GrandMastaJ84
Registered User
I got my appointment to USNA about 1.5 weeks ago. I was so excited I ran around my house naked! Well...maybe not naked, but you get the picture. To all my fellow classmembers, GO USNA CLASS OF 2009
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Is it all about numbers now?
I have to say - we had it good in the 80's. The Reagan build up.. "want a scholorship to a 4 year university of your choice? Do you have better than a C average in high school?" SURE!!!
"Do you have a 2.0 or better GPA? Are you 20/20? Do you smoke and drink in moderation enough to pass a physical...if you do you too can get to flight school"
Ahh the 80's. Thank god!
Is it all about numbers now?
I have to say - we had it good in the 80's. The Reagan build up.. "want a scholorship to a 4 year university of your choice? Do you have better than a C average in high school?" SURE!!!
"Do you have a 2.0 or better GPA? Are you 20/20? Do you smoke and drink in moderation enough to pass a physical...if you do you too can get to flight school"
Ahh the 80's. Thank god!
Yeah its all about numbers now. You got mostly a bunch of privately schooled spoiled brats there. You got classmates learning how to stab each other in the back to advance themselves, learning poor leadership from officers trying to earn fitreps and praise. The only service that cares about who you are is the marines, everyone else goes off of GPA and ranking. It all works out in the end, just look at the kids that can't handle flight school with the standards going up. I don't see the kids that were in the bottom of the class with me DORing or failing out. If you aren't the stellar canidate don't worry, it just means you have personality. And one more thing, I wouldn't post something saying I was a future BUD/S student before I even got out of high school. Bad form.
DMeix
High School Peon
rjack14 said:
Well, I'm sorry if I have some career goals early in my life...It seems a better plan than sitting at the bottom of my class wondering where I'm going.
So kids who work their ass off to attain a goal are "just numbers" too, or what? They don't have personality because they're at the top? I'm wondering where your reasoning is behind this...
I have career goals too, but I don't have "future SNA" underneath my name. If i get a pilot slot I may, but not until then. It's generally not considered good form for people who have yet to service select to already proclaim themselves to be something they're not. Whenever you report to your ROTC unit or the Academy I doubt very many upperclassmen will appreciate a brand-new mid already walking around saying he's going to be a SEAL. That DOESN'T mean you can't have high goals set for yourself, but use some discretion. Also, rjack14 is saying that there should be more to service selection that just grades and class ranking. It's frustatrating to see bad leaders with poor character get the service selection assignment you want. Rather than get pissed off at him, just accept the advice he's giving you.
When you are at USNA you need to game the game. Service selection isn't necessarily all about numbers although that is a big part of it. You don't need to be even in the top half of the class to get a BUDS billet, but you better be a stud and done all the other prerequisites and have a great rep. Future SNA, future BUDS candidate, who cares, if they don't live up to their high claim, the only ones that look stupid is them. I graduated from the academy and since then I think the mission there is getting muddied. Rjack had it right for the most part. Your standing out of the academy is no indication of future success. Your rep, work ethic, and priorities is where you make your money, at least thats what I have found. Understand that the academy is under a political microscope and that makes things interesting sometimes, especially with regards to the mission and scandals and so forth. Sometimes you will see guys service select a community that they definitely shouldn't be a part of (because they are like in the top 10 of the class), and that will piss you off, especially if you wanted one of those slots and didn't get one. But you will find that all competitive communities will weed out the weak quickly. But generally, with the interviews and boards and other prerequisites need to service select, the presiding authority has a good idea of the type of person and candidate you are before they ever look at the numbers.
There is nothing wrong with having goals man. In fact if you want to be a SEAL you have a good start knowing that you want that already. That is the one community I think that you have to live a certain lifestyle all 4 yrs at the academy. The guys that get it aren't usually in the bottom of anything. Most go to jump school and dive school. They work out constantly and usually are either a varsity athlete or play club sports such as rugby or boxing. This year they picked some kids over other based on class standing. Luckily they got some extra spots for the studs that didn't get it initially. And there is nothing wrong with saying you want to be a SEAL, just wouldn't say I was a future one. There was a guy in the class ahead of me who had some detailers talking trash to him about more or lessly how they could PT him into the ground. Supposedly they rode this guy pretty hard and he just took it. Then the first time they drill and he is wearing his Budweiser on his utilities they about **** themselves.
And as far as sucking just cause your at the top isn't what I meant. A lot of those people that get to the top sold out their peers to get there so to speak. Have a lot of good friends that were up there, but then there are a lot of those up there that the entire Brigade knows and hate. Aim for the top but get their for the right reasons.
And as far as sucking just cause your at the top isn't what I meant. A lot of those people that get to the top sold out their peers to get there so to speak. Have a lot of good friends that were up there, but then there are a lot of those up there that the entire Brigade knows and hate. Aim for the top but get their for the right reasons.
brd2881 said:
Sadly they do not use interviews much anymore. This year the majority of selections were based purely on numbers (unless someone was a borderline case). This lead to many people getting selected for things that shocked everyone else (a few examples about pilots come to mind). I'm hoping that the schools will be tough enough to weed out those who can't hack it.
I am class of 2005 here at USNA. I can assure you that the only interviews being held are for people who were borderling (such as 800 for pilot) or in a specialized community (MedCorps, SEALS, etc). Every one else was selected by a board that looked only at the numbers in the computer (Order of Merit, Demerits, Performance grades, etc). Sadly, this led to many people getting selected where they might not have had an interview (such as someone getting pilot that would probably fail out of flight school). If you have any other questions about it, just ask.
If you are curious, we found out our selections right before Thanksgiving. This was probably why the went to a quicker process and removing most of the interviews.
If you are curious, we found out our selections right before Thanksgiving. This was probably why the went to a quicker process and removing most of the interviews.
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