Academics

Some departments are extremely strict; others are more laid-back. A few departments go out of their way to recruit the best civilian professors. But, then again, some of the civilian professors have been here for a while; maybe too long.

Athletics

Intramurals are either really fun and relaxing, or they are very stressful—there is no in between. When you are an upperclassman, you have a lot of say as to what intramurals you participate in. However, when you are an underclassman, you usually don’t. Every company must field a team for every intramural. This means that if there aren’t enough people who voluntarily sign up for something (like boxing), you may very well find yourself on the intramural boxing team.

Campus Dining

Compared to most schools, the food sucks. But hell, when you are in the Army you are not going to get the best food either, so you have to get used to it.

Campus Housing

The key about the barracks is that most of the services are free. For example, the Internet is free, and civilians do your laundry. The only thing that you have to pay for is your phone bill, unless you decide otherwise. Because the laundry service is somewhat notorious for screw-ups, a lot of cadets do their own laundry. The majority of cadets simply don’t want to waste their time doing laundry.

Campus Strictness

As a cadet, you are conditioned to do routine things routinely. Everyday is like Groundhog Day. The schedules are very predictable, so it is very easy to establish a pattern. You learn to work smarter, not harder.

Computers

West Point has great computer facilities. The network has over 8,000 active users and approximately 120,000 electronic messages transit the network daily. Computer support is provided in the classrooms, laboratories, and cadet rooms. Each cadet has a laptop computer with wireless network connections, allowing unlimited access to the Internet.?

Diversity

This place is definitely diverse, just like the Army. At West Point you encounter students who had full rides to Ivy League schools, but you also see a fair amount of underdogs—people who have worked extremely hard to get where they are. There are some cadets who came from the enlisted ranks. They joined the Army after high school, worked hard, got the opportunity to attend the West Point Prep School, and proved themselves.

Drug Scene

Throughout the summer and academic year, you have random urinalyses. You also have random health and welfare inspections. The bottom line is that if you do drugs, you will get caught. Every now and then, you hear about someone who smoked pot while on leave, or went to a party where there were drugs, and tests positive. But this rarely happens. If you either test positive or they find drugs, you automatically get the boot.

Facilities

The facilities at West Point are absolutely immaculate. Everyone here takes pride in their appearance, something that seems to translate to other things. Rarely do you see a cadet walk past a piece of garbage and not pick it up. It is this mentality—a mentality that is ingrained in you—that contributes to the general health and welfare of everyone at the academy.

Greek Life

Well, I guess that you could look at West Point as a fraternity within a fraternity. When you leave West Point, you join the Army, which is one large fraternity. And West Point is a fraternity within that fraternity.

Guys & Girls

There are some good dudes, but they live in the largest male locker room and it shows. Honestly, the girls here are fine. They’re smart, funny, and forthright. They don’t play games. On the other hand, we live in uniforms 24/7, and they aren’t well cut or attractive. I don’t care who you are, you can’t make As for Class look good, and the formal uniforms are completely awful. The other problem is that 85/15 split. If you’re not good looking, nice, and smart, you’re not going to date a West Point girl because there are a lot of guys here. Similarly, USMA girls don’t put up with anything, mostly because we don’t have to.

Local Atmosphere

West Point is extremely isolated. There are not any other universities located within close proximity. Although you definitely get sick and tired of seeing gray buildings, it is definitely very picturesque here. It’s not that bad, and it is actually quite inspiring. Some people consider West Point to be a utopian society, while others look at it as prison. It is all a matter of perspective.

Nightlife

For most cadets, there is no such thing as a life let alone a nightlife. There are no bars or clubs or anything like that here. But, the strange thing is that you don’t even notice it. You are too busy to even think about it.

Off-Campus Dining

When you sit back and think about it, you realize that it is as much of a good thing as it is a bad thing. In some ways, it absolutely sucks that the food is horrible and you don’t get to eat much. But in other ways, it is a good thing because you are so much more appreciative of a good meal; you realize what you take for granted.

Off-Campus Housing

Even as a senior, you can’t live off post. That would just ruin part of the West Point experience. I couldn’t imagine anything like that ever happening here.

Overall Experience

West Point has a very interesting leadership development model. Cadets gain hands-on leadership experience by leading other cadets. Cows and firsties (juniors and seniors) are responsible for instructing yearlings and plebes (sophomores and freshmen). Officers are responsible for mentoring upperclass cadets and ensuring that standards are met.

Parking

Everyone around here seems to love to give cadets tickets, especially parking tickets. It’s all because of that damn sticker that they make you put on your car. There was one cadet who put the sticker on a piece of Velcro so that he could take it on and off of his car whenever he so desired. He was brought up on honor.

Safety & Security

The Military Police are always driving around post, inspecting vehicles, and ensuring that they have the proper documentation. They are also responsible for controlling various checkpoints and enforcing rules. They do a great job but give out way too many tickets, especially to cadets. If your car is parked in a lot that is not authorized, plan on getting a ticket. And if you let it sit there (like a lot of cadets do) for more than a couple of days, they are going to tow it.

Transportation

Only cows and firsties (juniors and seniors) are allowed to have cars on campus, so transportation off campus isn’t an issue for some people. Unless you are an upperclass cadet, you have to be creative in your travels. A lot of underclass cadets take the train to New York City.

Weather

The weather here sucks really, really badly. I have been here a couple of years and I have seen some bad winters. Nearly every winter, classes will get canceled once or twice, the power will go out once or twice, and there will be several weekends when passes are suspended because of the road conditions.