Do I still have a shot at The Citadel?

130mb3r

10-Year Member
5-Year Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2009
Messages
3
I don't play a school sport, but I'm a rising junior in high school. Please "chance" me on my chances.



Academics
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- 3.2 cummulative GPA (taking 3 AP classes next year and a drive to succeed, so it will most definetly raise)
- Medium workload freshman and sophomore years.
- School API of around 900.
- 2000+ SAT I scores on diagnostics.

Extra-Curriculars
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- Volunteer for the mentally disabled (5 hours weekly, around 100 hours thus far)
- Co-founder of The Car Club of NHS
- Vice President of The Car Club of NHS
- Co-president of The Red Cross Chapter of NHS
- Publicity commisioner of Writers' Workshop
- Life Boy Scout
- Martial arts for 0.5 years thus far (Muay Thai & Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu)

This is what I can think up of so far. Do I still have a chance at this rate? If not, which areas do I need to improve in and how? Thanks!
 
Even though I don't play a school sport, can I still get in?
 
i didnt play a school sport

and i got in w army rotc scholarship. i DID have 4 years afjrotc though and other elected leadership positions. if your school has jrotc or you can get into civil air patrol try that.
 
Thanks, but I already e-mailed my school's counselors and they told me that my school doesn't have a JROTC program.

How's life there?
 
personally

i wouldnt know yet, 19 more days till :) however i DID get accepted and all that jazz so i think i would have a good grasp on what would get u accepted. when you take your ACT and SAT study hard. i didnt take it seriously and got bad grades. luckily my EC's and JROTC bumped me up.
 
130mbr, you do not have to worry about not getting in. Honestly, I believe you have a good shoot of being accepted.

The median GPA is 3.3, that means there are countless of students at a 3.3 and below and higher. In addition the median SAT is 1100+. If you do as well as you did on the diagnostics, you should be at a 1300(old scale), then the only problem is waiting for the acceptance letter.


The admission process is not like the federal service academics, so it won't count against you if you did not play any sports; however, they would like to see a well rounded applicant who has engaged in leadership, community service, and a good progression in academics. You seem to be versed in all those areas.

Personally I've known many who were accepted and were not nearly as qualified as you were, so don't stress!
 
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130mbr: I would say that you have a pretty good file and as long as you get reasonably good SATs you will be a strong candidiate for acceptance at the Citadel. Lack of athletics won't be an absolute disqualifier.

Something to think about though: I believe that about 70% of the class of 2012 at VMI participated in 2 varsity sports in HS- which indicates that the school both initially appeals to and actively looks for this as one of the characteristics of a successful cadet and there is a reason why they do so (as do the services when awarding ROTC scholarships).One thing about athletics -in addition to indicating that someone is personally physically fit,I believe that they are good predictors of how you will perform as part of a group under physically demanding situations. Essentially what they are trying to bring out to you in your 4th class experience is to test and develop your ability to keep focused even when you are faced with crappy, exhausting situations, to suck it up and drive on even when you feel like saying "this is stupid, this guy is a jerk, xxxx this- I quit". Almost every player in every sport has gone thru this: the two-a-days in prep for the season or as a result of the teams lousy performance and they bite. Yet if you have stuck with a team you know that it's a necessary part of a winning team. You also learn that at some point- a coach expects compliance with his way of doing things and a teams strategy requires performance of all of the players on the field. This is much the same lesson that is going to be imparted to you as a cadet at one of the military colleges. IMO you will find that the atmosphere in barracks is not all that dissimilar to the atmosphere in the locker room.
Everybody hates practises where you are run into the ground in the summer heat, and everybody hates the coach who does it to you- but the guys who love the sport and are successful use that hate to become better-they essentially say " you can't beat me: I'll show you" and ramp up their performance. Same feeling you will get in barracks.
Nobody really likes being a Rat or a knob etc... It is physically demanding and personally sort of demeaning and often it just plain bites. There is a tremendous amount of grousing, pissing and moaning that goes on in barracks- but also a tremendous amount of individual pride that comes from folks individually and collectively having gotten to the point where they will be a cohesive team, and the folks who stick it thru will in the same breath declare how much they hate the place and then beat down the outsider who would even consider dissing their school. (As an aside- I've noticed this phenomenon is often the source of much amazement to parents of Cadets. As a parent it's confusing- as an alumnus- I understand it completely.)

So long story- the point of it though is to suggest that you need to ask yourself why you haven't been on any teams in high school. I'm not trying to dissuade you or discourage you- as I said up front your record looks pretty competitive to me. If it is truly because of serious time constraints or maybe you are not athletically gifted enough even to participate - that actually is no big deal as long as you are individually fit. But if the reason you haven't been on a team is because you are a loner, or really don't like being in that locker room environment and mentality- the long hours of practise, somebody being over you demanding that you do things only their way, taking the heat for a team mates mistakes, etc...then you really need to think hard about whether you are the right fit for the Citadel or one of the other military colleges because you won't enjoy it. So something for you to ask and answer yourself.
Good luck:thumb:
 
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130mbr: I would say that you have a pretty good file and as long as you get reasonably good SATs you will be a strong candidiate for acceptance at the Citadel. Lack of athletics won't be an absolute disqualifier.

Something to think about though: I believe that about 70% of the class of 2012 at VMI participated in 2 varsity sports in HS- which indicates that the school both initially appeals to and actively looks for this as one of the characteristics of a successful cadet and there is a reason why they do so (as do the services when awarding ROTC scholarships).One thing about athletics -in addition to indicating that someone is personally physically fit,I believe that they are good predictors of how you will perform as part of a group under physically demanding situations. Essentially what they are trying to bring out to you in your 4th class experience is to test and develop your ability to keep focused even when you are faced with crappy, exhausting situations, to suck it up and drive on even when you feel like saying "this is stupid, this guy is a jerk, xxxx this- I quit". Almost every player in every sport has gone thru this: the two-a-days in prep for the season or as a result of the teams lousy performance and they bite. Yet if you have stuck with a team you know that it's a necessary part of a winning team. You also learn that at some point- a coach expects compliance with his way of doing things and a teams strategy requires performance of all of the players on the field. This is much the same lesson that is going to be imparted to you as a cadet at one of the military colleges. IMO you will find that the atmosphere in barracks is not all that dissimilar to the atmosphere in the locker room.
Everybody hates practises where you are run into the ground in the summer heat, and everybody hates the coach who does it to you- but the guys who love the sport and are successful use that hate to becoem better-they essentially say " you can't beat me: I'll show you" and ramp up their performance. Same feeling you will get in barracks.
Nobody really likes being a Rat or a knob etc... It is physically demanding and personally sort of demeaning and often it just plain bites. There is a tremendous amount of grousing, pissing and moaning that goes on in barracks- but also a tremendous amount of individual pride that comes from folks individually and collectively having gotten to the point where they will team building and the folks who stick it thru will in the same breath declare how much they hate the place and then beat down the outsider who would even consider dissing their school. (As an aside- I've noticed this phenomenon is often the source of much amazement to parents of Cadets. As a parent it's confusing- as an alumnus- I understand it completely.)

So long story- the point of it though is to suggest that you need to ask yourself why you haven't been on any teams in high school. I'm not trying to dissuade you or discourage you- as I said up front your record looks pretty competitive to me. If it is truly because of serious time constraints or maybe you are not athletically gifted enough even to participate - that actually is no big deal as long as you are individually fit. But if the reason you haven't been on a team is because you are a loner, or really don't like being in that locker room environment and mentality- the long hours of practise, somebody being over you demanding that you do things only their way, taking the heat for a team mates mistakes, etc...then you really need to think hard about whether you are the right fit for the Citadel or one of the other military colleges because you won't enjoy it. So something for you to ask and answer yourself.
Good luck:thumb:

Excellent insight as to what really goes into being a good fit for a SMC (or a SA for that matter). :thumb:
 
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