What are my chances?

WienerDog

West Point Class of 2018
5-Year Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2012
Messages
239
My GPA is 91 unweighted, (weighted 96) I am taking all AP.
I am trying to do Army ROTC.
I play Varsity Lacrosse and Varsity Swimming. I play club Lacrosse year round and club rugby in the spring.
I plan to major in Civil or Mechanical Engineering.
I am co-captain of the lacrosse team. Also, I am an Eagle Scout and current Senior Patrol Leader in my troop. In addition, I attended West Point's Summer Leadership Seminar.
I am a member of my school's Key Club.
I scored 1970 on my SATs (700 math, 640 reading, 630 writing)
I am applying to:
1. Rutgers
2. VMI
3. Penn State
4. RIT
5. Georgia Tech
And also, Citadel
On my fitness test, I had 42 pushups, 45 situps, and ran a 6:45 mile.
I missed the October 1 deadline. :frown: I will be completley finished by Friday.
What do you think my odds are of getting in?
Thank you in advance for your time.
 
I'm confused - are you looking for your odds of acceptance to those schools, or for your odds of receiving an ROTC scholarship?
 
Sorry, I was wondering what my odds of receiving a scholarship are.
 
Although you need to convert your GPA into the standard 4.0 based GPA which is what every one uses, but I'm assuming that it's likely to be in the mid 3's and I can't tell where you are for class rank all of which matter. Based on what I can see and guess (your SAT's are pretty good)- I would say that your chances of getting accepted at VMI are pretty good . I won't go out on a limb though and crystal ball your chances of getting an ROTC scholarship.
 
Although you need to convert your GPA into the standard 4.0 based GPA which is what every one uses, but I'm assuming that it's likely to be in the mid 3's and I can't tell where you are for class rank all of which matter. Based on what I can see and guess (your SAT's are pretty good)- I would say that your chances of getting accepted at VMI are pretty good . I won't go out on a limb though and crystal ball your chances of getting an ROTC scholarship.

Thank you! Also, if I do attend VMI and do not receive an ROTC scholarship, am I able to get a commission from VMI?
 
Thank you! Also, if I do attend VMI and do not receive an ROTC scholarship, am I able to get a commission from VMI?

Yes

Giving you odds on receiving a scholarship is difficult, there are a lot of factors that go into the selection process.

A lot depends on your school choices, the more competitive the battalion the harder it gets. If the schools you selected have a great number of applicatnts that list those schools then you become a little fish in a big pond. If the school does not have a large number select their school then it's the other way around.

Over the past few years there have been applicants with higher stats then yours not receive a scholarship, and applicants with lower stats receive a scholarship, it came down to what schools they listed. While you could be almost a shoe in for some schools, you may be just average for others.

Captain of the Lacrosse team and Eagle scout will be a plus, your SAT is good, it will all come down to the number of applicants listing your school choices and how you rank among them.

Best of luck on the Jan. Board.
 
agree with everything Jcleppe wrote, and would summarize your chances as being better than 50/50, with the strongest aspects being Eagle Scout, difficulty of course curriculum, and SAT. As an aside, I like the way you organized your post.
 
My GPA is 91 unweighted, (weighted 96) I am taking all AP.
I am trying to do Army ROTC.
I play Varsity Lacrosse and Varsity Swimming. I play club Lacrosse year round and club rugby in the spring.
I plan to major in Civil or Mechanical Engineering.
I am co-captain of the lacrosse team. Also, I am an Eagle Scout and current Senior Patrol Leader in my troop. In addition, I attended West Point's Summer Leadership Seminar.
I am a member of my school's Key Club.
I scored 1970 on my SATs (700 math, 640 reading, 630 writing)
I am applying to:
1. Rutgers
2. VMI
3. Penn State
4. RIT
5. Georgia Tech
And also, Citadel
On my fitness test, I had 42 pushups, 45 situps, and ran a 6:45 mile.
I missed the October 1 deadline. :frown: I will be completley finished by Friday.
What do you think my odds are of getting in?
Thank you in advance for your time.

A couple of critical things here...
1) Missing the first board. Could be a problem, but could also present an opportunity. My thoughts -- As others may have mentioned scholarships are unpredictable especially at SMCs like VMI and Citadel. They are very competitive. You might not have gotten one to VMI in this round just because there are very many highly competitive applicants who get awards this round. However, a couple people might get VMI and say another SMC or an Ivy and might turn down VMI and accept elsewhere. Those scholarships might be available to you on the second round where your application may be more competitive. It isn't over until its over.

2) Looking at your GPA, my guess is that you are from NY. All of your publics are OOS - understandable as there aren't too many top publics with engineering that fit your academic profile. Rutgers probably has more scholarships because it is a public, but I don't know if they weigh in the OOS factor when awarding to these schools. Penn State has lots of scholarships, but it has a lot of competition for those slots - a very popular school both in-state and OOS.

3) Red-light Green-light issues. If you've been reading around here, you may have noted that a PMS can red-light or green-light your application (they hold a veto). If a PMS sees Rutgers at the top of your list and thinks you are highly likely to accept there (because it is #1), they may red-light your application to get someone else who has their school as #1. However, if you were to put VMI or another "less likely to be awarded school" at the top, I don't think the PMS at Rutgers would be as worried about you turning them down. That being said, if you are sure you would prefer Rutgers over VMI, stick with what you have. If it is close between the 2, I'd bump VMI up to boost your chances of getting an offer to both schools.

Overall, I'd say you are a higher than average competitive applicant whose major challenge is the school list. There were plenty of highly qualified candidates last year who didn't get awarded to any of their schools because many schools (especially privates) may only have 1 scholarship allotted to them.

Last item - Just because your application is complete, doesn't mean your work is over. I'd highly recommend touching base with your top schools to see how their first board results went. Often you can gain some intelligence as to whether they will have any more scholarships for subsequent boards. More importantly, it shows your interest in the school and the unit - this should be the subject of your conversation. If the recruiting officer (that is who you should talk to) is enamored with you, they will bring up the scholarship availability subject with you.
 
Thank you everyone for all of my help! I actually live in New Jersey. That is why I have listed Rutgers as my #1 school, as it is an In-state school. I remember reading somewhere that it is better to list an in-state school a your #1 because it is cheaper and will give you a higher chance of being given a scholarship. Is that true?
 
Thank you everyone for all of my help! I actually live in New Jersey. That is why I have listed Rutgers as my #1 school, as it is an In-state school. I remember reading somewhere that it is better to list an in-state school a your #1 because it is cheaper and will give you a higher chance of being given a scholarship. Is that true?

It can certainly help.

Goliedad gave some great info regarding how to list your schools in regard to VMI. There is however another side to that coin. In a conversation I had with my son's PMS we talked about school selections, this was a year after my son had started school. The PMS made a comment that if he looked at an applicants school list and saw a blue chip school listed above his school, and he thought after reviewing the application that the applicant would have a better then 60% chance of getting a scholarship to that school, he would check No to leave room for applicants that had listed his school number one.

It's so hard to try and read the minds of the board and the PMS, I would follw Goliedads advice and get in touch with the battalions after the first board scholarships have been awarded to see how they were distributed. You can always go back and change to prder of your schools before the deadline for the next board.
 
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School Choice

I completed my application in time for the first board but as I read this post I am realizing I may not have given as much thought to school choice as I should have. Is it possible to change my school choice now or after the first baord meets - what effect might this have?

Thank You
 
I completed my application in time for the first board but as I read this post I am realizing I may not have given as much thought to school choice as I should have. Is it possible to change my school choice now or after the first baord meets - what effect might this have?

Thank You

You won't be able to change your school list for this board, it is past the deadline. If you are not selected by this board you can go in and change your school selections. There is no negative effect in doing this although you would want to contact the school that you change to #1 and let them know and have a conversation with them.
 
Thank you everyone for all of my help! I actually live in New Jersey. That is why I have listed Rutgers as my #1 school, as it is an In-state school. I remember reading somewhere that it is better to list an in-state school a your #1 because it is cheaper and will give you a higher chance of being given a scholarship. Is that true?

It can certainly help.

Goliedad gave some great info regarding how to list your schools in regard to VMI. There is however another side to that coin. In a conversation I had with my son's PMS we talked about school selections, this was a year after my son had started school. The PMS made a comment that if he looked at an applicants school list and saw a blue chip school listed above his school, and he thought after reviewing the application that the applicant would have a better then 60% chance of getting a scholarship to that school, he would check No to leave room for applicants that had listed his school number one.

It's so hard to try and read the minds of the board and the PMS, I would follw Goliedads advice and get in touch with the battalions after the first board scholarships have been awarded to see how they were distributed. You can always go back and change to prder of your schools before the deadline for the next board.

Sorry about guessing wrong about your residence. Yes, having an in-state public greatly increases your odds of being awarded a scholarship because that is where most of the scholarships are.

I'm going to give you a little more insight as to what is important which starts with the old joke about 2 hunters out in the woods who came upon a bear at which time both of their guns misfired. The first hunter turned to the second and said, "I hope I can outrun this bear." Whereas the second hunter turned to the first and said "I'm not worried about the bear. I'm worried if I can outrun you!" The point here is that scholarship winners are by and large have to be better than the other applicants for the scholarship regardless of whether you can get past admissions (the bear). With Rutgers, I think your application runs a bit faster than many other applicants. VMI - ya can't be sure.

That being said, if you have your heart set on the SMC experience (you have done an extended tour, haven't you?) and the only way it will work is with the scholarship, by all means pick your favorite, explain the situation to both (assuming VMI is #1 and Rutgers is #2). Given your credentials and the crapshoot of getting the VMI scholarship in round 2, I think you are OK to put VMI #1 without offending Rutgers. This is something that you will want to measure up both carefully on, though. If VMI isn't really sold on you (this is where your sense of judging people comes in), stick with the one who loves you.

Confused yet? Let's hope not. This is an interesting matching process where everyone has to be careful not to promise too much to the other side.
 
Sorry about guessing wrong about your residence. Yes, having an in-state public greatly increases your odds of being awarded a scholarship because that is where most of the scholarships are.

I'm going to give you a little more insight as to what is important which starts with the old joke about 2 hunters out in the woods who came upon a bear at which time both of their guns misfired. The first hunter turned to the second and said, "I hope I can outrun this bear." Whereas the second hunter turned to the first and said "I'm not worried about the bear. I'm worried if I can outrun you!" The point here is that scholarship winners are by and large have to be better than the other applicants for the scholarship regardless of whether you can get past admissions (the bear). With Rutgers, I think your application runs a bit faster than many other applicants. VMI - ya can't be sure.

That being said, if you have your heart set on the SMC experience (you have done an extended tour, haven't you?) and the only way it will work is with the scholarship, by all means pick your favorite, explain the situation to both (assuming VMI is #1 and Rutgers is #2). Given your credentials and the crapshoot of getting the VMI scholarship in round 2, I think you are OK to put VMI #1 without offending Rutgers. This is something that you will want to measure up both carefully on, though. If VMI isn't really sold on you (this is where your sense of judging people comes in), stick with the one who loves you.

Confused yet? Let's hope not. This is an interesting matching process where everyone has to be careful not to promise too much to the other side.

Thank you so much goaliedad ! I really appreciate it! I will definetley make sure to take note of that! I will also give the schools a call and see what they have to say! Once again, thank you so much!
 
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