Plebe year first semester complete AMA
- Thread starter bt18
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crumblethunder187
Class of 2026
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2020
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Good morning,
I know sports practice times differ for each sport, but how long would each practice be (particularly for soccer?)
And what is your academic/sports schedule like, and how have you been doing with it?
How is the food at West Point, in your opinion, and did you have to get used to a different diet/food lifestyle?
How did you decide what major/academic/future plan you wanted to choose, or how are you planning it now?
I know sports practice times differ for each sport, but how long would each practice be (particularly for soccer?)
And what is your academic/sports schedule like, and how have you been doing with it?
How is the food at West Point, in your opinion, and did you have to get used to a different diet/food lifestyle?
How did you decide what major/academic/future plan you wanted to choose, or how are you planning it now?
Where you able to validate any of your high school classes. And if so, what was that process like.
Are you happy with your decision to attend West Point? Do you ever regret enrolling?
1) Practice times differ for most sports, but competitive clubs and ODIA teams typically about 2.5 hour practices on every week day (sometimes fridays are off).
2)I am on a competitive club that does not have a front loaded schedule, so it is hard to have to grind out my homework starting at around 7:30-8 every night, but it is manageable. (You get REALLY good at time management here lol)
3)The food here is not incredible by any means. I personally did not have to get used to a different food lifestyle, or diet. You do get used to the food after a while, and learn what you like and don't like.
4)For me, I chose an engineering major because I wanted something that I could fall back on outside of the army to make a living. It is not my primary career choice, but more of a backup. I plan on doing some grad school, but if it doesn't work out I won't be out of a job. I also want to go abroad, so my 8TAP is a little bit crazy right now.
No, I was not. I highly recommend validating high school courses, it frees up your schedule so much. West Point will really only validate high school classes that one gets an AP test score of 5 on, and its only a handful of classes: World History, Chemistry, Physics are the ones I can think. If you do want to validate, submit your AP scores and take the placement tests. If you get placed into an advanced course, you will have a lighter workload (ex. ADV Pyschology does not have any essays, only readings and tests).
This is the best decision I could have made for myself. I wanted to go to West Point since I was five years old, and I knew there was no place I'd rather be. I am extremely happy with my decision to attend West Point. I do not regret my decision at all.
Adding to number 4, what do you plan on doing in the Army?
Right now, engineers or med service.
crumblethunder187
Class of 2026
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2020
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- 42
Thank you!
I am also interested in going abroad, do you have any suggestions on what I should do to prepare?
Nothing to worry about right now, even if you want to take a language you have past experience in. The placement test is super low threat. I hadn't spoken my language in 2 years, and the interview went horribly, but I was still placed into it. Once you get to West Point, over the summer make it clear that you are interested in going abroad, so they put you in a language class as a plebe. Also, if you are not planning on being a DFL major, or something that will be easy to double count a lot of courses while abroad (ex. engineering), meet with your DAC once you declare to wargame your 8TAP early on.
CrossMT 07
USMA 2026
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- Nov 1, 2018
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- 62
As of right now, these are 2 career fields (hopefully the corps of engineers or medical specialist corps) that I am interested in. I also want to pursue a Mechanical Engineering degree, so what suggestions do you have for combining an engineering curriculum with a pre-med curriculum?
It will be a lot because not a lot of MechE courses will double count towards your pre-med courses (O-chem I/II, Adv Bio, Human Physio, Biochem). You will likely be overloaded every semester (>22 credits) unless you have a lot of validations. It can be done, but you will have a lot of work for it. I personally do not think its worth it after speaking with several doing it, and faculty. If you really want to go to medical school out of West Point go Life Science, Chemistry, Kinesiology, or Pyschology as your major. If you want to go to medschool later, simply do a few courses and take the other pre-reqs later on. You will get burnt out. Bottom line, it can be done with early on wargaming with your 8TAP, make sure during BEAST you tell the registrar what you want to major in so they can make your plebe schedule accordingly. Good Luck.
This might be a silly question, but what is the personalization of a cadet's room and personal items like, (stickers on laptops and decorating one's room)?
Many plebes put stickers all over their issued laptops. As for room decorations: one can have a single state or unit flag, and no more than ten feet of LED lights per cadet per room. You can also have pictures and such on your shelf/desk as long as it "doesn't detract from military bearing".
I would say there is a lot about West Point that surprised me. There is a lot that differed from expectations based on the application process once I got here.
aa-ttention
Member
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What's your summer plan? Airborne or air assault? How are they selected?
HopefulDad2026
USNA 2026 Dad
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- Jan 7, 2021
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Any examples of those surprises?
My thoughts before coming here was that the bulk of cadets were going to be truly America's best and brightest (motivated to be soldiers), I believed that I was going to be thoroughly challenged in my courses based on material, and I thought the military aspect was going to be a lot harder than it is. The application process was extremely long and based on what I heard from my FFR/RC, West Point only wanted those with extremely high GPA's/Standardized Test Scores. I would say at least half of most of my classes are filled with individuals who struggle with algebra/writing cohesive essays. Also, many who have come here have literally said they do not want to be in the army. I find that the challenges of my courses come from being taught horribly. For example, many of my friends struggled in gen chem because of the way its taught: labs consist of material not yet taught, zero lectures (Thayer Method), course jumps around in book. I took most of these courses in college before coming, so I have a solid understanding of almost all of my classes, but I can totally see how someone who hasn't taken (or has a solid foundation in the subject) would struggle. They teach relatively simple subjects in an overcomplicated and unnecessarily difficult way. In terms of the military aspect, I have old grad family members who told me of the hazing/difficulties of their time here, and how they persevered through it all. I have yet to experience legitimate difficulty as a plebe, there hasn't been anything that has made me wonder why I came here and if it will all be worth it in the end, like the stories I've heard in the past. BEAST was kind of a joke with smoke sessions consisting of no more than 20 reps of calisthenics (push ups, flutter kicks, etc.). I assumed it was going to be like actual basic, like what my enlisted friends told me.
It is important to note these are just some of the aspects that surprised me about West Point, after I got here. I am not "hating" on the academy in any way, I am just pointing out what was different here than what I expected based on what I've read/heard from old grads.