Very good students?

The mission of The U.S. Military Academy is "to educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the Nation as an officer in the United States Army."

Although combat leadership is integral to USMA training, it is not mentioned in the mission. At various points in time the Army has shifted to varying degrees between two philosophies:
  1. West Point exists to train officers for combat leadership; leadership in non-combat arms branches is best found outside of USMA.
  2. West Point exists to train officers for leadership positions throughout the Army; non-combat arms branches benefit from USMA trained officers, thereby improving the total capability of the Army.
We have now come 360 degrees. About forty years ago, USMA shifted from a strong philosophy of supplying combat leaders to one that included more opportunities outside of combat arms. In recent years the pendulum has shifted back to combat arms leadership, each year increasing the percentage of graduates required to branch combat arms - the Class of 2020 may hit 90%.

Anyone applying to West Point today should expect to branch combat arms initially.
 
jl123 said:
The mission of The U.S. Military Academy is "to educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the Nation as an officer in the United States Army."

Although combat leadership is integral to USMA training, it is not mentioned in the mission. At various points in time the Army has shifted to varying degrees between two philosophies:
  1. West Point exists to train officers for combat leadership; leadership in non-combat arms branches is best found outside of USMA.
  2. West Point exists to train officers for leadership positions throughout the Army; non-combat arms branches benefit from USMA trained officers, thereby improving the total capability of the Army.
We have now come 360 degrees. About forty years ago, USMA shifted from a strong philosophy of supplying combat leaders to one that included more opportunities outside of combat arms. In recent years the pendulum has shifted back to combat arms leadership, each year increasing the percentage of graduates required to branch combat arms - the Class of 2020 may hit 90%.

Anyone applying to West Point today should expect to branch combat arms initially.
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I think there's a lot of value in doing so, at least for a couple of years. It's almost like management training at a big company. You start and rotate through a few key areas of the company so you gain experience in the core function of the company before attempting to lead it in any way. I guess one difference is you're not shot at during management training at GE, though these days at GE, who knows!
As this relates to some of the recent articles about the value of Service Academies, just as a layman, I would think having SA graduates, even those that 5 and dive, throughout the general population helps connect civilians to the military more, which is important since so few actually serve.
 
My Mid had a 35 ACT. She validated classes which shifted more difficult classes into her 4/c schedule which were challenging her plebe year. It’s really comparing apples to oranges when you’re comparing academic levels with other colleges because at a service academy you have to do well academically while every minute is filled with military responsibilities, physical fitness, and in my DD case a varsity sport. Also there is an enormous amount of military knowledge and other duties like standing watch, parade practice, formation etc. Trying to do well academically in difficult courses while managing all that is definitely challenging. And it’s not always the strongest academic students that rise to the top because rankings consist of several things. The service academies attract candidates with various strengths because they’re all useful to the mission of the military. In my DD’s case validating classes will free up room her junior and senior year for internships at some of the top schools in the country. In the case of USNA they’re very good at identifying academically talented mids and guiding them towards many of the top scholarly programs throughout academia.
 
random_name said:
My Mid had a 35 ACT. She validated classes which shifted more difficult classes into her 4/c schedule which were challenging her plebe year. It’s really comparing apples to oranges when you’re comparing academic levels with other colleges because at a service academy you have to do well academically while every minute is filled with military responsibilities, physical fitness, and in my DD case a varsity sport. Also there is an enormous amount of military knowledge and other duties like standing watch, parade practice, formation etc. Trying to do well academically in difficult courses while managing all that is definitely challenging. And it’s not always the strongest academic students that rise to the top because rankings consist of several things. The service academies attract candidates with various strengths because they’re all useful to the mission of the military. In my DD’s case validating classes will free up room her junior and senior year for internships at some of the top schools in the country. In the case of USNA they’re very good at identifying academically talented mids and guiding them towards many of the top scholarly programs throughout academia.
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Great post, @random_name . Thank you. I'm hoping my DS will lightweight football at USMA. I might have to post a separate thread to ask the forum about what that's like! I hope he gets appointed because it would be so unlike any other experience in terms of breadth of challenge. This is not like choosing between Civilian College A or B!
 
I remember this thread as I enjoyed reading the latest post titled "an open letter.....". I think that post explains best the questions that the original poster had regarding his sons consideration of West Point. I will add this after talking with my own plebe about his Beast experience. After 25 years in the service myself I knew there would have to be one or two of those kids who really struggled with the life skills and Military skills that Beast or basic training teaches. He told me about a friend that he made who was "That guy". In the Marine Corps we would have called this guy a Soup Sandwich. Everything he did in the field was apparently a disaster and brought a lot of attention from the Cadre as you might expect. My son and this Cadet became good friends and my son's strengths were some of this weaknesses so he was able to help his friend in those regards. The cadet I mentioned who struggled happened to mention to my son that he was incredible student with a perfect ACT score and immaculate grades from a prestigious High School in his hometown so he could not believe he was struggling with what seemed like simple tasks. My son is a great student but not that kind of student so I know he will appreciate assistance from his new friend this semester on the academic side. So my point is, what is to be gained by a high-achieving student at West Point? I would answer the same thing that anyone who has served in the military would say, a chance to expand yourself in areas you might not ever have attempted, a chance to make lifelong friendships through shared adversity with men and women you might never have met due to having less in common than originally thought, and a chance to learn much more than book smarts.....
 
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