Marine Option

marine

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I plan on going for the Marine Option at the Acacdemy. I read in a book called "Brief Point", not Reef Points, that the academy will graduate no more than 20% of a class as Marines. Does anyone know whether this is true or not? If so, what happens if 50% of a class wants the Marine option? How does the academy decide who gets to go to the Marine Corps and who goes to the navy? Before reading that statistic, I was under the impression that there was no restriction on the number of Marines graduated, but that most midshipmen, perhaps 80% choose Navy and the rest choose Marine Corps. This also surprised me because my BGO told me at my interview that the number of midshipmen taking the Marine option is going up which leads me to believe that if there was a restriction, then there would not be a noticeable increase or decrease in those taking the Marine option. Please let me know what the deal is. Thanks in advance.
 
marine said:
I plan on going for the Marine Option at the Acacdemy. I read in a book called "Brief Point", not Reef Points, that the academy will graduate no more than 20% of a class as Marines. Does anyone know whether this is true or not?

This also surprised me because my BGO told me at my interview that the number of midshipmen taking the Marine option is going up
Right out of the 2006-2007 catalog with which all candidates should be very familiar:
"Up to one-sixth of each graduating class may be chosen for commissioning as second lieutenants in the Marine Corps."


I also heard somewhere (official, I think) that there will be an increase in this percentage. Don't know if and when it will become effective or what the anticipated increase might be. Plan on one-sixth.

marine said:
If so, what happens if 50% of a class wants the Marine option? How does the academy decide who gets to go to the Marine Corps and who goes to the navy? .

Like everything else, service selection is based on performance while at the Academy. Someone with more recent knowledge can probably jump in and help you here. In my day, the Marine Corps was not looking for overly intelligent officers. :shake: Therefore class standings were divided into fifths. One fifth of the openings were offered to the top 20% of the class and so on down the line, until the quota was filled.
 
I believe (a current mid will hopefully correct me if I'm wrong), that service selection is now based on a combo of standing in the class and a mutual agreement, so to speak, b/t you and the service about where you'll go.

In particular, prospective Marines spend a month of the 1/C summer in Quantico going through mini-TBS. Used to be called "BullDog," but now has a new name, which I've forgotten. Mids who don't do well there are either counseled not to select USMC or prohibited from doing so (don't know which).

This came about, BTW, b/c in my day too many mids selected USMC simply to avoid going to a carrier. Or, they wanted to fly and all the USN pilot/NFO billets were taken. Bottom line -- they had no real desire to be Marines and thus performed poorly at TBS and in the USMC, reflecting badly on themselves and USNA.

The above said, if there are still more "eligible" mids who want to be Marines than there are billets, it will be determined by class rank.
 
usna1985 and USNA69 have it correct. It’s all dependant on how well you do at Leatherneck (what used to be BullDog), approval of the senior Marine at USNA, your class ranking (you get to select based on your class ranking and what is open when you select) and medical qualification.

At least that’s how it was working 6 years ago when I was doing the commissioning physicals.
 
Marine
just remember if you accept an Appointment to USNA, you really are joining the US Navy, and you are in the military. You can shoot for a goal, but the needs of the Service dictate your ultimate selections. Your job would be to do your best in your academics/leadership/sports/physical training,etc while at USNA, so that your Order of Merit come Graduation puts you near the top third of your class, which means you have a pretty good shot at your first choice of Service Selection, which for you would be Marine.

One has to aim for high goals, but be prepared that you may never get your 'first choice' and you have to be flexible enough to go with this.

My Plebe, female class of 2010 is shooting for Marine option. We'll know in the Fall of 2009 come her Service Selection whether or not there's a slot waiting for her.

Good luck pursuing your dreams!
God Bless!!
 
The Dir of Admissions addressed this @ CVW. She said it had gone up past 2 years to approx. 20% from some seemingly strange % like 15.46 ... or something there abouts. It's definitely gone up and like peskemom and others have noted, due to the needs of Uncle Sam.
 
Is no one either:
A. Going to make fun of me for telling how things were 40 yrs ago.
or:
B. Confirm or deny that they Academy still divides the class and allows USMC selection across the full class spectrum.

Inquiring minds want to know.
 
Okay..... Were Noah and Hannibal in your class? :shake:


As for the Marines, I don't recall the Marine percentage ever being an issue. I don't recall a single example of someone who wanted to be a Marine being turned away if they had passed Bulldog and whatnot. Don't know how it is now.
 
As in Joakim and Leckter? :eek:

Man, they beat the Mama's & Papa's and love sick astronauts, totally, to the max! :cool:

Too tall, too hungry. :mad: Gotta do something about the screening process! :confused:
 
USNA69 said:
Is no one either:
A. Going to make fun of me for telling how things were 40 yrs ago.
or:
B. Confirm or deny that they Academy still divides the class and allows USMC selection across the full class spectrum.

Inquiring minds want to know.

It's only a matter of time for all of us (until we hit 40 yrs). I don't recall the option being extended to the full spectrum in my year. As I recall, service selection was based entirely on your class rank. RHIP, as it were. Thus, the only way people in the bottom 20% of the class could pick USMC is if, after the top 80% selected, billets remained.
 
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