Two seniors accepted to West Point

Wrentham

Norfolk

Plainville

March 2006 - Local News

Joe Saia

Forget Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. They may require good grades and high SAT scores, but they sure don’t require you to do 75 push-ups in two minutes. Ivy admissions are overrated; the prestigious and esteemed United States Military Academy at West Point is arguably the most selective school in the country.

“Admissions at other top schools can seem like a cakewalk [in comparison to West Point],” says the Princeton Review.

Over 11,000 hopefuls apply to West Point every year, but only about 12 percent of them are admitted. From the entire state of Massachusetts, only 16 highly qualified students who have demonstrated exemplary academic and leadership ability, passed muster in a grueling physical test, and manage to obtain Congressional nominations will be offered admission.

And this year two of those 16 are from King Philip.

KP Seniors William Small and Jeffrey Chin were honored with acceptance to the West Point’s Class of 2010. Taken with the small number of accepted students from each state, this double-acceptance acceptance is particularly impressive when one considers the arduous application process and the fact that rarely more than one student from any particular school is admitted to West Point.

“I think it’s a pretty outstanding reflection of King Philip,” says Small. “Two out of sixteen candidates from across the state came from one of hundreds of schools.”

The application itself consists of many highly competitive elements, the numerosity and complexity of which can seem extremely intimidating. The entire application consists of the following; a preliminary candidate questionnaire (which asks about your high school accomplishments and inquiries about your future ambitions), two medical exams (one for vision and one for health), a required congressional nomination (which alone involves its own questionnaire and application), a more standard college application (in which the candidates has to submit hand-written copies of three short essays and one long essay), and a demanding physical fitness test.

“The paper trail is ridiculously long,” admits Small. “I started filling out papers in August before my Junior year.”

Life at West Point won’t be any easier. Unlike a more traditional college experience which allows for a sense of independence and an abundance of free time along with the expected academic responsibility, cadets at USMA face a grueling, discipline-oriented lifestyle filled with a heavy load of schoolwork and military drilling.

“Each student will pretty much combine a full day’s study with another full day’s drills and exercises every day, especially during the first two years,” explains the Princeton Review.

The typical day for a cadet at West point starts at 0600 and ends at 2400. Academic schedules for the first two years are fully loaded with broad-ranging core requirements that are taught using the Thayer method (a method of teaching in which the students learn the material the night before and the teacher answers any questions the next day.) On top of that, most in-between class time is filled with activities meant to develop each cadet’s leadership skills, such as mandatory drill practices and intramural participation, chain of command duties, and lectures and meetings with military officials.

While KP’s two westward-bound graduates are likely to have their hands full next year, both are prepared to cope with the challenges. Their dedication and willingness to push themselves is admirable and will likely prove invaluable in their pursuit of success at West Point.

“The best advice that I got from cadets was that you have to just keep going and not get bogged down with one bad thing,” says Chin. “Stay involved with clubs and activities because more time you are doing other things outside of your room the less stressed you will feel.”


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