[13]: 8 [14] A popular anecdote holds that he was passed over for valedictorian after he and his friends skipped school to venture downtown in a hot rod. Carter's truancy was mentioned in a local newspaper, although it is not clear he would have otherwise been valedictorian.[15] As an adolescent, Carter played on the Plains High School basketball team, and also joined a youth organization named the Future Farmers of America, which helped him develop a lifelong interest in woodworking.[15]
Carter had long dreamed of attending the United States Naval Academy.[10] In 1941, he started undergraduate coursework in engineering at Georgia Southwestern College in nearby Americus, Georgia.[16]: 99  The following year, he transferred to the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, and he earned admission to the Naval Academy in 1943.[13]: 38  He was a good student but was seen as reserved and quiet, in contrast to the academy's culture of aggressive hazing of freshmen.[3]: 62  While at the academy, Carter fell in love with Rosalynn Smith, a friend of his sister Ruth.[17] The two married shortly after his graduation in 1946.[18] He was a sprint football player for the Navy Midshipmen.