<p>Hands down, USNA is better for leadership opportunities and training.</p>
<p>Now before I get flamed by the ROTC supporters, hear me out. USNA is a military school, whose sole purpose is to produce combat (line) officers. It does this through a 24/7 immersion program. Hell, you can barely get out of the Yard (campus) the first year. During this time, you will be subjected to all kinds of leadership styles from hundreds of different officers and enlisted Navy personnel. You will like some of them and dislike others. You will (hopefully) adopt the best and merge it into your own style. You will take courses in leadership and psychology, law of war, seamanship, navigation, naval engineering, weapons, warfare, etc . . . You will have a role in a squad, eat community meals together, march everyday, live in a rigorous shipboard-like environment and try to get people you like (and don’t like) to do things that have to be done whether you agree with them or not. Because of this immersion, you will graduate from USNA knowing more about the Navy, how it works, its history and traditions, and the reasons behind certain things than you could ever get out of an ROTC program. Simply stated, USNA (and all the service academies) are the leadership laboratory for the nation’s armed forces. They always have been and always will be.</p>
<p>IMHO, ROTC simply cannot compare - not because it is a bad program, in fact I think it is an excellent program. But it simply cannot compare because of less time in the lab and the non-military distractions at a civilian school. </p>
<p>Now I completely agree what others have said about ROTC and USNA in the fleet. What you do with the training and opportunities at USNA and ROTC is much more important than where you went to school. In many ways, ROTC officers perform better because they have not been immersed. They view their first assignment as something to take seriously, while some USNA grads look at it as an opportunity to get out of USNA, finally.</p>
<p>I disagree with comments about a Navy “ringknocker” mafia. That time has passed. Now, performance matters much much more than pedigree. I know ROTC officers that I would much prefer to serve with over certain USNA grads, and vice versa. Performance and ability matter more. I stopped wearing my USNA ring simply to prevent people from judging me - good or bad - based on where I went to school.</p>
<p>Bottom line, they are both excellent programs, and it depends on what you do with what you learned more than where you go to school. But, as far as leadership training and opportunities, there may not be a better “college-type” environment in the world than USNA or any of the other service academies (with possibly Sandhurst and the like excepted - although I would never tell a Brit that :))</p>