If you could go back to your Freshman year of ROTC or SA, what would you do differently? Reflections on the past -

USNA75 said:
I would push myself not to fear the academic and pursued and engineering degree vice a bull major. The math for engineering scared me off. I retrospect I should have have challenged myself and not “take counsel in your fear”.
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Can you share more about that? It seems like the degree doesn't matter very much in terms of commissions hopes/goals, but of course matters after serving. Engineering is intense, but it seems like it's not only math that's daunting; it's also the fact that the major completely takes over your life and you have no time to experience the joys of college - even just having a basic social life, let alone doing anything outside of studying and ROTC. What did you end up majoring in?
 
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NavyHopefulMom said:
It seems like the degree doesn't matter very much in terms of commissions hopes/goals, but of course matters after serving.
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Not necessarily. A couple of active threads address this issue and are worth checking out. After 4+ or 5+ years of active duty, the veteran's appeal to employers is largely due to their leadership experience and mission focus. Doesn't mean the veteran can't or won't practice their major field, but just as likely they'll end up in management in an unrelated field.

NavyHopefulMom said:
Engineering is intense, but it seems like it's not only math that's daunting; it's also the fact that the major completely takes over your life and you have no time to experience the joys of college - even just having a basic social life, let alone doing anything outside of studying and ROTC.
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Depends on the mid/cadet and how well they manage their time. DS is an engineering major and a four-year scholarship winner, so felt obligated to be more active than most with ROTC. But he also found time to become an associate and then rise to a leadership role in the business school's student-run consulting firm. He's very busy, to be sure, but still manages to have a decent social life. And his friends come from three sources -- major, ROTC, consulting firm. Of course, YMMV.
 
I would love to say I would have done better academically. But, I worked my tail off in the end and not sure there is anything I could have done better. I did eventually figure it out. Plebes Year was rough academically.
 
NavyHopefulMom said:
Can you share more about that? It seems like the degree doesn't matter very much in terms of commissions hopes/goals, but of course matters after serving. Engineering is intense, but it seems like it's not only math that's daunting; it's also the fact that the major completely takes over your life and you have no time to experience the joys of college - even just having a basic social life, let alone doing anything outside of studying and ROTC. What did you end up majoring in?
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Private conversation sent.
 
I don't regret too much, and I'm grateful for that. But I would embrace every single opportunity and not let my fear of the unknown get in the way. I adapted to being comfortable with being uncomfortable in most situations, but not all and my perfectionism combined with my fear of failure or letting people down at that point in my life hurt me at times. In the same way, I wish I would have just taken the time to enjoy the ride a little more. It went by all too quickly.
 
NavyHoops said:
I would love to say I would have done better academically. But, I worked my tail off in the end and not sure there is anything I could have done better. I did eventually figure it out. Plebes Year was rough academically.
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Ditto.
My first class standing - after the end of first semester of plebe year was in the 1200's. Made it to the upper half of the class by the time the caps flew while also staying in my sport.
 
I would be a better friend/classmate. I struggled a lot with the transition to college academically and just kind of being homesick as well as learning I was about to get medically disqualified. I tended to get easily frustrated and angry at the people around me and did a really poor job at working through my personal struggles to become a better teammate. Though I managed to turn it around in the second semester and am about to enter my senior year with some of the best friends I've ever had (including some that I met that first semester), I think I'll always have regrets about how I handled everything at the beginning. Reflecting back on it now is interesting because I can see how much I have grown, but at the same time, it is difficult to see how I treated the people around me. I did learn a lot from it, and I was able to use it as a teachable moment for my squad when I was cadre. But, the number 1 thing that I wish I could have done better at the beginning would be to have been a better friend. And reach out for help at the beginning, before I realized I was really struggling and was too embarrassed to ask.
 
I would've majored in Cyber Systems if that was offered during my time at the Academy. IF I could go back to the majors offered during my time at CGA, I would've chosen Operations Research over Electrical Engineering.

Why you may ask? It's helpful in my field (cybersecurity) to have the EECS degree just for pure credentialing. But an OR degree would have been easier and just as much math. Less lab time, so I would've had more time to focus on my courses rather than wasting 3 hours per 1 credit of lab. That adds up when you have 2-3 labs a semester. Easily an extra 6-9 hours of time in class for 3 credits...not worth it.

Compounded that we don't actually use any engineering, and I've seen classmates go on and do engineering jobs in the CG without engineering degrees...makes you think. Once you have job experience (unless you're doing say civil engineering where a PE is required), it doesn't matter as much in the civilian world.

I work in cybersecurity now and am using my GI Bill to pursue an MBA part time this fall. The EE degree does boost my credentials but it was a pain to earn. Would've had a way higher GPA had I gone with OR
 
Major in political science from the start instead of trying engineering for a semester first. Hindsight 20/20 of course. I really loved polisci, but it took me spring semester of Sophomore year to figure that out...
 
The question is an interesting one. A lot of SA grads report having a recurring dream where they "go back" to their SA as a more mature adult and go through it again. [Obviously, it's crazy / not even possible on so many levels, but it's a dream!]. This time (older and wiser) the person will do better in whatever areas they felt were lacking on the first go-round. I've probably had this dream 50 times -- though less frequently as the years pass. Sometimes it's incredibly vivid and I awaken thinking I'm about to head for I-Day.

I would have gone to the track coach on day 1 and figured out how to be a better runner -- and how I could learn to "like" running. Running plagued me. I was fit and in great shape. I was just a lousy runner who mentally psyched myself out. It was always a struggle and I did my share of time on the PT remedial squad. Had I been half as good at running as I was at every other PT evolution, I would have had so many more opportunities -- like PS detail.

Other than that, given the situation that existed at the time and what of that I could control, I wouldn't change much.
 
I’ve watched these posts go by, enjoying the candor. Oddly, my first thought, two disparate things popped to mind.

One, I wish I had talked more - actively listened - to the enlisted personnel at Navy OCS, about how they came into the Navy, how they liked their rating (enlisted specialty), what was difficult for them, where they had been stationed, what their goals were, what was a good officer to them. I learned to do that very quickly at my first duty station with the outstanding mentors I had there, but I always regretted wasting that opportunity to learn from them at OCS.

Second, I wish I had been better about breaking up with my college boyfriend. He was a good man, and I should have done it face to face before I headed off to OCS in Newport and then cheerfully accepted orders to Naval Station, Rota, Spain. He came up to Newport a few times, being the civilian boyfriend and a very good sport about it. I received the orders, and did the deed by letter and phone call, sadly resorting to the “It’s not you, it’s me.” I know he cherished certain hopes, and I knew I didn’t share them. I had started to change when I returned from a semester abroad junior year and realized I had places to go, people to meet, things to do. I had briefly dated an AROTC cadet and in the back of my mind, liked the idea of service, a path of discipline and purpose, professional skills. Then I met the two Navy aviators in summer white uniforms at a resource table at the campus post office, on officer recruiting shore duty, actively looking for Navy OCS candidates. And that was that. Happy ending - years later, I received an email out of the blue, he had seen an article in the college alumni magazine mentioning me, and got in touch. It was nice to catch up on life and family, and I took the opportunity to apologize to him for my thoughtlessness. He was still a good man. I think there is a moral to this story somewhere, involving making clean, swift cuts when it is time, and not dragging things out.
 
If I could go back I would follow my own advice that I give all incoming rats that I meet. "Keep your grades up!" High School came very easy to me and I assumed that my rat year would be the same which it wasn't. I dug a hole so deep that I spent the remainder of my cadetship digging out of it.
 
usna1985 said:
The question is an interesting one. A lot of SA grads report having a recurring dream where they "go back" to their SA as a more mature adult and go through it again. [Obviously, it's crazy / not even possible on so many levels, but it's a dream!]. This time (older and wiser) the person will do better in whatever areas they felt were lacking on the first go-round. I've probably had this dream 50 times -- though less frequently as the years pass. Sometimes it's incredibly vivid and I awaken thinking I'm about to head for I-Day.

I would have gone to the track coach on day 1 and figured out how to be a better runner -- and how I could learn to "like" running. Running plagued me. I was fit and in great shape. I was just a lousy runner who mentally psyched myself out. It was always a struggle and I did my share of time on the PT remedial squad. Had I been half as good at running as I was at every other PT evolution, I would have had so many more opportunities -- like PS detail.

Other than that, given the situation that existed at the time and what of that I could control, I wouldn't change much.
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That "dream" is not just for SA grads. I went to a military boarding high school, and had this dream many, many times. I am 30+ years past that experience and still have it every so often. It's interesting that I never dream about my active duty service.
 
I would have taken more pictures. Back then smartphones were in their infancy. I'm still close friends with a couple of guys i was a freshman with and we only have a handful of pictures to look at from that time and laugh at.
 
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