My daughter and two of our friends (one male, one female) are all current Mids. Due to some external issues, the male Mid had the hardest time getting through Plebe year. His constant refrain to friends was, "I hate it there!" Still, he made it through. Now that Plebe year is long behind him, I have heard him say in public, "I LOVE USNA!" He has made life-long friends with whom he often travels over leave.
My daughter and our female friend who are Mids both arrived at USNA expecting to be "lower than dirt" in the eyes of the upperclass. They went in knowing that they would have virtually no freedom during those 11 months. Plebe year was/is very hard, and it can be very frustrating, but I think that it was a little easier to take, simply because they expected it to be so hard.
Now that Plebe year is over, my daughter can better understand why the year is structured the way it is. She and our female Mid friend are both in "hard" companies, and they both take a lot of pride in that. My daughter, for one, looks back on completing every training evolution of "Sea Trials" with a huge sense of accomplishment.
Both young women have made life long friends (both male and female), and they have had great experiences. One will be going to England over spring break with the women's rugby team. The other will be traveling to Brazil with the Women's Glee Club. Neither of them has any desire to be at a "standard college."
The bottom line is that all three of these Mids went to USNA because they are intent upon serving as Navy or Marine Corps officers, and they thought that the added demands of USNA was the best way for them (personally) to prepare.