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Back story: Since my now 17 year old stepson was 12, the consuming interests in his life have been music, leadership, and physical fitness. (He was the only kid in his high school, up north, to be in both the music programs and on the wrestling team.) He plays bassoon (difficult and his primary instrument), tenor and alto sax, mellophone and piano.

During his senior year in HS he applied to 4 of the top music schools in the country and to The Citadel (to major in exercise science.) He flew all over the country to audition at the music schools (these were not the level of school that takes all comers.) Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University made him the best offer: over $100,000 scholarship. That's where he was going to go. Two weeks ago he informed my wife he decided he wasn't going to Indiana. His heart wasn't in music. It just came easily to him, he got a lot of accolades for it, and the scholarship seemed too good to pass up, but he couldn't see himself doing music for a career the rest of his life. He really wanted to go to The Citadel, and he wanted to do Navy ROTC.

Problem was, he'd already turned them down. We contacted admissions and were told he'd have to join a pool of others on a "space available" list. This past Tuesday, he got the word: he's in. This week has been a scramble, getting together everything he needs, doing the online orientation... My wife and I couldn't be happier; it's what we felt was best for him all along.

In an hour and fifteen minutes he reports to take his place in the long grey line of The South Carolina Corps of Cadets.

Good for him! he knows what he wants and goes for it. Kinda young to be that smart, he'll do well in life.

He is a good kid and a hard worker. His brother (almost 19) is the same way. He completed his first year of college this spring with a 3.8 GPA in accounting. He took three courses over the summer and expects to get his BS in 3 years. They are their mother's sons, without a doubt. They've never given us a moment of concern or trouble. We are blessed.

Congratulations and best wishes to the young man.

Good decision making by the young man

That's pretty cool. Happy to hear he's following his heart.

Good for him! Sounds like he has his head on straight.

Awesome,glad he made the call before going to school and figuring it out.

Congrats to you and your wife for the pride these boys bring to your family.

Congrats, sounds like the young man has focus, which is something I lacked at that age. He'll do well.

Good for him!! Congrats

Congratulations, sounds like he needs a girlfriend to screw everything up.

Actually, he's got a girlfriend, but she's a thousand miles away. Very nice young lady, accomplished and seems to have her head on straight. Also she has parents who seem to have a good handle on how to raise a daughter. I would kind of hope he won't get too committed too young, but time will tell.

Congrats on raising what sounds like a great young man - you will celebrate that for a long time.

I never get tired of hearing about these ‘youngsters’ that know what they want and are driven and intelligent enough to go out and seize the opportunities. Congratulations to you all.

Ya done good!

And We as a nation are better of for young men and women like him.

Outstanding Sir, may he excel at all his studies there.

He sounds like a fine young man. I wish him the best and all of his endeavors.

Cra1948: I am happy for you all, in that this situation has turned out for the best.
I wish you and yours more happiness in the future.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Good job,its nice to hear about young men and women doing so well.
We had a similar out come with my oldest daughter.played field hockey from middle school through high school,had a field hockey scholarship to U.CONN.
Dropped it at the last minute,said she didn t want to play field hockey anymore
Had gotten a writing scholarship,took that instead,is going to get her masters now.its shocking when your kid suddenly decides out of the blue to go in a new direction,but when you have a good kid,they usually make the right choice.