admissions

hockeypunk9199

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How difficult is it to get into the merchant marine academy? What are some of the requirments
 
go to USMMA.org and it will give you all the details there that you need. As for the student, just get the grades, the GPA, the SAT or ACT scores they require and write the essays they need. As for the parent, it is a lot of work. Making sure all the essays are written, both for the academy and for the Congressional Nomination. Yes, you do need a nomination letter so I would suggest you get started on this part of it before the deadline looms for your state or county. I would suggest you try with your two senators and your representative. You just need one but you never know which one will give you one. There is also the Presidental nomination and the VP nomination but we just went through the senators and respresentative.
Once you get that, your parent will be the one that will probably keep tract of all the deadlines and probe you through your senior year of activities to get things done. There is a medical exam you have to pass with DODMerb and a physical activity you have to pass for the academy.
Just look at their website and it will tell you all you have to do. If you really want to get in, don't take NO for an answer from SAT/ACT or DODMerb. My son was declined by DODMerb because of an incident that happened when he was 8 and a skin allergy but we just had to go to the doctor againa and he passed the second time.
If you play sports, contact the Coach and start talking to him/her or if you play in the band, contact the director. My son swims and the swim coach was very helpful throughout the whole process and kept in constant touch with my son and with me. If is wasn't for them, it would have been harder to get in.
The swim coach also told us that if you are not recruited by the swim coach, it is very difficult to get into the sport of swimming. I don't know if this is true for the other sports or not but I found that surprising and yet in awe that my son was recruited and accepted into the swim team.
I hope this helps.
 
Shutterbug well stated... I got some baskets with index cards to keep us organized- my DS would write and my husband and I would proof read. I then picked up some of the priority mail envelopes to mail everything that way you could have a signed reciept for when the package was delivered and then I woild certify it so it could be tracked... you never know what will happen and after all that work you don't want something to happen to it.

My DS also has a crazy allergy and was rejected by Navy and Coast Guard- but KP took him- two thumbs up for them!

I also suggest the overnight visit if you are local or it is not to much trouble to visit.

Good Luck,
 
Going to KP

This is all great advice. May I also recommend visiting your representative's and senators' website as soon as you can. Their particular requirements for a nomination will be posted there. Every member of Congress has a slightly different approach and it is very important to make sure you get your submission requirements and dates squared away. We were very fortunate that our local representative had a liaison to her office for every one of the people seeking a nomination from her! As our son was the only one asking for a USMMA appointment, he had his own personal link to her selection committee.

If your son or daughter is now a junior, they can do day visits to the academy; we are only a 2 1/2 hour drive away so our son did just that. It is well worth the effort if you can possibly do so as they linked him up with a midshipman on the track team and in Band Company (of which he now is in both). In addition, he met the track coach. It was all good.

The senior overnight visit is another super opportunity. He came back from the visit supercharged and ready to go! Obviously, not everyone can take advantage of these visits, but I can't recommend them enough if you can possibly swing it.

As everyone else has posted, go to the USMMA website and get all the requirements. It all goes so fast; I think that September of his senior year was one of the busiest I can ever remember! Good luck to you and your hopefully future midshipman.
 
The USMMA website is www.usmma.edu not .org. Lots of great information! Stay organized and make copies of all items sent.
 
YES, make copies. My son had to resend his application cause it was misplaced. Good thing he has saved it on his computer! I also had people telling me what I had to do that already been through the process and this was extremely helpful, although half the time I didn't know what in the world they were talking about but with time and reading, I soon figured it out. There were times when I got tired of reading that I would make my son do it and since he doesn't care much for reading (which being at KP will change all of that), I figured he really wanted to go since he did what needed to be done. He not only went to school, he coached swimming and swam himself. During the winter months, he would get up at 5 a.m, and go swimming for a couple of hours before school and then after school, he was at the pool from 4 p.m. til about 7:30 or 8 p.m. so he is accustom to long daily schedules.

Whatever you do, make sure you save copies on your computer and in a folder so you an get to them again, if needed and send everything by priority mail so you can confirm they got it.

Good luck and enjoy the ride.
 
just one more tidbit- lots of these applications are online in forms that can't be saved- therefore wach time you write an essay copy it into a word document for use later- all the applications needs essays and most times you can tweek one or two to fit the needs of all the different essays- and make copies of everything....
 
I printed everything I could. Even the instructions so that my son and I could look them over when he had a chance.
 
See when your Member of Congress has an Academy Night. There may also be an admissions rep in your area to help with the process. These voards are great for getting info. Start training for the CFA and schedule DODMERB.
 
Admissions Representative

Please contact your academy admissions representative who is there to answer all your questions about the academy and to help you through the admissions process. You can find the closest rep on the Admissions page at usmma.edu. Good luck!
 
Also, the State of GA held a yearly Military Academy preview at the local air base in Marietta. Many of our representatives and congressmen were there. You might want to look into that as well but that was in the spring for juniors. If you are a senior, you may have already passed that if your state has one of these. Our son had swim meets each year they had one and never got to go to one yet still got his letter.
 
How difficult is it to get into the merchant marine academy? What are some of the requirements

So everyone has given you great information, especially given you haven't indicated whether you are interested for yourself or someone else. Based on your handle and other public information I'm going to guess you are interested for yourself and as you indicate you are from Cumberland Rhode Island. First the direct answer to your question the gaining admissions to the USMMA is about the same difficulty as gaining admission to any other Federal Service Academy. All of the Academies are either Very or Highly Selective, additionally geographically gaining a nomination is either more or less competitive depending of your state's demographics. I am not fully versed about Rhode Island but I'd expect that as far as nominations go for RI, getting a nomination to the USNA is probably the most difficult and both the USMA and USMMA would be up there in the difficulty index. That said a USMMA Admissions Field Representative for you area would have a lot better and more current information. You can find one at the USMMA Admissions Website via http://www.usmma.edu/admissions/reps/statereps.asp?stname=RI; there are three for Rhode Island and if they can't help then just call the Admissions Office at the USMMA. The Academic Year for them starts on July 27th and there should be someone answering the phone there now as well.

As indicated there are three things you need to gain admissions:

1) A nomination from a member of Congress; either of your two US Senators (Senator Jack Reed; Senator Sheldon Whitehouse ) or from your Congressman at Large ( ). The easiest way to obtain information about their processes, and time-lines is directly from their websites. Senator Reed's Website has a top level link for "Services for Rhode Islanders" and then under that has a page link for "Academy Nominations" - According to his website, the deadline for him to receive all completed application materials required for him to nominate you for entry to the Class of 2015 (entering in July 2011) is October 31, 2010. Senator Whitehouse has a similar top level tab "Services for Rhode Islanders" under which there is a link "U.S. Service Academy Nominations" to start the process at, his US Service Academy Nominations page has an excellent overview of the process for all Academies and appears worth a thorough read. His deadline for receipt of all application materials for a nomination to the entering Class of 2015 is October 29, 2010. From what I can quickly gather, Cumberland is in the 1st Congressional District of RI, so your Congressman is Patrick Kennedy. Congressman Kennedy's website is a little different than most where the link for Service Academy Nominations is under "Students and Kids" on his website, vice the usual location "Constituent Services". In any case under "Students and Kids" yo can get directly to the link for Service Academies and start the application process for a nomination from him. His application deadline is also October 31, 2010 for admissions in July 2011/Class of 2015.

2) A completed admissions application package to the Academy itself - you can start this on-line at www.usmma.edu.

and 3) You must be medically qualified having completed the physical fitness assessment and a completed full physical from DODMERBB.

All three of these things are independent tracks all of which then supply the Academy Admissions Staff information they use in selecting who they admit under a process that is governed by federal law as described in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFRs). So there really are two aspects to answer your question in short - from a competitive perspective, especially given you will be looking to enter the USMMA from a relatively nearby, Maritime State, it's likely to be similar to attempting to gain admission to a Very Selective college. From what all it takes to get through the process, there's a lot of stuff to go through in that you have 3 separate sets of application paperwork to complete and they are all separate and distinct, though no more involved then some of the Financial Aid packages, etc. you will be/are completing for the application process at other colleges and Universities.

The most important thing is that if you are looking to enter USMMA or really any other Federal Service Academy in the Summer of 2011, you need to get started immediately in processing applications, etc. as the usual time-line given prospective entering Freshman started last March.

Hope this helps.
 
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1) A nomination from a member of Congress; either of your two US Senators (Senator Jack Reed; Senator Sheldon Whitehouse ) or from your Congressman at Large ( ).

Can't any Congressman representing Rhode Island nominate 10 USMMA candidates from anywhere in Rhode Island? (and any other state respectively)

"With regard to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, the locality boundary for nomination
by a Representative is the State in which the District lies rather than just the District itself.
Each Representative and each Senator may nominate ten candidates each year to compete for admission."


In other words, unlike the DoD academies, nomination boundaries for USMMA for members of the House of Representatives are the state itself, not the Congressional district they represent. They can nominate statewide, just like a Senator.

TITLE 46 > Subtitle V > Part B > CHAPTER 513 > § 51302

§ 51302. Nomination and competitive appointment of cadets

(2) A Member of the House of Representatives may nominate residents of the State in which the congressional district represented by that Member is located.


So a candidate for USMMA can be nominated by any MOC in his state, right?
 
Thanks all so much for the information. I was wondering for me. I am entering a senior this year. I have started the application process; just sent in my parto one and I am starting to write my essay.
I just read on several websites that they have open admissions(100%) acceptance rate. How true is that?

I was also curious about the difficulty of getting in. I have a lot of extra caricular activities and community service things. I also am very athletic and in shape, i play vasity baseball and cross country and participate in triathlons, they are my main focus. Ive also been a captain of the baseball team. However, My unweighted GPA is only a 3.0 and my weighted is a 3.5ish. With low SAT scores(1600) but i plan to take them again because that was my first time. Do I have a chance of getting in?
 
Luigi - you are of course correct. My original confusion was failing to realize that RI has two Members of Congress the the member at large comment. That said, while statutorily there is nothing that limits the provision of a nomination from a member of your own state's delegation other than your own MOC, obviously in States and Districts using most of their nominations, most MOC's prefer to nominate students who are resident in their own district. The Admissions Field Reps for each area can give more information about each particular area and state.
 
Thanks all so much for the information. I was wondering for me. I am entering a senior this year. I have started the application process; just sent in my parto one and I am starting to write my essay.
I just read on several websites that they have open admissions(100%) acceptance rate. How true is that?

I was also curious about the difficulty of getting in. I have a lot of extra curricular activities and community service things. I also am very athletic and in shape, i play varsity baseball and cross country and participate in triathlons, they are my main focus. Ive also been a captain of the baseball team. However, My unweighted GPA is only a 3.0 and my weighted is a 3.5ish. With low SAT scores(1600) but i plan to take them again because that was my first time. Do I have a chance of getting in?

1) Not sure what and where you are reading about open admissions and acceptance rate but the way you are portraying the situation is not correct.

2) Your GPA is not great but probabl okay depending on your other factors - and the scale, etc; what AP courses you've taken, your class rank, etc.

3) Assuming you are speaking about 1600 out of 2400 your SATs are probably unsatisfactory. KP has minimums for the Critical Reading (510) and Math (560). Of course, what and how your State's nominating authorities and review boards view all this might be entirely different than what the school does. Further, USMMA uses your highest scores for Critical Reading and Math when ranking and offering appointments - for example if you take the SAT in April and get 600 in Critical reading and 550 in Math; then take them again in June and get 450 in Critical Reading and 625 in Math the combined score the Admissions Office uses to evaluate you is 600 Critical Reading 625 Math or a total of 1225.

Good Luck!
 
To add to Jasperdog....also contact the USMMA baseball and cross country coaches. Have your coaches contact the USMMA coaches and let them know you are interested. If you are an athlete they are looking for, then it can help when it comes to the "final" decision. However, work hard on your grades this year.

:tank:
 
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