Civil Prep

Is Civil Prep a good way to reapply? Specifically the Service Academy Program and which Civil Prep school is the best for reapplying to West Point? Thank you!

If you relay to your FFR and RC that you are interested, it is an amazing way. DS just got his WP appointment and this time last year he did not get the appointment. By all means go for it!!!

WienerDog said:

DS just got his WP appointment and this time last year he did not get the appointment. By all means go for it!!!

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BTW Congrats, WienerDog, to your DS! There will be many MMI alumni there with him, and often LtCol Bauer will come visit USMA in the fall and take them all to dinner at the Thayer as a way for them to stay connected. My DS (USMA '15) still has buds from MMI that he keeps in touch with there.

The fun has only begun.

RLTW

RLTW said:

BTW Congrats, WienerDog, to your DS! There will be many MMI alumni there with him, and often LtCol Bauer will come visit USMA in the fall and take them all to dinner at the Thayer as a way for them to stay connected. My DS (USMA '15) still has buds from MMI that he keeps in touch with there.

The fun has only begun.

RLTW

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Thank you. He has many great friends at MMI. Many of which I am sure he will maintain comms with. What a great experience for him. Especially the 2" of snow last week that shut Marion down. Interesting.....

Civil prep is an incredible way to reapply! I just finished my time at Northwestern preparatory school. It's only a semester long in California. Phenomenal program and I am glad I didn't get direct admission from highschool. I was number one on the USMA waitlist for the class of '17. Wouldn't change my experience at a prepschool for anything. I learned how to study and how to memorize to prepare for the knowledge. We take the SAT and ACT multiple times while we are at the school and my scores increased from the 580 math to 660 math and from low 20's high 20's and 30's for my ACT. Several of my classmates acquired perfects on their tests. The Durbecks know what they are doing!

batgirl95 said:

Civil prep is an incredible way to reapply! I just finished my time at Northwestern preparatory school. It's only a semester long in California. Phenomenal program and I am glad I didn't get direct admission from highschool. I was number one on the USMA waitlist for the class of '17. Wouldn't change my experience at a prepschool for anything. I learned how to study and how to memorize to prepare for the knowledge. We take the SAT and ACT multiple times while we are at the school and my scores increased from the 580 math to 660 math and from low 20's high 20's and 30's for my ACT. Several of my classmates acquired perfects on their tests. The Durbecks know what they are doing!

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Nice to see so many success stories from Civ Prep. I have yet to hear of any negative experiences or any sponsored cadets who didn't get an appointment. I am sure there are some folks out there, but I've yet to hear of them. My DS has learned everything you quoted above and has probably given him an edge as he approaches beast.

Austinlucki, My DS son has indicated that knowing what he knows now, he is glad he had the time at MMI for SAP and thinks that he prefers this experience to direct USMA admission after high school.

Austinlucki said:

Is Civil Prep a good way to reapply? Specifically the Service Academy Program and which Civil Prep school is the best for reapplying to West Point? Thank you!

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With or without an AOG sponsorship? From what I've heard, the AOG sponsorship is essentially a guarantee, assuming you don't do something stupid or get hurt. I was a self-prep at Valley Forge and was the only non-sponsored kid to get an appointment, so the odds are a little different without the AOG.

With that being said, prep school definitely helped prepare me for USMA.

Austinlucki said:

Is Civil Prep a good way to reapply? Specifically the Service Academy Program and which Civil Prep school is the best for reapplying to West Point? Thank you!

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Like anything in life, it depends. If you are a competitive candidate already a prep school doesn't hurt. But if you are not a competitive candidate, attending a prep school won't alone won't help. I don't know if you get any extra points in the whole candidate score by attending a prep school. There are other ways to improve your SAT scores.

batgirl95 said:

Civil prep is an incredible way to reapply! I just finished my time at Northwestern preparatory school. It's only a semester long in California. Phenomenal program and I am glad I didn't get direct admission from highschool. I was number one on the USMA waitlist for the class of '17. Wouldn't change my experience at a prepschool for anything. I learned how to study and how to memorize to prepare for the knowledge. We take the SAT and ACT multiple times while we are at the school and my scores increased from the 580 math to 660 math and from low 20's high 20's and 30's for my ACT. Several of my classmates acquired perfects on their tests. The Durbecks know what they are doing!

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Going along with what batgirl95 said, I went to the civilian prep school too, Northwestern Prep class of 2013 at the same time she did and I honestly couldn't think of any other way to go (as a route to an Academy). I'm a Falcon Foundation scholarship earner and will hopefully be entering in with the class of 2018 at USAFA, and I chose Northwestern Preparatory School as my civilian prep school. At NWP, the directors of admissions at USMA and USAFA came and visited us. I can't tell you how valuable meeting those people are. When your file will be going through admissions for the second time, they'll be able to put a name to a face, which gives you a distinct advantage than almost all the other applicants. The Durbeck's #1 priority from September to December is getting you into an academy, and they go above and beyond to do it, as long as you're showing that you're working hard. I think the first person to hear back from my class at NWP from any service academy was a USMA applicant, he received his appointment and I couldn't be happier for him.

Keep in mind that your previous resume counts too. You can't sugar coat a pickle and expect not to taste vinegary when taking the first bite. You need to have a great resume coming in, prep schools are a way to mold you into the a great candidate.

What's also special about this place is that there's no military training, which I think puts NWP at an advantage. We spent time focusing on honing our memorization skills, work ethic, and athletic capabilities rather than spending time learning how to march. You have 4 years and BCT to learn about the military and become an officer at an academy... why spend your prep year doing military drills where you have the possibility forming bad habits when you're not even at the academy yet?

Anyways, if you got rejected from the Academies, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and think about a civilian prep school, specifically NWP. Admissions will see that you want it and are willing to work HARD to get where you want to go. It's an amazing opportunity. You only have one life to live, live it to it's full potential.

Zephyr & "Oh goody! Another day in which to excel!"