Military Service Academies

[GBaschski]

What kind of grades, scores and lacrosse skills do you think you need to get into West Point, Annapolis, and Airforce? They're all D1 and they're all pretty tough to get into, but does anyone know any specifics? Free education and a chance to serve as an officer seems like a worthy goal.

[et1705]

I know you need a letter from your state senator to get in and you need to do really well on teh physical and for grades, since the only take 2 or 3 form each state, Im guessing all As and A minuses

[raykessler]

you need some pretty outstanding grades, the real kicker for getting into one of them is the senatorial recommendation, considering each of these guys has like 10 kids coming to them begging for the spot.... as for skills just watch the army navy game, these guys are SICK, but im just speaking from what iv heard, to get the real picture your gonna have to wait for kryptic to come back from being beaten by upperclassmen.

[ByrdDpole]

Actually...

Its not necessarilly senatorial. If you happen to get a reccomendation from a high star general (from your service) it works out the same as a senators.

Luckily, I live near an air force base, and my parents happened to make friends witha 3 star (I think?) and very good friends with a new 1 star.

So, basically, what I'm aiming to do is get good grades, and start varsity 4 years. I'm going for a lot of extra curriculars, too. Those help. ALOT.

[AngryLongStick]

Take the ASVAB and get over a hundred. If you have a 3.5 or better they will hound you to come to an academy (or enlist) till you are too old.

[twin58]

Tons o' links (figuratively):

http://www.usna.edu/Admissions/

For the last five years, applications have averaged about 11,400 for each entering class. There were 11,259 applications for the class of 2009. (http://www.usna.edu/Admissions/classprofile.htm)

This post of Kryptic's (http://www.lacrosseforums.com/showthread.php?p=556380#post556380), from February, has a link to a .pdf file with a profile of last year's entering class (http://www.usna.edu/Catalog/2005-2006introduction.pdf).

"Go to pages 7 and 8 for statistics for the class of 2009."

[RYU]

Take the ASVAB and get over a hundred. If you have a 3.5 or better they will hound you to come to an academy (or enlist) till you are too old.You are misinformed. The ASVAB's main score is the AFQT and only goes up to 99. It's a percentile score based on how well you did against everyone else who took the ASVAB.

The ASVAB is meant for people who want to enlist. Enlisting is different from enrolling in a Service Academy, b/c the Academies are preparing officers. I don't think the Academies ask for the ASVAB, but even if they do, I know they care about SAT & ACT scores about 100X more than the ASVAB.

[UNCdefense]

First to start off you do not have ot have straight A's to get in....It's not like if you get a B or even C they'll immediately shun you from the school...I'm not speaking in my opinion either this is fact I have many relatives that have & do attend acadamies at the moment. That said it is better to have all A's & take difficult courses (example..take AP & at least Honors...An A in an AP course will like 5 times better then an A in the "normal" class & hoenstly it's not that much more diffcult...little bit of extra hw is basically the only change from regular to honors to AP). Make sure you take ROTC or whatever Military related courses your school has (most use ROTC but I have heard of others)...This shows them that you're actually interested in the Military because yes fellas believe it or not :jawdrop: there will be life after lacrosse. Just read about it, the links above & the actual school sites are great places to start believe me I've read every type of admittance paper I could find at least 2 times.......

To end I actually have a question myself..If you look at the bottom of page 7 it talks about kids who applied to the academy after going to another college basically...Pre Military, community, whatever....Does this take off time you're allowed to play?Like say someone went to a year of community college then transfered to the academy...Can they still play on the lacrosse team for 4 years?I don't see why not but I don't know myself

[RYU]

To end I actually have a question myself..If you look at the bottom of page 7 it talks about kids who applied to the academy after going to another college basically...Pre Military, community, whatever....I don't know if the Academies take transfers from other colleges. If they do, it must be very rare. It's not like you can be a sophomore at State College, apply as a transfer to Prestige University, get accepted and start out as a junior at Prestige U w/ all your credits transferring over. At the Academies, you have all the military & academy stuff you have to learn, required training over the summer, etc. I doubt that's stuff you can learn anywhere else, even at other Service Academies (i.e., the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard all have their own ways of doing things).

From what I hear, if an Academy likes you as an applicant, but won't accept you right off, b/c your record & qualifications are sub-par, then you'll be advised to go to a post-grad school to get serious about school and boost your credentials and then re-apply as a better candidate. There are Academy prep-schools specifically designed for this.

This route is fairly common. You look at guys like Matt Russell & Ian Dingman. Russell was part of HS Class of 2001, enrolled at Navy in Fall 2002, and just graduated this spring at age 23. Dingman was the same but had to leave Annapolis in Jan 2005, petition for reinstatement and re-enrolled in Fall 2005. Next fall he'll be a Senior at age 24.

Does this take off time you're allowed to play?Like say someone went to a year of community college then transfered to the academy...Can they still play on the lacrosse team for 4 years?I don't see why not but I don't know myselfIn general NCAA rules stipulate that you get 5 yrs to play 4 seasons. Occaisionally they make exceptions for a 6th yr. The clock starts running as soon as you enroll in an accredited post-secondary school learning institution. Community colleges count as that. Things like vo-tech, culinary school, massage therapy school I doubt count against it. Post-grad prep schools are still considered secondary schools, so they don't count against your eligibility.

[ArmyLax]

[QUOTE=RYU]
From what I hear, if an Academy likes you as an applicant, but won't accept you right off, b/c your record & qualifications are sub-par, then you'll be advised to go to a post-grad school to get serious about school and boost your credentials and then re-apply as a better candidate. There are Academy prep-schools specifically designed for this.[QUOTE=RYU]

i know that West Point has USMAPS-United States Military Academy Prep School
They prepare you for the rigers (sp?) physically, academically, and militarily of USMA. Also, you cna use this time at USMAPS to increase your athletic skills, as they have many club level teams there, including lax

[smooth87]

According to the Class of 2010 profile on that website listed above, has listed that 76 students have transfered from another college.
http://www.usna.edu/Admissions/classprofile.htm

[spenny]

i believe that while you may transfer to an academy, you start over as a first year student and have to complete 4 years there. its not like other colleges where you resume your studies wherever you left off

[smooth87]

Do you think it would be "easier" to transfer to an academy, or to go straight from high school?

[CTLaxer]

From what I hear, if an Academy likes you as an applicant, but won't accept you right off, b/c your record & qualifications are sub-par, then you'll be advised to go to a post-grad school to get serious about school and boost your credentials and then re-apply as a better candidate. There are Academy prep-schools specifically designed for this.


One of my players that just graduated is currently doing this. Going to the Navy prep school for a year and then the following year to the academy itself. From what I was told, anyone going into these prep schools is guaranteed to go on to the academy the following year as long as they make grades. They don't have to reapply or petition or anything of that nature.