The Feb. 6 issue had four letters bemoaning the fact that there were few, if any, veterans in the undergraduate classes, which is sad. I think that is more due to the peculiarities of the times, rather than a bias against veterans. Princeton had many veterans during the 1940s and early ’50s due to World War II and Korea. It is sadder that the ROTC programs are almost nonexistent.
I have been an Alumni Schools Committee volunteer for 34 years and have interviewed well over 300 applicants to Princeton in Southern and Northern California, Arizona, New York, and now in Nevada. I have yet to come across a veteran applicant. The competition is so strong, with more than 27,000 applicants last year (of which probably four outstanding classes could have been formed). It is hard to see how someone who graduated from high school and then spent two to four years in the military would be able to bone up and perform in the top echelon of SAT scores, etc. to be a competitive applicant.
I was in Army ROTC and was happy to have had the experience of two years of active duty and four years in the reserves. Our class has a retired Navy admiral, Henry (Hank) McKinney ’59, and I had the pleasure of working for two years at Douglas Aircraft with Charles (Pete) Conrad ’53, a NavyROTC grad, naval aviator, and astronaut. I think that Princeton would be better served to strengthen its participation in all three ROTC programs if it wants to be in the “nation’s service”!