Foreign Exchange programs??

Born-To-Fly_024

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Hey all. I'm going for USNA class of 2015, and I am interested in Majoring in Aeronautical Engineering or Political Science. Aside from that, I am VERY interested in studying abroad for awhile, and I would like to do it at the Naval Academy. So, I wanted to know what programs there are, how competitive is it, what I can do, and where I can go? I would like to go to the Naval Academy in Spain (if there even is one) because I'm taking spanish as a foreign language.
 
This is from the USNA website:

Semester Study Abroad Program

Semester Study Abroad Programs are available for all languages taught at U.S. Naval Academy - Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish. Midshipmen in their junior year or first semester of their senior year are eligible to compete for these opportunities. For the current academic year, 2008-2009, 30 Midshipmen are studying abroad in 10 countries.


Language Immersion Programs



The U. S. Naval Academy, through the Language Studies Department, sponsors various language study programs abroad to support further language development and proficiency. These four to six week programs take place during the summer and may include university summer sessions, study tours, and exchange visits with foreign navies.

Cultural Opportunities
Programs are created to develop global and cross-cultural awareness for Midshipmen and in many cases, faculty with international experience lead the excursions.



There's also a lot of international work that can be done after graduation!
 
P.S. There are pictures of students in China, Mexico, Russia, SPAIN :) , India and Turkey so I'm guessing it is possible to go to Spain! I'm not sure how competitive it is but I am sure it depends on your major and your grades.
 
Two of our sponsor midshipmen at USNA have spent semesters respectively at the French Naval Academy and the Spanish Naval Academy. Would project from that data that most exchange semesters are at sister military academies. Not sure about China. There are other opportunities during summer training. Yes, very competitive -- not only academics, but top grades in conduct and military performance are required. Choice of major can occasionally complicate managing a semester away, but close work with your academic advisor and max effort on the books/performance can overcome.

Post-grad, a small percentage of ensigns and second lieutenants are allowed to go to graduate education right after commissioning (remember, the USNA mission is to deliver warriors to the training pipeline for USN and USMC). Those opportunities include Rhodes at Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin, Harvard Kennedy School, etc. Immensely competitive, usually the top handful of 1/C mids in the order of merit. They apply the same as any other college graduate and compete on the same basis. The vast majority of officers obtain their Master's during their first shore duty after their initial operational tours focused on gaining their warfare qualification. That's a whole 'nother thread.
 
Thanks, tpg -- great to point out the context of why these skills are important to a military officer.

And if I can brag a bit, we have a USNA alumni sponsor daughter, a Marine helo pilot with 2 medevac tours in Iraq under her belt, graduated single-digit standing in her USNA class but went straight to the warrior path. She just wrapped up her Master's at Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey followed by a year in the Chinese curriculum at the Defense Language Institute there. She is now getting briefings from DOS and DOD before going for an immersion year in Beijing as part of the Marine Foreign Affairs Officer (FAO) program. She'll come back for another operational flying tour, then head into the military attache program. Great combination of warrior-scholar. When and if she decides to exit the pattern of active duty, HLS, CIA, DOS and others will want to snap her up, as well as major defense contractors.
 
What are the opportunities I have to do international stuff after graduation? I want to go into Naval Aviation and fly teh P-8 Poseidon (Boeing 737-800 that is replacing the P-3 Orion). Are there any bases in Europe that support patrol squadrons? As well, could I possibly do flight training in another country? What I really want to do is spend a lot of time abroad, and try to accomplish this while at the academy, or while flying in a patrol squadron.
 
BTF 024, always good to have interim and long-term goals, good for you to get excited about all the great possibilities. Believe Navy P-3 squadrons still deploy/rotate through NAVSTA Rota Spain. Wherever the Navy has OCONUS bases, it's possible to have resident squadrons but I'm not sure what's where anymore. Aviation squadrons and dets, both fixed wing and helo, deploy with Navy ships all over the world to some great port calls. Ahh... Phuket, Thailand; Hong Kong; Pearl Harbor; The Med; Acapulco; Panama Canal transit; Rio....

The "needs of the Navy" (and Marine Corps) will influence all your chances at anything. If you service select Navy air, if you do well at flight school, if there are slots for the P-8 pipeline, if you are high enough in your flight school section to get one of those slots, if, if, if.... but all good stuff to shoot for by working hard at each stage as it comes along and being open to various options. There is some good reading on other threads here about "chances" of doing various things.

Don't believe we do any flight training overseas, but do have Navy flight students in the joint Navy-AF program at Vance AFB.

You will get plenty of briefings at USNA about opportunities for semesters abroad (just 1) and summer training blocks. Midshipmen also do many of the NOLS expeditions in the summer. You will be tied firmly to Mother B (Bancroft Hall) for most of the academic semesters, though, because USNA has a mission to ensure you are trained for anything the Navy or Marine Corps needs you for.

One of the best things about Navy life is the opportunity to go places that pop up out of nowhere. I "had to" go to Monaco for a month as a single LT when the Navy sent a USNS hydrographic ship to the International Hydrographic Conference -- every seagoing nation in the world sent a ship. Met Jacques Cousteau, went to a different nation's shipboard reception every night. I also "had to" spend several weeks at the Peruvian Naval Academy in Lima in the late 90's, the year before they brought women in as cadetes, to assist with staff briefings on the transition, using USNA's experiences and practices.

Be assured you will see the world, from the beautiful and exotic to the dangerous and ugly. :biggrin:
 
tpg, you DID get to do some fun things. Appreciate your comments on our devil dawg daughter. She is very excited about the potential and knows the Marine Corps is taking good care of her. Though she will have a reporting senior at the Naval Attache's office in Beijing, she will live on the economy and travel the country, writing reports on culture and her observations, living immersed. She starts in June, won't be home for a year.
 
Good for her! Wow what a place the Naval Post Graduate School is! It is absolutely beautiful out there in Monterey. Of course DLI isn’t bad either. I was at DLI as the SNCOIC for the Marine Detachment and to get a “refresher” in spoken Arabic. One of the things the instructors loved about having us “old timers” there was our ability to integrate our knowledge of culture into the language instruction. The value of integrating the two cannot be underestimated.

So she is headed out as a FAO….that is great! I hope she enjoys it. It is a wonderful experience that is both fulfilling and rewarding. That is a great FMOS to have and will open a lot of doors for her in the future.

FYI all you Candidates and Appointees….This young lady that Capt MJ is talking about is going to be a Foreign Area Officer in the US Marine Corps. Her (Free or “F”) MOS can only be granted and removed by Headquarters Marine Corps. It is an accomplishment to say the least.

By the way Capt MJ, my Primary or PMOS was 0306, but my free or FMOS was 8246 (FAO – SW Asia) and it is the whole reason why I work for one of the alphabet soups you mentioned above.

wow, this all mimics my daughters ambitions. She wants to end up in diplomacy and/or intelligence. She has spent every summer for the last 10+ years in Europe gaining the language and cultures. She's now so proficient that she blends in as a local.

I almost did the alphabet soup thing, but decided to start my own security firm instead.

JB
 
Now that's impressive!!! :thumb:

Yeah, I was pretty impressed myself...I was the ONLY female naval officer there (mid 80's), amongst hundreds of foreign naval officers and oceanographers. I felt like an exhibit myself. My CO (area commander) was also on the same trip, but I did the dog work of working with ship's officers, port liaison and conference operations. He commented I got invited to more parties than he did. Nice payback for some of the crap (apologies) I dealt with back in the day. My favorite TAD trip of all time.
USNA midshipmen get to run into David Robinson walking around Stribling Walk, or the odd astronaut or two dropping by the company tailgater after a football game. Just a day in the life!
 
lil3:

Chinese Immersion programs are in Beijing and/or Tianjin. They may be summer programs or semester. Although with cutbacks it looks like only four weeks summer. Who knows.
 
Good for her! Wow what a place the Naval Post Graduate School is! It is absolutely beautiful out there in Monterey. Of course DLI isn’t bad either.

Next time you're in Monterey give me a call, I'll take the boat out and we'll some fishing. I'm only an hour and a half north of there, and I fish Monterey every year.

It's fun to make the Coasties come out also. i have the fish preserve mapped on GPS and I keep off of course, but close enough to make them come out:smile::smile::smile:

Great fishing there, beautiful scenery, and I usually pull up the docs at lunch time with my limit met, and grab lunch at one of the restaurants on the pier.
 
LSAP does not include India. Where did you find that reference?
 
It's the lone cypris on 17 mile drive in Carmel.:smile::smile::smile:

Great drive if you don't mind seeing a bunch of 20M dollar homes and beautiful coast line.

Doctors??? You doin alright Devil Dog?
 
jbrown: I, for one, hate you. Sail and fish on:thumb:

I get that alot.

I grew up in hot, humid Louisiana. Graduated HS a year early and decided to go to the Corps. Parents signed for me, and off I was.

I got stationed at NAS Alameda (an island in S.F. Bay), and fell in love with the area.

Years later, got married and then settled back to the Bay Area. 1 Hour to Napa Valley, 1/2 Hour to Beach, 15 minutes to the Bay, 1 Hour to Monterey, 1/2 Hour to Santa Cruz, 3 Hours to Yosemite, 3 1/2 Hours to Reno and Tahoe, 3 International Airports within 30 minutes of the house and more, and more, and more.

It really sucks here:smile::smile::smile:
 
LSAP does not include India. Where did you find that reference?

P.S. There are pictures of students in China, Mexico, Russia, SPAIN :) , India and Turkey so I'm guessing it is possible to go to Spain! I'm not sure how competitive it is but I am sure it depends on your major and your grades.

I suppose I should have checked the information but it was earlier in the thread
 
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