Ranking Question

Navy_Simp

Navy_Simp

USNA Class of 2026
Joined
Dec 3, 2021
Messages
61
How is class ranking chosen? Are STEM majors ranked higher than humanity majors? Are sports taken into account? Any information is appreciated.
 
Navy_Simp said:
How is class ranking chosen? Are STEM majors ranked higher than humanity majors? Are sports taken into account? Any information is appreciated.
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Here’s your primary source document. Class rank is not chosen; it’s earned through a formula for Order of Merit (OOM) based on graded elements such as academics, military aptitude, conduct, etc.

Majors and sports are simply what midshipmen choose to do once at USNA. Everyone receives a B.S. Everyone is required to do a sport or approved alternate.


 
Capt MJ said:
Here’s your primary source document.
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Thanks for sharing @Capt MJ

Learning these little gems is a benefit for me since I'm not a USNA grad. Like OP inquired, part of me is surprised there isn't some kind of slight preferential weighing toward STEM majors but I also know that would be hard to implement. Moreover, the liberal arts degrees still take a decent amount of science classes so it all washes out I would think.
 
USNA_STEM_Prof said:
Thanks for sharing @Capt MJ

Learning these little gems is a benefit for me since I'm not a USNA grad. Like OP inquired, part of me is surprised there isn't some kind of slight preferential weighing toward STEM majors but I also know that would be hard to implement. Moreover, the liberal arts degrees still take a decent amount of science classes so it all washes out I would think.
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You’ll have to picture me, a fellow non-USNA person, poring over MidRegs and related docs in the car, as we drove XC from LA on a PCS leg from Pearl Harbor. I had to study as hard as a plebe to get my USNA “pro know” up to speed. The leadership and professional development, no problem, the endless list of things done a certain way at the Yard (including “all buildings are halls, not all halls are buildings”) was a challenge.
 
Capt MJ said:
You’ll have to picture me, a fellow non-USNA person, poring over MidRegs and related docs in the car, as we drove XC from LA on a PCS leg from Pearl Harbor. I had to study as hard as a plebe to get my USNA “pro know” up to speed. The leadership and professional development, no problem, the endless list of things done a certain way at the Yard (including “all buildings are halls, not all halls are buildings”) was a challenge.
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Haha. A friend from my previous team in the building did a company officer shore tour at USNA and the moment I got selected for PMP, she started downloading me on those little intricacies. In the end I know a lot of my knowledge will be experiential.

For now, I’m still trying to wrap my mind around this buildings and halls differentiation…
 
USNA_STEM_Prof said:
Haha. A friend from my previous team in the building did a company officer shore tour at USNA and the moment I got selected for PMP, she started downloading me on those little intricacies. In the end I know a lot of my knowledge will be experiential.

For now, I’m still trying to wrap my mind around this buildings and halls differentiation…
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The buildings and halls thing. I was a frequent caller to my fellow “ungrad” BattO.

When I received my orders to USNA, two flag grads on CPF staff took me for a long gouge lunch over at that informal MWR restaurant near the Arizona Memorial. I benefited from all kinds of insight, including something I have often mentioned here, that concept of the pendulum, where USNA swings between a military school that awards a degree and a college that gives a commission, and that sometimes the swings go too far and require calibration.

Okay, enough of my meandering off-thread.
 
USNA_STEM_Prof said:
Thanks for sharing @Capt MJ

Learning these little gems is a benefit for me since I'm not a USNA grad. Like OP inquired, part of me is surprised there isn't some kind of slight preferential weighing toward STEM majors but I also know that would be hard to implement. Moreover, the liberal arts degrees still take a decent amount of science classes so it all washes out I would think.
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Just understand that the "Liberal Arts" degrees are well recognized as "General Engineering" by some very major US companies. When I went to GE, they hired me as a Engineer even though my USNA major was International Poli Sci. One of the HR hiring team drilled at my reserve center and when I brought my XO to him as a candidate, he too was hired as an Engineer despite his Latin American Studies (Spanish Major). I asked him about it and he said that it was based on over 90 credits of required STEM type courses among our 140+ credits were pretty much on a par with what they saw from lots of Engineering grads. NOTE: His words, not mine.

As for preferential weighting, they also don't give more weighting to higher/harder levels of course such as a three levels of calculus courses or the three levels of required Electrical Engineering (EE for non-Engineers, Mid Level EE and EE for Engineers).
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I didn't get any more weighing on my PE grades for shorter legs/more strides for the runs either.
 
OldRetSWO said:
I asked him about it and he said that it was based on over 90 credits of required STEM type courses among our 140+ credits were pretty much on a par with what they saw from lots of Engineering grads. NOTE: His words, not mine.

I didn't get any more weighing on my PE grades for shorter legs/more strides for the runs either.
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Makes sense and supports my broader supposition.

As for the run, I'm the opposite issue! I'm very tall, so yeah long legs but I'm also 240lbs, so whenever I hear a 170lbs guy complain about my stride I politely ask him to run with a 70lbs ruck on. Plus push-ups are awful since W = F x D and the distance is absurd with my long arms. Such is life, the PFA is still easy.

Saving grace? I can row my cardio now and easily max the score. :)
 
Some people who are really good at STEM can't express themselves well in writing. In the really old days, I used to type papers for my classmates (yes, using a typewriter). I was frequently amazed at how some really brilliant people in the STEM world did not understand the concept of a topic sentence, could not write a coherent paragraph and whose grammar and spelling were atrocious. This was the basics -- won't even discuss the inability to craft an argument, be persuasive, use the "perfect" word or phrase, etc.

The point is that one person's strength may be another's weakness.
 
usna1985 said:
Some people who are really good at STEM can't express themselves well in writing. In the really old days, I used to type papers for my classmates (yes, using a typewriter). I was frequently amazed at how some really brilliant people in the STEM world did not understand the concept of a topic sentence, could not write a coherent paragraph and whose grammar and spelling were atrocious. This was the basics -- won't even discuss the inability to craft an argument, be persuasive, use the "perfect" word or phrase, etc.

The point is that one person's strength may be another's weakness.
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Agree and understand. I'm fortunate enough to be moderately okay at STEM and decent at liberal arts. My UG is actually a non-STEM degree for that matter, a closely guarded secret! :p
 
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