United States Military Academy
federal service academy in West Point, New York, United States
The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York, that educates cadets for service as commissioned officers in the United States Army. The academy was founded in 1802, and it is the oldest of the five American service academies. The Army has occupied the site since establishing a fort there in 1780 during the American Revolutionary War, as it sits on strategic high ground overlooking the Hudson River 50 miles (80 km) north of New York City.
West Point's academic program grants the Bachelor of Science degree with a curriculum that grades cadets' performance upon a broad academic program, military leadership performance, and mandatory participation in competitive athletics. Candidates for admission must apply directly to the academy and receive a nomination, usually from a member of Congress. Students are officers-in-training with the rank of cadet. Collectively, the students at the academy are the "United States Corps of Cadets" (USCC). The Army fully funds tuition for cadets in exchange for an active duty service obligation upon graduation. About 1,300 cadets enter the academy each July, with about 1,000 cadets graduating. The academy began admitting female cadets in 1976, and women now make up around 20% of entrants.
The public source identifies “United States Military Academy” as federal service academy in West Point, New York, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around United, States and Military.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q9219. VIAF identifies the subject as 133396889. The Library of Congress control number is n79074300. Authority coordinates are 41.392, -73.957. 4 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1802, 1780 and 1976.
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This entry incorporates text from “United States Military Academy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.