Mental Development

Preparing our graduates to succeed as officers and leaders through a rigorous education is an essential part of the Academy's mission. The mental development of midshipmen takes place through a demanding academic and professional curriculum so that they can excel as officers in the fleet.

Midshipmen complete a challenging core curriculum across their four years at the Academy. The core requires professional coursework including navigation, ethics, leadership and naval law in addition to engineering, science, mathematics, humanities and social sciences. The goal is a broad-based education that qualifies graduates for any warfare specialty in the Navy or Marine Corps; a technical foundation that enables them to lead in the modern military; and majors programs that foster critical thinking within a focused academic discipline.

The workload is demanding and designed to shape leaders who can motivate teams in challenging circumstances; critical thinkers who can process information quickly; and officers who can apply fundamental principles from science, engineering, and mathematics to an increasingly complex, technical operating environment.