PLEBE YEAR

All Plebes take the same courses. During this first year, your Mid will be required to attend Majors Briefings to get an overview of what courses of study are available. By the end of Plebe year, he or she will have selected a major and been assigned an advisor who will counsel your Mid and track his or her progress, making certain that all graduation requirements are being met. Your Mid will be asked to sign a form authorizing the Academy to send his or her grades home.  If he or she does not sign the form, you will not receive grades in the mail. At the end of the year, Plebes will participate in Sea Trials, a day-long exercise designed to put to the test everything Plebes have learned during the year academically, mentally, and physically. In its first outing in 1998, Sea Trials were held in late April. The end point of Plebe year is still the Herndon climb, and additional privileges are not granted until after that.

YOUNGSTER YEAR

This year marks the being of the development of the leader in your Mid. Youngsters serve as mentors for the class that follows them. Each Plebe is assigned to a Youngster, whose role is one of guidance. It is during the year that your Mid will select their  educational major.  In the spring of the Youngster year, 3/C Mids select a stone and order their class rings. It is the responsibility of Youngsters to grease Herndon Monument for the Plebes to climb. After Commissioning Week, when the just completed second year is behind them new Second Class Mids form the cadre of Detailers who indoctrinate the incoming Plebe Class.  There are two groups of Detailers, First and Second, each overseeing the Plebes for one half of the Plebe Summer.

2/C YEAR

2/C Mids are responsible for training the Plebe class. In the fall, the jeweler returns to the Yard to fit class rings,  which are not issued until February. 2/C are permitted to wear their rings on the Yard for a period of one week. It is then returned to its box, not to be worn on the Yard until after the Mid's date dips it in a binnacle containing waters from the Seven Seas at the Ring Dance during Commissioning Week. In the fall of the 2/C year, Mids undergo a precommissioning physical, which will identify any physical problems that will affect a Mid's choice of service branch. Pilots and submariners must have near-perfect vision (20/35). Waivers can be obtained for submariners, but no waivers are permitted for pilots. Later in the year, 2/C will submit a "wish" list of how they would like to fulfill their service obligation. In the spring of this year, most 2/C are offered a loan by the Navy Federal Credit Union. Only a certain number of loans are  available. If the class roster exceeds that number, not all 2/C receive loans. For the most part, they are offered to Mids in rank order. The amount of the loan varies, but is usually about $17,000. The interest rate is below market, and payments do not begin until after graduation. Some Mids use the money to buy a car, fund the Ring Dance, or begin an investment program. Carefully invested money can earn more than the interest rate being charged.

1/C YEAR

Firsties run the brigade. Those in positions of authority are known as "stripers" for the stripes that identify their rank from one stripe to six. To maximize the number of Mids who gain leadership experience, stripers rotate at the semester break. Service assignments are announced late in January. Firsties learn in what branch of the Navy they will serve and where their next duty station will be.

Commissioning Week begins with the Dedication Parade and the Herndon Climb and includes the Ring Dance, the Superintendent's Garden Party, a baccalaureate service in the Chapel, Glee Club Performances, the Blue Angels, various balls, and the Color Parade at which the Color Company is announced, and, of course, graduation and commissioning. At the end of the ceremony, Mids toss their Midshipman's cover in the air and trade it for an officer's cover. By tradition, new officers present a silver dollar to the first person to salute them.