<p>Service Academies are excellent academic schools (“good place to study”) and offer a great career when you graduate (“rewarding lifestyle”), but there is much more to them than that.</p>
<p>SA’s are probably the most difficult way to earn a degree and a commission in the armed forces. Make no mistake it is difficult, but if you have serious motivation you will excell there. Each class starts with about 1200 and graduates about 1000. The majority that do not make it to commissioning are the ones that did not really know what they were getting themselves into and/or were at the Academy for reasons that were not strong enough to make them want to stay in the difficult environment.</p>
<p>While you have valid points (good school and career), remember that the SA’s are training you to be a military officer and as such your goal should be to become a military officer and/or to serve your country. People go to SA’s for many reasons, but at the very least, one of those reasons should be that they WANT to be in the military.</p>
<p>You go to Harvard because it is a good school. You go to USNA because it is a good school and you want to be in the Navy or Marine Corps.</p>