USNA vs Ivy League School NROTC

do naval academy. when you're trying to balance out schoolwork and waking up at 5am in the morning, naval academy makes much more sense. for one professors at regular university couldn't give a rat's ass about your rotc commitments. as a math and premed major, my next semester includes 2 4 hours labs a week for orgo and physics as well as at least 3 hours every week dedicated just to MS class as well as squad meetings for ROTC labs. Neither my professor or sergeant could care about the other lab which makes scheduling for a lack of a better word a complete ***** especially since pick times for schedules are random.
Although I've never attended a single academy, from what I've heard the training is summer heavy and academic year light. You might still have some commitments but from what I've read professors at academies actually have the mindset of military first, civilian academics second (obviously since of priorities of cadets). That means that often times 4 hours labs may be truncated to 2 hour labs which are a real help. You also realize that coming out of the Naval Academy almost guarantees you a spot in any Ivy League school for grad school (as long as you work for it of course).

tl;dr go to the naval academy.
 
Excellent points above, all of which point back to the original question: what do you want for yourself? DS faced similar decision: 4 yr NROTC scholarship to Harvard or USNA. He considered all the variables mentioned above (and probably more), but in the end it came down to one thing in particular: who he wanted to be surrounded by on a day-in day-out basis. Let's call a spade a spade: Ivy league schools are largely populated an exclusive band of the population (5 Ivies have more students from the top 1% income bracket than from the entire bottom 60%. Source. ) By definition, USNA (and other academies) draw students from every congressional district, so the student body is more representative. Add in the unique motivation, vision, and focus of people who pursue the path of a service academy, DS (currently a 2020 plebe) came to a pretty quick decision as to where he saw himself. And it appears to have been the right one.
 
Excellent points above, all of which point back to the original question: what do you want for yourself? DS faced similar decision: 4 yr NROTC scholarship to Harvard or USNA. He considered all the variables mentioned above (and probably more), but in the end it came down to one thing in particular: who he wanted to be surrounded by on a day-in day-out basis. Let's call a spade a spade: Ivy league schools are largely populated an exclusive band of the population (5 Ivies have more students from the top 1% income bracket than from the entire bottom 60%. Source. ) By definition, USNA (and other academies) draw students from every congressional district, so the student body is more representative. Add in the unique motivation, vision, and focus of people who pursue the path of a service academy, DS (currently a 2020 plebe) came to a pretty quick decision as to where he saw himself. And it appears to have been the right one.

Amen! I'm thrilled my DS made the choice he did all on his own. 99 days to I-Day for our 2021 Plebe.
 
All said, I agree with all the posts above. Think the overall edge goes to USNA but with caveat that it needs to be what you want. I think the hardest part is actually figuring that out with the bigger picture of what you want to do in the long term in mind. USNA does have more overall diversity but I wouldn't discount all the great things of the Ivy's. They are great schools without a doubt.

My other friends who are USNA grads and are still active duty as physicians said that after USNA, all post-graduate work was a breeze including med school. They both said unequivocally that USNA sets you up with the right mindset and attitude to tackle most of what life and graduate education can throw at you. Choose what fits your goals.

Can't believe I-day less than 100 days away! Already set up reservations for PPW! ;-)
 
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