How is CGA harder to get into than the other SA's?

usafafam

5-Year Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2013
Messages
58
So, a lot of comments have been thrown around that CGA is much more competitive to get an appointment than any of the other SA's, and I've heard for reasons like because of the Congressional Nominations and because it's much smaller than USNA, USMA, and USAFA. How does the congressional nomination make it harder? And, looking at statistics, the acceptance ratio between the different SA's are around the same...
 
I don't think anyone is saying CGA is much harder than the other service academies.

The discussion has been about Congressional nominations and how some (including me) believe that applicants are able to compete more when Congressional nominations aren't present (oh yeah, and not everyone agrees).

That doesn't mean CGA is much harder to get into though.
 
Princeton review and USA today ranks the SAs with the rest of the top colleges.
Harder to get in?
Getting in is easy-staying in, graduating and commissioning to serve is what's really hard.
 
Getting in is definitely not easy. I agree that being mentally and physically tough enough to successfully complete four years is also nt easy.
 
I suspect CGA is perceived as tougher to get into because CGA admits much smaller classes than the large SAs - about 80% smaller. However, a majority of these rejected students also applied to other SAs as well - and many were accepted at those other schools.

Therefore, the reasoning is, "I got into USNA - and that is tough to do. But rejected at CGA? Then they must be really tough.".

It's really a numbers game. If you had an entire (admitted) class from just one big SA apply to CGA, 80% wouldn't be admitted. And these would all be very impressive candidates, too. There just isn't room.

Just my theory...

Nicole
 
Interesting comments and theories folks. :thumb:

Just as an aside, I haven't found that cadets or midshipmen generally care or even have the discussion "which is hardest to get into." That's probably something I thought about in high school, while I was applying, but when I got there, and people started yelling and I was reminded of how unimportant I was, I suddenly didn't care which was harder to get into... I just wanted to graduate.

Once you're there, USMA, USNA, USCGA, USMMA or USAFA, it's all about that place and your classmates. You don't think back to "who is harder"... instead... we all wear black, blue or grey (and variations).

And while the schools are related, by general mission, I've found I'm more "connected" with alumni of other academies, now that I'm out, more than i had felt when I was in, as either a cadet or officer. That connection is far stronger with classmates and fellow CGA alumni, but it also exists, at some level between academies (and even veterans in general).
 
The main "theory" is that it's a nationwide merit-based competition, not a local one.

For the "other" academies - You are competing against someone in your district and/or state.

For USCGA, you are competing against everyone in the country.

By law, the "best" nominated candidate in "District X, Stete Y" gets the appointment at the other academy with minimum qualifications, while that same candidate might not be in the top 400 for USCGA.

When you count completed applications vs appointments awarded, you'll see that all of them have a similar appointment ratio. CGA will have ~2,000 completed applications and about ~300 appointments awarded, approx 15%.
 
When you count completed applications vs appointments awarded, you'll see that all of them have a similar appointment ratio. CGA will have ~2,000 completed applications and about ~300 appointments awarded, approx 15%.

One issue that might make USCGA, USNA and USMMA a little harder than USMA and USAFA is the color vision requirement. I had an applicant who failed the USCGA color vision test but received an appointment to USAFA.

Check me if I'm wrong Luigi, but last time I looked (couple years now) I think out of the five federal service academies, USNA had, statistically, the lowest acceptance rate, but they are all within a tight range.
 
One thing that makes USCGA different from the USAFA, USNA and USMA is the purpose of the service. The admissions department has to find candidates whose drive is in line with the CG missions as a whole, as opposed to the primarily war-fighting mission of the other military branches.

Perhaps this comment belongs in the "nomination" thread, as congressional staffers would be required to learn to recognize candidates who are aligned with CG missions.
 
Princeton review and USA today ranks the SAs with the rest of the top colleges.
Harder to get in?
Getting in is easy-staying in, graduating and commissioning to serve is what's really hard.

Have you gotten into one yet? I wouldn't claim that till you've actually been accepted.
 
One issue that might make USCGA, USNA and USMMA a little harder than USMA and USAFA is the color vision requirement. I had an applicant who failed the USCGA color vision test but received an appointment to USAFA.

Check me if I'm wrong Luigi, but last time I looked (couple years now) I think out of the five federal service academies, USNA had, statistically, the lowest acceptance rate, but they are all within a tight range.

I think when you compare fully completed applications (that includes a nomination for USNA, not for USCGA) and appointments, they are close.

Using ~6,000 completed eligible-for-appointment applications and ~1,400 as the number of total appointments, you get a number around 23% so I 'm not sure it's any lower than the rest.

http://www.usna.edu/Admissions/documents/ClassPortrait.pdf
 
One issue that might make USCGA, USNA and USMMA a little harder than USMA and USAFA is the color vision requirement. I had an applicant who failed the USCGA color vision test but received an appointment to USAFA.

That's exactly what happened to my brother. He failed the color vision test and got an appointment to USAFA.
 
Comparison

I think Line In the Sand and Luigi have it right. Years ago, our son and daughter applied to the USCGA and USAFA. And both were accepted to USCGA and USAFA academies. Our experience was the USAFA and USCGA application process were rigorous. But different in some ways. USAFA process weighed heavily on GPA class ranking and the congressional interview board review. USCGA process weighed heavily on GPA, the whole person, interviews and sports. USCGA and USAFA are both excellence institutions. To state one academy is better or “harder to get into” is really a waste of time.
 
Have you gotten into one yet? I wouldn't claim that till you've actually been accepted.

What if I told you that I don't like to brag and that my screenname doesn't reflect the year I want to graduate?
Because of the valuable time that helpful people take out of their day to help some one out like me, need to come clean and maybe put a stop on senseless comments that have taken this thread off tangent.
The reason why I'm visiting all these SAs is because I have BFEs from all SAs except one, and also ROTC full ride to several universities.
I am at the fork of the road but it's muti-pronged. I have until the end of the month to make my decision. May 1st looms.
If any young man/woman ever reads this thread and take something from it, let it be that the choice of where you go beyond HS or college may be one of the major life choice you make. Do your best to research and make sure that the choice you make is the perfect fit for yourself. Do not let anyone discourage or talk you down. There are no stupid questions! the source of the response may be. Don't fall for the shiny brochure,school rank, prestige or tradition. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to visit almost all of the top choices that I have been accepted to. It's much more difficult to choose when they're all excellent options. Once again, thank you for the valuable information that so many have willingly provided.
 
hey Iceman,

I agree with most of the posts on here. It would be interesting to know. I've heard of people who've gotten accepted to all SAs but USCGA. But I've heard of people being accepted to USCGA and not to any of the SAs. I don't think you can describe Service Academies by which is harder to get into because, although the process if the same, each person's file is different. Some aspects on a file might look more admirable or impressive to the USAFA admissions board than USCGA's. Other aspects might give you an appointment to USMA but not USNA.

Simply stated, one is not more difficult than the other, just different.

T&F
 
If you take a look at the website college prowler, I believe it ranks USCGA as 24th or so hardest to get into in the nation. Navy is first to appear on the list when it comes to service academies, West Point and AF are neck and neck and WP is just above, and Coast Guard is just a few slots back. This is just if you want to be technical about it. All of the academies are very tough to get into regardless and I would certainly never disparage another school based on this data. However, college prowler is a wonderful site to get into if you're a rising senior and looking for good backup plans. I used it a lot in high school.
 
What if I told you that I don't like to brag and that my screenname doesn't reflect the year I want to graduate?
Because of the valuable time that helpful people take out of their day to help some one out like me, need to come clean and maybe put a stop on senseless comments that have taken this thread off tangent.
The reason why I'm visiting all these SAs is because I have BFEs from all SAs except one, and also ROTC full ride to several universities.
I am at the fork of the road but it's muti-pronged. I have until the end of the month to make my decision. May 1st looms.
If any young man/woman ever reads this thread and take something from it, let it be that the choice of where you go beyond HS or college may be one of the major life choice you make. Do your best to research and make sure that the choice you make is the perfect fit for yourself. Do not let anyone discourage or talk you down. There are no stupid questions! the source of the response may be. Don't fall for the shiny brochure,school rank, prestige or tradition. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to visit almost all of the top choices that I have been accepted to. It's much more difficult to choose when they're all excellent options. Once again, thank you for the valuable information that so many have willingly provided.

37131771.jpg
 
PFR would be so proud of you.


Note, this does not reflect the views or opinions of the facilitators of PFR or any affiliated websites or publications including the Howling Gale or the Bulletin.
 
Back
Top