Which Academy?

[a_m]

I hear both schools have hot girls and great food though.

I must have missed both of those for all 4 years.

 

[ChunksJR]

USAFA.. forget it.. you can be a chair force jockey all you want..

Actually, to back this up, I did hear that you have a better chance of flying if you go Naval Aviation and based on my friends who went both USAFA and AFROTC, this is probably true.

 

[Fmr1833]

My little brother is a KC-10 pilot in the AF and tells me that there are 600 support personnel for every pilot in said service. Personally, if you are picking the school you go to in order to get a beter chance of a pilot/nfo slot, then you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Find a college where you will fit in, have fun and grow as a person. Just as most college kids these days change majors 2 or 3 times prior to graduation so too could your desire to be an aviator change. On top of that, say you go USNA, KP, whatever and fixate on aviation only to get SWO (sorry Steve!) or something we've never even heard of. Then you will have spent four years (potentially)miserable to achieve a goal that you were never guaranteed anyway.
Now, before people jump on me for smashing dreams or something, just think about what will truly make you happy. I spent wayyyyy too long in college trying to get NFO by going to a school that didn't fit me. When I finally woke up and changed schools I was happier, learned more, and got an NFO slot through NROTC.
You should want to go to the Boat school because you want to go there and because you want to be a Naval Officer (this includes the Marines). Good luck to you in whatever you do.

 

[Schnugg]

Are there any USMMA grads on this forum? If so I have some questions for you.

 

[highlyrandom]

New York City is generally ugly (not the Chrysler building or some of the Park) and smells bad and the locals hate you because they think they're supposed to. You're supposed to think it's quaint when someone spits at you. Just like on TV. For some reason it's supposed to be all cool and cosmopolitan, but mostly it's a bunch of harried, overworked businesspeople fearing for their lives as they walk back and forth from work to McDonalds, and dressing like they're in "1984."

And it's the setting for "Sex in the City", which involves the dumbest approach to women's lib I've seen in a long time. So dumb that I've heard Pensacola girls wishing they too were apartment-bound, slowly deteriorating thirtysomethings engaging in the "men's locker room" approach to sexual conquest.

Annapolis, on the other hand, actually has hot women locally...it has bars you can walk to from the campus, and they're pretty much connected to each other. DC is there for the nightlife (9:30 Club, Blues Alley, any major sports or theatre event, a billion Thai food places, Georgetown) and there is navigable, non-disgusting water nearby.

Anybody from New York City, feel free to get angry, just don't bother writing about it, because you know I'm only 2/3 serious. There are parts I really like, but the racism sucks and the fact that most people just shrug off major problems as "part of the experience" is BS.

 

[sevenhelmet]

USMMA... its possible, but you have to be **** hot...

Wow thanks dude!

OK, last year (class of 2005) there were about 17 final applications, and of those we commissioned 9 SNAs (of which I am one) and 1 SNFO.

fut.MID, we're still waiting to hear your questions. These guys'll tell you all about how much NYC sucks and how few pilot slots KP commissions every year, but here are some of the things they're not taking into account:

SEA YEAR - anyone who has partied in Singapore or Algeciras (it's in Spain)will tell you DC is a joke. And if you want to talk about hot women...

MILITARY INTEREST - KP has the lightest military commitment (inactive reserves) of any academy BY FAR. The vast majority of people go to school there for the post-grad freedom and job opportunities, not to enter active duty. Ergo, fewer slots, but fewer people applying for them- more people get what they want. Not like USNA where half the brigade wants to fly and you have hundreds of disappointed mids every year.

BETTER BACKUP PLANS - There's no guarantee you'll get Navy Flight out of ANY school, no matter how great you think you are. So it's a good idea to have something else planned, just in case.
Backup plan for Navy: be a SWO at $30K/year. Live in Norfolk.
KPs backup plan: be an engineer, shore pilot, port logistics, sail, and many more, starting at $60K/year or MORE. Oh, and if cash isn't your bag, you can still commission in USCG, USAF, USMC, NOAA, or even US Army.

The way I saw it, as long as I graduated from KP, I couldn't lose. THAT'S why I went there.

 

[luckechance]

I'm another 05 KP grad that got an SNA billet. A little additional clarification:

1. 9 out of 17 got SNA slots. That number is a historic low due mainly to the draw down, and odds wise thats still better than your odds anywhere else. The majority of those folks ended up with Marine Air slots in the end any way.

2. If you don't get a flight slot, you don't have to go active duty. Meaning you're crying all the way to the bank. 60K a year is a conservative number. If you've got more than a pulse you should do much better than that.

3. Sea Year is probably the best learning experience in any of the academy's. There is nothing like actually going out and getting it done to learn. Plus you go to cool places like say Cape Town or Christchurch.

4. Annapolis is cooler than NYC? Give me a break!

 

[xmid]

Now I said you should check out Kings Point and that it was a good deal... however, the KP guys shouldnt be putting down Annapolis. As far as pilot slots go, saying that half the brigade wants to fly and hundreds will end up disappointed is not really true. My father sat on the pilot board there for 3 years and there were years that everyone that wanted pilot got it if they were physically qualified. As everyone here will tell you, the needs of the navy change. So even if this year everyone got pilot and selected jets, next year it may be the polar opposite. Thats gonna be true for any comissioning source. The Naval Academy is not USAFA, everyone that goes there does not want to be a pilot, in fact I would say there are more Marine ground wannabees that end up dissappointed most years than pilots. I knew alot of people that actually wanted to be a SWO and weren't really interested in aviation. Some of those people had the grades and all the pre reqs to get a pilot slot if they had wanted it. Oh and 30k as a swo ensign is a little low, and I don't assume its money you are after since you are seeking a commission in the navy. Kings Point is a great deal, and so is Annapolis, lets keep this from turning in to a mud throwing contest like the democratic convention.

 

[xmid]

I actually have a question for you KP folk, you say you have the civillian back up plan if aviation doesnt work out but when do you have to make that decision? Can you put in for Navy pilot and then not go in to the navy if you don't get pilot? Or do you have to do some sort of declaration that you are going to commission in the navy before they will let you service select?

 

[sevenhelmet]

I actually have a question for you KP folk, you say you have the civillian back up plan if aviation doesnt work out but when do you have to make that decision? Can you put in for Navy pilot and then not go in to the navy if you don't get pilot? Or do you have to do some sort of declaration that you are going to commission in the navy before they will let you service select?

If you try and don't select Navy Flight out of KP, you can go pretty much where you want. As luckechance stated, most of the people who didn't get Navy Flight in our class applied for and got Marine Flight. Civilian jobs and other branches were also fair game. The only exception is USAF because their commissioning program out of KP starts NLT your junior year. However, AF still might be possible if you were willing to sit around for a while after graduation.

 

[wiseguy04]

...and there is navigable, non-disgusting water nearby.

Uhhh...., if you don't mind ringworm and boat gasoline. Just an observation after spending four years there. I agree with the rest.

 

[H20man]

I actually have a question for you KP folk, you say you have the civillian back up plan if aviation doesnt work out but when do you have to make that decision? Can you put in for Navy pilot and then not go in to the navy if you don't get pilot? Or do you have to do some sort of declaration that you are going to commission in the navy before they will let you service select?

When we complete indoc here at the school we are sworn into the Navy Reserve. If we are not going active duty you are committed to 8 years of reserve time. If you go active you are committed to your service's obligation now. From what I have seen it is considered a "Recall to Active Duty" and therefore if you don't get your spot you just fall back on the reserve time you still owe, now allowing you to persue a civilian career.
Grads correct as necessary.

Major reason I chose this school. My dad worked with grads from KP when he was in charge of Diego Garcia, and that is how I halfway found out about KP.

I wanted the options of a civilian career because

a) what if I dont like the military
b) prep for a civilian career.

As for final decisions, I still dont really dont know, sailing and making $60,000 for working half a year with paid vacation time isnt too bad either.




Another aspect of our school is the sea year, where you take the skills learned in the classroom and apply them, whether you are down in the engine room working on a random maintence application, or pulling a piston out of a 3 story diesel engine, or if you are a deck major you are out on deck performing maintenance, painting, the Chief Mate's job, or up on the bridge at the conn of the ship (860ft in my case) navigating through heavy traffic areas while the mate just watches and makes minor corrections to what you are doing.

I finished my first sea year at the end of this past October and had a total of 105 days aboard my ship.

I am now 1 week away from starting my second sea year, with of course with a stop at home after finals.
This time it is much longer, you have to have at least 300 total commercial days as an engineer or deckie, so I'll be out for about 200 days.

During this time I will be joining at least 2 different ships and completing an internship.

Although our deep water fleet is relatively small, there are a variety of different types of ships

You can do a wide variety of internships too, which basically means any company that has to do with a maritime related field to a military internship, and in my case I chose a Navy Flight internship, which I believe is comparable to ROTC and USNA Aviation Cruise.

I also have the option of doing a Navy cruise which is considered a special assignment, but I still prefer my own room with head and shower, I figure I'll enjoy it while I can.

Each school has its pluses and minuses, sometimes I would rather starve than prep for an adventure in the head.

Also, dont come to this school to play sports, its a DIII school, and be prepared to live without A/C as only 2 of the 5 companies only recently had A/C installed.

Try to find the best fit for yourself, KP is a great fit for me and I would not have it any other way.