1.) You must stay on track to graduate in eight semesters.
It’s somewhere between a good idea and a rapidly fading dream at most schools, but you must graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy in eight semesters unless you are a very exceptional case. If you fail or incomplete a class that is a prerequisite for another series of classes that you can’t complete within four years, you’re either going to mandatory summer school or in danger of being summarily booted. This is important when selecting majors. If you always wanted to be an Aerospace Engineering major but are scraping by in plebe Calculus, be warned that if you can’t get past Aero I on the first try, they don’t teach Aero I second semester of junior year, so you’re probably going to have to drop your major at best or be likely to fail out at worst.
2.) You must pass the 40 Year Swim.
The exact specifications vary from year to year, but the 40 Year Swim is one of the events in what I called the Water Torture Olympics along with the tower jump and the euphemistically titled ‘underwater problem solving’ in which you have to swim a long distance (in my class’s case, at least 1600 meters) in 40 minutes, in a lane with 20 other midshipmen, wearing khakis. That last part makes it fun. If you’ve never swam that far in a bathing suit by yourself, let alone under those conditions, you’ll thank yourself if you do a little distance swimming before you get there. You’ll have plenty of other stuff going on without having to sweat failing the swim.
if you’re really into USNA, check out the 5 Things I Wish I Knew About Before Attending U.S. Naval Academy.
3.) You must use the faculty as much as possible.
One thing almost all mids take for granted that is unique to the Academy is the availability of the faculty. Every class is taught by a professor, not a TA or aide, and they are there solely to teach you, not to do research. A lot of mids (including me) don’t realize how rare that is and don’t take advantage, especially in the first two years. Your professor is not only obligated by policy but often wants to see you after class to talk about the concepts he or she teaches.
4.) You must give respect to your classmates to get respect.
Before you got to the Naval Academy, people probably thought highly of you because you stood out in school, sports, extra curricular activities, volunteer work, the social scene, or maybe all of those things. Now that you’re in a place where your fellow students are at least as accomplished as you and the staff is not only composed of the usual scholars but also sprinkled with war heroes,policymakers, astronauts, and other assorted extreme high achievers, you will rapidly realize you’re a big fish from a small pond taking a swim in the ocean. One of the fastest ways to win respect in that environment is to appreciate the accomplishments of others and be a true team player among your peers. Even small displays of humility and ability to keep your mouth shut will go a long way, especially if you’re the type that pulls your own weight.
5.) You must learn to deal with a variety of strong personalities that you are forced to interact with on a daily basis.
How you do this is up to you, but you will have to do it. There’s no going home at the end of the school day or retreating to a sanctuary; you are immersed in Academy stuff for months on end each semester. You will not like some of your classmates, and at first the thought of spending four years living in close quarters with some of them will be as daunting as the workload. If you get on the bad side of your Company Officer, it can be especially trying. If you’re worried the Company Officers are representative of the Fleet, they are not. The Marine Corps sends many very squared away Officers to be Company Officers at the Academy, but their Navy colleagues are a very mixed bag. I almost let the fact my Company Officer was from the community I wanted to go to influence me not to go there, which would have been a huge mistake.
Ray Francis is a graduate of the Naval Academy and current active duty Naval Officer.