Advice Please

[SHJ516]

Hello everyone, i'm still quite new to this forum but i feel that it is a great place to seek advice. It's been my dream to go to a service academy and it would be amazing to gain admission into one. I'm still in high school so i think i still have a bit of time to improve my application so any advice or tips would be helpful. All suggestions are welcome. Thank you.

- I am currently a sophomore in a nyc high school.
- I am an Asian-American male.
- I take all honors courses and one advanced placement course (world history). I have a 91 average and i'm working on improving it. I will also take several more a.p. classes before applying.
- I am president of the freshman/sophomore honors program, i am a staff-reporter for my school's newspaper (i'll hopefully be an editor by next year), i am in the student council, and i am the main double and electric bassist for my school's jazz band.
- I am active in my school's JROTC and i am currently one of the few staff sergeants in my year (most sophomores are corporals or sergeants). I also work in a JROTC staff sector that deals with personnel management. I am hoping to be a major by senior year but it may or may not happen.
- I am definitely not ready to pass a service academy's physical fitness examination and i am working hard towards being physically ready. I was on the junior varsity swimming team in freshman year and i'm on the varsity golf team this year. I am trying to join the JROTC raider team, a physical fitness team that requires members to be able to perform 50 pushups in 2 minutes, 50 sit ups in 2 minutes, and a 2-mile run in 15 minutes.
- I currently have a little over 50 hours volunteering in the therapeutic recreation department of a rehabilitation pavilion and i will have a lot more hours before i apply. I also volunteer for the special olympics a few times a year through my dad's company.
- I'm not sure how well i'll score on my SATs but i took a practice SAT before and received a little over 1700 (i was told that this was pretty good for a sophomore...true???). I am also planning on taking 2-3 SAT subject tests.

Sorry for the long post...please give me advice on what i need to improve upon. Some advice on how to receive a nomination would be awesome too.

 

[SHJ516]

Also, this may not be the best place to ask this but my dream is to become a combat rescue officer in the air force. Is there anything at the academy that could prepare me for this sort of thing?

 

[TheLaughingCow]

There is the sandhurst team/club, which is, as i understand it, basically a club for people who want to go the CRO/STO route. It is extremely competitive; only one freshman got in this year. Physical fitness, mental fortitude, and teamwork are emphasized.

Also, the combat shooting team might prepare you for some of that CRO stuff.

Finally, all students are required to go through ESET, basically survival training. I'm not comparing it to CRO indoctrination, which is undoubtedly way tougher, but it scratches the surface of what you will go through if you want to pursue that profession.

Anyone should feel free to correct me if any of my info is wrong, since I'm not a member of any of these clubs and I have not yet gone through ESET.

 

[SHJ516]

Wow. Thanks so much. That sort of advice was what i was looking for.
I wanted to ask though...how are my grades holding up? I know a 91 is a bit low for the academy's standards...how much more should i have to improve it?
Also, me being Asian-American shouldn't effect my chances of getting in, right?

 

[Buff-IP]

Wow. Thanks so much. That sort of advice was what i was looking for.
I wanted to ask though...how are my grades holding up? I know a 91 is a bit low for the academy's standards...how much more should i have to improve it?
Also, me being Asian-American shouldn't effect my chances of getting in, right?

Grades depend on the school and your rank in your class, but there is no exact number.

Race won't give you a disadvantage, but it might not give you an advantage either.