<p>S, </p>
<p>USNA69 summed it up very well, please take his closing comments seriously. I don’t know if you have reached the point of speaking to a recruiting office or not, either way the only advice I want to add is please take the input you receive from your recruiter with some strong skepticism when it comes to their description of a career path being a slam dunk. You may indeed end up at the academy and you may just as well end up in the fleet as USNA69 pointed out.
My son contacted our local recruiting office about NROTC (which I hope you take a look at as well in the area of back up plans if you haven’t already) and they immediately dispatched someone that worked very hard at trying to get my son into the Nuke program based on his expressed interest in engineering, test scores etc. They came out to talk to him, returned again with forms for him to sign, all filled out and ready to go. He even went so far as to suggest signing up immediately would look good on his Academy application from a demonstration of commitment perspective. At that point I dropped the hammer on the guy, my son wasn’t buying the full court press but I just thought it was too much. I don’t know anything about your situation beyond your question; I hope you have some people around you to bounce some of this off of. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Nuke path and the associated risk so long as you understand what you are getting into. Until you fully understand what is involved don’t put your name down on any forms. If you feel pressured or rushed, stand down and walk away. Gather as much information as you can and then sit down with parents, teachers, coaches; any mentors you feel can help you make this very important decision. </p>
<p>good luck</p>