I have the utmost respect for those who protect us.
I have been admitted to both West Point and Purdue. Both are amazing engineering and computer science schools, which is going to be my field of interest. I have no idea what to do. I looooovvvvveeee Purdue. Yet I’m broke and they gave me almost no money. Here are the pros and cons of each school in my opinions.
Purdue
Pros:
-I love it
-top ten engineering
-I know friends there
Cons:
-I am broke, graduating from Purdue would mean graduating with 100k in debt. They gave us extremely insufficient financial aid and I applied too late to get scholarships.
-I would have to work a lot- right now I hav 3 jobs and am at the point where I might not even be able to go to school because of how much I have to work-in college I would have to try to succeed in their strenuous engineering program while dealing with at least 25-30 hours of work per week.
West Point
Pros:
-it’s free-in fact I’ll get paid to go there
-great school in every field
-I’ll get a high paying job as soon as I graduate
Cons:
-I say this with all possible respect-I have no longing to be in the military
-I will completely miss the college experience
-no freedom no girls no parties
Some background on me:
I was a good student in high school (4.0 1530 SAT). I’m a three sport varsity athlete. I’m very social. I don’t want to sound arrogant or douchy but I was the kid who went out Friday night and didn’t come home till Sunday morning every week. I love to go to parties and go out and do stupid stuff with my friends. In the past four years I have made more crazy memories than in the rest of my life combined.
I’m scared. If I go to Purdue I am taking on a huge, HUGE, debt. At West Point I feel like I could be losing even more than money; my youth. If I go to West Point I am financially set. Yet I am missing out on what could be the time of my life. I want to party, I want to go out with my friends. I want to fall in love. I want a normal life. Is it worth it to wait 9 years? Right now I am leaning towards West Point. If I go to Purdue I will have to continue working three jobs throughout my last high school summer. While I am at Purdue I would need to work everyday knowing that it is barely making a dent into the enormous debt weighing over me. I want to succeed in my classes at Purdue. Yet I know it is hard. One of my friends who is quite intelligent goes there now. He does not work a job and he studies a lot and is only able to maintain a 3.4 gpa. I want to have a 4. Is it possible. Working so much even now has completely isolated me from all of my friends and cut me off from my family. If I go to Purdue my family situation is much mor complicated.
Basically what I’m asking is your opinion. Do you think going to West Point purely to financial reasons is wrong. I have spent time there. I went to their summer leadership program and immediately I knew I was not a fit. Yet it’s objectively my best option. Do you think it is the wrong this to ignore my youth and deal with the military for 9 years for a paycheck. I know many view the military as their goal and I totally respect that but I do not see it that way. For me it is nothing but a 9 year struggle I will need to go through to so I can start my life afterwords. Going to Purdue puts me 100k in the red. Going to West Point puts me in th black.
I am stressed out and depressed. What’s more important money or happiness. Honestly, is it money. I don’t think I will be happy at West Point or in th military at all. Would I be happy at Purdue? Whenever I’m not working I think so.
I did ROTC vs a service academy. I didn’t have a longing, but did have a sense of obligation. I was mentally prepared for 4 years of privation in college followed by several more in active duty. I had no intention of making it a career, and I didn’t. What did happen, I did not expect.
I enjoyed it. College gave me an education, the Air Force gave me a sense of purpose far larger than myself.
As far as the money goes, people have considered the financial aspect since Xenophon told the king of Persia to go pound sand. BUT, as an officer you are under obligation to the soldiers under you. If you can accept what that entails, I wouldn’t sweat any residual mercenary angst.
$100,000 in debt is too much for undergraduate, and you need a cosigner or parent loans (not a good idea for either you or your parents or cosigner).
The USMA is for those whose goal is to become an officer in the Army. If that is not what you want to do, then it is not suitable for you.
Looks like neither is really a good choice for you. Do you have any other (affordable) options?
If not, can you take a year off school (no college courses after high school graduation), work to save some money for school, and reapply to seek full ride merit scholarships or sufficient financial aid?
At Purdue you will become an engineer. At West Point you will become a leader. No place teaches leadership like the service academies. Which route would you prefer to take? If you look back at your youth when you are 50, which road do you think the future you would have rather taken?
If you think you would hate the military, USMA isn’t the place for you. After you graduate, military members can still have normal lives. Yes, there’s always a possibility of deployment, but the extended boot camp experience ends after you commission. If you want to party and meet lots of girls, neither Purdue nor the USMA would be the best schools for that. Honestly, I don’t think you’ll be happy at either school. I hope I’m not reading too much into this, but if by party you mean drugs, failing a drug test is the fastest way to get kicked out of the military. All of the services have a zero tolerance policy.
West Point is a tough place to go to school even if you want to be an Army Officer. I can’t imagine anyone who didn’t want to be in the military making it through four years there. Heck, I was in the military and wouldn’t want to deal with any of the military academies.
If you were able to get a scholarship to West Point, you ought to be able to get a scholarship to some other college. Maybe you should go to a community college in the meantime while you look into scholarships at other schools.
You cannot afford to live with 100k debt. Partying? Forget it. You will be a slave to your job forever. Scratch Purdue. And no, you also can’t go to West Point and I am amazed you applied becasue the DEAL is that you must do military service after you graduate, unless something has changed. FWIW, a good friend graduated from WP and loved it. He’s a normal down to earth guy who is not in the military, so it can happen.
Did you not apply to anything in between? No affordable options? Obviously you are a good student. As you are clearly a strong student who needs financial aid, I am going to suggest this: reapply next year. Apply to colleges where your stats will get you merit aid, or automatic full tuition. Take a year off, work, have some fun, and then buckle down and go to an AFFORDABLE college. Do not go to community college. You will then be considered a transfer stduent and will miss chances to get substantial merit awards.
Bottom line, both of your options are impossible. You need to wait and start over next year, applying to colleges you will be able to afford. @simba9 this person loses any chance of merit aid if he goes to CC.
And to drive this point home, even if you could get the money, it does take decades to pay off student loans. I know at least two people who were paying off stduent loans and didn’t finish until their children were 10 or so. They were in their 40’s by the time it was all paid off. They struggled for decades. And even if your parents will take the loan out on your behalf, is it fair to burden them with that kind of debt as they head towards retirement?
Did you consider the University of Alabama. Engineering, scholarships,deadline was in December for scholarships. You may want to consider a gap year. Do you have any financial safeties on your list of acceptances?
The two schools I went to, University of Alaska and USC, give merit aid for community college transfers. Those can’t be the only two schools that offer merit aid, grants and scholarships for transfers.
Community colleges have long been a starting point for people who needed a more affordable way to enter college. It could be that the savings from the lower tuition at a CC match any merit aid that a student may have otherwise gotten.
But if 4141greg wants to sit out a year, that’s OK, too.
The service academies make “leaders”, but they are often unique to the military based hierarchy. I’ve personally worked with Westpoint and Naval Academy graduates (5 total) and while they had the best stories for guys in their late 20’s their people skills were very much lacking.
It feels like they were taught “I said jump” “Yes, sir how high should I jump now sir” form of leadership which does not work in modern day Fortune 100 America where being “challenged” is common.
They all were either not promoted, stayed in one position, or left the company and got completely out of leadership type roles. All were hired on the premise they would make good managers/leaders in the organization.
As for you OP, find another option, both of yours suck!
@4141greg I would say West Point even if your’e not sure. First off, from what I’ve heard, that you become REALLY close to your comrades. Plus, employers will appreciate a graduate from West Point way more than Purdue since as others say, it makes you a leader.
West Point is a very difficult academy to graduate. I believe its 30% drop out before graduation.
But if you look past the military service and the hardships, it would be well worth it.