Coastie&MidDad
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2015
- Messages
- 3
I’d like to better understand the theory behind the NAPS.
Already recognized as one of the top institutions in the country, competition for a USNA appointment is fierce. Every year thousands of motivated and, to varying degrees, qualified candidates apply. The USNA (or any SA) should want the brightest students, with the most leadership potential, enrolled at The Academy. So why not select the 1,200, or so, most qualified candidates and offer them appointments?
Where I get confused is how the NAPS is applied to the process. I have read estimates ranging from 15-30% of all plebes are admitted from the NAPS (for discussion purposes, say 250 out of a class of 1,200). These would be applicants that didn’t measure-up one year, for whatever reason, yet are given special consideration the following year. (After the USNA makes a significant, one year investment in them) These 250 NAPS-ters then limit the available appointments for other applicants, who may be more qualified, thus further perpetuating the cycle. The process seems to imply that, in any given year, there are only around 950 truly-qualified, applicants, and that the USNA is forced to ‘grow their own’ in order to flesh out a class of 1,200. Is this really the case or is NAPS just a veiled attempt to pad the athletics department with less academically-qualified athletes? (Don’t get me wrong… Go Navy! Beat Army!)
I am sure that there is something I am missing or not understanding properly. Can someone explain the ‘grey’ to this ‘black and white’ type guy? (And before assumptions are made, this is not sour-grapes. My Mid was not impacted by the NAPS appointments at all. I am just curious.)
Already recognized as one of the top institutions in the country, competition for a USNA appointment is fierce. Every year thousands of motivated and, to varying degrees, qualified candidates apply. The USNA (or any SA) should want the brightest students, with the most leadership potential, enrolled at The Academy. So why not select the 1,200, or so, most qualified candidates and offer them appointments?
Where I get confused is how the NAPS is applied to the process. I have read estimates ranging from 15-30% of all plebes are admitted from the NAPS (for discussion purposes, say 250 out of a class of 1,200). These would be applicants that didn’t measure-up one year, for whatever reason, yet are given special consideration the following year. (After the USNA makes a significant, one year investment in them) These 250 NAPS-ters then limit the available appointments for other applicants, who may be more qualified, thus further perpetuating the cycle. The process seems to imply that, in any given year, there are only around 950 truly-qualified, applicants, and that the USNA is forced to ‘grow their own’ in order to flesh out a class of 1,200. Is this really the case or is NAPS just a veiled attempt to pad the athletics department with less academically-qualified athletes? (Don’t get me wrong… Go Navy! Beat Army!)
I am sure that there is something I am missing or not understanding properly. Can someone explain the ‘grey’ to this ‘black and white’ type guy? (And before assumptions are made, this is not sour-grapes. My Mid was not impacted by the NAPS appointments at all. I am just curious.)