Why USMA?

J

Just Bee-cause

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For those with USMA as your top choice, would you mind sharing what stood out for you/DC?

We attended several service academy sessions and the recommendation from all the academy reps was to apply to all & if you get in, take it because they are all similar and a great opportunity. DS applied to USMA & USNA and the USMA process has given him a couple of benefits that he wouldn't have had (Mock nom interviews, earlier DodMerb). Unexpectedly, he received nominations to both. So far, he has been all in for USNA (specifically Marine Corps), but he was also able to attend both NASS & a CVW. He was turned down for SLE & it doesn't look like you can get a CVW at USMA without an appointment at this point. Hard to search the forum for this info. Thanks!
 
I did SLE at USMA, but was turned down for USNA's summer seminar. USMA will offer you a CVW if you get a LOE/LOA. I'm sure if you reach out to the admissions team, they might be able to pull some strings. Furthermore, I had the opportunity to shadow cadets/mids at bot USMA and USNA, and these were the biggest deciding factors for me.


(This was my mindset as a high schooler.) After my visits, I felt that USMA cadets were more structured. Not sure if this is a better way to put it, but it felt that the USMA cadets were more structured and disciplined. USNA felt slightly more like a normal college and more "free." Also, I just felt that the vibe of USMA and the Army structure was more fit for me. My visits also provided me with insight into life after the academies. I felt that USMA grads/Army officers get to have more leader interaction through small levels and eventually to higher echelon (platoon leader, company commander, etc). I didn't get that sense with USNA and felt that I wouldn't be developed through direct leadership. Lastly, I wanted to be a bit away from home since USNA was closer to where I lived at the time.
 
USMA is the world's preeminent leader development institution, and its history and prestige are unparalleled. It is the only SA out of the 5 that feels like a true service academy; it's a truly unique place to be and exemplifies the standard for an institution committed to developing a person, not just their mind or body.
 
toomuchtimeonmyhands said:
I did SLE at USMA, but was turned down for USNA's summer seminar. USMA will offer you a CVW if you get a LOE/LOA. I'm sure if you reach out to the admissions team, they might be able to pull some strings. Furthermore, I had the opportunity to shadow cadets/mids at bot USMA and USNA, and these were the biggest deciding factors for me.


(This was my mindset as a high schooler.) After my visits, I felt that USMA cadets were more structured. Not sure if this is a better way to put it, but it felt that the USMA cadets were more structured and disciplined. USNA felt slightly more like a normal college and more "free." Also, I just felt that the vibe of USMA and the Army structure was more fit for me. My visits also provided me with insight into life after the academies. I felt that USMA grads/Army officers get to have more leader interaction through small levels and eventually to higher echelon (platoon leader, company commander, etc). I didn't get that sense with USNA and felt that I wouldn't be developed through direct leadership. Lastly, I wanted to be a bit away from home since USNA was closer to where I lived at the time.
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Be open to all leadership styles you encounter on your journey. Just because a leadership style is different does not make it wrong or lesser.

Navy culture is sea-rooted, with a history of ship captains operating for long periods of time out of sight of land, often for years, with an initial set of orders, but given the full trust and confidence of senior leaders to improvise, be innovative and accomplish the mission in asymmetric ways with out-of-the-box thinking. This can lead to the perception of a less-rigid structure and looseness, which can also be agility and flexibility. A Navy captain integrates his or her crew with the ship, the weapon itself, and the leadership it takes to accomplish a flawlessly functioning ship and crew is a formidable skill, with small group leadership a well-established part of the whole. The culture and leadership styles in the Navy are indeed different than other services, but that makes sense in light of missions and operating environments.

Watch the movies “Greyhound” with Tom Hanks and “Master and Commander” with Russell Crowe to see two captains fighting their ships as one cohesive unit, and the leadership tactics they use to instill confidence and esprit de corps in the crew.

I admire and appreciate the leadership styles and cultures of all the services. They are different for good reasons.

You are smart to think about what feels like the right fit for you.
 
BubbaCool12 said:
It is the only SA out of the 5 that feels like a true service academy; it's a truly unique place to be and exemplifies the standard for an institution committed to developing a person, not just their mind or body.
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Respect this opinion but disagree with it. Unless you’ve spent four years at each one and got the full- blown experience, you’re just speculating. Even if you’ve spent four years at one and heard from many other people about the other academies, that’s just hearsay.

In the end, it’s all about personal and professional fit. The SAs are but a way station in the longer run of a military career. Choose the service branch, not the academy.
 
DS did 2 CVWs at USNA and then SLE at USMA. First CVW was a bust — mid he was assigned to didn’t want him there and left him alone in the room the entire time. 2nd CVW was great — the mid was awesome and really gave him an up close view of USNA. SLE was awesome too — it’s a week long recruiting camp and USMA is very good at their job :)

In the end, DS decided USMA bc it was a better fit for his potential career choices. His FFR did a good job at outlining what the career paths could be. DS was leaning STEM based but wasn’t quite ready to give up on language/foreign area studies. USNA made that potentialial options more widely open.
 
For me, I enjoy the Army aspect of USMA. The actual military-skills type stuff, like spending time at Buckner, rucking, and shooting. It makes sense to me that there's a lot more of this at USMA than USNA, and there definitely was at SLE vs. NASS. I like all the hooah stuff. And, I'd rather spend my service years leading soldiers on bases and deployments than sitting on a ship for six months at a time.
 
ThomasJ said:
For me, I enjoy the Army aspect of USMA. The actual military-skills type stuff, like spending time at Buckner, rucking, and shooting. It makes sense to me that there's a lot more of this at USMA than USNA, and there definitely was at SLE vs. NASS. I like all the hooah stuff. And, I'd rather spend my service years leading soldiers on bases and deployments than sitting on a ship for six months at a time.
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“Sitting on a ship.” I don't know how to respond, except that I hope your joint professional education someday addresses this slight bit of misunderstanding.
 
USNA offers Marine, Subs Avaition, Seals, Cyber, Intel, EOD……and more. It’s the only place you can do anything that can me done at another SA.

Over, on, or under water. Land or sea.

Not discounting any other academy, but IMO, the opportunities for different communities are unparalleled at USNA, as far as land or sea, aviation or subs. This is particularly important if a candidates wants a lot of choice.
 
1. Guaranteed active duty slot and job after graduating
2. Best chance to go combat arms, specifically aviation - I wanted to fly helicopters and had narrowed down between USMA and USAFA. Helicopter mission sets differ drastically between the two and I was more interested in the Army’s helo mission sets. Additionally, the Army had more things I was interested in if I didn’t end up flight qualified medically.
3. Structured program was what younger me needed to figure out some life skills that have made me successful up to this point in my career
4. The culture in each service and at each of the academies is different. Teenage me felt the most at home at USMA. Something clicked that these were my people after visiting USAFA and USMA and it seems to be working out so far
5. I wanted a challenge. USMA offers some incredible academic, military, and physical opportunities to make yourself a better, well rounded person and leader I felt I was able to take advantage of and built a solid foundation for current service and graduate studies.

At the end of the day, it’s four years and a unique experience you won’t be able to replicate anywhere but ultimately, the end goal of Army officer needs to be the driving function. If being in the Army and challenging yourself in ways that you can’t find anywhere else is appealing to you, this is the place to go.
 
justdoit19 said:
USNA offers Marine, Subs Avaition, Seals, Cyber, Intel, EOD……and more. It’s the only place you can do anything that can me done at another SA.

Over, on, or under water. Land or sea.

Not discounting any other academy, but IMO, the opportunities for different communities are unparalleled at USNA, as far as land or sea, aviation or subs. This is particularly important if a candidates wants a lot of choice.
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This wasn’t entirely true for my DS. He was/is interested in pursuing human intelligence. The only path for that at USNA was if he somehow ended up with on a path with limited commissioning qualification (ie an injury that wasn’t DQ but limiting). Otherwise, while technically “offered” at USNA, human intelligence wasn’t an option for the average mid. USMA was the place he needed to be to pursue that option.
 
RiverwoodMama said:
This wasn’t entirely true for my DS. He was/is interested in pursuing human intelligence. The only path for that at USNA was if he somehow ended up with on a path with limited commissioning qualification (ie an injury that wasn’t DQ but limiting). Otherwise, while technically “offered” at USNA, human intelligence wasn’t an option for the average mid. USMA was the place he needed to be to pursue that option.
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And why I mentioned it’s good for someone not sure where they want their boots to be: land, sea or air. Someone who does have a good idea, follow the best path to that outcome!
 
Capt MJ said:
“Sitting on a ship.” I don't know how to respond, except that I hope your joint professional education someday addresses this slight bit of misunderstanding.
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I don't mean to imply they do nothing on ships...I understand it's busy and hard work. I mean to say I dislike the environment, things like tight hallways, small doors, etc.
 
I'm just a candidate, but I saw a good thread on quora if you want to give a read—it's partially jokes, and there's likely a fair bit of bias in it too but I thought there was some cool points as well. Thread
 
My DD is a fit at USMA--she's happy, if that's possible for a plebe. She likes to ruck and be outdoors, and doesn't want a job where she is inside or sitting down. (Literally hates sitting in a chair--at this moment she's opted out of going to a movie with sister and friends to go for a night run). So she didn't want to be a pilot, or to pilot drones, or be indoors in a sub or on a ship.

Now I don't actually know if there are "constant-moving-about-outdoors" types of jobs after USMA, but it seemed like the best shot for that.
 
ThomasJ said:
I don't mean to imply they do nothing on ships...I understand it's busy and hard work. I mean to say I dislike the environment, things like tight hallways, small doors, etc.
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Oh, and to add to your inter-service vocabulary, those are passageways/p-ways and hatches. The hatches are small, often with high step-throughs (and beat up your knees at a run, everyone has fallen though one at least once), and closed by a water-tight door (shout-out to @WT Door here on SAF). Water-tight doors come in handy when you’re taking on water and need to seal the space. Midn WT Door is also the ubiquitous USNA midshipman.

Salt lesson concluded with apologies to OP.
 
Capt MJ said:
Oh, and to add to your inter-service vocabulary, those are passageways/p-ways and hatches. The hatches are small, often with high step-throughs (and beat up your knees at a run, everyone has fallen though one at least once), and closed by a water-tight door (shout-out to @WT Door here on SAF). Water-tight doors come in handy when you’re taking on water and need to seal the space. Midn WT Door is also the ubiquitous USNA midshipman.

Salt lesson concluded with apologies to OP.
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@WT Door is a midshipman??? Posts are like those of one more senior. More seasoned I would say.
 
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