Surviving the TWE

Dial the gate

5-Year Member
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Jan 29, 2013
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346
This will be a long one, as most mom’s are. It’s kind of a “It’ll be alright, you or your kid will move on and do great things, this isn’t the end, only the beginning...” story. But mostly it’s our story that shows after the shock, the tears, the anger, and the moving on, that the TWE was is fact only the beginning.
DS came home from school in the third grade (I warned you!) and announced he was going to attend the Air Force Academy. His dad I were both Army so we certainly hoped it was something he ate. After a couple of months of it it not going away, I said, ok, what does it take to attend the AFA? Backwards planning from an appointment, he got to work. A couple of years later we had the fortunate opportunity to move half way across the country for his dad’s work where we were able to choose the school district. Starting with Great Schools, we picked a 10 out of 10 high school with AF JROTC.
36 ACT, 5.96 weighted/3.98 unweighted GPA, AP Scholar (Physics, Chemistry and Calc BC: all 5’s), Illinois State Scholar, NHS, 2 varsity sports, Boys State, AFJROTC Commander, CAP Commander, class officer, countless volunteer hours, summer job, great recommendations...blah blah blah. 2 nominations, first board 4-year Navy ROTC Scholarship and an appointment to the AFA (yep, what he always wanted...unfortunately through the year and a half application process and attending NASS, it was no more.)
We had the opportunity to sit down with an admissions counselor who was a great guy and also painfully honest. He told us DS was a remarkable young man and that he and I should be extremely proud of his accomplishments. But (isn’t there always?!), from an admissions at the Naval Academy standpoint, he was nothing special. He is a white male from married parents (both college graduates) attending an upper middle class high school; he said they had 10 stacks 5 inches high of the same kid and they could only take so many; that our great Navy is made up of lots of different types people and they wanted some of all of them. We are not bitter about this and don’t want you to be either, but maybe it will help some of you that thought for sure you were a shoe-in and can’t understand why you didn’t get in. It doesn’t take away from those that did get in (even with the same credentials), it just says they have lots and lots of great candidates to choose from and the class is just not big enough for them all.
DS graduated from the University of Michigan, where he found a home, had a lot of fun and made friends for life. He recently graduated from Nuclear Power School, and is loving living in Charleston, SC. He married his high school sweetheart who is about to commission and they will be stationed in Norfolk where she got her number one choice ship and where is dream boat is. Dare I say, things worked out just fine for him.
DS #2 is only 2 years younger than his brother so we didn’t have a lot of time to make him special but he did last til May on the waitlist...if only we had that 3rd kid...he is happy and thriving at Auburn University and in NROTC.
SAF has been an absolute Godsend, but in some ways it provides us an avenue to perpetuate the hype. navyhoops and others recount that they applied, were told they’d hear something by April, and moved on with their lives until April. How many of us tell people our kid is applying to an academy and get a blank stare? To us it is everything at the time, but for those that don’t make it, it needs to not be the end of all ends. You will be ok. You will find a home. You will laugh, cry and love. And later, on a summer cruise, you will look at an academy MIDN and realize you truly are ok. And your parents will get a cat or dog and be ok too.
Good luck!!
Go Navy where ever you are!
 
Wow, what a GREAT post!!! Thanks for sharing.
 
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