What’s the best choice?

Roadking

10-Year Member
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Jan 26, 2012
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A friends DS was denied admission on April 15th and is reapplying to USNA. He is a hockey player who has been recruited to play Junior Hockey and has chosen to take a gap year to improve his hockey skills instead of attending college. He will be living away from home with a billet family and he will be at the rink Monday-Friday 9am-3pm for practice, games on the weekends traveling from North Carolina to New Hampshire. He is committed and definitely doesn’t want to go to college yet. He has researched college hockey and the vast majority of college players play juniors before college, the average age of a freshman hockey player is 20.
Question is this, what would be his best chance of appointment, take some online college courses or just study for the ACT tests in September, October and November? He has a 35 in English and a 29 in Math. Would he be better served concentrating on getting that Math score up or take some college classes online? Would USNA even give consideration to online classes or is that a waste of time? Would it be disqualifying to take a gap year with no college, even with a good ACT and stellar extra curricular activities? Thanks for your input.
 
If he is committed to hockey, my advice is that you only live once and to follow your dreams. By all means, play hockey.

As for any SA, I don't know if taking a gap year really strengthens his application any and may end up meaning a second turn down for c/o 2024. My advice here would be to at a minimum take some online or community college STEM classes that mirror a SA first-year schedule (Calculus, Chemistry, Physics) and ace them. Also, work on that ACT 29 in Math. It is below average and from what I have read, the SA's weigh the Math portion of the ACT/SAT higher than the English.

In short, your friend needs to keep making his package stronger to increase his chances for next year.
 
The advice here every year is quite consistent: To improve your chances upon reapplication, take a plebe-like schedule in college. That means Calculus, Chemistry, English, History — at freshman level or higher. Add in some leadership and athletics (say, intramurals) to show USNA that you’re capable of excelling in this kind of environment.

One man’s opinion: Your DS should chase whatever dream he has, and it seems to be to play college hockey. But don’t expect this experience to make him a better candidate next year. I’m guessing USNA didn’t turn him down because he isn’t a good enough hockey player.
 
IF he wants to go to USNA for what USNA is intended, and getting to play hockey is a bonus, spend the time trying to improve the package as the above posters described. However, if his main goal is competitive college hockey and he has potential to play for a good hockey school, USNA isn't the place for him. The hockey programs at USNA are good. The facilities are awesome and are well supported. But it's club hockey, not D1. A lot of the big hockey schools do have ROTC programs, and if his main focus is hockey but he would like to earn a commission too, that's likely a better route for him.
 
My advice would be to take an honest look at why he didn't get in last year ...If he was an outstanding candidate who just got beat out by a more outstanding candidate, taking the GAP year might not be a deal breaker , but I really can't think of any scenario that it would actually help. If he was a borderline candidate in the first place ..the gap year definitely isn't going to help.

Most important questions is priority --does he want to be a hockey player or attend USNA ? What is his motivation for wanting to attending USNA ? If the objective is to serve as a Navy/Marine Corps officer, he could take his gap year and play hockey, then attend College with NROTC, or apply to OCS when he gets out.
 
Or maybe apply to the Royal Naval College of Canada (USNA accepts foreign students, maybe Canada does too). Just kidding about applying to RNCC.

Seriously, good advice from Old Navy BGO, MidcakePA and pleber16.
 
being recruited to play juniors is different than being recruited to play D1 or D3 and being told that they want you to play a year or two of juniors. the world of juniors of full of players chasing the dream who end up playing club hockey as a 20 or 21 year old freshman. it's true that the vast majority of college players play at least a year of juniors, but a large % of them have college offers or significant interest prior. if that's what he wants he should chase it, but know what he's getting into.

as for USNA, taking a year to improve hockey skills is not going to get him closer to an appointment. the advice for re-applicants is pretty clear, and is posted in may places on this forum. he certainly could take CC courses and re-take the ACT etc, but USNA is very clear that attending a 4 year college and taking plebe classes is the best path.

the hockey program at Navy is pretty good, but it's ACHA D1 and D2, not NCAA. About half of the D1 team didn't come straight to USNA, but they all either went to to NAPS, or Foundation, or attended a 4 year college and re-applied. Some of the players went to other colleges and played D3 hockey before USNA and a few of them were D1 prospects who gave that up to go to Navy. As far as I know, there has only been one navy hockey player who got into USNA after taking gap year to play juniors, and that was really an exception.
 
As a mom of four, aunt to many, I have gone through this transition from high schooler to adult many times. My counsel would be to recognize that often during this transitional time, kids are still focused on all they know: being xxx athlete (or whatever their ‘identity’ was). My boys all played football, track and wresting since their youth days. It’s who they are. They may not realize or be able to forward focus on anything other than what they’ve known most of their lives. Makes sense! And change is hard. Think of all the young basketball players who have dreams of playing in the NBA.

Fast forward a couple years (or even one) of not doing their sport in college, and all is good. They have moved on. But none of them would have thought they could be anything other than a xxx. It’s normal!

So I would advise my own to pursue the path of education, and continue the sport on the side. One makes a living...the other? Statistically not. But one can still enjoy the sport at a different level throughout life.
 
As a mom of four, aunt to many, I have gone through this transition from high schooler to adult many times. My counsel would be to recognize that often during this transitional time, kids are still focused on all they know: being xxx athlete (or whatever their ‘identity’ was). My boys all played football, track and wresting since their youth days. It’s who they are. They may not realize or be able to forward focus on anything other than what they’ve known most of their lives. Makes sense! And change is hard. Think of all the young basketball players who have dreams of playing in the NBA.

Fast forward a couple years (or even one) of not doing their sport in college, and all is good. They have moved on. But none of them would have thought they could be anything other than a xxx. It’s normal!

So I would advise my own to pursue the path of education, and continue the sport on the side. One makes a living...the other? Statistically not. But one can still enjoy the sport at a different level throughout life.

Good advice. In the case of this young man, it sounds like he needs to either (1) give up hockey for a year and go all out on college-level plebe type academic courses and then re-apply to USNA, or (2) play juniors, get into the best college hockey program he can and then go NROTC. It does not seem like there is really any realistic chance of doing a year of Juniors and then getting into USNA (because Juniors will not allow enough time - - or maybe any - - for academics.) If he wants to take a year off, that indicates to me that he is not motivated to play Juniors AND study. And I am not sure if that is even possible. If he were my DS, I would recommend Option 2.
 
He has researched college hockey and the vast majority of college players play juniors before college, the average age of a freshman hockey player is 20.

Boy, this is not true in our part of the world. Minnesota, UMD, North Dakota, Michigan Tech, etc. the recruits are not coming from the juniors - they are coming right out of high school. One of my son's best friends went juniors because he was not recruited, not the other way around (BTW, he's been playing juniors in NH for 3 years). If they do a gap year and are recruited, it's usually to the Junior national team.

playing at the NCAA D1 hockey level and even at most D3 programs would make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to also pursue NROTC at the same time.

I've known a lot of D1 players over the years and this is absolutely true - the travel alone is killer. Try doing ROTC (let alone homework) when you get on the bus on Friday morning, travel 6 hours across the UP, play on Friday and Saturday night and then spend 6 more hours traveling home.
 
ders - your DS is a plebe now, is that right? is he going to play hockey?
 
And if ROTC is the path then one might suggest Clarkson University, although I'm not sure they're D1.... but hockey is very important in the north country. The women's team is the D1 champions. The men's team was in the NCAA tournament this past year. Great place to play hockey and get a commission in the Army. Some of the ROTC folks play on the teams (usually).
 
Question is this, what would be his best chance of appointment, take some online college courses or just study for the ACT tests in September, October and November? He has a 35 in English and a 29 in Math. Would he be better served concentrating on getting that Math score up or take some college classes online? Would USNA even give consideration to online classes or is that a waste of time?

I just re-read the question, and will answer the question presented instead of the question of 4 year college v. Gap Year. First, why is online college classes and retaking the ACT/SAT and "either /or". If he is going to take the GAP year to play hockey instead of going to college, it is readily apparent that he will have to do something to make him stand out and show USNA that this was a well thought out plan and not simply a year to play hockey. Online courses may help show that he is not academically stagnant, and he should certainly do both online courses and get his ACT score up.
 
Hockey is bizzaro world compared to other sports - it follows a Canadian model and is geared to put kids in college after playing Juniors, usually at age 20 - 21 (average age 20). Virtually all D-1 programs follow this model, even SA's. Every USMA and USAFA player on the past season's roster played Juniors.

The system delivers stronger, more experienced players which is why coaches encourage or even require recruited players to play Juniors first. But it's a roll of the dice for the kids. I have watched many follow the Juniors route; for some it worked out very well, getting into Ivy League and other excellent schools they would never have attended without hockey. For others it was a waste of 2-3 years, ending in frustration over the lost time. Even some recruited players that are told to play Juniors are later unrecruited and left to fend for themselves.

To address the OP: If the goal is an appointment to USNA, get in as much academic preparation as possible. Junior hockey may help with USMA or USAFA, but I doubt it will have any more impact with USNA than any other extracurricular activity.
 
Junior Hockey is U20 amateur hockey. There are really only two reasons that it makes sense to play Junior Hockey: (1) to prepare you for D1 college hockey, or (2) to prepare you for professional hockey (in leagues like ECHL, AHL, or NHL.) Does anyone grow up aiming to play Junior Hockey? No, you grow up dreaming about college or pro hockey. Juniors is a means to an end. Not an end in itself, is it? Why would anyone play Junior Hockey just for the fun of it? There are other leagues to play in for fun. And taking a "year off" is not the way to get into USNA. Just the opposite; take a year and work twice as hard if you want to improve the deficiencies in your application and have a realistic second shot.

It might make sense for the young man to speak to the hockey coach at USNA to ask him his advice. Is the coach going to help him get an appointment to USNA based on just his hockey? Somehow I doubt that because, as I understand it, Hockey is not a top Division 1 priority sport at USNA and the coach will probably tell him that he still needs the grades. But the coach will probably be the best person to advise this young man. Maybe he can even help get you into NAPS next year.
 
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Question is this, what would be his best chance of appointment, take some online college courses or just study for the ACT tests in September, October and November? He has a 35 in English and a 29 in Math. Would he be better served concentrating on getting that Math score up or take some college classes online? Would USNA even give consideration to online classes or is that a waste of time?

I just re-read the question, and will answer the question presented instead of the question of 4 year college v. Gap Year. First, why is online college classes and retaking the ACT/SAT and "either /or". If he is going to take the GAP year to play hockey instead of going to college, it is readily apparent that he will have to do something to make him stand out and show USNA that this was a well thought out plan and not simply a year to play hockey. Online courses may help show that he is not academically stagnant, and he should certainly do both online courses and get his ACT score up.
Thank you for the advice, this is now the plan. He will be taking online classes to mirror plebe year curriculum...Calculus, Chemistry, English and a History class. He also understands the importance of raising his Math score above 30 and will be working hard to do so. Thanks again!
 
Great responses here...I'll add my experience.
I was a recruited hockey player out of high school and had a choice of where to play: Juniors or college. I turned down a college scholarship (it was low level; books and R&B - no tuition; at Yale). I had to 'earn' the tuition after freshman year). I chose Juniors (I had 'the dream' too) but kept the school part going best as I could through CC classes as I wanted a plan B. There was no on-line stuff back then - I'm talking the late 70's for me). I didn't do well on the school part as the hockey demands were incredible. The coaches expect one thing and one thing only: hockey, hockey, hockey. The players in Juniors aren't fooling around either. They have 'the dream' and the competition is fierce. No one will care about anything you have for plans for beyond Juniors - they are chasing their dream, and you might be in the way. At times it was cut throat - ice time is everything; exposure is key. As a result, there is a sucking vacuum into the competitiveness of Junior hockey. Really, it is ultra competitive, no doubt. The first thing that slipped was school. Weight room? no school. Weekend travel all over tarnation? No school. Practice? No school. Dry land training? No school. When I realized what was happening, I had that long look in the mirror. I hung them up from Juniors/college and went to college full time and got my degree and life went on.

So, if you do this Juniors thing be very careful - don't lose focus of your end goal.

Hockey is a great sport - I still love it and played men's league until my son's last skate 3 days before I-day in 2016. DS was a hockey player also, and certainly knows the story above. He doesn't play hockey at USNA and has no regrets: He was a better hockey player than me (my opinion), but hockey was not his dream. He's living it now trying to figure how to fly an airplane in powered flight school in block 3 training......and having the time of his life!
 
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