Major Military Academies Report Significant Rise in Applicants

Well that's great. More people are interested in serving which is always a good thing. It also means the word is spreading on the academies. It didn't meantion the USCGA or USMMA though...

It also means there was more competition this year so congratulations to all 2013 appointees!

You might have wanted to post this in the academy/military news section. More fitting and larger audience.
 
Don't get ahead of yourself. Your future classmates have done well to be appointed, but getting here isn't the hard part.

On topic:
It makes sense. I do wonder why USNA saw an increase 4 times as large as WP and USAFA.
 
[/QUOTE]On topic:
It makes sense. I do wonder why USNA saw an increase 4 times as large as WP and USAFA.[/QUOTE]

Speculation: the recent SEAL mission WRT pirate attack on MAERSK ALABAMA and the rescue of Captain Phillipps.

I think I remember the same spikes happening after "Top Gun" was released and other high-profile events where something strikes a chord with people coming into the application window.
 
Hmm...Capt. MJ, I doubt it was that particular incident. If you recall, it happened on Easter Sunday...Early April, and well past the admissions deadline.
 
raimius said:
Don't get ahead of yourself. Your future classmates have done well to be appointed, but getting here isn't the hard part.
Click to expand...

It was a joke but the 10%-15% acceptance rate vs the 80% graduation rate seem to say otherwise. (rates were estimates)
 
Navy has been ahead of West Point for a number of years now, since the war.
A lot of good Navy folk discount it but the numbers are becoming clear - when the war was going badly West Point applications were down - a lot.
Now that the situation is turning around West Point is seeing a rise in applications. I have also seen and heard it anecdotally - when Jr wants to apply to West Point, Mom and Dad also encourage Jr to apply to Navy and AF (It's "safer").

Navy is also probably seeing a bigger jump due to the combined NROTC application and they have expanded NASS. Each NASS application is a Navy application.
 
The situation turned around awhile ago (and I'm not talking about Afghanistan), however the press apparently doesn't feel the need to cover it anymore.


Interesting....no more "death count" numbers on CNN....wonder why that is. :rolleyes:
 
^
don't forget kids start applying 1-1/2 years prior to attending. West Point's class of 2007 saw 12,688 applications. This was the HS graduating class of 2003 who began applying in 2002.
Fast forward to the class of 2010 which saw 10,276 applications and was the HS graduating class of 2006 that began applying in 2005.
After 4 years of applications below 11,000 they are rising again.
 
America's Finest said:
It was a joke but the 10%-15% acceptance rate vs the 80% graduation rate seem to say otherwise. (rates were estimates)
Click to expand...

My goodness - America's Finest, please get a hold of yourself before R-Day. Don't be decieved into thinking the hard part is over.
There are many things that can and will happen both within your control and out of your control that can affect your success at West Point.
Just because the graduation rate is 80% doesn't mean it was easy for many.
Finally, get some thicker skin. No one is perfect at beast. Just accept that you will most likely have to report to the cadet in the red sash more than once.
 
DMeix said:
Hmm...Capt. MJ, I doubt it was that particular incident. If you recall, it happened on Easter Sunday...Early April, and well past the admissions deadline.
Click to expand...

Yes, quite right...might play for 2014...
 
Just_A_Mom said:
^
don't forget kids start applying 1-1/2 years prior to attending. West Point's class of 2007 saw 12,688 applications. This was the HS graduating class of 2003 who began applying in 2002.
Fast forward to the class of 2010 which saw 10,276 applications and was the HS graduating class of 2006 that began applying in 2005.
After 4 years of applications below 11,000 they are rising again.
Click to expand...

True....good thought, the statistics are delayed a bit.
 
Just_A_Mom said:
My goodness - America's Finest, please get a hold of yourself before R-Day. Don't be decieved into thinking the hard part is over.
There are many things that can and will happen both within your control and out of your control that can affect your success at West Point.
Just because the graduation rate is 80% doesn't mean it was easy for many.
Finally, get some thicker skin. No one is perfect at beast. Just accept that you will most likely have to report to the cadet in the red sash more than once.
Click to expand...

I never said that. I just said that statistically, it's easier to get in than to graduate. I also never claimed to being perfect. Why must you insist on these comments? They are in vain, I know all I need to know and will do just fine. :thumb:
 
^^^ I get your point. In VA we have a running joke. Hard to get into UVA, but easy to graduate. Easy to get in VA TECH, but hard to graduate. This is all based on the starting class size and graduating class size.

Now, one thing to place into the graduation rate, is that cadets enter thinking it is going to be one thing and quickly realize that their illusion is just that and not reality. Some will DOR after BCT, some will be asked to leave (typically academics or medical), some will get to the point where they need to sign on the dotted line and they project themselves to being 27 or (31---flyers) and finally being given the 1st time to bolt, they realize that this is not their cup of tea.

Let's remember you are 18 when you enter and have never experienced this life, you can watch DVDs and the military channel, post on this site baseops and cc, but it is totally different when you get there and sleep on top of your bed, eat in 7 bites and never look down. For some they always have the light at the end of the tunnel in sight, for others they question why they are doing this to themselves.

Also the rise is occurring because of the economy. This is nothing new, when the economy tanks, the military gets more people, when the economy is great, the numbers decline. Two yrs ago, it was very rare to see somebody state they didn't get an ROTC scholarship. This yr, not only was this formed filled with people talking about rejection letters, but also I learned that there are scholarships as low as $2K, prior to that I thought there were only 3 types, 2,7,9
 
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LineInTheSand said:
the statistics are delayed a bit.
Click to expand...

not sure what you mean by this - but I can break it down:
WP Class of 2007 (HS Class of 2003) - 12,688
WP Class of 2008 (HS Class of 2004) - 11,879
WP Class of 2009 (HS class of 2005) - 10,773
WP Class of 2010 (HS class of 2006) - 10,276
WP Class of 2011 (HS class of 2007) - 10,838
WP Class of 2012 (HS class of 2008) - 10,133

WP Class of 2013 (HS Class of 2009) - 11,000 +

Now go back and look at what was going on during the GWOT during those years - their appears to be a correlation.
In any case WP lost 2,500 applications over 5 years. They are now on the upswing, part may be due to the economy but I think mostly it's due to "success" in Iraq or the perceived notion that the Iraq war is over.
You are right about that!

America's Finest - don't forget, the total number of applications is not the total that are Qualifed to receive an appointment. Being qualified makes it a whole lot easier to get in!
Last year at WP while there were over 10,000 applications less than 2,000 were found qualified for 1300 slots.
 
They are now on the upswing, part may be due to the economy but I think mostly it's due to "success" in Iraq or the perceived notion that the Iraq war is over.
Click to expand...

It is not part due to the economy, it is everything due to the economy. The success in IRAQ has very very very little to due with it. The military members are still spending 12 months+ in theatre, not to be rude or mean, but IRAQ deployment is not in the equation. Are they safer? Yes, but they would hand in their papers faster than you could spit if it meant they could get a job stateside that has 80% of their pay and medical bennies. This occurred in the late 90's. The economy was booming and military members of every rank left. The economy has contracted, nobody is hiring, unemployment rate is up, so job safety is with the military.

Here's the reality, if the unemployment rate increases bonuses will decrease, but members won't leave because of the safety net.

Look at the RIF of 91/92 people didn't sign on for the early out because the civilian economy was not hiring.
 
That's a good theory and certainly has an impact on enlistments and folks making the decision to stay or get out but kids who apply to academies typically decide to apply early, 10th or 11th grade. The economy had not yet tanked for this class.
The economy didn't start to go bad until AFTER most of the class had already begun to apply.
Furthermore - this is a group that is applying to college. Even with the bad ecomony applications to all top colleges are up this year - this is a huge group demographically.
In speaking with people close to USMA - they definitely credit initial increase in applications for 2003 and the resulting downturn in applications to the war.
All academies have been working very hard in new recruiting efforts and it seems this has paid off.

Now if there are 13,000 applications for the Class of 2014 - I would credit the recession.
 
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