Diversity of Service Academy Entrants and Graduates

Abstract

Abstract : In the wake of concern about the diversity of cadets/midshipmen selected by the service academies, Congress requested that the Secretary of Defense conduct a comprehensive assessment of the recruiting efforts, admissions policies, graduation rates, and career success rates of entrants and graduates at the United States Military Academy (USMA), the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), and the United States Naval Academy (USNA). RAND was asked to provide assistance in responding to the congressional mandate by summarizing trends in accession and various outcomes of interest for the entry cohorts as a whole and for subgroups of interest. This monograph documents RAND's analysis of the data provided by the military services pursuant to the congressional mandate. The academies provide tuition-free, four-year undergraduate education and prepare entrants to be officers of the U.S. military services. Graduates are commissioned as officers for a minimum of five years. Each of the service academies admits between 1,100 and 1,350 entrants each year, and this has remained consistent over time and across the three academies. Data received from each academy included the following: number of students in the entry cohort by self-identified characteristics (race, ethnicity, and gender) for classes that entered the academy between 1992 and 2009; number of students in each group who successfully completed the first year and transitioned to the second year for classes that entered the academy between 1992 and 2008 (2007, in the case of USAFA); number of students in each group who graduated from the service academy for classes that entered the academy between 1992 and 2005; for the graduating classes of 1993-2003, data on rates of initial service obligation (ISO) completion and the percentage of graduates who remained in service as of June 2008.