Superscore confusion and definition.

[proudofmyboy]

My DD had a similar situation: very rural school (one traffic light in the whole county), no AP classes (only 4 dual credit courses), minimal college attendance of students, average ACT scores of 19-20, and a lack of sports facilities. In fact, I removed DD and my other 3 children during their elementary years and began to home school until they were eligible for high school so that they would be better prepared. During the high school years, she contacted the neighboring high school and utilized their track facilities during weekend times and obtained permission to train with this school. She studied thru summer breaks and took the ACT 5 times (freshman -senior year ) improving her score every time because she studied subject material during the school year and eventually obtaining a 31. When visiting USMA, we were pleased to learn of the admission process that Christcorp refers to in that the academy's look at the school's profile and adversities and look at the whole person. Be assured this process works. With the adversities in DD's high school, she still recently received an LOA for the class of 2020.

CONGRATS

 

[Daretodream]

Posting on my son's account. I think the process tries to take into account and balance out advantages some students may have over others. Students in a smaller school might have advantages in class rank and classes. Others may have financial advantages for taking test prep classes and multiple exams. Other advantages could include the number of applicants from your area or state.The academies seem to really focus on looking at the totality of circumstances to find the right candidates for each class. There is a reason is extremely competitive. Our son began his interest in a military career and the academies in the sixth grade. Neither my wife or I had a military background, but we had friends who graduated from the USNA who gave us advice and guidance.

We moved from a small school in central Louisiana to a large school in Arkansas just prior to my son entering the 7th grade. He is a senior and has completed his application. Now is the hard part which is the waiting game. He has applied to the USAFA and USNA but prefers the USAFA above all other schools. He has congressional interviews scheduled for next month and December. He is a senior in a class of over 1000 students. He took the ACT for the first time as a 8th grader. He took it once each year through his junior year. He made a 25 as a 8th grader, 30 as a 9th grader, 32 as a 10th grader and a 34 as a junior. He has taken an extremely challenging course load each year. He is around the top 10% of his class but only has an unweighted GPA of 3.65. He took AP Calculus as a sophmore and a second AP Caluculus class as a junior. He made a "C" in the class as a junior but then made a 5 on the AP exam. He will have take more than 15 AP classes upon graduation and has made at least a 4 on every exam. He has been very involved in CAP and attended both the USAFA and USNA summer seminars last summer. He is a three year letterman on a state championship tennis team and took up fencing for fun last year. We are very proud of him, but realize this still is not enough to make him a sure bet for admission.

Bottom line is the process is tough and every student who makes it to the candidate stage is strong and should be proud.