United States Naval Academy

As of the new Supt and Dant, this place will test you, but it will reward you accordingly. Nights of sleeping at 2200 every day are completely possible if you have 15 credits. You can even have a whole day of school off every week provided that you validated a considerable amount. The workload is what you make of it. You can put efficient and wholesome effort into it and you will understand it, but you might be sleeping at 2400. You can completely skip homework and readings and you can either ace the course or barely pass it (or fail). Honestly, provided the varieties of skill sets available here, you will often be humbled by the person you thought was a dirtbag. On another note, the professors are, on the whole, amazing. Most (and I mean most) will bump your grade up if you show considerable improvement and/or effort. However, it goes the other way as well. If you are a sleeper (as most of midshipmen are) then your professor might not be as inclined to do so. They are availible pretty much from 0600 to 2400, so it is amazing considering the extra instruction and Mid Group Study Program. You will be challenged to balance your workload between academics and professional duties, so time management is a great skill to have, but is often not necessary. Overall, the academy is here to foster whatever attitude you have toward it. If you are a go-getter and are able to orient yourself toward success, you will succeed with the faculty and your shipmates to augment your experience. This helps especially if you want to intern with the NSA, FBI, or CIA over the summer or if you want to conduct undergraduate research (which looks really good for postgrad. We have a lot of MIT, Stanford, Harvard bound mids here. In the end, regardless of the work, it is always comforting to know that there is a weekend life. (Video games help during the week)

1st Year Male -- Class 2014

Education Quality: A+, Individual Value: C+

My experiences are a bit different due to my small major (Naval Architecture, only 10 of us in my class). With a such a small class, we really got to know our profs and had access to them all the time. We all worked together and it was great. Things were completely different when taking larger department (ie. Mech E, EE, etc) courses, and my ratings would not have been nearly as high if I had been in one of those departments.

4th Year Male -- Class 2002

Education Quality: A, Social Life: D-

You have to want to serve and dedicate yourself to the institution, Naval Service, and country so do not enter without proper research. It's not for everyone, if you want a challenge and to test yourself go with vigor and pride. USNA produces leaders and as such is very rigorous. The bonds among classmates and alumni are as thick as blood and graduating from the Academy is serving your country is an honor which also has deep personal rewards, tangible and intangible. Tough on the social life but the rewards outweigh anything missed if I had attended any of the other fine institutions at which I was accepted.

4th Year Male -- Class 1984

Faculty Accessibility: A+, Surrounding City: F