coordinate since most 4/c cadets are taking the same classes, so there will not be a case where a cadet is scheduled to have 2 tests during the same period on a given week.
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I haven't even seen my 4c s schedule but really appreciate this explanation as it gives me a picture of how their courses work.
 
Thank you ProudMom7 for the clarifications.

The course catalog shows 19.25 and 18.25 credit hours for the fall and spring semester respectively; that seems to be a lot a hours. Looking at DS's schedule closely, he's only got 16 credit hour for the fall semester, that seems normal for a freshman college kid, but a few hours less than what the catalog shows. Any insights from anyone?
 
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