Timing of CFA

Chocolate

5-Year Member
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Nov 13, 2011
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Realistically, what is the latest that a candiate can complete the CFA and still have a reasonable chance of getting admitted? Thanks.
 
I kind of have the same question, because I got a stress fracture in my foot and I'm still recovering. I also severely sprained my wrist playing goalkeeper in soccer, which means I can't even do one push up, because it would cause severe pain in my wrist and hand. :mad:
 
I would say REALISTICALLY the end of January, though that's HIGHLY not recommended. I only that since end of January is also when many Congressional nominations are announced.

Technically, the deadline for CFA should be the deadline for the application, which is around the end of February.

Last year, I did mine around December, but it put me behind schedule when I received my nomination (I took the CFA after I received the nomination). Because of that I had no opportunity to receive the primary slot, as I was not 3Q'd.

Do it as soon as possible! Good luck!
 
I also severely sprained my wrist playing goalkeeper in soccer, which means I can't even do one push up, because it would cause severe pain in my wrist and hand. :mad:

Old wrist injury forced me to do pushups on my knuckles for a long time, I wonder if that would be an allowed variant? Certainly not any easier, but better than a low pushup score.

(Puts the wrist in compression, rather than bending it.)
 
kbaek,

Thanks for the reply. So I think you are saying it should be taken before the congressional nominations are announced for my son's state and congressional district. My son needs to train for the CFA. He is big kid, and push up and pull ups are hard for big kids. I think the nominations from at least one of our state's senators will be announced in mid December. Would it be better for my son to take the CFA now and get a low score, but at least he would have a score and he could retake the CFA later, or should he wait until he has had more time to train and his scores will be better? If he took the test now he would do ok on everything except push ups and pull ups. Except for push ups and pull ups, I think he is a very strong candidate in every other respect.

Thanks for the help!
 
Old wrist injury forced me to do pushups on my knuckles for a long time, I wonder if that would be an allowed variant? Certainly not any easier, but better than a low pushup score.

(Puts the wrist in compression, rather than bending it.)

Thank you so much, this works great! I just did a bunch of pushups without my wrist hurting at all! :thumb: My wrist should be perfectly fine in a month or so, but I just don't want to take that long to take the CFA, so I'll definitely see if I can do knuckle pushups.

Thanks!
 
I would say REALISTICALLY the end of January, though that's HIGHLY not recommended. I only that since end of January is also when many Congressional nominations are announced.

Technically, the deadline for CFA should be the deadline for the application, which is around the end of February.

Last year, I did mine around December, but it put me behind schedule when I received my nomination (I took the CFA after I received the nomination). Because of that I had no opportunity to receive the primary slot, as I was not 3Q'd.

Do it as soon as possible! Good luck!

I disagree, nomination has nothing to do with a candidate being 3Q'd or not. They are separate processes. West Point won't 3Q someone because an applicant has a nomination or vice versa.

3Q - academic, medical, & physical. So where does nomination fit in?

Perhaps your MOC had a different requirement, but most MOC don't required completed application to apply for nominations.

CFA sooner the better, but depends on how competitive you are. Some cases, even without completed applications, based on LOAs, competitivenss of the district, and etc, some applicants will be designated as the likely vacancy winner. Had a kid in one of Congressional District that was "designated" as the likely vacancy winner and didn't take the CFA until the last minute. Hence until he took the CFA, West Point did not pick the vacancy winner.
 
Does it take long for the CFA administrator to send the results to USMA?

I'm planning on taking my CFA on November 28 so I can get as much practice as I can, and the letter I got from USMA tells me to submit the CFA results by November 29.
 
If by e-mail, then not long at all. My PE teacher simply put my scores into an e-mail and it updated within a day.
 
Thanks for all of the replies. Would it be a good strategy to take the CFA now and get a low score and then retake it? It is my understanding that an application won't get looked at until the CFA has been taken, so taking it will at least get the application moved to the admissions committee and then hopefully the CFA would be retaken and a higher score substituted. Anyone have any thoughts on this? My son is very strong in all other parts of the application, so is there a benefit to getting his application in front of the admissions committee earlier instead of later?

Thanks.
 
You may only retake the CFA at USMA's discretion; so I would recommend taking it now, but only if you're confident you can meet or get just below the averages posted.
 
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