My sons’ different admissions strategies

In this post, I’m going to share some personal insights into my own sons’ journeys through the service academy, ROTC, and college application process.

By way of background, I have four sons. As of this writing, three have been through the college application process (from beginning to end), and the fourth is now about ¼ of the way through.

Translation, I have been living and breathing this process for the last decade with students from all around the country (and world), and for the last eight years - in my own house. To say that I am “familiar with the process” would be an understatement.

My two older sons (identical twins) applied to the Naval Academy, for Navy ROTC scholarships, and to a few traditional colleges with ROTC programs (Yale, Princeton, and Cal Berkeley).

They both ended up going to Yale on Navy ROTC scholarships.

My third son, was a highly-recruited water polo athlete coming out of high school, and was deciding from among the Naval Academy, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and UCLA.

He applied to the Naval Academy, received what’s called an LOA (or a Letter of Assurance) which means that your appointment is pretty much guaranteed as long as you don’t do anything crazy in your senior year of high school. He ultimately chose the Naval Academy and that is where he is as we speak.

My 4th son is currently a freshman in high school, and he’s trying to figure out what his move will be. So, as you can see, I am knee-deep in this process. 

My three oldest sons all expressed interest in the service academies and ROTC in their freshman year in high school, so they had some catching up to do if they wanted any shot at making these dreams come true. To put it mildly, they were a bit behind the 8-ball.

What I’d like to do is to share a few inflection points on their journeys, where they had to make some tough decisions, and hopefully you can relate to some of them and think about how they may align with your own child’s situation.

BOY SCOUTS

My three oldest sons joined Boy Scouts in middle school, moved up the ranks, enjoyed a lot of high-adventure trips, worked on Merit Badges, and it was all good.

Then came high school, and Boy Scouts started to lose a little of its luster.

Some of their Scouting friends had moved on to other things, eagled out, or graduated from high school.  My sons had a lot more on their plates in high school (certainly academically), they were playing multiple sports, and Scouting now demanded a lot of leadership and time from them given their seniority within the Troop.

Lo and behold, they started to lose momentum and were seriously thinking about dropping Scouts.

We sat down and discussed the pros and cons of staying or leaving Scouting. Mind you, there were many valid points on both sides of the argument.

Unfortunately, when Scouts get to high school, they discover a whole new world and their Scouting careers sometimes start to fade.

While I understand their indecision, I caution every Scout to take this decision seriously (that is, dropping Scouting) — especially, if you have your sights set on service academies or ROTC.

Scouting is a well known activity within the selection boards. They know what it takes to perform at a high level and how much time, commitment, and leadership is demanded - especially if you go all the way to eagle.

There are very few accomplishments that are held in such high regard as becoming an Eagle Scout. People know what it took. They know there was a standard that had to be upheld. And as such, to give up the opportunity to make this type of impression should not be taken lightly.

I understand that there are a lot of competing interests in their lives and that Scouting may not fulfill every one of their wants and needs as they enter high school. However, the impact of being an Eagle Scout in the application process can be profound (over and above the personal satisfaction that you get from the accomplishment).

Scouting reflects many of the values of the military: teamwork, camaraderie, responsibility, leadership, integrity, and service. These are all things that resonate with people in the military.

And since the “eagle scout” rank takes several years to complete, your child gets a lot of credit (and points) for what we call “duration” (the length of time that any given activity requires).

It shows a lot of perseverance and patience. 

There are actual check boxes on each of the applications (service academies and ROTC) for students who were in Scouting and achieved Eagle Scout, which shows that they obviously value the activity.

Thankfully, my three sons considered all of the facts and decided to stick with Boy Scouts (maybe with a little prodding from me).

They took on leadership roles, mentored younger scouts, and completed their Eagle projects.

Achieving this milestone kills so many birds with one stone that it’s really a shame when students quit in the 9th inning. 

It would be very difficult to amass enough other activities that, even taken together, would tell the story that being an Eagle Scout tells in one second.

Bottom line: if you’re considering leaving Scouts early, please re-consider.

MULTI-SPORT STRATEGY

The next story has to do with sports.

My twin sons (the two oldest) started out playing three sports in high school (basketball, water polo, and lacrosse). 

As the seasons wore on, it became clear that the level of talent in high school was different from what it was in middle school.

Their “best” sport at the time was lacrosse. They had played lacrosse at a high level since 3rd or 4th grade.

Like most athletes, they started out in rec leagues and then moved on to the more competitive, demanding, and expensive club teams.  When they entered high school (a big public high school), they quickly discovered that the competition to play a varsity sport got pretty fierce, pretty fast — especially for sports like basketball and water polo where there are often only 12-15 roster spots on the team.

They had to make a decision.

Should they specialize in one sport, presumably their best sport, and see how far they could take it?

Did they think they had what it took to play at the DI, DII, DIII level or at a service academy?

Or was their goal simply to make a varsity team or multiple varsity teams?

Or to be the captain of the varsity team …even if it didn’t lead to any college play?

This was difficult to predict. Everybody develops at a different rate and it’s difficult to guess where you might end up.

Unfortunately, at some point you have to make your best guess.

I discussed this issue with them at length and helped them think through the pros and cons.

In the end, they both decided not to specialize in lacrosse. Instead, they set out to become the best multi-sport athletes they could.

They continued with water polo, basketball, and lacrosse and had great varsity careers in all three sports (and when they added swimming, it became 4 sports).

In the end, it was a smart decision for them.

However, it didn’t come without risks.

To be a multi-sport athlete, it basically means that your “club” team career is over.

My sons could no longer play on their high-level club lacrosse team because they always had conflicting basketball, water polo, or swim practice.

Also, as they quickly found out, the players who specialized in “lacrosse only” got really good at lacrosse - because they played year-round.

This can make it difficult for the multi-sport athlete to compete with the specialists when it comes time for tryouts.  This is especially challenging at a big public school or a private school that emphasizes athletics, because there are a lot of talented players.

It was a risk.

If they took the multi-sport approach, would they even be good enough to make the varsity teams?

Would they be good enough to be a “captain” of one of these teams?

They had no idea. 

The best that they could do was try.

In the end, for my twin sons, it worked out.

They worked extremely hard to remain competitive in all three varsity sports which was difficult to do at their school.

Was it easy, no?

Were they the best on the team? 

No, the specialists usually outshined them.

But that wasn’t their goal.

Their goal was to play several sports, to show a high level of athleticism, and competitiveness, to experience different coaches, and teammates, and cultures.

And that’s what they did. I’m sure this level of commitment was not lost on the selection committees at the service academies and ROTC schools. 

SPECIALIZATION

My third son took the opposite approach.

He decided to specialize.

On the advice of the Naval Academy Water Polo Coach, he dropped basketball and lacrosse in his sophomore year, to focus exclusively on water polo.

Why the difference?

In the end, he believed that he had the potential, if he focused his efforts, to actually get recruited to the Naval Academy for sports (and, as it turned out, to many other colleges as well).

That possibility, though risky, was the better bet for him. 

Thankfully, for him, that bet worked out.

He is a plebe at the Naval Academy right now, and led the water polo team to one of their best seasons in a decade.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

My point in sharing these anecdotes is that there may come a point, and it may be sooner than you think, where you have to make a critical decision.

You (and your child) have to decide what will put your child in the best position for success a few years down the road.

That’s not always an easy call and it’s not without risk. I talk to parents and families about this all the time in 1-on-1 coaching calls.

I hope these stories will encourage you to think long and hard about decisions like: sticking with or quitting Scouting, or becoming a specialist in your sport versus a multi-sport athlete.

Everyone has their own path, and the next few years will challenge your child to make the right decisions to reach their goals.

Of course, if you want to get my opinion on your child, and where they stand vis-a-vis some of these inflection points, reach out to me and we’ll set up a 1-on-1 session.

Good luck.