If you think of the academy as "College" and you're comparing it to applying to USC, University of Michigan, Texas State, or any other number of universities, then you will never understand the academies.
If you are applying to the Ivy's or Stanford, getting in is
never just about the academics. It too is about the whole person. At the most competitive schools (just like the Academies), 20+% plus of the student body are recruited athletes. Some competitive colleges for instance have a program that is analogous to an "ALO". They are former graduates volunteers in the field that interview potential students and fill out reports to admissions along with their recommendations. Our son met and was interviewed a couple of times with such a person here in MN who was an alumni from Stanford. Of course competitive colleges also have many examples where they don't pick a 36 ACT students who was #1 in their class.
So it is commonly known that the top ranked colleges ALSO look at many facets of your life, experiences, and potential when it comes to picking their student body. Not if you are medically qualified. But they look for diversity. They want representation from the entire country and other parts of the world. They too are focused on picking leaders that stand out from the pack. Their application also asks all kinds of questions about the whole person.
Again; the academy is NOT a "College Program".
Yes it is. We covered this before. They are in the N
CAA (
http://www.ncaa.com/schools/air-force ). The Academies meets the definition of a college:
Noun "An educational institution or establishment, in particular one providing higher education or specialized professional or vocational training. You don't get to change the definition of what a college is. USAFA factually is an educational establishment providing higher education. Period. That means it is a college. Yes, a
very different type of college with a very specific goal. But rest assured it is a college
. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/college .
So without question, my "little Johnny" went to college. If USAFA wasn't a college, he would not have attended. Nor would 90% of the current student body. If you main point is you want to get it in the thick skulls of
some parents (who phone call USAFA and micromanage etc) by assuming they can hover and control their son or daughter, we agree. Yes, they are factually in the military. But to say it isn't a college is simply not true.
It's NOT a "Scholarship Program".
Of course it is! I'll pull out the dictionary again. If you disagree, debate with the definition:
Definition: scholarship: noun
Financial aid provided for a scholar because of academic merit. Money awarded to a good student to enable him to go on with further studies. http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-definition/scholarship program
Also just happens that you're getting a "College Degree" out of the deal. But that's NOT THE MAIN PURPOSE.
Sigh.. The main purpose of any college that you attend should
never be about cramming information in your head (academics) unless the classes are exclusively online. College gives you a chance to build a network of friends, helps improve your communication skills, expand your extra-curricular activities, etc. MIT for instance has a specific goal of having students figure things out by themselves (the exact opposite of USAFA). Stanford cultivates entrepreneur like activities. I suppose you could spin it and say "Stanford's main goal is to educate future entrepreneurial leaders." O.K. Sure. But they don't take 6th quarter calc because they assume they will one day use it. It is part of the bigger MAIN PURPOSE of teaching students how to learn (specifically technical material) along with educating other non-academic purposes.
The Academies are a dramatically different college experiences centered on military discipline with the intense interest of developing future militaries leaders. But make no mistake, for 6-8 hours day, you attend academic classes just like any other college and be expected to study more hours every day. That is the main purpose for those 4 years.
Furthermore, like many other college students, our son went to Hong Kong to study for a semester (other Cadets went to other parts of the world). It wasn't a military class. It was academics. But it was offered to become well rounded just like any other college abroad program. It too was a scholarship. Because if it was only about academics, the class could have been taken in the USA or online. Yet another group of students at the Academy has a (college) purpose to become a scholar. My son was in that program and sent to the Aspen institute 3X, was interviewed and mentored by Ex-Rhodes military officers to apply for various scholarships. It was a major focus of his Academy experience. All the while he was trained academically to apply for a medical scholarship too. In fact all Academy future doctors and dentists then applied to HP
SP. The "S" stands for "Scholarship".
Sure. You need to give back years of service for the Academy, and for that matter, 4 more years for the HP
SP. But you are getting paid while you fulfill your commitment. It is not a loan. If you follow through, you don't have to "pay it back ($$)". In fact, USAFA students get paid rather well. In some cases (doctors for instance and depending on the discipline) they are paid nearly $200K a year.
Hell yes it is a scholarship! Uncle Sam will have over $1M of training into our son; and even more for pilots.
Of course, this is where MANY PARENTS don't want to admit it. You (Little Johnny or Mary) is NOT "Going off to College". You are JOINING THE MILITARY.
I won't admit it because you are trying to change the definition of two key words (College and Scholarship). When I see the definition in Websters change, then we will agree. In the meantime, you are simply sharing your opinion on how the Academies are dramatically different. Well
of course they are.
When society (students, parents, teachers) think cadets at USAFA don't attend "college", that's a very good reason for college bound students to
not apply. Our son wouldn't have. In other words, as an ALO and on a very popular forum, I think your customized definition of two non-debatable meaning of a word is literally a disservice for attracting applicants. It's smart to educate everyone so that they know that the Academy is a
dramatically different college experience. Thank you for doing that as they should have the right expectations. Students who are proud of their accomplishments by getting a scholarship shouldn't get confused that they didn't get one, because they did. I propose we stick with Webster's definition versus trying to change the meaning to prove a point.