Here’s What You Should Know About the Blue and Gold Interview

The B&G (Blue and Gold) Interview allows the Naval Academy one more opportunity to insure that they appoint candidates who will make it through the next nine years.

Questions your B&G Officer will ask

Few colleges invest the time and money in a personal in-home  interview. For the Naval Academy, it’s a mandatory step, and an important nod in the approval process. The B&G officer knows you better than any other person involved in the selection process. His/Her opinion of you will weigh heavily as they review your application. You enjoy a good rapport with Gus Laney. You chatted with him at several Academy Nights, emailed him at critical junctures in the application process, and updated him on your progress during Summer Seminar, the PAE test and the DoDMERB exam.

He arranges a coffee meeting at a local restaurant. You decide to wear khaki pants and a  collared shirt—conservative, respectful, but not a tie-and-jacket-pretentiousness. His questions remind you of those at the Congressional Interview—why do you want to attend the Naval Academy? What will you do if they don’t select you? Nothing tricky. By now, you’ve passed the PAE, so he commends you on that. His lone suggestion reminds you to continue increasing your SAT scores, currently at 1350. He suggests a review course. Your time restraints make this difficult: Although it’s senior year, you have eight classes (including four APs). You’ve dropped the violin lessons, practice time reserved for Orchestra at school and the PSYO Sunday sessions. You know  yourself, and if you overload your schedule, you implode. You’ve learned from Freshman Year! You do commit to taking advantage of the free Princeton Review SAT course offered at school for IB applicants.

All in all, a stress-free interview. It ends with you returning home to study Calculus. You send a thank-you note to Mr. Laney, and sign it “Go Navy Beat Army!” You start checking the CIS website to see when it shows up as completed. Not yet, but it’s only been six hours….

–Taken from Building a Midshipman

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Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, CSG Master Teacher, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, and a monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, she is  editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, creator of dozens of training books and ebooks on technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer.

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