In today’s post, I’d like to strongly suggest (if you’re not doing so already) that you get involved in an activity that will improve your public speaking skills.

If you’re on the path to a service academy or an ROTC program, there will be countless times when these skills will come in handy.

For one, if you are a leader of a club, sports team, Scout Troop, or student gov’t, public speaking and communication skills are a must. In these roles, you will often be...

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),...

In today’s post, we’re discussing a question that I hear often from the ServeWell community:

“Should I consider applying to multiple service academies and/or ROTC?”

The short answer is, yes.

The longer answer is, it depends.

Let’s start with the “yes” answer.

YES

You should absolutely at least consider applying to multiple service academies as well as ROTC programs. 

The selectivity of service academies is so high (and often unpredictable) that...

Depending on what types of programs you are applying to, class selection can play a major role. 

Which classes should you choose over the next three years to position yourself well in the eyes of service academy and ROTC selection boards? I’d like you to think about these decisions across 3 dimensions.

Dimension #1: How challenging are your classes (we refer to that as “rigor”);

Dimension #2: Do your “class choices” tell a story about you (we refer to...