What It's Really Like To Be A Student At West Point

As a university, West Point places a strong emphasis on academics in addition to military training and exercise, as the West Point homepage describes. Students have access to a full array of 36 academic majors, including business, political science, and engineering, and 15 minors. Every day, students follow a highly regimented schedule in which nearly every minute of the day is accounted for. Schedules vary from year to year, but in general all students abide by a similar daily structure. Weekends are an exception, when students can relax and visit with friends and family.

Students begin each day with exercise, and often get up at 5:30 or earlier to jog and prepare their rooms for inspection. If anything in a room is out of order, or if there is dust somewhere, or boots are not polished, students will receive demerits that incur punishments. Classes themselves start at 7:30 a.m. and continue until 4:30 p.m. All classes start no later than 2 p.m. Lunch takes place during this time, as well, which lasts precisely 20 minutes, from 12:10-12:30 p.m. The period from 4:30-6 p.m. is for intramurals, gymnastics, and athletics such as swimming or boxing. Dinner is at 6:30 p.m. Evening study time, for homework or other academics, lasts from 7:30-9:30 p.m., in dorm rooms.

After that, there's nightly clean-up tasks, "Taps" (the bugle song), and finally "lights out" to rest up for the following day.