Just in case

Jbelonga

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Aug 10, 2015
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In no way does this mean have I given up hope, nor shall I; however, in the event that I receive a TWE, I am unsure what to do. My current plan b is Texas A&M and join the corps and then reapply next year. I have already been accepted. Would it be more advantageous to enlist and reapply that way so that I have some experience in the navy/marine corps or would enlisting create complications where I couldn't reapply for a few years bc of my contract?
 
Jbelonga, I am happy to hear you have a plan B; Texas A&M is a great school. Would it be more advantageous to enlist? Well, that all depends on what you want to do in the military. If your goal is to become an officer, then it will be much harder and may take longer if you enlist. If you want to get a college degree, it will also take you much longer as you will be trained for a certain job and then you will work that job until your enlistment is up. If you are going to reapply as an enlisted person, it can be done, but there will be a delay, perhaps two or more years before you will be in a position to do so. And, if you enlist and apply, your chances of getting a direct appointment to USNA are less and you will more likely be offered a prep school first due to the fact that you will be out of school for a longer period of time than one coming right out of high school .

IMHO, if you really want to be an officer in the Navy and you receive the dreaded TWE, going to your plan B and taking a course load equivalent to your first year at the Academy is your best bet. You can work your tail off, get good grades and will have another year of maturity plus the experience of the Corp of Cadets and you will make a more competitive candidate. The SAs love applicants who do not give up, who go after what they want and prove they have what it takes, even if rejected the first year. It also gives you great content for that killer essay that you can write about overcoming obstacles and pursuing your dreams.

You can get disappointed for a bit, but use your disappointment to light a fire and ignite your passions and make your life happen the way you want it to be. I wish you well and NEVER, EVER, give up hope. Now go after your dreams!
 
I must very reluctantly and respectfully disagree with the idea of going to a SMC like A&M and then to the Academy. I laid out my reasons in this thread a while ago:

http://www.serviceacademyforums.com/index.php?threads/college-student-reapplicant.45479/#post-457734

You would be better off going to Civilian U, taking courses mimicking Plebe Year and making A's, keeping up your physical fitness as if you were on a sports team, and taking ROTC whether with or without a scholarship than going to an SMC.
 
The link gokings posted was started by me; my DD had her sights on USNA since she was around 13yrs, and planned to enlist and reapply if not accepted. The feedback on that thread changed her course for backup plans.

One important thing we discovered along the way is that you will never become an officer without a college degree.

For DD, the first question was, did she want to be an officer or did she want to just be in the Navy? Her answer was officer.

The next question was how to get there (officer) if not offered an appointment to USNA as a hs senior? The options were either a prep school (such as Greystone), a civilian college (State U), or a SMC.

State U was not an option she liked at all, so that was off the table. So it was prep school or SMC. Prep school is a good option, even as a self prep; Greystone in particular was appealing to DD, with a laser focus on getting into a SA. However, if she went to Greystone and was not offered USNA the following year, then she was back to square one.

For DD she decided on a SMC, and she has already been offered an appointment to VMI. (Still waiting to hear from Citadel).

She's determined that she will not reapply to USNA if she isn't offered an appointment, because her end goal - become an officer in the Navy - can become reality in 4 years through either VMI or Citadel. In your case, the same is true from A & M.

At a SMC you will be going through a tough freshman year, similar to Plebe year, and if you reapply to SA you'd basically "lose" that year and do it all over again at a SA. None of your credits will transfer, although you could probably validate out of many classes. So that would be two pretty rough freshman/Plebe years, and it would take five years to become an officer instead of four years.

For my DD, she has decided to throw herself into a SMC and give it everything she has, without the added stress or distraction of reapplying to USNA.

I'd suggest figuring out your end goal, where you want to be and what you'd like to be doing in 10 years, and decide what the best way is to get there for you. I wish you all the best!
 
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