Naval Academy STEM Questions

Bear-

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A couple quick questions about STEM,

1. Is it competitive? Would someone with a 4.0 unweighted from Minnesota have a good chance? If they were a white male?

2. Is there a fee you have to pay? I've read both sides of it's paid by the Navy and you have to pay a fee.

3. Do they offer transportation to and from the airport?

4. Is it a fun experience? Would you recommend it? I semi-enjoy math love science and have had no experience with engineering.

5. Is there any athletic or military aspect to it? That would be something I would enjoy.

I've looked for answers online and on these forums
 
1. It's very competitive. A couple years ago when my son went they only took 125 students per age group from the whole country, but I thought someone had posted recently it has about doubled. Still, that works out to around 5 per state. You'll have an advantage if you're a minority or from an underrepresented state. My son is a white male from Wisconsin and got in. I do think though that your ACT/SAT is more important than your GPA since they can compare it directly.

2. No fee but you have to pay for your own transportation to get there.

3. Yes - especially since some students are young (entering 8th graders say) and haven't flown before, they will even escort you through security and stay until the flights depart.

4. Seems like a good experience. More academic and less hands-on-Navy than NASS (ie no PT or Sea Trials) but a DC visit and a lot of cool classes, plus the chance to live in Bancroft Hall and have a lot of interaction with mids. You do get a chance to choose some of your classes so could do more science and less math if that was your choice but seems like all the classes were "fun" based, not intense academic experiences.

5. Other than organized sports like soccer and ultimate frisbee (as far as athletics) and some videos and a chance to see a helicopter up close (as far as military), my son said there was very little of any of this other than what you'd of course absorb just in the atmosphere (talking with mids, eating in King Hall, etc.).
 
A couple quick questions about STEM,

1. Is it competitive? Would someone with a 4.0 unweighted from Minnesota have a good chance? If they were a white male?

2. Is there a fee you have to pay? I've read both sides of it's paid by the Navy and you have to pay a fee.

3. Do they offer transportation to and from the airport?

4. Is it a fun experience? Would you recommend it? I semi-enjoy math love science and have had no experience with engineering.

5. Is there any athletic or military aspect to it? That would be something I would enjoy.

I've looked for answers online and on these forums

1. pretty competitive. I was told when I was there that only about 10 percent
of applicants were selected. I am a minority that got in (4.7 GPA, top 5 percent, ACT Math 31, English 28 back then, 35/33 now)

2. pay for your airfare/ get there- after that it's free. do bring money for the mid store (I was too pressured by the failure of not getting an appointment to spend money there back then)

3. yes, they have mids that your gate to ensure no one gets lost

4. yes. We did a lot of fun type labs. Over all it is more of a fun camp vs a hardcore learning academic camp.

5. Well you get to play sports for about 2-3 hours a day at your free will. I don't think it is mandated but most of us played something for fun. It is rather relaxed compared to NASS.
 
Two more questions,

1: How quickly did you hear back? (I applied around January 20th).

2: Is it bad if I didn't have any ACT/SAT scores to submit? Its the first semester freshman year and I'm not starting prep until the summer.
 
Two more questions,

1: How quickly did you hear back? (I applied around January 20th).

2: Is it bad if I didn't have any ACT/SAT scores to submit? Its the first semester freshman year and I'm not starting prep until the summer.

1. I heard back on April 28, 2010. I was rejected (wait listed and later rejected) from a public elite boarding school for math and science that very same day. I went after my sophomore year. I also went to NASS, then STEM, and will be plebe in Class of 2016

2. not at all especially since you are only a freshman.
 
I looked back and had booked my son's flights on 4/29/10 so pretty darn close to navy2016! I'm guessing we also heard on the 28th so it was definitely a lot later than the summer seminar notifications.

I know it's probably too late to do anything about it now, but I would say for future candidates that I think the ACT/SAT scores are kind of a big deal. For SLS (WP at least), it's probably the biggest factor in admissions. Unless you're a minority or a superstar athlete already (ie state champion for your age group or something) or in a very underrepresented area, pretty much everyone's files are going to look the same. Probably most people had a 4.0 in middle school and the same classes (math, science). Unless you have something distinctive (ie something like already taking AP classes), there's nothing that they can compare directly nationally that is on an even scale. I'm confident that the reason my son got in was due to his ACT scores (a 34 in 8th grade). Without them he would have just looked the same as everyone else. So not having them won't hurt you, but I'd think if you did have them (and did well), it would definitely HELP you!
 
I looked back and had booked my son's flights on 4/29/10 so pretty darn close to navy2016! I'm guessing we also heard on the 28th so it was definitely a lot later than the summer seminar notifications.

I know it's probably too late to do anything about it now, but I would say for future candidates that I think the ACT/SAT scores are kind of a big deal. For SLS (WP at least), it's probably the biggest factor in admissions. Unless you're a minority or a superstar athlete already (ie state champion for your age group or something) or in a very underrepresented area, pretty much everyone's files are going to look the same. Probably most people had a 4.0 in middle school and the same classes (math, science). Unless you have something distinctive (ie something like already taking AP classes), there's nothing that they can compare directly nationally that is on an even scale. I'm confident that the reason my son got in was due to his ACT scores (a 34 in 8th grade). Without them he would have just looked the same as everyone else. So not having them won't hurt you, but I'd think if you did have them (and did well), it would definitely HELP you!

There are a lot of us that got LOA's without a 34 composite!

If your scores are at least 27 composite, submit them for STEM (for anyone applying in the future). For USNA admissions, they only look at math and english.
 
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