Important! Class of 2016 to be extremely competitive

SamAca10

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Hey y'all.

Just received an email about Prospective Cadets and how the Academy is taking the interviews more seriously than before. According to the email Admiral Papp and Headquarters have mandated that the class of 2016 will be limited to 245-265 people. Can someone get a confirmation on that?

That means get your application in ASAP for you applicants because it's going to be a tough year.
 
Hey y'all.

Just received an email about Prospective Cadets and how the Academy is taking the interviews more seriously than before. According to the email Admiral Papp and Headquarters have mandated that the class of 2016 will be limited to 245-265 people. Can someone get a confirmation on that?

That means get your application in ASAP for you applicants because it's going to be a tough year.

Yep I can confirm it. According to ADM Stosz during our class meeting with her during CAAP week, the official number will be 241. (I don't think that includes internationals though). It's due in part to an increasingly large number of officers staying in later than they typically would, due to the economy being so bad. It seems as though even though it's ALWAYS a good day to be in the Coast Guard, it's even better now a days. :wink:
 
Actually, here is some interesting information regarding EA:
Decisions for Early Action will be released on a rolling basis.

Early Action applicants not recommended for an appointment will no longer be deferred for re-evaluation under Regular Admissions. Early Action applicants will be receiving non-acceptance letters and will not be considered any further. (An applicant will not be given an option to send in additional information to strengthen their file).

Students who are strong (good grades, good standarized test scores, as well as leadership, and athletics/music), are good candidates for applying under Early Action.

***If there is a weakness in a certain area which a student hopes to improve upon in the fall of their Senior year, that student may want to hold off and apply under Regular Admission. ***

Therefore, rushing to get an application in by 01 NOV could backfire if the candidate has weak areas in their application.

Also spoke with an Admission's Officer this past weekend and there is a very slim chance that the class size could extend to 250, but IMHO the 241 is the most reasonable number (also, remember that a portion of that number will be CGAS, prior enlisted and deferrals, if any, from 2015).

Yes, I do agree this is going to be a VERY competitive year!
 
Yes! If I recall the news about downsizing the corps of cadets didn't come until after the summer was already well underway, meaning that CGAS had already been filled up to the usual size and several former members of the class of 2015 had recieved deferrals, so knowing that those spots are essentially already spoken for, I wonder how many spots are left for candidates coming straight out of high school.
 
You can count on ~60-70 prepsters getting automatic appointments, further reducing the available number of appointment slots.

Not counting the 13 LOAs that have already been issued.
 
Oh my!

So what's the point of all these dire warnings about the small class size? It's always tough to get in. Are you inferring marginal marginal candidates shouldn't bother to apply? Are you encouraging everyone to have a plan B?

Seems like a plan B would be a good idea even in a normal year.
 
Eagle,

What Sam is trying to do is just caution applicants that this year, due to the needs of the service, it will be even harder for applicants to receive an appointment to the class of 2016. Previous classes have usually started at 290...the fact that the incoming class will be smaller than my class (their training class) is weird to think about. I think Sam and the others are just trying to say that applicants should make sure each of their application is as strong as possible before applying. And to definitely have a Plan B and C...I applied to seven colleges my senior year, including the Academy, just in case. Yes, its always tough to get in, but this year, its even tougher, that's the difference.

T&F
 
So how "marginal" should candidates be to consider applying for RA rather than EA? I'm thinking it may have been a mistake for me to apply so early (finished my whole app last week) now that this issue regarding class size reduction seems to be more serious than I perceived a couple weeks ago. The GPA on my application is a 3.6 W, so it's definitely not a strong point in my application, but I'm hoping that I was able to take advantage of the rolling basis part of the application and get my app in before all the ACT and SAT scores for September 10, 2011 and October 1, 2011 arrived (every other category looks good, PFE-256, Swim team captain, 4 years varsity, good essays, good teacher recs, 29 ACT, attended AIM). Now it seems like I may regret my planning, because it looks like the CGA is really looking for those strong applicants that are nearly perfect in every category, with the news of the class size reduction being brought up constantly throughout SAF and college fairs.
I guess I just want to know how much of a risk it is now to take advantage of rolling basis and apply earlier in EA with one weak category with the hopes that applicants will be competing with less competition vs. waiting for a better application and applying RA. I think I speak for all applicants that this is a very stressful time for us :shake:
 
I wonder if an applicant who pulled the trigger on EA can "pull back" their application and resubmit under RA? If it were my D or S wondering if they made a mistake in choosing EA, I might counsel them to at least ask. That is, if they felt they could significantly work on the weak area in the next few months.

Good luck to all those who are on this crazy ride....keep on keepin' on. :cool:
 
I guess I just want to know how much of a risk it is now to take advantage of rolling basis and apply earlier in EA with one weak category with the hopes that applicants will be competing with less competition vs. waiting for a better application and applying RA.

More than likely, just slightly more of a "risk" than last year.

The only difference between EA this year and last year is that you will no longer be "deferred" into RA if you don't receive an EA appointment. Instead, you will received a "thank you for applying but...." letter instead.

In other words, strong EA candidates will get appointments, a small number will be put on the waiting list (with a very realistic chance of getting an appointment under RA), and the remainder will not get appointments

I think people may be under the mistaken belief that many EA-deferrals received appointments - not true.

A small number (about 4%) of EA-deferred candidates received appointments last year during RA. Those candidates will be the ones that will most likely be given "waiting list" letters under EA. The other 96% will be sent TWEs in December, rather than mid-April.

Objee said:
The Class of 2015 had 1,017 EA applicants...162 were offered appointments under EA, 18 were offered CGAS appointments under EA, and 837 were deferred to RA. We reevaluated some lesser number of EA deferrals under RA, since all 837 did not update their records with new information, and 34 were offered appointments under RA, 35 were offered CGAS appointments under RA, and the rest were eventually sent non-acceptance letters. Those 34 applicants who were initially deferred under EA, but then offered appointments under RA, represent the type of applicant who will now be offered a spot on the waiting list under EA.

The process will essentially be the same as before for those "good candidates" who are not appointed under EA...they will just be on the waiting list now instead of deferred to RA. What applicants will need to decide is whether or not they believe they are competitive for an appointment under EA or if they should wait to apply under RA. Admissions Officers should be able to assist applicants in making this decision, but applying under EA will probably still give most applicants the best chance to eventually be appointed.
 
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Last year, my DS was one of those deferred from EA to RA, and unfortunately was not offered an appointment to the class of 2015. He is now a freshman at our local university with the plan to reapply to the Academy for a chance to be a member of the class of 2016. It goes without saying that all of the waiting, wondering, hoping, praying, and worrying that went on last year is still quite fresh in my mind!:eek: These numbers out for the class of 2016 appointments to be offered are sure to add to the "angst-to-come"... Good luck to all the applicants, and to the parents: hang in there and remember if it is meant to be...
 
This is only coming from me, but I would suggest getting those SAT/ACT scores up as high as possible. Take both! You might do better on one than on the other.

Here are 2015's average scores:

• Median SAT: 630 Math, 590 Verbal, 588 Writing
• Median ACT: 28 Math, 27 Reading

Try to get as close as possible to 700's on the SAT sections and above 30 on the ACT's. That's just my take on this...
 
At our state Congressional event last Saturday each and every admission's representative from the 5 service academies strongly suggested that all candidates for the Class of 2016 have a plan B this year.
 
Son of CG vet

Can anyone tell me how much clout being the son of a 20+ year Coast Guard member holds? With the competition being so tough this year, he needs all the edge he can get! BTW, he is at the USCGA today and tomorrow for his beansprout experience!! :smile:
 
Not much clout. He should get in on his own merits. Two years behind me a 1-star admiral's kid applied. His application mentioned nothing about it. His father eventually had 3 stars.
 
Agree with LIS.
Being the dependent of a career service member gives the candidate a realistic idea of life after a SA.
We've know candidates with multiple generations who are alum and were not offered an appointment.
 
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