Thank you for the time that you are putting into answering these questions. You are doing a very good thing!
I am a mom of a 14-year -old girl who has her sights set firmly on USMA (she spent 3 days there last year as part of the middle school STEM program and decided then and there!)- so we have a few years to go. My job is to make sure that she has what she needs in 3 years when she is applying, and your comments have been very helpful.
My questions relate to homeschooling. Do you know how students who were homeschooled transition to USMA? Do they have any common areas of need or strength?
To avoid answers based on the myths of homeshooling, my DD has a large circle of friends and experiences. She has been on learning adventures for up to 2- weeks, away from home. She is active in our local Civil Air Patrol, and is also starting classes at the local community college in the fall.
Question- Languages:
Academically, she is strong (in fact she is going to the USNA in June for a week for their STEM program). That said, I am concerned about languages. She has been studying Latin and will most likely take the Latin AP exam in 2 years. My plan was to consider that her foreign language (it also doubles as English grammar). Do you think that will fly, or will it put her at a disadvantage for the language courses at WP? She can also speak and cook - but not read or write- Italian. She wil go to Italy for a month next summer. Of course, Italian is not one of the languages offered at USMA. Thoughts? Do you recommend we stay the course, or add in an language taught at WP?
Question- Coding:
She has done the CodeIt program at MIT, and self- taught Scratch but I had not really intended to include more. However, in an earlier thread there was some discussions about programming and coding - so it seems like we should. What would you recommend?
Question- Sports:
There are no Varsity sports for homeschoolers, unless I want to pin a letter on her for beating her brother at soccer. I know that we could join our local high school teams, but that would make it impossible for her to participate in many of her academic programs (homeschool is a misnomer- we go somewhere almost every day for classes and programs- should be called carschooling).
She takes kickboxing classes (with a bunch of housewives because it is at 9am). She has started SCUBA and will have attained advanced guide certification by the time she applies to USMA, and she is part of a youth gun club and has several awards/ certifications there (she actually is an amazing shot and the instructors there have told her they have not seen any other kid advance as rapidly as she has though the various Winchester/NRA levels). In the fall she will start individual training with a Javelin coach but that is not a sport here in RI- she just want to learn the body mechanics for the basketball throw. We will only work with him 2 hours a month. She can run 2 miles in 14 minutes with her CAP group (they do lots of PT actually).
My question is - will any of the above counterbalance the lack of team/ varsity sports for admissions? Will the fact that she does not play a sport be an issue at WP? Does she have to be on a team or will club sports be OK?
For homeschooled students, the biggest thing I noticed was more on the social end. I don't want to come off as a jerk, but usually homeschooled cadets were the ones were didn't quite fit in as well. There's probably plenty who did so we never notice, but the real odd cadets were usually home schooled. That might be a factor. I know there are myths, but like I said these are just patterns I noticed. We had a homeschooled cadet in our company (before he voluntarily chose to leave) and while he was really nice, he just had some really interesting quirks that stood out to the rest of us. That said, I know neither you or your daughter so this is just all hearsay and definitely not a flat judgement of how it will be.
Languages: They probably won't take it, even cadets who had taken languages end up just getting dropped in the advanced sections (usually to their annoyance, the courses are hard). Again, far from an expert. You could call admissions and they might have a better answer.
Coding: If she likes coding, try and have her learn Java (super easy) then take the AP COMPSCI test. I self taught from a young age as well, got 5 on AP COMPSCI but I only validated CS301 which was a CS entry course. Unless they wise up at some point, she'll probably take IT105 but it is such an easy class I wouldn't even worry.
Sports: To be honest, I'm not sure. I'm ignorant of how much of the process works for homeschooled cadets. Personally, she could join some club level sports at a nearby rec center. As someone said earlier, USMA likes to see team sports because they're opportunities to learn leadership. That's why varsity and team captain look so good, they demonstrate skill and leadership. I know community rec centers will have junior leagues for sports, that could always be a consideration.
Next questions: Advances:
It is usually a nonissue. If guys are interested and she tells them she isn't, the vast majority will take it at that and leave her be. If someone decides to push it and make her uncomfortable, all she has to do is talk to her first line supervisor in her chain of command. If they don't help, go one up. We had a couple issues this past semester of people not respecting the others choice to not date and get pushy. When company leadership pulls you aside and tells you to back off, they usually do. It shouldn't be an issue and the majority of female cadets here do just fine.
LGBT: I think you'll find it isn't nearly as much of an issue as you'd think. I too thought that way, coming from the Southwest. One of my good friends is gay and you realize that, as a user said, they're not out to convert anyone or ruin friendships with advances. They know who is and isn't gay, usually from the LGBT clubs and don't put any outside pressure on. If she really does feel uncomfortable, she can talk with her Chain of Command and they'll make room adjustments. I think staying roommates would be best though.