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USNA Class of 2016

mr sparkle

New Member
pilot
I'm a new member and I would like to introduce myself on this site. I will be reporting to Annapolis in June, I hope to service select Navy or USMC Aviator in a few years. If anyone has any advice on my next four years at the Academy I would appreciate it.
 

ea6bflyr

Working Class Bum
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Welcome to the site and congrats on your appointment. Now take some time to read and re-read the volumes of threads from those before you. Keep a positive mental attitude and good luck on your long journey.

-ea6bflyr ;)
 

Knuckles53

Member
pilot
I was a professor there for three years before returning to the fleet. Of all the advice you will receive, the most important thing I have to offer is this:
NOTHING is more important than your ACADEMIC grade in the first semester of your plebe year. Focus exclusively on studying, turning in homework and projects on time and all the other academic requirements. Your plebe rates, Bancroft Hall silliness, pro-knowledge, etc. are not important in the long run.

Your first semester grades will establish your graduating GPA +/- .5 In the long run your graduating GPA will influcence much more than how great you are at chow calls. Your GPA will determine service selection, grad school opportunites, and much much more.

Remember, the requirement for a commission is an undergraduate degree. Keep that in mind so you don't loose sight of the fact that the most important thing to get at the Academy is a degree.

If I wasn't clear enough... YOUR GRADES ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANYTHING ELSE. SACRIFICE EVERYTHING FOR THE BEST POSSIBLE ACADEMIC GRADES.
 

insanebikerboy

Internet killed the television star
pilot
None
Contributor
I was a professor there for three years before returning to the fleet. Of all the advice you will receive, the most important thing I have to offer is this:
NOTHING is more important than your ACADEMIC grade in the first semester of your plebe year. Focus exclusively on studying, turning in homework and projects on time and all the other academic requirements. Your plebe rates, Bancroft Hall silliness, pro-knowledge, etc. are not important in the long run.

Your first semester grades will establish your graduating GPA +/- .5 In the long run your graduating GPA will influcence much more than how great you are at chow calls. Your GPA will determine service selection, grad school opportunites, and much much more.

Remember, the requirement for a commission is an undergraduate degree. Keep that in mind so you don't loose sight of the fact that the most important thing to get at the Academy is a degree.

If I wasn't clear enough... YOUR GRADES ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANYTHING ELSE. SACRIFICE EVERYTHING FOR THE BEST POSSIBLE ACADEMIC GRADES.

Doesn't military grades factor in to the overall GPA?
 

insanebikerboy

Internet killed the television star
pilot
None
Contributor
Academics trumps everything at any service academy.

While that may be true, I would argue that if you can't juggle all three aspects of the GPA (academic, military, and athletic) and have to give up one or two so you can pass the third, perhaps being at a service academy isn't the right fit.
 

bert

Enjoying the real world
pilot
Contributor
While that may be true, I would argue that if you can't juggle all three aspects of the GPA (academic, military, and athletic) and have to give up one or two so you can pass the third, perhaps being at a service academy isn't the right fit.

Nope - plenty of people have been very successful with only two out of three if one of them is academics, and if you are good enough at academics you can suck at the other two and be fine.*

*based on my experiences graduating from one academy and teaching at another.
 

phrogpilot73

Well-Known Member
I was a professor there for three years before returning to the fleet. Of all the advice you will receive, the most important thing I have to offer is this:
NOTHING is more important than your ACADEMIC grade in the first semester of your plebe year. Focus exclusively on studying, turning in homework and projects on time and all the other academic requirements. Your plebe rates, Bancroft Hall silliness, pro-knowledge, etc. are not important in the long run.
I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you on this one. I struggled academically my first year at the Academy, but not because I was not studying, turning in homework, projects, etc. I was removed from high school/studying (did a year at a less than challenging school, where I really didn't have to study) for 3 years before I went to USNA, and rocked a 1.65 cum at the end of plebe year. I went to an academic board, and what kept me there? My military performance. I got an A in proficiency and conduct every semester I was there. And I graduated.

Also, what Bancroft Hall silliness are you referring to? The ones where you bond with your classmates? The same classmates who may/may not reach out a hand to help when you need it? The same classmates that may be geniuses, and because of the "Bancroft Hall silliness" realize that you're someone they want to serve with in the future and help get you through the academics?

Your first semester grades will establish your graduating GPA +/- .5 In the long run your graduating GPA will influcence much more than how great you are at chow calls. Your GPA will determine service selection, grad school opportunites, and much much more.
This is complete and utter bullshit. Period. Again, we'll look at me as an example. So, based on your logic - the best I could have possibly hoped for was a 1.64-1.74 (WELL below the 2.0 threshold to graduate) based on my first semester QPR (a 1.69). I was pretty damn good at chow calls.

I graduated with a degree in Computer Science and a 2.65 QPR. And got my first choice in service selection. Oh, and I'm halfway through my master's that I'm not paying a dime for. Your point is?

My father (USNA '63) had a better QPR than I did, and he didn't get his first choice in service selection. Pre-commissioning physicals can be a bitch. He had less than a 3.0, yet he managed to get a MS and a PhD at Monterey - and retired as a Captain. He doesn't ever tell me stories about how hard he studied in Nimitz Library, but he does tell me stories about chow calls, uniform races, you know - the unimportant shit. I guess he's a failure in your eyes because he didn't get the best possible QPR he could.

Remember, the requirement for a commission is an undergraduate degree. Keep that in mind so you don't loose sight of the fact that the most important thing to get at the Academy is a degree.

If I wasn't clear enough... YOUR GRADES ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANYTHING ELSE. SACRIFICE EVERYTHING FOR THE BEST POSSIBLE ACADEMIC GRADES.
You are correct, the requirement is an undergraduate degree. HOWEVER, the most important thing (especially if you are struggling) is not necessarily your grades. Sacrifice what, your honor? Yup - saw guys get booted on honor offenses. Sacrifice what, your military performance? Yup - saw guys get booted that had 3.5+ GPAs because of a 6000/Major level offense.

2.0 and go. If the minimum wasn't good enough, it wouldn't be the minimum. Not to sound flippant, but there are PLENTY of people that struggled academically and still got commissioned. And they didn't think about sacrificing everything for the best possible GPA. Oh, and let's not forget - it's a QPR there, not a GPA. Which also includes your military performance. Can't make 'dants list without good military grades.


Nope - plenty of people have been very successful with only two out of three if one of them is academics, and if you are good enough at academics you can suck at the other two and be fine.
This is the best possible statement coming out of this thread so far. For the average midshipman, you really have to pick two... I'll give you a hint as to what I picked - I was an intramural warrior...

For the OP, what advice do I have for you?

In the short run:
1. No matter how bad it gets - remember this, your detailers don't have a magical ability to turn back the clock. Time is on your side.
2. During plebe summer - work harder. If you think you're working hard enough, then help your classmate.
3. Your classmates are the single most important people in your life. You may disagree early on, but at the end of the day - they will be your friends for life. My father recently took a trip to South Bend to see the Navy/Notre Dame game. He (and his classmates) traveled together, and left the wives at home. It's been almost 50 years since he graduated from USNA, and yet he still wanted to undertake such a long trip with the guys he spent "four years together by the bay" with.

In the long run:
1. Remember, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
2. No matter how bad it gets, in the end - it's worth it.
3. Your classmates are the single most important people in your life. Thank god for Bob. He taught me physics in the days leading up to the exam.
4. PM me - and I'll give you my cell if you want it. Mine was not a normal USNA experience (prior enlisted, with a horrible GPA from high school, struggled academically, spent time on restriction (even though I had an A in performance/conduct the whole time I was there), sweated whether I would graduate the whole time), but yet shortly after I graduated - I ended up on Plebe Summer detail as a 2ndLt. And did a favor for a now (former) CJCS. And talked his son into staying. I also helped one of my former crewchiefs get an appointment, and checked up on him the entire time he was there - unfortunately they found a non-commisionable condition during his pre-coms. I believe very strongly in that school, what it stands for, and what it produces - and will defend it to the day I die.

No, there's more to that school than just academics. Although academics have the biggest ability to bite you in the ass.
 

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
Your first semester grades will establish your graduating GPA +/- .5 In the long run your graduating GPA will influcence much more than how great you are at chow calls. Your GPA will determine service selection, grad school opportunites, and much much more.

Do the basics of math and statistics have their own set of rules in the Academy Universe? Honest question. Not trying to be a smart ass (well, okay, maybe a little).

Mathematically, if you have a low GPA your first year and then have decent GPA's the next 3 years, you won't be +/- .5 of your Plebe year GPA...at least at other colleges, but maybe Tecumseh and his pennies has some weird effect on GPA weighting.
 

insanebikerboy

Internet killed the television star
pilot
None
Contributor
Nope - plenty of people have been very successful with only two out of three if one of them is academics, and if you are good enough at academics you can suck at the other two and be fine.*

*based on my experiences graduating from one academy and teaching at another.

I'm not saying that they can't be good officers, and maybe I'm a dick for saying it, but I think that if you are so hard up that you have to ignore the other aspects of being a midshipman to focus on one, maybe it just isn't for you. I knew several guys at the Academy that struggled at academics but still came out and did their part in sports and in the Hall. I also know those same guys got their first choice come service selection compared to those dudes who did just focus on academics.

Being a midshipman isn't just about getting good academic grades, it's about fulfilling the whole "morally, mentally, and physically" part of the Academy's mission.
 

bert

Enjoying the real world
pilot
Contributor
You are looking at as how you want it to be, but the facts are that if you do well academically then you can just do the minimum in the other two areas and you'll be just fine.

That concept carries over to the Fleet as well. If you are outstanding at your ground jobs and not a complete mess socially then you can do just fine for your career even If you are only minimally competent in the plane.
 

insanebikerboy

Internet killed the television star
pilot
None
Contributor
You are looking at as how you want it to be, but the facts are that if you do well academically then you can just do the minimum in the other two areas and you'll be just fine.

Doing the minimum is much different than forsaking everything in the name of one, which was what I was getting at.
 
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