@SailingMomof2 is correct: There’s his answer. If this is truly the case, he should opt for Princeton without ROTC and consider OCS if he still wants to serve post grad. If his heart isn’t pining for a commission then, he’s gotten a fine undergraduate education with no military commitment, and he can get on with his life.
I will also add that if he isn’t interested in a military career, one thing the academy route WILL do is prove that rather quickly — and painfully. He should not underestimate the scathing difficulty of Plebe year from the military perspective. He will be stretched to his physical and emotional limits only to be built back up very slowly (and, again, painfully) over the remaining three years; that’s the program at all of the academies as these new officers are being trained to lead and make decisions under extreme pressure. He will need a strong commitment to the end goal to sustain him through the brutality. Plebe year is a weed-out exercise, and attrition is high at all of the academies as each mid’s/cadet’s motives and internal strength are put to the test. That’s why I emphasized choosing the college experience over any other factors first.
I also think that no discussion of choosing to attend a service academy can skirt the fundamental fact that the purpose of these schools is to prepare officers for war. They are not just “different” college choices. They are schools of warfare and their main mission is not academics. Our world is not getting any safer. More and more officers are going to be needed to carry out our country’s decisions. To this end, USMA branched 81% of the class of 2019 into combat arms. You can be certain that 81% of the class did not select a combat arms branch as a first choice. Though mids and cadets may be able to select their majors, they serve at the needs of the military, and the military ultimately controls in which area they will serve. It was enlightening to our son to find out that undergraduate major is only a consideration for a handful of branches. It was also enlightening to find that the various branches (Army has 17) have various service commitments; five is the minimum. In our son’s case, he went into USMA thinking he’d five-and-dive, but the branch he was selected for had a longer service commitment, and he was also selected for grad school, so the Army will own him for the next nine years. He’s fine with that because his goals align with the Army’s choices for him, but this lack of autonomy cannot be overlooked. (FWIW, he’s also at the top of his class. Class rank, of which academics is only one factor, does not equal autonomy.)
I wish your son well, @C1nj. I’m sure he is a fine young man who would make a fine officer, but he needs to decide where his heart lies.