United States Naval Academy Visit Report by spectrez589

Visit Activities:

Admissions Interview: No - I went during a candidate visit weekend, so the admission interview step of the admission process was already completed.

Information Session: Yes - During my first day at the Naval Academy, there was a lengthy (2 hours) briefing on the Naval Academy and all its nuances. For an informed candidate like me, I found the briefing to be very boring.

Campus Tour: No - Because of the nature of my visit (spending the day with a freshmen and experiencing his day), there was no time for an official tour aside from the building he had to visit.

Classroom Visit: Yes - I got to visit my plebe's Chemistry, Calculus, Government and Navigation class.

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Campus:

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To my surprise, everyone at the Naval Academy that I interacted with was very relaxed and laid back- they seemed like normal students at a normal school.

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I didn't get to talk too much with the teachers I saw, but they seemed nice.

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The campus is beautiful, but to me, it seems small (maybe 3 football fields long) and parking is very limited The buildings look nice though, but the monuments are very bland.

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The dorms are very small, much smaller than I expected. The dorm I lived in housed 3 midshipmen and thus, felt very cramped. Most dorms however we neat and orderly.

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The campus is gated with police patrols periodically. Furthermore, there are midshipmen on "watch" who monitor the hallways of the dorms.

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The campus is very solid, though I do not think it is right for me because I feel too cramped at the campus.

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Off-Campus:

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The area around the campus is full of beautiful, historic brick buildings and on the river, there are many boats passing by. However, the streets are very narrow which bothered me.

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I haven't experienced much of the town except for the Academy itself and my hotel room. Luckily, both were very near to each other (about 4 miles) and there were many shopping centers to buy food

Campus Visit Notes for United States Naval Academy

Visit Description:

The Campus
The Campus of the Naval Academy looked so much better than West Point's campus in pictures, but I think West Point's campus is better. For one thing, when I first arrived at the Naval Academy, I noticed how cramped it was here: hardly any parking, one way streets, and the Naval Academy itself is probably only about 3 football fields long, if not shorter. The dorm rooms here are pretty small too, way smaller than how its like at West Point. I'll post pictures up later.

The Gift Shop
The Gift Shop at the Naval Academy also sucked. For one thing, the items are of cheap quality. Another thing is that the items are very expensive too. $50 for a Naval Academy sweatshirt that is about as thick as my Bethel sweaters that cost me like $20. I didn't even bother buying a sweater, but I did buy a t-shirt and something for Jenna's mom and Jenna and my cousin. Sorry guys- you guys didn't give me money lol.

The Midshipmen
The midshipmen (the "cadets" at the Naval Academy) are waaay chill. Maybe its because the academic year for them is almost over (they end in May). Maybe its because its the Naval Academy- I don't know, but everyone here seems really relaxed. It's nice to see theres normal people here.

The Academics
Academically, this place is NOT too bad. I followed along my midshipman host to his chemistry class, his calculus class, his government class, and his navigation class. Chemistry was pretty much how it was like back home in Ms. Evan's class, with the teacher talking and the kids just dicking around. Calculus reminded me a lot of Barde's class where we would talk about something totally different from what the class was about and spend like the last 5 minutes actually doing stuff pertaining to the class. The government class was also similar to how Carey teaches with the teacher going over the stuff via powerpoint. The last class I went to, navigation, was pretty much just driver's ed for boats. The class reminded me of Aseron's class because the teacher is a foreigner (Navy Commander from France) and that the class didn't know as much as they should have, just like us back home. I actually followed along in many of the classes.

The Life
Life at the Naval Academy didn't seem as bad as I thought it'd be. It's really like how it is back home, if you can't drive. For example, my midshipman host plays video games, does homework sometimes, studies sometimes, and dicks around. Just like when I couldn't drive, underclassmen can't drive either, but they can go to places on base, like how we could always go to the plaza to cho;;/ I thought they'd all be study freaks, but they weren't that way at all. Also, I thought they'd have so many stupid rules like I believe they do at West Point (such as the cutting the circle shaped pie in 9 equal slices, not having any food on top of the class crest thats imprinted on the plate, etc etc) but over here, they don't have as much. During mealtime, there was no predetermined order in passing food, like there is at West Point, or anything like that. It was just really chill here.

Hotel/Lodging Recommendations or Comments:

I would recommend the Springhill Mariott, though I did not stay there, because they have free wifi. I stayed at the Extended Stay America though and it was adequate but no free wifi.

Dining/Restaurant Recommendations or Comments:

The Drydock at the Academy serves pizza, sandwhiches and the like. Its relatively inexpensivie too. I also visited Cheep Cheep Chicken in the Festival Shopping Center and they're ok too.

Other Comments (Transportation, local attractions, parking, etc.):

Parking really sucks at the Academy. During my visit, the road near Farragut Field was partly flooded as well.