Studying Chinese - Academy vs. ROTC Language Flagship?

[Butcher2024]

This is my first post. This site has been a treasure trove of information as we navigate all of this with our 2025 son.
I will get to the point. Son is a recruited athlete. Taken the ACT/SAT 6 times total now and we know his math score is more than likely land him in the prep school.
What is crazy is he is going to come out with College Algebra, AP Calculus and then take a full year of Calculus again at the prep school followed by three more semesters(I think) of Calculus at the academy and then major in Chinese. His passion is languages and he is a people person. For someone wanting to pursue this professional route I know my wife and I are wondering if the Academy curriculum rigor in stuff he isn't probably interested in for three years (including prep) will sour him on the academies. This all before he even gets to the stuff he is interested in academically? We've visited with coaches this summer USNA and USMA. Both places were amazing. I know he will do official visits this fall.

I haven't seen much out there on here about the Language Flagship programs offered at public universities. There aren't that many, but they were created and funded by the government, so I get the impression it is the military's way of teaching, which is superior from what we can see. There are Air Force ROTC and Army ROTC scholarships for each of these programs. Ole Miss, Arizona State, Indiana, Minnesota all offer the Chinese flagship program. He would be able to be an athlete.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. We are currently in the middle of filling out everything and getting nominations, etc for the academy route of USNA and USMA.

 

[AF6872]

Didn't know much about the Flagship Program. Looks like it is a Minor secondary to a selected Major. If he goes that route, select Monterey . Daughter was a Chinese Major at the Naval Academy but still a BS degree because of the required core STEM courses. Check the USNA Languages and Culture Department Chinese (FLC) for more information. Chinese can be selected as a Minor at USNA (don't know the classes needed) but as a Major it requires forty-two credit hours during Eight Semesters at the Academy. I assume that means starting with classes Plebe Year through First Year. Daughter did a Summer in Tianjin and a semester in Beijing at no cost to her while still getting a paycheck. She highly recommends the Pearl Market in Beijing.

 

[THmom]

My DS just graduated/commissioned from a small LAC where there’s D3 sports, heavy language component to the college, host campus for AROTC. From what you’ve said, I think AROTC would be a better route for your son, too. Army, as I understand it, is more about people, and you can major in whatever you want. DS double majored in Russian and International Studies and minored in French. He did ProjectGo in Kyrgyzstan for 10 weeks between soph and jr years. (PGo is only open to ROTC cadets.). He’s now at BOLC, in the exact same place as academy grads (received his first choice in branching), but he was able to focus on what he wanted to focus on in college, all the while having more independence and …. less math. lol. Furthermore, If your son has any possible DQs, he may not be offered waiver consideration from an academy, whereas it’s automatically triggered if an ROTC scholarship is won. Our DS applied to USMA, USAFA, USCGA and it is A LOT of work on top senior year obligations. I’d encourage you to look hard at AROTC.

 

[cb7893]

Forgive me for being blunt, but you have started another thread asking the same question adding more detail about why the academies may not be a good fit for your DS, who sounds like a great catch wherever he lands for college and later in a career. I'll repeat a few things I posted in your other thread and add a few, based on the experience of my DS, who is leaving the Army after 8+ years.

This point has been made more than once. The purpose of the academies and xROTC is to produce military officers. Full stop. There are many paths to take, but one's control is very limited as a cadet/mid and later as a Junior Officer.

Second, 99% of humanity doesn't care about your DS's major. That includes almost everyone at the academies other than the Chinese language departments. That will also include almost everyone in his chain of command after he commissions. I have no doubt that if his passion for Chinese or languages in general is real then he'll find a way to keep them fresh and incorporate them into his military or civilian career, but he'll have to be patient. In or out of the academies, he'll have many opportunities to use and develop his language skills. Ultimately, his success with language will depend more on his own initiative than the quality of his teachers. I'll give you the example of my DS who was learning Russian as part of an Army qualification. We met him for a few days at the beach. One evening he streamed a Russian movie...twice. Once with English subtitles and a second time with Russian subtitles. He has always taken that approach.

My DS spent his junior year of HS in Brazil, living with a family and going to a school where no English was spoken. He'd had a year of 8th grade French. His senior year he enrolled in AP Spanish, figuring out how to square is with Portuguese. He did a gap year in Taiwan, again with a family and school where no English was spoken. Freshman year of college, he took Italian, specifically because he wanted an easy class among is engineering requirements. Summer after Sophomore year he studied Russian in Kyiv under Project Go. Senior year, he knew he would be stationed in ME, so he took Arabic.

Your DS's opportunity to use Chinese or any other language in his military career will depend on his success in whatever jobs he's assigned. What was my DS's job? Signal (Communications) Officer where his language skills played no part. However, he went out of his way to speak with the many native speakers around the base of in the city; most of them in very lowly jobs. His break came later in the deployment when he was picked up as a Signal Officer for a Special Forces battalion doing a rotation in Kuwait. The battalion was from a Group whose Area of Responsibility was South America. The Arabic, Spanish and Portuguese useful on his resume, but would have been useless to them without his technical skills. After his return to the US he was made officer in charge of a training mission in Brazil, because there were no other officers in the battalion who spoke Portuguese. For that opportunity, he waited 7 years from the time he began college and ROTC and the timing was mostly based on luck.

That is what I mean by patience and he was on a faster track than most. He was never looked at as the military type, but he did his research and figured that AROTC and the Army was the best path to reach his goals, but he knew going in that it would require patience, keeping his mouth shut, doing what was expected of him and taking the risk that things wouldn't work out as planned, like being stuck at Ft. Polk for two years in a job he wouldn't like.

There are many threads discussing xROTC vs. SA's. In my son's case, the freedom afforded him was worth it and over time was able to "catch up with" his USMA buddies. All the one's I met were very squared away.

BTW You never mentioned if your DS is a native Mandarin speaker. The US military is filled with folks whose first language was not English. My DS's last team was majority non-US born and native speakers of the language used in the area where he was stationed. He was not one of them.

Wish your DS the best of luck!

 

[cb7893]

Army, as I understand it, is more about people, and you can major in whatever you want.

It is also the largest service branch with the widest array opportunities.

He’s now at BOLC, in the exact same place as academy grads

Without getting specific, he is in Combat Arms? And does he have longer term goals in the army

 

[THmom]

It is also the largest service branch with the widest array opportunities.


Without getting specific, he is in Combat Arms? And does he have longer term goals in the army

yes and yes

 

[LOVEtheUSA]

DS1 was USMA 23. Just finished IBOLC, Airborne and RCERT after dealing with a minor medical waiver. PCS came due before next Ranger Class so he heads to 82nd Airborne this month. They will likely send him right back to complete Ranger School and then he heads back to Liberty to learn more and lead. COVID got in the way of summer Airborne and an international internship while at USMA, but he learned the art of rolling with the flow.

DS2 chose AROTC class of 26 in lieu of SAs. He loved Project GO last year in Taiwan (Ole Miss hosted) and his Mandarin is nearly fluent. He went to MAC in June and is now in CDQC at Fleming Key until the end of this month.

Short answer is that there are ample opportunities via SA or ROTC program for languages and incredible training opportunities.

Good luck to your DS! Athletics will definitely provide great opportunities, and he will find the right fit with his other interests.

 

[Butcher2024]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I apologize for the dual posts. This one was my first and I didn't think it went through since it didn't post for quite awhile. I know many of you responded to the USMA one as well so I'll be following up on that one.

 

[KPEngnr90]

This is my first post. This site has been a treasure trove of information as we navigate all of this with our 2025 son.
I will get to the point. Son is a recruited athlete. Taken the ACT/SAT 6 times total now and we know his math score is more than likely land him in the prep school.
What is crazy is he is going to come out with College Algebra, AP Calculus and then take a full year of Calculus again at the prep school followed by three more semesters(I think) of Calculus at the academy and then major in Chinese. His passion is languages and he is a people person. For someone wanting to pursue this professional route I know my wife and I are wondering if the Academy curriculum rigor in stuff he isn't probably interested in for three years (including prep) will sour him on the academies. This all before he even gets to the stuff he is interested in academically? We've visited with coaches this summer USNA and USMA. Both places were amazing. I know he will do official visits this fall.

I haven't seen much out there on here about the Language Flagship programs offered at public universities. There aren't that many, but they were created and funded by the government, so I get the impression it is the military's way of teaching, which is superior from what we can see. There are Air Force ROTC and Army ROTC scholarships for each of these programs. Ole Miss, Arizona State, Indiana, Minnesota all offer the Chinese flagship program. He would be able to be an athlete.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. We are currently in the middle of filling out everything and getting nominations, etc for the academy route of USNA and USMA.

The academies a STEM driven. Calculus, Physics and chemistry along with other engineering and math classes are taken with your core major regardless of what major you are in thats why you will see English and history majors graduating with a bachelor of science from the academies.