I figured I'd make a thread of my own since we're coming up to Beast very quickly and people have a lot of unanswered questions. I know that at this time last year I was stressing out about small little things so get them answered now so you know you're good to go. It could be about the smallest things during Beast or academic year or even Reorgy Week specifically so ask away.
Current Plebe: Ask Questions About Anything
- Thread starter jc5108
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Sevastopol79
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How are you doing so far in the year? Did you have a good plebe experience and are you happy you came to West Point?
I'm doing great so far, it's crazy to see that my plebe year is almost over and I'm happy with what I've done here so far. First semester was definitely a learning curve adapting to the challenges of being a plebe and a college student in general, so it was pretty rough. I'm doing much better second semester and learned from some of the mistakes I made when I first started out. My enthusiasm has been up and down but in general I'm very glad to be here.
Sevastopol79
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That's good to hear, thank you! I have a few more, if you don't mind:
1. How well do plebes get along with the upperclassmen, usually?
2. Are the dorms of good quality?
3. What was your favorite part of plebe year?
4. Did you enjoy Beast?
5. Do you have a fair amount of free time as a plebe?
6. Were you able to validate classes? If so, do you recommend it?
Again, thanks!
1. How well do plebes get along with the upperclassmen, usually?
2. Are the dorms of good quality?
3. What was your favorite part of plebe year?
4. Did you enjoy Beast?
5. Do you have a fair amount of free time as a plebe?
6. Were you able to validate classes? If so, do you recommend it?
Again, thanks!
1. Pretty much from the start of the academic year the plebes will get along very well with the upperclassmen. In the first semester it's a little more strict but as long as you follow all the plebe rules it's a casual environment most times.
2. The barracks can be hit or miss, I like my barracks (I've been in Ike for Beast and Maclong for school year) and those are considered good barracks but you can also get bad quality ones like Lee and Sherman.
3. Definitely the Christmas dinner, it was the first time we got to unwind in a public setting with all of our friends and the upperclassmen too and smoke cigars out on the apron. It's at the end of first semester but I had a great time hanging out with everyone and decorating the table for the upperclassmen.
4. I didn't "enjoy" most of it but everyday there was something fulfilling and enjoyable that made up for the boring and monotonous tasks we had to do. I most enjoyed hanging out with my platoon, you'll get very close to all 30 something people in your platoon and go into the same academic year company with them.
5. I do have more free time than I thought I'd have, although I'm not an NCAA athlete so that makes a big difference as those guys will practice two or three times longer than other teams and have games on weekends. I struggle with time management and often have big essays pile up so at least once a week I'm in the library for like 6 hours grinding away at some big assignment.
6. I didn't validate any classes personally because I was in a lot of dual enrollment classes at my community college before coming here, which West Point doesn't accept. I recommend validating chemistry if you can because that's one you straight up don't have to take but most of the other validations just put you in a higher class which might not be beneficial to you. For example, I know that English, Psychology, History, and Math classes don't just exempt you from taking those classes, you just get put in more advanced ones.
Sevastopol79
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Thanks, I really appreciate the information!
It's too bad that you can't validate using dual-enrollment courses. My school doesn't offer AP classes.
As for the plebe-level classes, are they quite manageable? I dislike essays just as much as the next guy, so I might struggle with those as well. Other than that, how are math, english, history, etc.?
It's too bad that you can't validate using dual-enrollment courses. My school doesn't offer AP classes.
As for the plebe-level classes, are they quite manageable? I dislike essays just as much as the next guy, so I might struggle with those as well. Other than that, how are math, english, history, etc.?
Yes I definitely think the plebe classes are manageable, especially if you don't take jedi math (advanced math) and stuff like that, it just comes down to doing your homework and studying while being challenged with a new lifestyle. The essay classes are all the history, english, and psychology classes which you'll take your plebe year and later on you'll take stuff like international relations and american politics. After first semester people either take US history or regional history whatever USMA gives you, based on the language you want to take. MA103 is the first semester math class and it's whack tbh, a lot of the concepts are established by West Point and you'll learn some weird stuff and then MA104 is just normal calculus. English is exactly as you'd expect, essays and readings, although the hardest part for me was the EN102 monologue where we had to memorize 20 or more lines of Shakespeare and act it out in front of the class.
USMAdreams
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- Dec 18, 2021
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On what weekends do you recommend parents visit during the year? For instance, can we pick a random weekend in January/February during winter gloom? Will our cadet be able to leave post, at least to a local hotel?