Qualification improvement suggestions?

PTWEES

5-Year Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2012
Messages
8
Before I begin, I would like to stress that I am moving to the United States in under 2 months. I wish to apply to the Class of 2017, but will probably end up applying for the Class of 2018 as results are delayed in Australia.

- High school senior
- Australian/American (born Alaskan, currently living in 'rural' Australia)
- ~GPA 5.0 (Band 5) est, GPA is not used until University.
- Placed in top %15 of NSW
- Class rank indeterminable, school rank ~60/~600

I don't emphasize on sport; I have played basketball for 4 years at a intra-state level.

I am physically fit (I suppose), I work fortnightly on a farm in highland NSW, go out on ~40km walks every weekend, enjoy running around suburbs/parks, go on multiple day/day hikes in the highlands every 3-5 months. However, I do not work out at the gym.

I was a part of the community care and concern committee at school which organized events i.e. charity events in my senior year.

As far as leadership goes; I have led/co-led many construction projects outside of school (non-professional), acted as a logistics coordinator (title translated), and participated in many community service programs.

Academically I have not been doing all so well in relation to student cohort. 'GPA' expectation at my school is incredibly high, with top %10 of cohort receiving SAT equivalents of above 2250. Although, as a result of doing the NSW HSC course I strongly believe I am able to pick up absolutely anything and learn it to a high level within a given time-frame.

My high school courses from Grade 8 onward (date chosen as I moved from Athens, Greece after completing year 8 to Australia) are as follows.

Pre-HSC (Grade 8 through 10)
3 years of English
3 years of Mathematics
3 years of History
3 years of Geography
3 years of General Science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geology)
3 years of PE
3 years of Chinese
1 year of Design & Technology
1 year of Visual Arts
1 year of East Asian Studies

HSC (Grade 11 & 12)
2 years of English
2 years of Mathematics
1 year of Extension Mathematics
2 years of Physics
2 years of Chemistry
2 years of Software Design & Development**

**Effectively legal studies & Computer science course

As a national who has spent most of time overseas how would you fare the above qualifications to a West Point candidate, I understand that the average West Point candidate will exceed my personal qualifications but do I at least have a chance? As the unofficial school year 12 motto has been of late (yes, silly but true): 'Go hard or go home', I intend to stick to that, suggestions appreciated.

Regards,
PTWEES
 
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Just to be clear, you area U.S. citizen.

West Point do accept students with internatonal background.

Hard to tell, but at this point scoring very high on SAT/ACT is your bet. I am pretty sure West Point requires SAT/ACT for all applicants, no exceptions.
 
Just to be clear, you area U.S. citizen.

West Point do accept students with internatonal background.

Hard to tell, but at this point scoring very high on SAT/ACT is your bet. I am pretty sure West Point requires SAT/ACT for all applicants, no exceptions.

Since he was born in Alaska he is a US Citizen.

PTWEES - go for it. You only don't have a chance if you don't apply. I imagine one hurdle you will face is getting a nomination. I have no idea what MOC you would apply to but if I read correctly you'll have next year to address that and you will have a MOC by then.

Start working on the CFA. I expect you're in great overall shape but you need to concentrate on CFA tests right now. If you knock that out of the park then any concerns about your lack of sports will disappear. Personally I would think your international experience would be an asset on your application, but I'm a mere peon with no real insight into admissions.

Will you be attending school in the US between your return and I Day?
 
@MemberLG: I am as American as you are! Unfortunately I caught the Australian accent after being posted with family to Greece.

@kinnem: I completely understand where you are coming from. I intend to do another year of senior high in the U.S. if my MOC decides that I haven't been in country for long enough. That's a perfectly acceptable path I can take (and if you ask me, an opportunity to do more sports - I like the idea of skiing. Couldn't do that here/train harder for the CFA).

Looking forward to the tropical weather the north brings!
 
One small thing you might want to keep track of when you move back is to make sure you do everything to ensure that you (or your parents) meet all the state's requirements for state residency, well before the MOC nomination process kicks in. This way this will not come into question and you lose out on some nomination sources as a technicality.

If there is anything I've learned on this forum is that the small things count and you need to manage and track those.

Good luck!
Will
 
One small thing you might want to keep track of when you move back is to make sure you do everything to ensure that you (or your parents) meet all the state's requirements for state residency, well before the MOC nomination process kicks in. This way this will not come into question and you lose out on some nomination sources as a technicality.

If there is anything I've learned on this forum is that the small things count and you need to manage and track those.

Good luck!
Will

Also, within the realm of what's possible, you might want to select a congressional district to live in with regard to it's competitiveness for getting a nom and acceptance. Difficult info to extract (perhaps even impossible) but its worth keeping in mind.
 
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