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Overview
- What it is
- Founded as the Naval School in 1845, USNA is a four-year service academy that "prepares midshipmen morally, mentally and physically to be professional officers in the naval service"1.
- Location and campus
- 338 acres between the south bank of the Severn River and downtown Annapolis, Maryland's state capital. Annapolis is 33 miles east of Washington, D.C., and 30 miles south of Baltimore. The campus is called the Yard. Bancroft Hall, the Chapel, and other century-old buildings make the Academy a National Historic Site1.
- Students
- About 4,400 midshipmen from every state, some U.S. territories, and several foreign countries1. All of them live in Bancroft Hall2.
- Structure
- The student body is the Brigade of Midshipmen: six battalions of six companies each, 36 companies in all. A first class midshipman, the Brigade Commander, leads it, and the Commandant of Midshipmen, an active-duty Navy or Marine Corps senior officer, oversees it2.
- Class names
- plebe or fourth class (freshman), youngster or third class (sophomore), second class (junior), and first class or "firstie" (senior)23.
- Cost and pay
- The Navy pays tuition, room and board, and medical and dental care. The Blue and Gold Book lists midshipman pay at $1,017.00 a month, with cash pay of $100 a month in the first year. That cash amount rises each year, and the rest is held for later expenses2. That page shows no date, so confirm current figures with USNA.
- Honor
- Under the Honor Concept, "Lying, cheating, and stealing are intolerable" and may be cause for separation2.
- Class of 2029 snapshot
- 16,077 applications, 1,416 offers of appointment, and 1,197 midshipmen inducted on June 26, 20254.
Mission
"The mission of the United States Naval Academy is to develop Midshipmen morally, mentally, and physically and imbue them with the highest ideals of duty, honor, and loyalty in order to graduate leaders who are dedicated to a career of Naval service and have potential for future development in mind and character to assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship, and government."1
Small wording difference: the Class of 2029 Class Portrait prints the mission with "to imbue" and slightly different punctuation2. We quote the Mission page above.
Majors and academics
- STEM focus
- "the academic program is focused especially on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)." For the Class of 2013 and later, at least 65% of graduates commissioned into the Navy must complete STEM majors1.
- Degree
- Every graduate earns a Bachelor of Science, regardless of major, "by law, due to the technical content of the core curriculum." The top 10% graduate with distinction1.
- Majors offered (as listed on the Majors Listing page)
- Aerospace Engineering; Arabic; Chemistry; Chinese; Computer Engineering; Computer Science; Cyber Operations; Data Science; Electrical Engineering; English; Foreign Area Studies; General Engineering; General Science; History; Mathematics; Mathematics with Economics; Mechanical Engineering; Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering; Nuclear Engineering; Ocean Engineering; Oceanography; Operations Research; Physics; Political Science; Quantitative Economics; Robotics and Control Engineering1. The page marks some majors as "no longer available to class of 2028." Its markers don't line up clearly with the names, so check the page for which ones.
- How many majors? Official pages differ
- The 2025–2026 Fact Sheet says majors are offered "in 23 subject areas: nine in engineering; ten in science, mathematics and computer science; and four in humanities and social sciences"2. The Majors Listing page shows more names than that, including ones being phased out1. We don't pick a number. Ask USNA, or see both pages.
- Minors
- French, German, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Arabic, and Chinese1.
- Faculty
- Nearly 600, about half military and half civilian. Student-faculty ratio 8:1, with most classes of 10 to 22 students2.
- Professional subjects
- small arms, drill, seamanship and navigation, tactics, naval engineering, naval weapons, leadership, ethics, and military law2.
- Choosing a major
- "At the end of plebe year, midshipmen choose a major" with advice from academic and military advisors, but "the needs of the Naval Service take precedence"1.
Athletics
- Division and conference
- USNA is an NCAA Division I school. "Its primary conference affiliation is with the Patriot League"1.
- Football
- Navy football joined the American Athletic Conference on July 1, 20152. Note: navysports.com is run by the Naval Academy Athletic Association, which USNA describes as a private non-profit that runs its intercollegiate program1. The Blue and Gold Book's athletics page is out of date here: it still says football "is scheduled to join" that conference in 20153.
- Everyone plays
- "All midshipmen are required to participate in these programs, either at the varsity, intramural or club level"3.
- Varsity sports count: official pages differ
- The 2025–2026 Fact Sheet lists 36 intercollegiate varsity sports (19 men's, 14 women's, 3 co-ed) plus 15 club sports4. The Blue and Gold Book lists 18 men's, 12 women's, and 3 co-ed3. The Fact Sheet is the newer, dated document. Confirm with USNA.
- Activities
- 130 extracurricular activities4.
Service commitment and branch options
- Commission
- Graduates are commissioned as ensigns in the U.S. Navy or second lieutenants in the U.S. Marine Corps1.
- Commitment
- Graduates "serve at least five years" as officers1. Some career fields may require longer service. We did not find a USNA page listing those terms, so confirm with USNA or a Navy recruiter.
- Career fields
- 22 Navy and Marine Corps career choices. The Class of 2026 had 796 Navy and 267 Marine Corps assignments, 1,063 in total2.
- Starting pay
- New ensigns and second lieutenants are paid at the O-1 rate, plus a food allowance and a housing allowance that depends on location. Current rates are in the official military pay tables3, which are updated every January.
Summer program for high schoolers
- Naval Academy Summer Seminar (NASS)
- for current juniors (rising seniors). It's a six-day session in Bancroft Hall. 2027 sessions: June 5–10, June 12–17, and June 19–241. The Summer Programs index page lists Session 1 as "June 5 – June 20," which doesn't match. Go by the Summer Seminar page and confirm with USNA2.
- 2027 application window
- "opens TBD / closes TBD," not yet published1. For reference, the 2026 window was January 6 to March 31, 20263.
- Fee
- $575, covering lodging, meals, and clothing. Travel is the family's responsibility. About 800 spots per session, with rolling selection1.
- It doubles as your application start
- a Summer Seminar application counts as your USNA preliminary application4. Attending doesn't guarantee admission.
- Younger students
- Summer STEM is for rising 9th through 11th graders. 2027 sessions are June 7–12, June 14–19, and June 21–252.