Between the two world wars, the U.S. was divided into nine corps areas, and each of these maintained its own preparatory school, all being supervised by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point staff.

USMAPS moved to West Point 18 July 2011, when the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Act closed Fort Monmouth.

Prior Service cadet candidates are current or prior service U.S. Army enlisted soldiers aged 17 to 22 who have been admitted to the U.S. Military Academy but choose to take an additional year at the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School to review high school academic skills.

[3] Invitational Reservists are admitted solely for the purpose of attending the prep school and have no deployment obligations beyond the confines of campus.

[6] Writing in the New York Times, Joe Nocera opined that the military prep schools of the various service branches were a way of recruiting academically unqualified student athletes for intercollegiate play.