Starfleet Academy, the bottom half of graduates.

So, we have ships like the Enterprise, Galaxy class or sovereign class, that have the "best of the best" the top 10% of the graduates. Now.. Not everybody can graduate in the top 10% of there class, even the top 50% of there class. We have people that are either, in there because there family was career starfleet, or they were pressured, or they thought it was there only way out of something, or they just couldn't do good in studies, either they worked hard as they could and just couldn't keep up, or they were slackers, or bristled under authority.
So, what happens to the bottom half when they get there assignments?? I doubt the Enterprise unless they get a recomendation from a teacher, like those that tried hard and are good people, just arn't quick on the uptake. Or some nepotism, admirals son/daughter getting them a good spot.

So, where do they go? Thoughts??

 

You do know StarFleet has lots of StarBases & StarShips.

The vast majority will not be the "FlagShip" of the Federation.

 

They're given a red shirt and assigned to Miranda or Oberth class ships. Make it thorough.

 

They get assigned to a ship or post based upon their skillset and the needs of Starfleet. They are all graduates of the Academy (which, as shown in TNG, is not easy to get into), and all officers of the fleet, so they shouldn't get the worst assignment, even if the bottom of their class (that goes to proven incompetents with some time in the service).

 

the majority of the top ten percent are recruited into s31. they're intelligent, and will realize that someone (s31) has to protect the polly-anna federation from it's own foolish high sounding philosophy.

 

Barclay?

 

The top graduates enter the Red Squad. The bottom half of the graduates enjoy lectures about the Borg by Reginald Barclay.

 

There are exceptions. Unstabbed Picard, in spite of being a loser, by his own assessment, got assigned to the Enterprise as junior lieutenant though past sixty!!! What a LOSER!!!

 

Well even the bottom 10% of Academy graduates are going to be in the top 10% of the overall population, based on the entry tests alone.

 

I don't see the appeal of taking an exam that will allow you to die a lot earlier than the average guy while risking a court-martial for what seems to be trivial offenses and being sent in dangerous missions simply because you seem vaguely familiar with one aspect of them.

 

Indeed, but people still oversubscribe to voluntary armed forces in present-day countries in such numbers that recruitment to officer positions in the likes of the RAF and Royal Navy is very, very competitive.

 

You could graduate in the bottom half of the year but you might excel in one area of study. One would hope Starfleet would assign you a position that made best use of areas you do better in.

 

You spend several years as a POW in the Cardassian Hilton and then go on to a successful career in Federation politics.

 

I really think we should ignore how insanely difficult entry to the Academy was presented in Coming of Age. Canonically speaking, the Academy appears to be Starfleet's only training facility. Given how large Starfleet is, it's just silly that it would have such high standards simply for admission, and presumably even higher for graduating. Simply put, they can't afford to be picky about who they get given the staffing requirements for all the starships and starbases.

 

Just remember what you call somebody who graduates last in his or her class in medical school:

"Doctor."