Luke mentions he wants to go to the Academy. Which Academy?

[Rabrrrrrr]

Academy makes me think we're talking a military academy. But, in the time of Luke, I can't imagine that there are "Rebellion Academies" just sitting around allowing people in. Which would mean that Luke wanted to go to an Empire Academy. (assuming, of course, that Academy meant something military to begin with).

And since he mentions his friends who went, and they end up being pilots in the rebellion, this also makes me think that, hey, maybe the Academy is the place to train pilots.

Or by "Academy" did Luke mean just a generic college kind of place?

[Beware the Beast Man]

1. It is the Imperial Academy.

In one of the deleted scenes from "A New Hope" (which never made it into any version), his friend Biggs comes back from the Imperial Academy to tell Luke he's defecting to join the Rebel Alliance.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

2. During that time, people aspired to join the Empire's naval academy,

I believe that's what Skip told me last weekend when we were talking after seeing Episode III.
Duckie

[brainshrub]

3. I always took that to mean that Luke was planning to join the Empire.

He was like a lot of American kids who just want to leave home and see the world. They only see the college opportunities & adventure.

The idea that they will become a cog in a system designed to kill and break things does not occur to them.