The Road Less Traveled

I don’t quite know what to list first, the admissions statistics on the West Point Class of 2004, or my commentary. I suppose my commentary goes first. The numbers may bore you and you might never read my comments if they get listed last.

After looking through the stats I am amazed that these talented young people would choose the West Point experience of extreme hardship over the relatively pleasant traditional college experience. I am pleased that they do, but surprised at the same time.

During Ann’s time at West Point I heard administrators say repeatedly that the value of the free education the cadets were receiving exceeded $250,000. The cadets agreed by saying, “Yeah, it’s a $250,000 education shoved up your ass a nickel at a time.” That sounds like a hardship to me. Ann didn’t say that, but I heard it from others. I also heard cadets say that “They take away all your rights, and then give them back to you one at a time and call them ‘privileges’.” Again, Ann didn’t say that. I don’t know what she thought, but she didn’t say that.

Digression: Someday I’d like to see Ann write a few words about why she chose to go to West Point. It would serve as a nice counterpoint to my ignorant observations. A more entertaining, and lengthy, piece would be about how she survived and thrived there.

When Jean and I were visiting Ann and Scott in California in July of 2010, Ann caught a glimpse of these West Point admissions stats and asked what the topic of this blog post was going to be. I told her that I wanted to discuss why so many gifted high school graduates would willingly choose a life of extraordinary hardship when they could go to traditional schools, have the time of their lives, and extend adolescence for another 4 years. I told her that I could only pose the question, but had no idea how to answer the question.

Ann told me that when she was at Navy (yes, Navy) dive school at Panama City the class was asked to write a statement about why they were there. One classmate wrote something like, “The challenge presented itself and I took it.” The instructor said, “Good answer.”  (I think the classmate was Ann.)


I captured these admissions statistics from West Point’s web site and wanted to list them here as text in case they disappear some day. Please take a gander and be as impressed as I was. 

http://www.usma.edu/class/2004/profile.asp

Class of 2004 “For Country and Corps"
Class Profile at time of admission

Volume of Applicants
                                         Men  Women
Applicant Files Started       8,989  1,901
Nominated                         3,353    641
Qualified                            1,969    352
(academically, physical aptitude)
Admitted                             993     195

Rank in High School Class
First Fifth        72%
Second Fifth   19%
Third Fifth        7%
Fourth Fifth      2%
Bottom Fifth     0%

American College Testing (ACT) Assessment Program Scores*

Range  Eng  Math Sci Reas Read
31-36   14%   26%   19%       41%
26-30   55%   57%   48%       42%
21-25   27%   17%   32%       16%
16-20    3%     0%     1%         1%
11-15    0%     0%     0%         0%
Mean    27       28      27          29



College Board Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) Scores*

Range  Verbal  Math
700-800   15%   22%
600-699   49%   53%
500-599   33%   24%
400-499     3%     1%
300-399     0%     0%
Mean      621    641

*Includes only scores used as a basis for admission.


Academic Honors
Class Valedictorians                                    63
Class Salutatorians                                     39
National Merit Scholarship Recognition        182
National Honor Society                               686


Activities
Boys/Girls State Delegate                                217
Class President or Student Body President       222
School Publication Staff
     School Paper Editor, Co-Editor of Staff         157
     Yearbook Editor or Co-Editor                       134
Debating                                                         147
Dramatics                                                       201
Scouting Participants                                       513
Eagle Scout (men) or Gold Award (women)        155
Varsity Athletics                                           1,045
Letter Winner                                                1,045
Team Captain                                                  508

Geographical Distribution

The Class of 2004 "new cadets" included 1,179 U.S. citizens from every state in the nation plus 8 foreign cadets for a total of 1,187 new cadets. There were 195 females, 103 African-Americans, 92 Hispanics, and 9 Native Americans. The foreign cadets were from Cameroon, the Philippines (2), Jordan, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Kazakhstan and Taiwan