How am I doing so far?

CFA Points and other things that matter....

The CFA is pass or fail. Work hard to prepare and do your very best. We'll see if you prepared enough. The CFA is just the beginning, every day you do PT in a sport or club. During your Plebe year you have the IDOC which counts towards your GPA, most get Ds.

Your CFA only accounts for 10 percent of your overall WCS.


This is how WP adds up a WCS. "Whole Candidate Score" This is part of the formula they use to grade a candidate who has opened a file.

Academics (60%)
Class rank (15 points)
SAT score (35)
High School Grades (10)
Extra points for Valedictorian/National Honor Society/National Merit Scholar

Leadership (30%)
School Leadership – extra points for class or student body president
Eagle Scout/Gold Star Girls Scout
Boys and Girls State
Athletic Participation – Team Captain Status
Team sports

Fitness CFA (10%)

Being a recruited athlete /Under Represented Minority/Active Service can fall in to different category pertaining to WP Class compositions.

The standardized testing is a huge part of WCS and it is important to do your very very best and take the tests multiply times. My DS has taken ACT/SAT 8 times.

This is how WP breaks it down.

WP thinks your high school rank is more important than your GPA. However, to have a high rank (top 15%) you need a great GPA.

Also to improve your WCS, get those SAT/ACT scores as high as you can.

Again, resist comparing yourself to others. What is more important is ask yourself, "Have I Done My Very Best, How Can I Improve?"


Push Hard, Press Forward
 
Re-post, re-post....

Yup, I'm sure we're all a lil tired of see it.

Push Hard, Press Forward
 
So I live in District 7 of Missouri. I guess I won't have to compete against your friends lol. I do regret NOT joining Beta club, now that I see it adds towards my score. I thought being an honor student was enough :p And I will try to apply for the National Merit Scholarship. Every bit helps.

And do Presidential Nominations add a lot of weight on your score over those with Congressional Nominations?
 
You don't apply for a National Merit Scholarship, you are awarded it based off of your PSAT scores Junior Year...

Also, a nomination is a nomination. No nomination is "better" or "more prestigious" than the other. Your mother or father must have served in the military for 'x' (I have no clue on the number) amount of years to be eligible for a presidential nomination. All an additional nomination gets you is the opportunity to compete to win the slate before heading to the treacherous NWL.

Nominations don't boost your WCS score. It just gives WP permission to choose you to attend. No nomination = no appointment. Nomination = Possible appointment. Read the stickies at the top of the USMA forum, a lot of your questions will be answered there.
 
IcedZealot said:
So I live in District 7 of Missouri. I guess I won't have to compete against your friends lol. I do regret NOT joining Beta club, now that I see it adds towards my score. I thought being an honor student was enough :p And I will try to apply for the National Merit Scholarship. Every bit helps.

And do Presidential Nominations add a lot of weight on your score over those with Congressional Nominations?
Click to expand...

I didn't mean to sound discouraging, and if I did, I am sorry. Also, I am a year ahead of you in school so neither I nor anybody else I know applying would be competing with you, even if you lived in my district

Another option to you could consider is the Prep School if USMA thinks you are a strong candidate despite your ACT. They will send you there for a year after graduation before you enter West Point so that you can improve your test scores.

Also, you mentioned you were all conference CC. I would look at the Army athletics website and see if you are good enough to run at USMA, and start contacting the coaches if you are. If you are considered a recruited athlete, that will help your WCS even more.
 
Yeah, I'll definitely contact them. Anything to improve my chances is always welcomed xD
 
There should be a questionnaire link on there to enter your times. If you are anywhere close to what they need, they should contact you.
 
IcedZealot said:
I am currently a junior.
-My weighted cumulative GPA is a 4.4 (I've been ranked #1 to #2 in my junior class since freshman year)
-I'm on Varsity Cross Country and Track (I made all conference CC this year)
-I have half a dozen office positions(One is co president of math club - 3 years)
-I have +100 hours of Community Service and counting.
-I will be attending Boys State next summer
-Most of my classes are AP and Honor Courses(1 elective this year)\
-I made 1st place for writing a speech for the Veterans of Foreign Wars Locally
-I'm an A+ student(National Program)
-Clubs involved in: Art Club (Student Council Rep), Math (Co President), Class of 2015 Treasurer, Chess Club (I represented my team at the state tournament freshman year), LEAD Club (Student Council Rep & Historian), and FCCLA.
- My ACT is currently a 21. I'm working hard to bring it up.
- I'm in pretty good shape, but I need to practice the BB throw and Cadence Pull ups. (They are A LOT tougher than regular pull ups lol.
- And for the record, my dad is retired Army (20 years - Infantry)

Any input or suggestions would be very appreciated! :D
Click to expand...

Dear IcedZ,

As you and others have suggested, you need to work on bringing up your standardized test scores. You've said you are working on practicing the ACT, which is good, but it might well be worth checking to see if you are one of those people who does better on the SAT than on the ACT (fairly often people are better at one than the other).

Rather than jumping right in and signing up for an SAT, I would suggest that you familiarize yourself with the SAT format, practice some, and then take a full-length practice test. Right now, as I recall, your ACT score is equivalent to about a 1000 on the Math/Reading portions of the SAT -- why not see if your SAT score puts you in a more competitive range for that component of your application, at least?

If you google "College Board full practice SAT test" -- or go to their website http://sat.collegeboard.org/practice/sat-practice-test -- you can find a full practice test that is FREE :). They also have a test prep book for about $22 (which I'm sure you could get a used copy of on Amazon for much less) and an online course for around $65, if online works better for you than old school paper books.

This is not to discourage you. You should apply no matter what. But you will have a much better chance of getting in with a better standardized test score. I'm a teacher who has advised a number of students applying for the academies, and the admissions officers I have spoken to at the various academies (as well as their adjuncts, like Field Force Reps or USNA Blue & Gold Officers) have said that they really do rely on the test scores because, although a flawed metric (good students can test poorly), it is the one time they can compare apples to apples given how different high schools are from one another.

Any time spent working on practice problems -- even during commercials while you are watching a football bowl game -- would be time well spent.
 
Thank you for your reply, sir! I will definitely try the SAT. Over the past few weeks I've been studying for the standardized tests, conditioning for the CFA, and finding useful tips.

I talked to the Cross Country Coach, and he said to list my best 5k time. My current best 5k recorded at a meet is 18:54. I placed 3rd at that meet (Plus, that was the conference meet). Is that good for West Point? Or should I work on improving it?
 
When I did the bb throw, I tried slinging it over my head and got '53 and '54, then I got worried I wouldn't do well enough, so my third try I leaned back, slung it while letting out a huge grunt. This time I got a 67. The grunt made the difference. I had not previously practiced the bb throw, which probably wasn't a good idea.

Sent using the Service Academy Forums® mobile app
 
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