Exactly how important are athletics? (VMI)

I know many of you probably hate hearing the question "could I get in," but I have yet to find any information about my case.

I have never been athletic. I was just last year (10th grade) I decided I wanted to become an army officer. I've always been quite skinny and small however I have been working on my athleticism and am confident I could pass the apft by the end of September (I went from being able to do 2 push ups in may to 22 end of June...not impressive for you guys and girls but...)

I have pretty much everything except I have not played on a school sports team. I play tennis with a church group but that is it...
--10+ years on piano (I am a teacher at a studio now)
--Debate team captain and national top 10
--Model UN
--Science Olympiad
--Volunteering,
--National honor society
--etc...

I have a 4.0gpa and relatively high SAT scores. I have no apprehension to play sports and understand I will have to at school. I just never really did in HS. I am considering pretty much all of the SMAs (except Norwich...too many bad things). I applied for the scholarships for army and AF but those are highly unlikely. Money is not really an issue for either of the schools.

Would VMI be too much of a reach because of my glaring athletic omission? Any other tips?

Thanks!

Talk to Admissions to find these answers

I assume you are applying for the class of 2019.

What is it about VMI or another SMC that you want to get out of attendance/participation at one of them? What is the return of investment for you and them?

Call them up and ask them for their opinion of your qualifications. Visit the schools and talk to them. Sign up for a spend the night.

Sign up for fall sports, get a personal trainer to build your fitness level up. Rowing and Cross Country are great fall sports for skinny people. being a coxswain in a crew shell is fine for small skinny people, and it requires leadership and intelligence to cox a boat.

I'm going into my 3rd (2nd Class) year at VMI and I've seen cadets of all levels of athleticism pass through. There is a VFT (VMI Fitness Test) that you have to take every semester while at VMI. It consists of Pullups (how many you can perform correctly), situps (total in 2 minutes) and a 1.5 mile run. The standards for males are min. 5 pullups, 60 situps, and 1.5 miles in 12:30 or less. If you fail, you go on remedial PT (physical training) for the semester which is just extra exercise outside of the mandatory 2/week with your respective ROTC. At VMI they call a cadet's well roundedness the 3 legged stool: Academics, Athletics, and Military. Obviously being athletic is an important aspect of cadet life at VMI but I don't think it will keep you from getting. If you don't continue to improve leading up until matriculation it will make your life more difficult but not impossible. Your other credentials look pretty good and, I could be wrong, but I don't remember my fitness level being a part of the application.

In short; your athleticism is important but I don't believe it will make or break your chances of getting in. That being said, however, you will be doing yourself a favor by trying to improve yourself as much as you can until then.

DS was the same way

DS was involved mostly in music/church related activities. He played baseball 2 years and that was it. His academics got him in along with leadership roles in other areas. VP honors choir,NHS, school productions and several other leadership roles. Not everyone there is a Letter athlete, but he is/was physically fit. He will be a first classman this fall.

Never late to try out. I played JV soccer in my high school as a junior.

Perhaps, try out for the cross country team?

I use to run xc as a freshman. I would join this year but I've gotten involved in other things where I am captain and president so blowing those off for a new sport wouldn't be the best idea--in my opinion.

aclyde11 said:

I use to run xc as a freshman. I would join this year but I've gotten involved in other things where I am captain and president so blowing those off for a new sport wouldn't be the best idea--in my opinion.

Click to expand...

My understanding is with candidate evaluatoin that there is no extra credit. So you can max out an area, but you don't get any additional points for accomplishing more in that area.

So as it stands, you will get zeor or minimum points on sports (I don't know the exact point value, but I am lead to believe about is about 10% of your candidate score). Based on what you posted, you will probably score high on leadership area (Again, I don't know the exact point value, but I am lead to believe it is about 10% of your candidate score).

A rough caculation

Leadership + Sports =

10 + 0 = 10

or

9 + 7 = 16

I want to make it clear I AM NOT TELLING your what to do, as there are always exceptions and there is a chance I could be wrong. Also, there is a danger to making decision soley to increase your chance of getting into West Point (i.e. what if you quit whatever activitiy you are President to try out for the Cross country team and don't make the cross country team).

Good luck.

aclyde11 said:

I know many of you probably hate hearing the question "could I get in," but I have yet to find any information about my case.

I have never been athletic. I was just last year (10th grade) I decided I wanted to become an army officer. I've always been quite skinny and small however I have been working on my athleticism and am confident I could pass the apft by the end of September (I went from being able to do 2 push ups in may to 22 end of June...not impressive for you guys and girls but...)

I have pretty much everything except I have not played on a school sports team. I play tennis with a church group but that is it...
--10+ years on piano (I am a teacher at a studio now)
--Debate team captain and national top 10
--Model UN
--Science Olympiad
--Volunteering,
--National honor society
--etc...

I have a 4.0gpa and relatively high SAT scores. I have no apprehension to play sports and understand I will have to at school. I just never really did in HS. I am considering pretty much all of the SMAs (except Norwich...too many bad things). I applied for the scholarships for army and AF but those are highly unlikely. Money is not really an issue for either of the schools.

Would VMI be too much of a reach because of my glaring athletic omission? Any other tips?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Aclyde: It's important to remember what the school is looking for - and what participation in Sports and other activities tells them about a person. To begin with- VMI is (though often hard to believe) a Division1 Athletic program. They are not filling those teams with walk-ons- they recruit for those teams (just as the Service Academies will do) so you don't need to be a star performer in a sport. What they are looking for are candidates who demonstrate that they have the ability to succeed academically, and physically and who show an apptitude for working as part of a group and leading a group. For getting into VMI- being a member of a team shows that you have the capability and mental toughness for succeeding in a physically challenging environment. The atmosphere in barracks often feels like the locker room, so the people that do well there are very often those who also thrive in the athletic team environment. But that is not the only indicator of success- a solid academic record and participation in and leadership roles in other clubs or acti9vites will carry a lot of weight. So don't overstress if you are not an award winning athloete. However, it is a physical environment especially as a Rat, so joining a team in HS like Track, Cross Country or Wrestling -even if you are new to the sport and don't get past the JV team , will help you a lot because it will give you a good physical work ethic and will help prepare you for a pretty physically demanding first year. It's really hard to make it as a Rat if you have never really been pushed physically. Even if you are a brilliant student or a talented musician who understands all about putting in long hours in order to excel in those things, physical exhaustion has a way of driving all of your other attributes into the background. (And even the different sports teach you different things- my son was a life long Baseball and football player till we moved in his Jr Year of HS- but he learned far more about how to work thru exhaustion when he joined Crew in lieu of Football at his new school - oddly Crew made him a better catcher in baseball. Crew was boring as heck to watch and the practicises were brutal but seeing them in the Head of the Charles regatta was truly cool, and everything he has done since then -at VMI and subsequently in the Army was never harder than those days out on the lake in March or November in Massachusetts)! So taking up some sort of demanding sport will serve you well and I would encourage you to do so. You don't have to be a star or even a Varsity athlete- just go out and give it your all.

aclyde11 said:

I know many of you probably hate hearing the question "could I get in," but I have yet to find any information about my case.

I have never been athletic. I was just last year (10th grade) I decided I wanted to become an army officer. I've always been quite skinny and small however I have been working on my athleticism and am confident I could pass the apft by the end of September (I went from being able to do 2 push ups in may to 22 end of June...not impressive for you guys and girls but...)

I have pretty much everything except I have not played on a school sports team. I play tennis with a church group but that is it...
--10+ years on piano (I am a teacher at a studio now)
--Debate team captain and national top 10
--Model UN
--Science Olympiad
--Volunteering,
--National honor society
--etc...

I have a 4.0gpa and relatively high SAT scores. I have no apprehension to play sports and understand I will have to at school. I just never really did in HS. I am considering pretty much all of the SMAs (except Norwich...too many bad things). I applied for the scholarships for army and AF but those are highly unlikely. Money is not really an issue for either of the schools.

Would VMI be too much of a reach because of my glaring athletic omission? Any other tips?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Sounds like you could come to VMI and be our starting quarterback these days! Or maybe one of our linebackers!