SLE insight

I will be attending Westpoint's Summer Leadership Experience program next week. Can anyone give me some insight on what it will be like? I am worried that I will not be as physically capable as the other candidates. I've been working out a lot since I was accepted but still feel a little inadequate. I would love to hear from someone who's been through the program. How difficult is it?

I'll also be going to SLE next week, and I have similar concerns about what the PT will be like... Also, any advice on taking the CFA (especially for a female) would be greatly appreciated, since we get to take that the second day.

At this point, just go and have fun and do the best you can. Keep working out. Take of 2 days prior and rest your body. Drink lots of fluid (water) this week prior to you departure. Take it all in and don't be afraid to ask questions. If you fail the CFA, you will be able to take it again. If you pass but feel you can do better, you can submit updated test scores later.

I went 2 years ago when it was SLS. SLE will not be very physically demanding, so I wouldn't worry about that too much. When I went, we did 3 classes and went to a lot of briefings where we learned about USMA. There will be time to talk to your squad leader about what it's like to be a cadet and for them to show you around. The PT is not challenging; there will be some running but not much and not very quickly. I can't remember the exact distance but it was definitely under a mile for everyday PT. In the evenings, you'll play dodgeball against the other platoons. There's also a day where you go to Buckner where you get to try an MRE, do some obstacles, and learn some combatives (this is what you need the jeans and longsleeve shirt for).

CRL 123, I am a female too and I would say the best thing to do is keep working out and practice your push up form. This is what I struggled with a lot before I started really working on it. I recommend getting the 100 pushups app for your phone and working from there. Before I went to SLE I was terrible at pushups but by working on it, now I can do over the max for the APFT.

SLE is a really fun time and I enjoyed it a lot. Before going, I wasn't really sure about wanting to go to WP or even wanting to be in the Army. But at SLE I learned a ton about the academy and about the opportunities you'll have as a cadet and as an officer. I ultimately was QNS and received an ROTC scholarship (I'll be going into my junior year of college now). But SLS was a good way to learn a little about the Army/West Point and what to expect as a cadet.

My son is at SLE this week. There is a schedule on your portal that should help you. In the parent brief in Saturday they said half the attendees do not pass the CFA at SLE. The briefer said she tells all of her SLE attendees to treat the CFA at SLE as a practice and to definitely take it again once you are home when you control the date, time, how much rest you have had, etc. she said you will always do better on the CFA at home, which makes sense. I haven't heard much out of my DS since we dropped him off which I think means he is busy and having fun. Enjoy the experience!

mom4boys said:

......she said you will always do better on the CFA at home, ......

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That is not always the case. You do the SLE CFA with other attendees so sometimes the competitive nature comes out and motivates you to do better than the guy/gal next to you. At home, you are usually doing it by yourself with no one to compete against.

I have to agree with buff81.

Aside from being competitive, performing the events with a guy or gal on either side motivated me to keep pushing and keep up with my squad mates.

Interesting. The briefer is a FFR with 18 years' experience, and she said that was almost always the case with her candidates. I know it was the case with my oldest son, too. The big help to my DS2 was that it isn't a "one and done," if you aren't happy with your score you can retake it.

mom4boys said:

Interesting. The briefer is a FFR with 18 years' experience, and she said that was almost always the case with her candidates. I know it was the case with my oldest son, too. The big help to my DS2 was that it isn't a "one and done," if you aren't happy with your score you can retake it.

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Some factors

- some or most candidates might not have seriously prepared for CFA at SLE and the SLE CFA scores could be a wake up call
- extra time to prepare for CFA should improve anyone's score.

I think the key is preparing for CFA, not when you take it.

mom4boys said:

Interesting. The briefer is a FFR with 18 years' experience, and she said that was almost always the case with her candidates. I know it was the case with my oldest son, too. The big help to my DS2 was that it isn't a "one and done," if you aren't happy with your score you can retake it.

Click to expand...

buff81 and Member LG are FFRs too.

don't worry, a lot of people aren't that physically fit-- in fact my roommate threatened to throw up if he did another pushup while I was running around yelling "PT is free!" But even then I was still sore, and am sore after SLE. Also, I lost about 10 pounds from the start to the finish even though we were eating like 1200 calories per meal. Anyways, just remember: PT IS FREE!!!

oh, and can someone post up the schedule for sentimental purposes? They took away my SLE links in the portal

My son attended Session 1, SLE. I think many of them were trying NOT to throw up.