I have narrowed my options down to UCLA and the Naval Academy, but their vastly different lives make it difficult to choose.
The Naval Academy is free of charge. In fact, I would be PAID about $1,100 a month just for attending. However, it comes with the cost of serving as an officer in the Navy for around 5 years afterward. A career in the Navy has never been my ideal option; I acknowledge the importance of defending our country but I was never too interested in that path for myself until I applied at my parents request. If I do attend the Naval Academy, I plan to serve as a Nuclear engineering officer, a field which I find very interesting but not the most rewarding and I will probably not make the Navy my life career. Attending the Naval Academy will undoubtedly help me develop leadership skills and a network that will help me in my future but I would have to dedicate around 9 years of my life (4 at the Academy and 5 in the Navy) to something I am not completely passionate about. I believe that in the end I would be better off, I would have a guaranteed job and countless benefits and I assume I would be more disciplined, but it would be at the cost of the freedom the typical college experience allows.
At UCLA, my family would have to pay the entire $45k, a burden that I would hate to have to dump on my parents especially because I have the option of the Naval Academy where they wouldnât pay a dime. In contrast to the Naval Academy, I would have a lot of freedom at UCLA, I could pursue internships outside of school and not have to worry about the strict regulations of the military. The credits I have accumulated through AP tests and classes at my community college would help me graduate early and I could pursue different careers freely. Unfortunately, it is a bigger risk for after college. I am attending for chemical engineering but it will could take me a while after college before I fully get on my feet and will not have to rely on my parents support.
@college_bound25: Iâm assuming from the forum youâre posting in that you already have an appointment to USNA, so we can skip any info about the process.
Then UCLA, full stop.
You do not attend a service academy to spare your parents the cost of college. Take that calculus out of the equation. If they are willing and able to pay for UCLA, you have your answer.
The Navy will determine where you serve regardless of the degree you earn there. You may end up serving in a nuclear capacity, you may not, or may not right away. You have very little control over this.
USNA does not have a chemE program, so UCLA wins there, too.
Your service time will depend on your MOS (Military Occupational Specialty); five years is the minimum. Our sonâs commitment out of West Point was nine years beyond his time at the academy.
I see nothing in your post that would encourage me to advise you to select USNA over UCLA. You may want to read through this thread where we helped a poster think through the decision between a service academy and a civilian college.
Good luck whatever you do. You will have career prep at the Naval Academy. Thatâs not a given at UCLA.
If the $45k were too much but the Naval Academy isnât right, do you have cheaper engineering options? If not are you open to cheaper where you can still apply?
Itâs tough - kids are pushed a certain way and thatâs clearly uncomfortable for you. Have you told them ?
UCLA is great but there are cheaper options - potentially $20k or less if you have a great test score - that will get you to the same place. Perhaps thatâs a fair compromise ?
As amazing as the Academy is, it is an entire lifestyle not just a school. Meaning your schedule is not your own. You are basically in the Navy for the 4 years you are there meaning your choices and many activities come at the needs of the Navy not yours. I am saying all of this because it is hard to get through the Academy and live on the yard for students that love the lifestyle and can not wait to serve where ever the Navy places them after. The other poster is right they also do not have a ChemE program. I totally also understand your hesitance to turn down a full ride. As a parent I will tell you both my kids had full ride offers (one had 2 of them) and I told them if they genuinely could not see those schools as a good fit and be happy then they should not go and they did not. Both are thriving at their schools. What I did ask was for them to do 2 things. 1. really consider the school. 2. try hard to get outside scholarships and funding. They did both and as a parent I am at peace and in fact happy with their choices.
Then go to UCLA or some other non-USNA school, since the USNA is for those whose preferred career direction is officer in the US Navy, and who see the service obligation as something they want to do anyway, not for those who see the service obligation as a burden or cost.
Your ambivalence about the Navy and the Academy would make you, in my opinion, exactly the kind of plebe that the program is designed to weed out. Itâs not a fit, and not in a ânot my vibe, but I can make it workâ kind of way.
UCLA for the in-state price is a great value. Work hard and make the most of the education and the associated opportunities.
I am assuming you are in-state? Are you taking the $45K to be the COA per year? It is true that UCLA lists $45K as the COA, but in that price are included a lot of extras like books and transportation that donât really cost that much. Many posters say the true in-state (without financial aid) cost is more like $36K
45K would be the full cost of attendance based on UCLAâs estimates.
My S24 got into UCLA chemical engineering. We looked at it very closely and they did a pretty good job selling it. From my understanding of Talking with students there, you will have a lot of excellent and well paying opportunities upon graduation where you will not need to depend on your family after you leave UCLA. My son ultimately went elsewhere for college.
My S23 is at UCLA for Bus-Econ and likes it a lot. But it is a public institution and you have to hustle. Nothing will be handed to you on a silver plater Including internships or research. I get the sense for Chem E, there will be more opportunities during school than other engineering fields at UCLA.
If I had my Choice for my sons would choose the Academy. But it is not my life nor the life of your parents. I agree that service is something you have to personally really want. So if you are on the fence about it, go elsewhere and give someone who really wants the academy that opportunity. Both of you will be better off for it.
Iâm not sure the OP is still around, so this point may be moot, but for others reading here, mids donât see much of that salary, especially Plebe year when most of it is deducted for uniform and equipment expenses. Mids continue to incur expenses like these, including tailoring, laundry, barber, and other fees throughout their time at the academy. And, unlike the isolation of West Point, Annapolis is a hopping town full of bars and restaurants and things to do. No one comes out of an academy with much in the bank which is why Uncle Sam offers all second class (juniors) mids an optional USAA Career Starter Loan of about $35K at a very low interest rate to help them launch at their first duty post after commissioning.
The vast difference is what should make it very easy to choose.
They see enough to save up for their cars junior year! Back in my day it was a Corvette, then for a time it was a Hummer, or a big Ford truck. I was kidding with my friend, AF class of '74 about his Corvette and his wife said âAnd we still have it.â
He was not a career officer and did his time in the AF (mostly in Oklahoma but he liked that because heâs from Oklahoma) and then became a pilot with United and retired about 5 years ago. Now heâs a Gentleman Farmer having bought his familyâs ranch in Oklahoma and partners with others in the âShow Cowâ businesses. Heâs a member of the Natl Western stock show, which is a really big deal around here.
A former boss also attended the AFA and he did his time, went to law school and opened a law firm. He did join the Air Guard and at the start of the Iraq war joined up as a foot soldier at age 50+. He also had a Corvette but it wasnât his original one.
The guy who sat in front of me at my government job also went to the AFA, did his time, went to law school. His benefit was that when he got a job at NAS Jax, he talked them into giving him credit for his time in the military toward his govt pension so had 11 years in from AFA/AF, then 3-4 years from his agency job, and then went on to work at NAS Jax (as a civilian) so was almost at retirement benefits (plus 3 weeks of vacation) and he knew the âmilitary wayâ and that helps a lot when working as a civilian.
Even though they didnât stay in the military, they were still very military. The Gentleman Farmer still does a lot with AF buddies, they go to games at the Academy, they play golf, etc. He just wanted to fly full time so took the job with United.
Unfortunately, many cadets/mids use that starter loan to buy cars they shouldnât. They are counseled how to use/invest that money (real estate for one), but many still want that slick set of wheels. One cadet in our sonâs class used $13K of his loan for a ruby class ring that was stolen less than a year later. Our son used his (partly) to buy a house in GA just before the run-up that paid off handsomely when he sold just after his marriage/move to MD.
People who are ambivalent about the Navy do power their way through USNA and finish their five years. It happens all the time. But consider two things:
Most of the people who drop out along the way are the ones who were there without a strong Why. If youâre only there because your dad was Navy or you thought it would be cheaper than UCLA or you look good in dark blue then itâs not going to sustain you when things get hard. And as hard as it is for everyone, itâs even worse when your parents could just write a check and you could hop up and go out for pizza.
Itâs not just you who has skin in this game. You will be leading sailors on a daily basis and they deserve more than a distracted kid waiting for his five to be up. Also consider you may not get nukes (very competitive) so your five years could be spent doing something you like even less than your four years at the academy while watching 19 year olds scrape paint. Go West, young man.
(Edit: Iâm not sure how I responded to @twoinanddone , but this was intended more broadly than a response to any particular post.)
The first thing that comes to mind is the question: âWhat do musical theater, veterinary medicine, pregnancy, and the Naval Academy have in common?â. The answer is that you really need to be fully committed before you take on any of the above. You need to be sure that you want to do it. I do not think that committing 9 years to the navy is something that you do unless you are very confident that you want to do it.
The second thing that comes to mind is that I am confident that our armed forces are happy to enroll people who have graduated from UCLA, assuming that they have an appropriate major. Mathematics, computer science, or almost any type of engineering come to mind as some examples of majors that would be potentially interesting to multiple branches of the US military.
The third thing that comes to mind is that $45,000 per year by US standards is actually quite reasonable for an education of the outstanding quality that you would get from UCLA.
And I do think that this is an issue to discuss with your parents, or just go with UCLA.
Just to clarify, going the OCS (Officer Candidate School) route from undergrad only requires a degree, no specific major. The military focuses on your overall qualifications and potential for leadership, not a specific field of study. OTOH, if you are looking to serve in medicine, law, or some other specialty, you would obtain that degree first, then apply to OCS.
However, itâs clear from the OP that this student would not choose any form of military service after completing a degree from a civilian college as service is not their goal. The choice is USNA or UCLA with no military commitment.
The Naval Academy is not for everyone, and you donât sound very enthusiastic about it. I would say, thereâs a better than average chance youâll be miserable. Thatâs a full ride you need to think long and hard about. Not only is your life miserably controlled down to the minute, theyâre going to be telling you what job you get after college. And it might not be nuclear physics. As a civilian, you get the opportunity to choose a career path you want.
If you donât want the Navy, I would go for UCLA and be happy. Even if you donât choose the academy, if you decide you like the armed services anyway, you can get an ROTC scholarship at UCLA.