Prep school

All of the Service Academies handle prep school admissions through their admissions department. You do not apply directly to the Prep School, you apply to the academy and then the admissions department offers SOME candidates a Prep School slot. Typically these candidates need more academic seasoning, but have high potential in other areas. Mostly the academies offer these slots to recruited athletes, prior enlisted personnel, or under represented minorities. Now each academy also may have a civilian prep program that is often run by alumni associations. The civilian prep program offers opportunities for promising candidates who were qualified, but no slot was available. They are then giving financial aid to attend a post graduate prep school, military junior college, or a civilian college. These candidates have to reapply to the academy, but they tend to have advantage when it comes to receiving an appointment as long as they make grades. I was a product of the civilian prep program and did a freshman year at a civilian college (joined ROTC also) before attending the academy.
 
All of the Service Academies handle prep school admissions through their admissions department. You do not apply directly to the Prep School, you apply to the academy and then the admissions department offers SOME candidates a Prep School slot. Typically these candidates need more academic seasoning, but have high potential in other areas. Mostly the academies offer these slots to recruited athletes, prior enlisted personnel, or under represented minorities. Now each academy also may have a civilian prep program that is often run by alumni associations. The civilian prep program offers opportunities for promising candidates who were qualified, but no slot was available. They are then giving financial aid to attend a post graduate prep school, military junior college, or a civilian college. These candidates have to reapply to the academy, but they tend to have advantage when it comes to receiving an appointment as long as they make grades. I was a product of the civilian prep program and did a freshman year at a civilian college (joined ROTC also) before attending the academy.
So if you are a minority and don't have the best grades they can send you the the prep school?
 
It isn't quite as simple as that. The bottom line is the prep school is to help candidates that USNA believes will make good Midshipmen and future officers who need an extra year of academic rigor to be successful at USNA. If you look at a Prep School class you will see many recruited athletes, minorities and prior enlisted. There are also plenty of folks who do not fall into any of these categories. USNA will evaluate candidates for the Prep School as a part of the process. It isn't as simple as grades or SAT scores. USNA always looks at the whole picture of a candidate. USNA is looking for a diverse and qualified class each year. I have seen a variety of candidates go to the prep school. For some its their school maybe didn't offer high level courses such as Calculus. Maybe a candidate had to work 40 hours a week to support their family. Maybe they are a prior enlisted and haven't been in school for 2-3 years. Maybe they are a superb athlete that could use an extra year of class prep to succeed as a D1 athlete at USNA. Maybe they are a minority from the inner city or an applicant from a tiny town in Wyoming with 40 kids in their high school and works their family ranch that could use an extra year to refine their academics. No two candidates are the same for USNA. If you want to attend USNA, apply. There are tons of old threads about the prep school on this site. Recommend you use the search function.
 
Back
Top