How are my chances?

samhawk123

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Nov 18, 2014
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3
I am currently a freshman, but I already know that I would like to go to West Point. I live overseas, but am fully American. However, I have been reading about how things such as boy scouts which help your chances of getting in, but boy scouts isn't offered here. I am taking fairly rigorous classes, such as honors algebra 2, and Arabic as a foreign language (Not sure if that will help my chances or not) and have a GPA of 3.8 right now. I am in a youth group, on the JV volleyball team, and am trying out for soccer and baseball. I would just likes some tips for my situation, and how I can make myself the best candidate possible.
 
Well, you need to find some leadership experience over there that would set you out as unique. The reasons Boys Scouts or Civil Air Patrol are favored by the academies is that they offer leadership experiences at a very young age. Do(es) your parent(s) occupation overseas offer any connections into any unique experiences? You need to find something that provides leadership.

Athletics is important also. Try to obtain the equivalent of a varsity letter and hopefully be a Captain of a team. You're a freshman, there's still time. You say you are trying out for baseball. They have baseball but not Boy Scouts? There are different versions of Boy Scouts all over the world. Join a foreign troop if there's no language barrier.

I'm sure your grades are fine, but you will need to excel on the standardized tests - either the SAT or the ACT.

My son is a plebe at USMA. He just hosted a overnight visit from a US Citizen candidate who lives in Belgium, where the candidate's father is a university professor. I do not know much else about that candidate's activities. I only mention it to show you it can be done. You don't get afforded an overnight visit unless you are very competitive or have already been offered an appointment.

Seek out leadership positions, excel in school, participate in athletic activities, crush the SAT/ACT. That's how you make yourself competitive.
 
Thanks, I am not currently involved in any leadership activities, any ideas? My parents are both educators, so I might be able to do something with school. I am defenitely going to be working to get myself as good as possible at the sports I am playing to try and become perhaps captain of all three by my senior year. Any ideas on which courses I should take in the upcoming years that can boost my candidacy? Finally, there is absolutely a language barrier here, I live in Qatar, where arabic is spoken.
 
Thanks, I am not currently involved in any leadership activities, any ideas? My parents are both educators, so I might be able to do something with school. I am defenitely going to be working to get myself as good as possible at the sports I am playing to try and become perhaps captain of all three by my senior year. Any ideas on which courses I should take in the upcoming years that can boost my candidacy? Finally, there is absolutely a language barrier here, I live in Qatar, where arabic is spoken.

If you live in Doha, contact the Embassy and see if they have any internships, even unpaid. You'll have to go thru a security process, and you might be too young, but it never hurts to call. Is there anything with the World Cup that you could do? Some kind of organizing volunteer work?

Take all the "usual" courses, Chemistry, Physics, Calculus, and stay with Arabic. Since you're there, try any immersion stuff that you can get. There's no better way to learn a language than to be forced to use it.
 
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