How competitive am I?

[marmacost]

I wanted to see if you all thought I might have a shot at receiving an appointment or possibly even an early notification of appointment. I am in the process of applying to the Naval Academy and West Point and have just recently completed my application to the Air Force Academy. My AF Liaison Officer seems to think that I have a very good chance of receiving an appointment very soon as I already have a presidential nomination. I would greatly appreciate all of your thoughts. Here are my statistics:

GPA: 3.77 (Unweighted)
Pre AP and AP classes all through high school as well as dual credit classes at local community college.

SAT Critical Reading: 680
SAT Math: 650
SAT Writing: 650

ACT English: 35
ACT Math: 29
ACT Reading: 32
ACT Science: 32
ACT English/Writing: 31

Extracurriculars:
Athletic Activities
• Basketball (9,10)
---• YMCA league Team Captain and Leading Scorer
• Cross Country (12)
---• Boys Team Captain
---• Varsity Letter
• Football (9,10,11,12)
---• Selected by team to Unity Council
---• Earned spot as “Elite 11” member
---• Varsity Letter
• Powerlifting (11,12)
---• Varsity Letter
High School/Community Activities
• EBC Church Group (10,11,12)
• Fellowship of Christian Athletes (10,11,12)
• National Honor Society (11,12)
• Student Council (11,12)
---• Representative
• Theatre Arts (10)
---• Playwright Award
---• Director and Actor in school play festival
Volunteer Activities
• “Angels in the Outfield” Program for Disabled Youth (11,12)
• Meals on Wheels (11,12)
• Special Olympics (10,11)
Other Activities/Organizations
• Civil Air Patrol
• Piano Lessons (7 Years)

Also, my father and I traveled from Dallas to Albuquerque to attend a “Special Admissions Meeting” where I was able to introduce myself to the Superintendent of the Air Force Academy as well as the Director of Admissions and others in the admissions staff. Is it possible that meeting with these members of the Academy staff could possibly be beneficial? Just wondering. Also if you can think of anything to help improve my chances let me know! Thanks!

 

[CadCandMateus]

Excellent grades, excellent ACTs, excellent extra curriculars. I mean, what do you want us to tell you.

 

[jarvin]

Great Stats! I'm pretty jealous because your school has a powerlifting team. Unless you compete by yourself on lifting meets. But yeah anyways looks good. I Can't determine your chances because there are a lot of factors in admissions, but overall it looks very competitive. Hope to see you on the powerlifting team at AFA.

 

[packermatt7]

How was General Gould?

 

[Pima]

Sorry, but meeting them at a meet and greet really will have no effect on the ability to be accepted. Bullet worked for Gould for 3 yrs (did his O-5 promotion), we saw him at the USNA V AFA football game, to get near him was difficult because everyone wants his attention. Have to say Phylis looks great! He could not walk a foot without somebody coming up to him, even while Bullet and him were reminiscing about the Pentagon and our kids, people were waiting just to shake his hand.

The way that you will have made a difference is if when you met them there was something unique about you that stood out. Remember the board goes through THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS of application packages, it is hard for them to remember everyone they meet and connect them to their package unless you really shined! I.E. for you discussing Angels in the Outfield would probably stick in their mind, saying hello sir, I am Bob Smith from Colorado, and how this has always been my dream, not so much!

 

[Christcorp]

These "What are my chances" threads definitely tug on the heart when I read them. So many people applying with very good stats. But because there are so many people applying; and the selection isn't taking 10,000 applicants and ranking them; and you don't compete with everyone in the country; makes it literally impossible to EVER answer your question about how competitive you are. 95% of all applicants are Type "A" personalities. They are use to be achievers. They want to know they are good. Just about every cadet has the exact same questions on their mind.

There's just too many variables. We can talk about the variables in another thread if you're truly interested. But suffice it to say that the process is set up so that it's possible for a 3.7gpa student from one areas of the country can get an appointment, while another student with a 4.0gpa WON'T get an appointment. 2 students in the same exact school, with the same exact gpa, ACT/SAT, extra curricular activities, sports, etc... can be exact duplicates, and one can get accepted and one doesn't. There are too many variables. Again, start another thread on the variables if you're really interested.

I wish, but it won't happen, that the question asked was NOT "What are my chances?" or "How do I rank" or similar. And instead, the question was: "Do I meet the academy minimum requirements?" or "Do my stats appear to be average, below average, or above average to many that you have seen". or "Is there anything on my resume that you think I could improve on?" And just leave it at that.

Here are some of the reasons we can't accurately tell you "How you stand".
1. The majority of the people on this forum who are applicants, make up one of the smallest percentage of those applying. I.e. 9800-10,000 applicants, and MAYBE 100 are on this or other forums.
2. The majority of people (Non-applicants) on this forum trying to assist in whatever way they can, won't know/meet any other applicants other than their own child. So they don't really know what the rest of the applicant's resume looks like. The obvious exception are some of the ALOs who assist here and a couple of others.
3. The vast majority of people on the forum, are NOT from your home district or state. Therefor, they have no idea what your DIRECT competition is for a nomination. You could have a 3.85gpa (Academy average going in); with 2100 SAT and 31 ACT and all the other stuff; and there could be 3 other people applying from your district with 4.0; 2200SAT; 33 ACT; etc... We don't know.

I am simply saying this so the original poster doesn't feel that anyone is blowing them off. We would love to be able to look at a list, chart, stat, etc... and give you a confident answer to whether or not you will get an appointment or early LOA. But it just can't happen.

But if you'd like to know about your scores COMPARED to the Air Force Average, I can tell you some things.
1. Your GPA is slightly lower than the AVERAGE GPA of an accepted applicant.
2. Your SAT is right at the average.
3. Your ACT is right around average
4. Your extra curricular and sports is Above average

That is the only real answer I or anyone else could give you. Does it mean you will or won't get an appointment? No, not at all. But there WILL be some people with LESS impressive resumes than yours who WILL get an appointment; and there will be some people with MUCH MORE impressive resumes than yours who WON'T get an appointment. Again, variables. Start a thread and we can talk variables. But you have done the #1 thing you can do to get an appointment. YOU APPLIED!!!! You can't get an appointment under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES if you don't apply. And your application has to be 100%, or they won't even look at it. And as far as the presidential nomination goes, definitely continue with applying for a nomination from your congress/senate representative. Why??? Because you might be eligible for a presidential nomination, but that doesn't mean it can get you an appointment. Just like your rep/senator can list 10 nominations, but not all 10 get an appointment. Well; on average, there are about 500 people eligible who receive a presidential nomination. But ONLY 100 OF THEM CAN GET AN APPOINTMENT using that nomination. best of luck..... mike.....

 

[marmacost]

How was General Gould?

General Gould was great! He kind of talked about his experiences at the Academy and when he was applying to get in. It was really good to here what all he had to say.