Almost every day I hear a cadet say, “Why did I come here?” So the question is, was it worth it coming to West Point? There aren’t too many reasons that cadets initially came to West Point and the big three would have to be, free college, serving as an officer, and making good money as a civilian. Of course having a good thing usually entails missing out on something else beneficial. This is the scarcity principle, and what cadets miss out on by coming to West Point is the normal civilian college lifestyle that we all have seen, experienced, or heard about. So do cadets at West Point all just have the amazing ability to hold out for delayed gratification, or is there something else at play? If beliefs about the future aren’t the only thing keeping cadets inside these Stony Gates, then what is? Well for about half the corps the marginal benefit of leaving West Point doesn’t out weight the marginal cost. The upper two classes have taken the Oath of Affirmation thus committing themselves to the profession of Arms. In other words they’re legally bound to honor their service obligations. However, cadets can still leave West Point, they’ll just have to either repay the tuition or enlist and fulfill their …show more content…
I could have gone to ROTC for example and still had a chance to experience some normal civilian college life. I also could have attended a normal civilian college, graduated, and then gone to Officer Candidate School for 12 weeks and fulfilled my duty to serve, sigh… But I chose West Point because I had to Optimize and chose the best feasible option at my disposal. West Point produces some of the best Officers in the Army as well as produces men and women of character. I weighted these benefits over the normal college experience and optimized my choices by choosing to attend West Point. By applying Economic principles I was able to decide that it is in fact worth it to attend West