phrogpilot73
Well-Known Member
Good to see that you came over to the straight/non-gay side of the fence
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NROTC vs. Academy
- Thread starter TigerPilot38
- Start date
This one time, at a normal college w/ NROTC, I woke up at 10am....during the school week!
Doing NROTC at a state university gives you the opportunity to be pretty flexible with your life. There is plenty of time to fulfill your NROTC obligations, do school work (depending on major), and join whatever other organizations you want. Regular college and NROTC is what you make of it. I liked making my own academic schedule and having my weekends....and weeknights to myself with no restrictions, especially as a freshman.
The bottom line is that with NROTC and the Academy you will have to deal with some level of BS to get through it. I did plenty of things in NROTC that I thought were dumb and a waste of time.....but it happens at the academy too. I will admit that NROTC was a LOT less painful well dealing w/ the not-so-fun side of quasi-military activities.
I wouldn't worry about the long run career side of it, either. I honestly don't think that where you went to college makes a huge difference in the long run. I've had COs that were academy and NROTC.
Let's be honest, regular college is more fun. I liked being a senior and having the opportunity go out whenever the hell I wanted.
Doing NROTC at a state university gives you the opportunity to be pretty flexible with your life. There is plenty of time to fulfill your NROTC obligations, do school work (depending on major), and join whatever other organizations you want. Regular college and NROTC is what you make of it. I liked making my own academic schedule and having my weekends....and weeknights to myself with no restrictions, especially as a freshman.
The bottom line is that with NROTC and the Academy you will have to deal with some level of BS to get through it. I did plenty of things in NROTC that I thought were dumb and a waste of time.....but it happens at the academy too. I will admit that NROTC was a LOT less painful well dealing w/ the not-so-fun side of quasi-military activities.
I wouldn't worry about the long run career side of it, either. I honestly don't think that where you went to college makes a huge difference in the long run. I've had COs that were academy and NROTC.
Let's be honest, regular college is more fun. I liked being a senior and having the opportunity go out whenever the hell I wanted.
BlackBearHockey
go blue...
What's nice about NROTC also (not trying to get into a vs., just something to think about), is you have any choice of major/minor whereas in the Academy you're somewhat limited. For engineering majors that may not be a huge deal, but if you want to major in anything in the humanities it makes a huge difference. Also, once you get your masters, wherever you went undergrad, unless it's an Ivy league, pretty much goes out the window when looking for a real job.
phrogpilot73
Well-Known Member
I love these statements. So you've experienced all four years of both the Naval Academy and a regular college in order to make an educated statement such as this? I enjoyed my time at the Naval Academy, and wouldn't change it for anything. Here's the thing - some people who thrive at USNA may not thrive at a civilian college and vice-versa.
Huh? These are the majors at the Academy:
Aerospace Engineering (Aeronautics/Astronautics Tracks)
Electrical Engineering
Computer Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
Systems Engineering
Chemistry
Math
Computer Science
Oceanography
Physics
Economics
English
History
Political Science
Seems like you've got a good choice of majors there. You may not be able to get a B.A. in 7th Century Women's Studies in the Arabian Peninsula, but you do have a lot of choices. For what it's worth, it's a science & engineering school. Compare it to a place like MIT or Georgia Tech, where the emphasis is on science and engineering...
More like:
NROTC= long and not hard at all.
I only have experience with NROTC and I lived a normal civilian college life with some pretend military stuff in between.
Well, for what it's worth, USNA carries pretty much the same weight as those Ivy league schools you were referring to.
Aside from discriminating against General Engineering and General Science, you are living in the past. Here are the majors available at the Academy today:
Aerospace Engineering
Chemistry
Computer Science
Economics
Electrical Engineering
English
General Engineering
General Science
History
Information Technology
Mathematics
Mechanical Engineering
Naval Architecture
Ocean Engineering
Oceanography
Physics
Political Science
Quantitative Economics
Systems Engineering
http://www.usna.edu/academics/acmajors.htm
abracadabra11
Member
I think you should try and keep your decision simple. The bottom line is you want to get a spot to fly. If you do the NROTC route, that will take around 4 years; 5 years through USNA. I can't speak intelligently about your chances of getting a flight contract through NROTC, but can say you will have an excellent (i.e. near-guarantee) opportunity to service select pilot (or Marine pilot) if you do fairly well at USNA.
BlackBearHockey
go blue...
I would agree, I'm definitely not disputing the quality of the education. However, for the liberal arts majors, I don't see much of a difference as to where one goes to school. English is the same at Wyoming as it is at Princeton, IMO. You read the same books and have intelligent discussion, and the instructors at both have respectable terminal degrees. Would I compare USNA's engineering programs to WYO for instance? Not even close, but there's a huge difference in learning in an engineering program vs. that of a humanities where the top schools are heads and tails above the rest, which leads to the masters discussion: if someone wanted to major in philosophy or something, chances are they'll need a masters to get a decent job, whereas someone with a BS in mechanical engineering would be fair off without the masters in the civilian world.
I can understand the emphasis, especially considering how technically oriented the Navy is; but compare that to UMaine, even with the largest engineering college in the NE and arguably the school's bread and butter, we still have about 80 majors, not include the honors college, interdisciplinary curriculums, minors, certs, concentrations, etc.
It really highlights the difference of the experience and how subjective it is from person to person. In all honesty, I think it's pretty cool that one person could be militarily engrossed 24/7 at the Academy and get a very prestigious technical degree, and still commission and work and do the same job with guys coming from a liberal arts background at a notable civilian institution. Different strokes for different folks.
whalepelt
New Member
In my graduating class, all 6 mids who put NA down for 1st choice got it and the one who put down NFO for 1st choice got that. All of these manning things run on a sine wave anyway, so there's no telling what the situation will be when you select.
Make your decision based on the environment that's right for you, not some guess as to whether it will get you into the pipeline you want.
Marine Option will give flight contracts, I believe starting during junior year. I think the success rate on that is pretty good as well.
marines will give aviation guarantees to freshmen but they are officially entered into their file during their sophomore year. (this from the NROTC Commander at VMI)
i can't believe i am pushing for the longer view when i am younger than almost everyone here other than the OP- 4 vs 5 yrs. won't matter when you are older and looking back on your life! if you are looking at a navy career (i mean staying longer than your commitment) i doubt you'll ever regret you spent 5 years in the USNA system.
for those that say you can have a great career without the USNA, sure! I bet there were Admirals that even did OCS when they started! and i'm sure there are plently of USNA grads that are just worthless in comparison to NROTC grads. but why take the more difficult path to a great career instead of the easier path? USNA is considered the preferred path to a long and successful navy career.
look, college is the place that prepares you for a career right? college shouldn't be decided on party life. there are ppl who want to party and then they don't even bother going to college. how's that for short-term thinking?
OP: think long-term. pick the NAPS+USNA!
for those that say you can have a great career without the USNA, sure! I bet there were Admirals that even did OCS when they started! and i'm sure there are plently of USNA grads that are just worthless in comparison to NROTC grads. but why take the more difficult path to a great career instead of the easier path? USNA is considered the preferred path to a long and successful navy career.
look, college is the place that prepares you for a career right? college shouldn't be decided on party life. there are ppl who want to party and then they don't even bother going to college. how's that for short-term thinking?
OP: think long-term. pick the NAPS+USNA!
How do you know that? Maybe back in 1940 or so, but much less now, and in the Marines, not at all.
Besides, the OP was asking whether he should pursue a flight slot in the Marines from USNA or Marine-Option NROTC. A lot of posts here, esp the suggestion of BDCP, are missing this. If the OP has the intellect to get into a decent civilian school with NROTC, then he should. If after a year he still has a hard-on for the academy, he can still apply there. I have a suspicion he won't, though.