NASS vs SLE : USNA vs USMA?

[Ivy22]

I did all 3 summer seminars back in the day (NASS, SLE, and USAFA's). To be honest, I did find West Point's the most rewarding out of the 3, and those are the guys I stayed in touch with for the longest amount of time. However, SLE also helped me decide that West Point wasn't for me. I ended up applying to USNA and USAFA in the end, along with all 3 ROTC branches, and a bunch of civilian schools.

 

[cbasalt1]

I was blessed to be able to do NASS last year and did all of the cool sea trial stuff like the IBS rafting in the Severn, etc.

It made me laugh recently to see on social media that west point added boat crews to their SLE. Just trying to compare I assume...

 

[justdoit19]

Hello,
DS wants to be a Marine & attended NASS #1, but was unable to attend SLE due to scheduling. He was really hoping to get a taste of academy life - plebe summer, in particular. Instead, he found it very watered-down. Didn't get to do much on the ecourse, no boat carrying, no difficult PT/drills, no rifles.... nothing like the ads. Just came home with pink eye from that NASTY water. They were very concerned about the participants feeling "uncomfortable". Now the pictures of SLE are coming out & it appears much more like what's expected.
Is this difference indicative of life at both academies? For those with hopefuls that attended both, how did they compare? Which was preferred?

Great discussion already.

I’ll point out, that the ‘pictures that are coming out’, are a highlight reel. Had your son attended SLE, he would have also experienced the lowlights. I bet, had he not attended NASS, that photo dumps could have made the two look similar.

Should he find himself with appointments to both, and trying to decide, he can further investigate to help discern his desires. But, if he wants to muck around in the mud, shoot stuff and blow stuff up daily, neither SA is a good fit. As an Officer, he will be in charge of (ie: doing paperwork….so much paperwork according to my sons) those that do that, as his major responsibility. Not necessarily doing it himself.

Both service branches have different cultures. And are very different in their post commissioning service assignments (read: he may not be assigned Marines). Attending one ‘summer experience’ isn’t what he should be hanging his hat on. It’s a long application process, and he will figure it out.