I am a current plebe of class of 18'. I am currently four months into the academic year. I am here to pass advice and insight to the Class of 19' that I wish I got before coming here.
To put into perspective, here is some information about me before the Naval Academy.
In High School I had a GPA of 4.15/5.0. I was ranked top 10% in my class: 151/1,563 (big class). My SAT was a 2090 (760 math, 650 verbal, 680 writing). My ACT was a composite of a 31. I took a total of 12 AP courses throughout my four years in high school, including AP Calculus BC and AP Chemistry.
I did Varsity Swimming for four years. I was Team Captain and attended State my senior year. I swam club swimming for 12 years and had many other leadership positions in clubs and other activities.
I received an LOA to the Naval Academy September 17th, LOE to West Point in November 27th. I received a senatorial nomination to West Point and a congressional nomination to Naval Academy. I was accepted to both academies and chose to attend Naval Academy. I never regretted that decision even for a second. Beat Army.
However, once I came to the Naval Academy I was surprised how ordinary I was. I was average in physical compared to everyone else even though I had 12 years of swimming and half of year of crossfit under my belt. All my accomplishments might sound impressive, but it is the norm here.
Plebe Summer
My advice for preparing for plebe summer: Run, Run, Run.
My BGO told me this one advice for my preparation for Plebe Summer and I did not listen to him. I fully regret that now. I was in pretty good physical shape prior hand: I did Crossfit for six months prior in preparation and swam daily. However, the one physical aspect that mattered I did not do. The NA propaganda videos that state that we did an outrageous number of miles running do not lie. We woke up for PEP (physical education program) six times a week and ran five times a week. The days we did run, we ran anywhere from 3-5 miles (interval training or regimental runs), and did calisthenics afterwards(different variations of push-ups, squats, abs, ect.) The one day we did not run, we did stations.
Do not be a chit suffer.
What I mean by this is that Class of 18' was notorious of having a record number of people on chit. A chit is an excuse from physical activities for any reason (most common: shin splints, but also pink eye, sprained ankle, "feeling" bad). People would "surf" from chit to chit and be known as that "guy" or "gal" that nobody liked because they did not put in his or her fair share.
Be prepared to be exhausted 24/7
Doing PEP every morning and standing all day at attention really takes a toll on your body. You will sleep like you never slept before. Trust me. You can not prepare for being exhausted. You can, however, prepare yourself mentally to prepare for the worst.
You will become efficient in memorizing details.
You will be expected to memorize a new sentence or "rate" every day or every other day and be expected to recite it at a moments notice at the top of your lungs in front of all your peers with a detailer right in your face. If this seems daunting, it isn't. Everybody has to do this. This memorization carries into the academic year also with pro-knowledge (in a sentence: a weekly test on military knowledge on anything from undersea warfare to navy customs). You will find yourself at the end of Plebe Summer with a strange ability to remember little details.
Stay Humble.
Nobody cares about your past. Honestly. Nobody cares that you were an all-star athlete or a genius at your little-known high school. Nobody cares that you went to NAPS or were a prior-marine. It is the hard truth, but learn it now while you still have the capability to change your mindset. During Plebe summer, everybody is at the same bottom rung of the food chain. Nobody is better than the guy or gal standing next to him/her.
My final advice and thoughts of Plebe Summer. You will be surprised on how many people are completely out of shape and nonathletic once you come here. Of course, there are a ton of physical studs (in my squad, the male who had the least number of pull-ups in our pull-up competition was 15) here, but there is always that one guy or gal who can not run. Honestly, as long as you are in decent physically shape and can run you are fine. Do not do some ridiculous physical regiment to prepare for Plebe summer. Just run daily (3 miles is enough).
People think Plebe Summer is the challenge. They are wrong. The true challenge is the academic year. Not trying to scare you guys, but it is true. My detailers during Plebe Summer always stated that Plebe Summer you will get the most sleep you will ever get throughout your four years here. That is 100% true. We have a "light's-out" at 11 o'clock, but nobody really follows it. I wake up every morning at exactly 6:05 and average 6 hours asleep a night. You are expected to function on this little amount of sleep daily and even less on some days.
Tips for the Academic Year
ACADEMICS. ACADEMICS. ACADEMICS is the key to everything. It opens up so many opportunities you will not even imagine.
Be ready to have a lot of late nights.
Everything here is teacher dependent. You will find out that you can take the same class as your roommate, but have 10x more work than he does, even though you both are learning the exact same material. Ex. For my naval history class I have daily 5 minutes quizzes over 20-40 pages of reading every other night. I have written five 4+ research papers. On the other hand, my roomate has had 3 quizzes and hasn't written a single paper. This is the sad truth, but it happens.
Everything is dependent on which company you are "randomly" put into. One company has morning workouts every morning. Some companies do not have any.
Take advantage of clubs and varsity sports.
I rowed varsity crew for 4 months, including plebe summer, and now I do not. Doing a varsity sport is awesome and having the group of teammates is an incredible support system, but it takes a lot of time that you could be otherwise using to study or work out on your own. Depending on what company you are in, you could get out of many required plebe duties. Personally I do not think it is worth it, unless you really love your sport or your teammates.
There are a ton of clubs here that everybody should take advantage of. Clubs allow you to get off the yard and do some pretty awesome stuff. Ex. I went to Lake Rawlings, Virginia last weekend with the Scuba Diving Club to go scuba diving and get my Open Water certificate. Cool stuff like that. Do what interests you and even if it doesn't, try it anyways.
Chemistry sucks. (I advise taking AP Chemistry if possible)
Validate as many courses as you can.
If you do not know the Sponsor program. It is awesome.
You will learn to time manage really well (part of being a midshipman).
Working out is a daily must. It is part of the culture and believe it or not, it is considered weird if you do not work out in a day.
I would like to major in EE (electrical engineering) and I am undecided for my service selection (which is perfectly fine).
Overall, I honestly love it here at the Naval Academy. I have been challenged like never before both academically and physically. I am in the best shape of my life. Not even once have I regretted my decision of attending.
This may be very overwhelming to you, but you will get used to it. Plebe Summer will prepare you for the academic year. At the end of the year, you will be surprised how much Plebe Summer will benefit you.
Good luck on your endeavors Class of 2019' and see you next year.
If you have any questions regarding Plebe Summer or the academic year, post them here and I will try to answer them all (no guarantees).
To put into perspective, here is some information about me before the Naval Academy.
In High School I had a GPA of 4.15/5.0. I was ranked top 10% in my class: 151/1,563 (big class). My SAT was a 2090 (760 math, 650 verbal, 680 writing). My ACT was a composite of a 31. I took a total of 12 AP courses throughout my four years in high school, including AP Calculus BC and AP Chemistry.
I did Varsity Swimming for four years. I was Team Captain and attended State my senior year. I swam club swimming for 12 years and had many other leadership positions in clubs and other activities.
I received an LOA to the Naval Academy September 17th, LOE to West Point in November 27th. I received a senatorial nomination to West Point and a congressional nomination to Naval Academy. I was accepted to both academies and chose to attend Naval Academy. I never regretted that decision even for a second. Beat Army.
However, once I came to the Naval Academy I was surprised how ordinary I was. I was average in physical compared to everyone else even though I had 12 years of swimming and half of year of crossfit under my belt. All my accomplishments might sound impressive, but it is the norm here.
Plebe Summer
My advice for preparing for plebe summer: Run, Run, Run.
My BGO told me this one advice for my preparation for Plebe Summer and I did not listen to him. I fully regret that now. I was in pretty good physical shape prior hand: I did Crossfit for six months prior in preparation and swam daily. However, the one physical aspect that mattered I did not do. The NA propaganda videos that state that we did an outrageous number of miles running do not lie. We woke up for PEP (physical education program) six times a week and ran five times a week. The days we did run, we ran anywhere from 3-5 miles (interval training or regimental runs), and did calisthenics afterwards(different variations of push-ups, squats, abs, ect.) The one day we did not run, we did stations.
Do not be a chit suffer.
What I mean by this is that Class of 18' was notorious of having a record number of people on chit. A chit is an excuse from physical activities for any reason (most common: shin splints, but also pink eye, sprained ankle, "feeling" bad). People would "surf" from chit to chit and be known as that "guy" or "gal" that nobody liked because they did not put in his or her fair share.
Be prepared to be exhausted 24/7
Doing PEP every morning and standing all day at attention really takes a toll on your body. You will sleep like you never slept before. Trust me. You can not prepare for being exhausted. You can, however, prepare yourself mentally to prepare for the worst.
You will become efficient in memorizing details.
You will be expected to memorize a new sentence or "rate" every day or every other day and be expected to recite it at a moments notice at the top of your lungs in front of all your peers with a detailer right in your face. If this seems daunting, it isn't. Everybody has to do this. This memorization carries into the academic year also with pro-knowledge (in a sentence: a weekly test on military knowledge on anything from undersea warfare to navy customs). You will find yourself at the end of Plebe Summer with a strange ability to remember little details.
Stay Humble.
Nobody cares about your past. Honestly. Nobody cares that you were an all-star athlete or a genius at your little-known high school. Nobody cares that you went to NAPS or were a prior-marine. It is the hard truth, but learn it now while you still have the capability to change your mindset. During Plebe summer, everybody is at the same bottom rung of the food chain. Nobody is better than the guy or gal standing next to him/her.
My final advice and thoughts of Plebe Summer. You will be surprised on how many people are completely out of shape and nonathletic once you come here. Of course, there are a ton of physical studs (in my squad, the male who had the least number of pull-ups in our pull-up competition was 15) here, but there is always that one guy or gal who can not run. Honestly, as long as you are in decent physically shape and can run you are fine. Do not do some ridiculous physical regiment to prepare for Plebe summer. Just run daily (3 miles is enough).
People think Plebe Summer is the challenge. They are wrong. The true challenge is the academic year. Not trying to scare you guys, but it is true. My detailers during Plebe Summer always stated that Plebe Summer you will get the most sleep you will ever get throughout your four years here. That is 100% true. We have a "light's-out" at 11 o'clock, but nobody really follows it. I wake up every morning at exactly 6:05 and average 6 hours asleep a night. You are expected to function on this little amount of sleep daily and even less on some days.
Tips for the Academic Year
ACADEMICS. ACADEMICS. ACADEMICS is the key to everything. It opens up so many opportunities you will not even imagine.
Be ready to have a lot of late nights.
Everything here is teacher dependent. You will find out that you can take the same class as your roommate, but have 10x more work than he does, even though you both are learning the exact same material. Ex. For my naval history class I have daily 5 minutes quizzes over 20-40 pages of reading every other night. I have written five 4+ research papers. On the other hand, my roomate has had 3 quizzes and hasn't written a single paper. This is the sad truth, but it happens.
Everything is dependent on which company you are "randomly" put into. One company has morning workouts every morning. Some companies do not have any.
Take advantage of clubs and varsity sports.
I rowed varsity crew for 4 months, including plebe summer, and now I do not. Doing a varsity sport is awesome and having the group of teammates is an incredible support system, but it takes a lot of time that you could be otherwise using to study or work out on your own. Depending on what company you are in, you could get out of many required plebe duties. Personally I do not think it is worth it, unless you really love your sport or your teammates.
There are a ton of clubs here that everybody should take advantage of. Clubs allow you to get off the yard and do some pretty awesome stuff. Ex. I went to Lake Rawlings, Virginia last weekend with the Scuba Diving Club to go scuba diving and get my Open Water certificate. Cool stuff like that. Do what interests you and even if it doesn't, try it anyways.
Chemistry sucks. (I advise taking AP Chemistry if possible)
Validate as many courses as you can.
If you do not know the Sponsor program. It is awesome.
You will learn to time manage really well (part of being a midshipman).
Working out is a daily must. It is part of the culture and believe it or not, it is considered weird if you do not work out in a day.
I would like to major in EE (electrical engineering) and I am undecided for my service selection (which is perfectly fine).
Overall, I honestly love it here at the Naval Academy. I have been challenged like never before both academically and physically. I am in the best shape of my life. Not even once have I regretted my decision of attending.
This may be very overwhelming to you, but you will get used to it. Plebe Summer will prepare you for the academic year. At the end of the year, you will be surprised how much Plebe Summer will benefit you.
Good luck on your endeavors Class of 2019' and see you next year.
If you have any questions regarding Plebe Summer or the academic year, post them here and I will try to answer them all (no guarantees).
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. Class of '13 here.