re: Touring West Point today as my boy considers here and Annapolis

Go Navy! My grandfather is an Annapolis grad.

I'm going there for a wedding in the Spring. One of my wife's best friends is from Coronado and is marrying a Navy Seal. Someone brought up a good point the other night: That will literally be the safest place I've ever been in. I'll be surrounded by active Navy Seals at the Naval Academy

Also, I once interviewed for a job and my competition was a hot chick that graduated from West Point. Needless to say, I did not receive said job. These schools are an immediate door opener. You're set for life.

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will they be doing book signings at the reception?

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They'll be too busy telling everyone who will listen about how awesome they are.

My son is at USNA now. To address a point made earlier, we never made any political contribution to any politician and have never even met the congressman who nominated him. Cassidy, Kennedy and Graves all have boards of former/current military and Academy grads who interview the candidates and rank them based on their interviews, their resumes and test scores and their letters of recommendation from their teachers, counselor and principal. The senators and reps also never even met the students prior to making the nominations.

[Is that how it is done by all senators and reps in the US? I can’t say. But I can tell you I am familiar with who was sent to USNA from Louisiana this year and none of them are politically connected and all had stellar resumes and scores.]

The senators and reps then turn in a list with 10 names. They can be ranked 1 to 10, 1 and then the remaining 9 unranked, or all unranked. This is just the nomination. They still need the appointment from the military academy. USNA, West Point and USAFA then look over the list of nominated candidates from the congressmen and pick and choose who they want, giving deference to the ranking. A nomination does not guarantee an appointment. I believe each congressman can only have 5 students at the Academy at one time, so it usually works out that they get to send 1 per year.

If you are lucky enough to receive a Letter or Assurance in the fall from an Academy, that means they want you and you WILL receive an appointment, as long as you get a nomination.

Congratulations to your son — he can’t go wrong with either choice. Of course we are partial to USNA. My son says he believes USNA is harder academically and much more STEM focused while West Point is much harder and more demanding physically. He loves it so far and hasn’t regretted his choice at all. He says the quality of students he is surrounded with is very high and he likes that they all push each other to be better academically, physically and as leaders and role models for each other.

My opinion is that this is an opportunity you can’t pass up. Have your son try it for one year and if he doesn’t like it, he can always go to regular college the following year. It’s not as easy to try regular college for one year and then switch to a Military Academy, although it is done, as we met a few students who have done so. In this case, you have to reapply and go through the whole nomination/appointment process again.

Congratulations to your son and good luck with the decision!

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oh they will be more than willing to regale you with their exploits, true or not

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The few times I've hung out with the groom, he didn't speak about his military exploits one iota and you could tell he didn't want to.

This was when he was "on-call" (or whatever they call it) when we visited them in Coronado. He had to remain within a certain radius of their base. He's had to fly out in the middle of the night and not tell her where he's going or how long he'll be gone. Wild life.

This guy is tough as nails. Made it through 75% of the training or something like that, then broke his arm in a combat portion of it and couldn't complete the firearms portion, so he had to re-do all of it. (something like that)

He's a bad dude.

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Seems like it would be pretty impossible to party at LSU from 18-22 and go to west point at 18-22

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You can enter any of the service academies before your 23rd birthday.

I went to USNA with a guy who did 3 years at USC then completed his 4 at USNA. Ended up graduating with 2 bachelors.

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The age of knowing your congressman to get your nomination is long gone.

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damn good thing for me that wasn't the case when I was trying to get in the guard

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I volunteer as an admissions counselor for USNA

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ret points?

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I went to USNA with a guy who did 3 years at USC then completed his 4 at USNA. Ended up graduating with 2 bachelors.

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Former LSU president Troy Middleton graduated Miss. State then went to West Point.

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You have to understand that once there and finished, there will be a life time of true connections in the future. High up ones at that which can open many doors. It's more then just a school of higher learning

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Not trying to disrespect at all but that that is literally every college in America’s pitch. And I’m sure regular colleges open up just as many doors if you look in the right places.