USCGA Competitiveness

[GulfCoastStorm]

I'm a Junior in highschool and was curious about my standing as a future USCGA applicant. I currently have a 3.7 unweighted GPA. I am currently taking all Honors and AP classes, excluding Varsity Athletics. I am in National Honor Society, Key Club, Junior Civitan, and Student Council. I am on my school's varsity swim team; I have also competed on other various non-school swim teams, but I no longer do these due to work taking up most of my time. I currently work as a Lifeguard (ARC certified) for the USCG. MY ACT composite score is 28, English- 31, Math- 26, Reading- 29, and Science- 25 ( this was without writing, I plan on taking the ACT with writing soon). I am currently in my city's top Youth Leadership program, and was previously in the Boy Scouts since 1st grade( I am no longer in BSA due to my troop disolving). Thank you in advance for helping me.

Also, I have two questions.

1. My coach only started offering Varsity letters last year for swimming as a "gift" to graduating Seniors. We do have a new coach this year but I have no idea if we will recieve letters. So basically I was wondering if USCGA recognizes a difference between a Varsity Letter and participating in a Varsity Athletic?

2. A friend of mine was saying that completing the eQIP and "being in the system" will give me a major boost on my application. Can someone please explain to me how this will help?

Again, Thank you for helping me. This site is really a great source of information!

 

[Objee]

1. So basically I was wondering if USCGA recognizes a difference between a Varsity Letter and participating in a Varsity Athletic?

Yes...there are many varsity athletes who do not meet the requirements (whatever their school sets them to be) for earning a varsity letter, so we specifically ask on our application if a varsity letter was earned. If your school doesn't award varsity letters, or only awards them to seniors, you should have your coach address this in his/her evaluation; you could also speak about it in your personal statements.

2. A friend of mine was saying that completing the eQIP and "being in the system" will give me a major boost on my application. Can someone please explain to me how this will help?

e-QIP = Electronic Questionnaires for Investigations Processing

This system basically processes security questionnaires associated with background investigations for federal employees. The only way to get "in the system" would be to become a federal employee or (possibly) do an internship with the federal government. I can't speak for the other SA's, but this has absolutely nothing to do with our selection process and would have no bearing on your application.