How competitive am I?

Hello community!
I just found out today that I got accepted into NASS! So I am very excited but also a bit anxious. Because I am accepted into USMA's SLS and the Navy's, I want to know what my realistic chances are to the Academies, as in, the actual admissions...

-Academics-
GPA- 3.17
AP US History
AP Government and Politics (next year)
AP Literature (next year)
AP Language
Pre-calculus (1 year ahead of normal curriculum)
1 summer college course (Japanese; next year)
Honors English
Honors Social Studies
SAT- 1870
Studied abroad in Australia for 1 semester (is this special?)

-Athletics-
Varsity Track
Varsity Swim
State qualified swimmer
CFA score:
75 pushups
12 pullups
86 situps
6:00 flat mile time
Karate black belt

-Leadership-
NJROTC platoon commander
Physical Fitness team commander
Attended Leadership Academy for NJROTC (only rising juniors are selected but I was picked as a freshman)
Varsity Track team captain
Varsity swim team captain

-Civic Involvements/ Community Service-
Union Gospel Mission in Seattle
Habitat for Humanity- building homes for the low income
Athletes for Kids program
NJROTC community service
-roughly 160 hours

Thank you very much for your responses! I sincerely hope I don't sound arrogant or cocky when I talk about what I have done so far..
Also, if i speak fluent korean at home, will USMA take that into consideration and excuse me from taking 2 recommended years of a foreign language at school?

How is it that you did 90 pushups on your practice CFA if 75 is the max?

Can I have some of that wasted energy lol.. I burned out way too fast when I did mine.

Oh sorry! I just realized that. Ill fix the pushup rep

You can have all the sports and clubs possible but if your grades aren't there then it'll be difficult. 3.17 is not a great GPA, but maybe it is good for your school which can be reflected by your class rank.

"only rising juniors are selected but I was picked as a freshman" - then apparently rising juniors aren't the only ones selected!

tonk002, there's no point in doing more than the max, it doesn't change your score or anything.

with my GPA, i am roughly in the top 20% of my school. Not great, honestly.
But would my SAT score bump my academic standard a bit? I am retaking the test in June..

NamD said:

with my GPA, i am roughly in the top 20% of my school. Not great, honestly.
But would my SAT score bump my academic standard a bit? I am retaking the test in June..

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If you notice in the entering class profiles (http://www.usma.edu/Class/2014/profile.asp), I think you'll find that your SATs are middle-of-the-pack. I'm no expert, but I think that there's good news and bad news to that. Standardized tests are (to my knowledge) half of the academic section of your Whole Candidate Score (WCS). Having mid-range scores can be comforting because then you know that people with those scores can get in.

However, on the downside, being mid-range is never good. You want to stand out to be competitive for admissions. I'm not sure if you listed your class rank, but that's the other half of your academic portion of the WCS. So if your class rank is like top 25% and your SATs are 600s then I think that makes the academic section (which is 60% of the WCS) pretty average; not something you want.

You seem to have great athletic credentials, so I'd put some time bringing up your class rank and preparing for/retaking the SATs and ACTs. (take 'em both, heck why not?).

Finally, please take everything I say with a grain of salt, I'm not an admissions officer. I'm a high school junior just as nervous and unsure as you. Feel free to PM with questions though.

Thanks for the response!
in regards to my academics, would i be qualified for USMA prep school or would i be "over-qualified" for that?

I'm really not sure what the academic qualifications for the prep school are, but my guess is that if you were qualified for it, you'd be on the upper end of the scale.

NamD said:

Thanks for the response!
in regards to my academics, would i be qualified for USMA prep school or would i be "over-qualified" for that?

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West Point will either find you qualified or unqualified academically. If you are found qualified academically, you will not be considered for USMA prep school, but considered for civilian prep school scholarship if West Point does not offer you an appointment.

My concern is about your individual SAT scores, if you score below between 600 to 550 (I cannot remember the exact score), you will need an academic waiver from either English or Math Department as applicable.

for my Math, my SAT score was 640. my reading was 630 and my writing was 600...should i still be worried?

They're average scores still, but you can take comfort in the fact that you're not in range of being disqualified academically! Check out the thread I posted called "'Compare Myself' Thread"

USMA2016 said:

They're average scores still, but you can take comfort in the fact that you're not in range of being disqualified academically! Check out the thread I posted called "'Compare Myself' Thread"

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to clarify above comment, even with below the cut off scores an applicant will not be considered academically disqualified if he or she gets an academic waiver. I do not want applicants to think that there is some scores that will automatically disqualified them automatically. However, lower the score harder to get an waiver.

how does an applicant go about getting a waiver?
Also, would it be safe enough for me to use the SAT score that I have to complete my file by August? I plan on taking it in May but it doesnt seem like a very good idea. My plan B for that was to take it in the fall of my senior year but by then, I feel like that might be too late..

Yes you want to get your file completed as early as possible. You can take the SAT again in October and if you improve then you can update your scores.

How competitive will my scores be though? Thats my primary concern so far.
As far as the application goes, should i get my 6 semester transcripts by June and have my school submit those by then? Should teacher recommendation letters be sent out by June as well?

from what I understand we should only start sending those transcripts after the SSK is released. Also, the teacher recs are online and, like the transcripts, will be completed with the SSK

NamD said:

Hello community!
I just found out today that I got accepted into NASS! So I am very excited but also a bit anxious. Because I am accepted into USMA's SLS and the Navy's, I want to know what my realistic chances are to the Academies, as in, the actual admissions...

-Academics-
GPA- 3.17
AP US History
AP Government and Politics (next year)
AP Literature (next year)
AP Language
Pre-calculus (1 year ahead of normal curriculum)
1 summer college course (Japanese; next year)
Honors English
Honors Social Studies
SAT- 1870
Studied abroad in Australia for 1 semester (is this special?)

-Athletics-
Varsity Track
Varsity Swim
State qualified swimmer
CFA score:
75 pushups
12 pullups
86 situps
6:00 flat mile time
Karate black belt

-Leadership-
NJROTC platoon commander
Physical Fitness team commander
Attended Leadership Academy for NJROTC (only rising juniors are selected but I was picked as a freshman)
Varsity Track team captain
Varsity swim team captain

-Civic Involvements/ Community Service-
Union Gospel Mission in Seattle
Habitat for Humanity- building homes for the low income
Athletes for Kids program
NJROTC community service
-roughly 160 hours

Thank you very much for your responses! I sincerely hope I don't sound arrogant or cocky when I talk about what I have done so far..
Also, if i speak fluent korean at home, will USMA take that into consideration and excuse me from taking 2 recommended years of a foreign language at school?

Click to expand...

Keep working - your SAT scores and GPA are too low

NamD - Breeeeeeeathe and slow down a little.
Relax - it's just April. West Point is still focused on 2015.

Test Scores: Your test scores are not in the 'risk' range. Anything below 560 in Math or Verbal is in the risk range. .
However, I would highly recommend that you take the ACT and SAT as much as possible. With the small class size for next year (1100), it will be very competitive and your scores need to be higher. West Point superscores (they use the highest subsection score each time you take a test) so there is no penalty to taking the tests multiple times.
Go ahead and submit the scores you have. Then just update your file with any new test scores.

To see how competitive you are - look at the profiles of the current cadets.
http://www.usma.edu/Class/2011/profile.asp
http://www.usma.edu/Class/2012/profile.asp
http://www.usma.edu/Class/2013/profile.asp
http://www.usma.edu/Class/2014/profile.asp


Academic waiver: this is not something that you have a hand in. It is handled at West Point. You probably won't even know about it.

Teacher evaluations: Your teachers can't fill out the evaluation until you get the SSK ( Second Step Kit which is the on-line application).
You can go ahead and tell the teachers that you want them to do the evaluation for you, but they won't be able to do it until this summer when the SSK is opened up to the candidates.

USMAPS - you have to be academically DQ'd to go the USMAPS

I think it's great that you are enthusiastic and want to get the ball rolling. Afterall, we keep telling y'all - finish the application as soon as possible. But you will have to wait to do most of it when the application goes on-line which will be June/July.

So - what can you do now?
There are a few things that you can work on now.

1) As mentioned above - give a heads up to the teachers that you want an evaluation from.
2) work on the CFA. You can take it 'for record' this summer. So practice now and be ready to take it this summer and get that out of the way. If you are going to SLS, you will take it there and if you pass and are pleased with the results, you can use that for your CFA.
3) Think about getting a summer job. Especially one that gives you opportunities for leadership ( life guard for example)
4) Dont' forget that you are still a Jr. Your transcript at the end of your Jr. year is the first transcript that West Point will see for you. Finish this year strong.
5) go on your MOCs web sites and look at what they require and when their deadlines are. They are not rolling. There is no need to apply now. If fact, I would advise against it until closer to the deadline. They will take all the applications as they come in and evaluate them after the deadline. If you wait until the Fall of your Sr. year to work on the MOC nom application, you may have more things to include on the application. You may have a leadership role that you were elected to at the beginning of the year. You may have been elected captain of your sport. You may have accumulated lots of service hours over the summer.
The one nomination that you should apply for now, if you are eligible, is the Presidential. And if you are eligible for the Presidential, you still need to apply for the MOC noms. There are many sad stories about kids who thought all they needed was the Presidential nom and that was it - they did not apply for any other noms. Although while you may qualify for the Presidential - that does not mean that you will be picked to fill those slots.
Apply to ALL noms that you are eligible for!!!!!

Thank you very much for the response!
I am sorry if i sounded rushed and worried...I just opened my application for an AROTC scholarship so that combined with the acceptance to the SS programs kinda freaked me out.
Thank you for your patience and helpful responses!

ps: you might be hearing more of my random worried-rants in the near future, so just a quick heads up