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  • Hey prest, thank you, I appreciate it. As for your question, I will respond in parts (character limit).

    As you probably know the academies seek candidates who do not simply excel in a specific avenue, but rather those who are well-rounded and competitive in academic, physical, and leadership disciplines. Every cadet or midshipman had a strong high school transcript, played sports (still do), served the community through extracurriculars, and somehow displayed leadership in their endeavors.

    On top of medical qualifications, all candidates are judged in those categories, and while I do not know exactly what combination of traits made me stand out, I can list a few credentials to put it in perspective.
    ...Academically: My SAT score was 2150 when I was initially LOA'd. I am ranked 3rd out of 161 at my high school, but as long as you are in the top 10-20% of your class, you should make for a strong candidate. Of course, the competition changes year to year, although well-rounded individuals can hardly be perfect; so there's wiggle room. Also, what weaknesses you may have in one category may be diluted by strengths in another.

    I urge you to take as many challenging (AP/DE/IB) courses as you can next year. If your weighted GPA needs work, these weighted classes will do the trick if you are successful in your studies. I personally surpassed 9 students at my rather small high school when I took 7 AP classes seniors year. If your school is any bigger, the difference can be huge, depending on how many people go crazy with advanced classes.
    ...Physically: I currently play high school varsity soccer as well as club directors league soccer. Both teams are ranked well in the state although as long as you participate in varsity athletics of some sort, you shouldn't have a problem. Varsity letters and awards certainly help, although I only have one of those at this time, and it goes to show that you may not necessarily need to play for 5 different sports teams to qualify as a candidate. I have only played on a varsity team for 2 years. However, I was JV captain the preceding year, and athletic leadership is always a plus. Take initiative as a senior; it will go a long way.

    As for the CFA, I was fairly well-rounded.

    BB throw: 70 ft
    Pullups: 17
    Shuttle: 8.5 s
    Crunches: 95
    Pushups: 63
    Mile: 6:11
    ...Extracurriculars/Leadership: I have some 215 community service hours, 99% of which were obtained volunteering at a local hospital as an equipment and patient courier. I am a senior TAV (teenage volunteer) and this allows me to exercise some leadership over some of the newer TAVs, as well as undertake dispatch duties that follow suit with initiative.

    Right around this point last year (junior year) I offered some club sponsors at my school (teachers) websites for their school clubs (I have some experience with a few content management systems and virtuals/hosts). This enabled me to put 5 web-projects on my resume, which probably helped expose some of my technological prowess to admissions.
    ...In sum, I wouldn't stress too much over congesting your resume with excessive undertakings if this is still convenient for you at this time. Commit yourself to a few select hobbies/endeavors (Mine are: Hospital volunteering, Soccer, club websites) instead of a million things you can hardly put enough time into and find creative ways to set yourself apart. That being said, also take time to develop a professional resume that is well organized, and carry that organizational discipline through your applications (to the academies, senators, etc). Apply for SLS/NASS, pursue Boy's State (If you're a scout, go for eagle), just keep working hard enough to be recognized. A year from now you might find yourself on this forum, spelling your statistics out to someone else, just waiting for the summer so you can finally realize what you've been dreaming of for months. :)
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