"Compare Myself" Thread

applying to USMA, USNA, maybe USAFA, and ROTC
accepted to SLS session 2 + NASS session 3

from CA-40 Cypress, CA :D

3.56 UW GPA 3.8 W GPA (got 3.35 W and UW in freshman year, but got over 4.0 W in 10th and 11th)
760 Math, 650 CR, 660 Writing (will retake again)
school doesn't rank

4 years of kendo (everyday outside of school)and 1 year as student dojo president
1 year of JV tennis
will join cross country/track next year after I get my 2nd degree in kendo

2 year Counselor-in-Training program participant for my city and volunteered over 160 hours
4 year church altar boy leader
Co-founder/VP of Junior Statesmen of American chapter at my school
4 year volunteer at city's senior center w/ over 150 hours
3 year National Honor Society Member
2 year Speech and Debate and won 1st in a novice tournament
4 years in CTY program (actually went to their events)
might do ASB and police explorer senior year
 
Last edited:
Class rank?

From what I hear class rank is almost 30% of your WCS
 
Class rank?

From what I hear class rank is almost 30% of your WCS

I'm not sure what the academies will do for me cause my school (college-prep) doesn't rank us.

I heard that if we dont have official ranks, then admissions will call the counselors and ask them to approximate the rank (is he/she around in the top 10th?)
I also heard that admissions will use SAT scores to determine class rank as well.
 
Class rank?

From what I hear class rank is almost 30% of your WCS

60% of WCS is academics
30% - leadership
10% - CFA

The academics portion of the WCS is based on
A) class rank and
B) ACT/SAT scores

GPA is not used.

I'm not sure what the academies will do for me cause my school (college-prep) doesn't rank us.

I heard that if we dont have official ranks, then admissions will call the counselors and ask them to approximate the rank (is he/she around in the top 10th?)
I also heard that admissions will use SAT scores to determine class rank as well.

So what happens if your school does not rank?
WP will encourage the the Guidance Counselors to rank.
But if they don't/won't, WP will use your SAT/ACT scores to see where you rank nationally with those scores.

Some very competitive high schools do not like to rank because the difference between say being in the top 20% and top 30% could be very miniscule because there are so many good students and therefore a rank could be misleading.
 
60% of WCS is academics
30% - leadership
10% - CFA

The academics portion of the WCS is based on
A) class rank and
B) ACT/SAT scores

GPA is not used.



So what happens if your school does not rank?
WP will encourage the the Guidance Counselors to rank.
But if they don't/won't, WP will use your SAT/ACT scores to see where you rank nationally with those scores.

Some very competitive high schools do not like to rank because the difference between say being in the top 20% and top 30% could be very miniscule because there are so many good students and therefore a rank could be misleading.

That is the case for my school. For the past couple years, I thought about transfering to an "easier" school. My friend who had C and B grades transfered and has A's and B's. So do the SA's take into consideration the competativeness/performance of schools?
 
So do the SA's take into consideration the competativeness/performance of schools?

I can't speak for the other SAs but West Point does.
Your Guidance Counselor will submit a school profile which has such information as - % of graduates that go to 4 year colleges, size of school, AP classes offered, etc.
WP will use this information to determine how competitive your school is and adjust your class rank accordingly.
 
Applying- USMA,USAFA,USNA all ROTC options c/o 2016
Accepted- USAFA summer seminar session 1, NASS session 2

Academics:
3.15 unweighted gpa 3.85 weighted (should change soon though :))
rank 35/720
SAT- 580 Math 590 CR and 600 Writing (Retake in may)
ACT-25

Leadership
Girl Scout Gold/Silver/and bronze awards
leader for summer camps 5+ years
presidential volunteer service award (500 hours)
Lifeguard,EMT trained
numerous Girl Scout leadership camps
Girls State Delegate summer 2011
Selected to be a research intern at UCLA this summer

Extracurriculars:
Music-10 years, piano teacher + composition awards
Marching Band letter
Baseball coach
Softball-7 years
NHS 2011

both parents in the military, father currently serving as a cheif master sergeant in air force, sister ROTC grad and army officer, mother-army.
This is off the top of my head...
Good luck to everyone! :)
 
Very nice on the athletics, ECs, and class rank... but what happened on the SATs?

I also noticed you're going to CA Girls' State this year, I'm going to CA Boys' State, is it at Cal State Sacramento for you too?
 
Very nice on the athletics, ECs, and class rank... but what happened on the SATs?

I also noticed you're going to CA Girls' State this year, I'm going to CA Boys' State, is it at Cal State Sacramento for you too?

Haha let's just say test taking= not my best, but I'm working on it. Practice tests are promising 1900's :)

Girls state is being held at Claremont McKenna college this year I believe. I'm extremely excited for it!
 
buff81: is it the % that "go" to 4 year colleges...or % that "get accepted to" 4 year college? I ask only because my DS's school has 100% college bound, 96-97% accepted into 4 year colleges, I believe. Any idea what WP would do with that stat.?

I can't speak for the other SAs but West Point does.
Your Guidance Counselor will submit a school profile which has such information as - % of graduates that go to 4 year colleges, size of school, AP classes offered, etc.
WP will use this information to determine how competitive your school is and adjust your class rank accordingly.
 
buff81: is it the % that "go" to 4 year colleges...or % that "get accepted to" 4 year college? I ask only because my DS's school has 100% college bound, 96-97% accepted into 4 year colleges, I believe. Any idea what WP would do with that stat.?

Hmm...
Not sure of exactly how the wording is on that. I 'think' it is those that actually attend a 4 year college but in your case the % difference is so miniscule that either statistic is favorable.
 
Thanks!! Had another question abt the ACT and the writing portion. I thought I read somewhere that the SAs would only accept ACT scores IF you had taken the writing portion as well. Does my DS need to take the writing portion EVERY time he takes the ACT...or as long as he has taken it once, he is good to go.? He had a pretty good reading score last time he took it (but did not take the writing portion of the test at that time).
 
For West Point-
The ACT must be taken with Writing.
West Point superscores which means they take the highest score from each subsection across multiple tests.
The 2016 class looks to be even smaller than 2015.
IOW - very competitve.
Seeing as the standardized tests scores are a large component of the Academic portion of the WCS, I would take every subsection each time I took the test.
 
For West Point-

The 2016 class looks to be even smaller than 2015.
IOW - very competitve.

Buff,

Can you share your source for this info? We spent a day at West Point last week and I asked several of the admissions personnel about class size shrinking for 2016. They indicated that they expected the class size to be the same as for 2015.

Confused!

Thanks in advance,

Deborah
(parent of a 2016 candidate!)
 
For West Point-
The ACT must be taken with Writing.
West Point superscores which means they take the highest score from each subsection across multiple tests.
The 2016 class looks to be even smaller than 2015.
IOW - very competitve.
Seeing as the standardized tests scores are a large component of the Academic portion of the WCS, I would take every subsection each time I took the test.

Oh, wow. So his reading score won't even be considered!? :eek: Ugh! Hopefully he will do as well or even better next time around...and we will make sure he signs up for the writing portion from now on.
 
Oh, wow. So his reading score won't even be considered!? :eek: Ugh! Hopefully he will do as well or even better next time around...and we will make sure he signs up for the writing portion from now on.

alparent,

West Point "superscores."

This means that they take the best score for each section, even if those best scores all occur on different dates.

Therefore it doesn't hurt the candidate to take the tests multiple times.

--Deborah
 
I agree..Superscoring is awesome! (wish they did that when I was going to college) I was just hoping WP would superscore his Reading score from his last ACT (the one taken without the writing part), and then DS continues taking the ACT to get the rest of the subsections up to 32+ too. (just one less thing to worry about) Oh well.... he is just a sophomore. I'm sure he will be taking it PLENTY of times this next year. And now we know...Thank you! BTW, this forum is amazing! It is a true blessing for those of us new to this whole process. Thanks everyone!
 
USMAHopeful!, you want to know how to improve writing? WRITE!!!
My first SAT, I got a 5 on the essay...I wrote an essay a day after that, and got a 10 on the third time I took it. Buckle down and write under realistic SAT conditions. As much as possible. Good Luck!

Practicing for the essay is important, but the writing multiple choice is worth a lot more points. I got a 6 on the essay and still got a 730 on the writing section. ( I got all of the multiple choice right, so it is not likely that will happen. Just know that the multiple choice is worth far more.
 
i know i already posted this but..this is a more "official" page so why not? haha :)
just a quick question though. do minorities (i am korean) have an "easier" chance of getting in or is it just as competitive?
Applying to: USMA, USNA and possibly USAFA
Accepted into: USMA SLS session 1 and USNA SS session 3 (waitlisted for USAFA SS)

-Academics-
class rank: N/A as of now
GPA- 3.17 uw, 3.6 w
AP US History
AP Government and Politics (next year)
AP Literature (next year)
AP Language
Physics (next year)
Biology
Chemistry
Pre-calculus (1 year ahead of normal curriculum)
1 summer college course (Japanese; next year)
Honors English
Honors Social Studies
SAT- 1870 (640 math, 630 reading, 600 writing (roughly average))
Studied abroad in Australia for 1 semester

-Athletics-
Varsity Track
Varsity Swim
State qualified swimmer (NCAA applicant)
CFA score:
75 pushups
12 pullups
86 situps
6:00 flat mile time
70 ft Bball throw
shuttle run: N/A
Karate black belt

-Leadership-
NJROTC platoon commander
Physical Fitness team commander
Attended Leadership Academy for NJROTC
Varsity Track team captain
Varsity swim team captain
Commanding Officer of NJROTC unit

-Civic Involvements/ Community Service-
Union Gospel Mission in Seattle
Habitat for Humanity- building homes for the low income
Athletes for Kids program
NJROTC community service
-roughly 160 hours

-Work Experience-
Red Rooster Restaurant (located in Canberra, Australia)
Worked approximately 8-10 hours a week
Worked for approximately 6 months
Comfort Inn Suite Hotel (located in Toppenish, WA)
Worked approximately 3 days a week (during the summer)

just a quick note: i realize that i am not academically "competitive" or "qualified" for direct admission, but what would my chances of USMAPS be? also, i understand that my cumulative GPA is a 3.2, but if i increased my GPA to a 3.5/3.6 this semester (its a 3.5 as of right now), would USMA consider that improvement a good thing? so even though my overall GPA is unimpressive, if it increased would that still be looked upon favorably? also, do the SA's look at AP test scores?
thanks! :)
 
Last edited:
Buff,

Can you share your source for this info? We spent a day at West Point last week and I asked several of the admissions personnel about class size shrinking for 2016. They indicated that they expected the class size to be the same as for 2015.

Confused!

Thanks in advance,

Deborah
(parent of a 2016 candidate!)

Sending a PM your way.
 
Back
Top