Suggestions for a USNA hopeful?

So, I'm new here.
My name's Hannah, I'm a sophomore in high school. I was raised in a military family. I have 3 navy seal uncles who are very important to me, and my dad is an air force veteran. Going into a service academy just makes sense to me. It would mean more than the world to me if I were to get in, and I'm willing to do anything to get there. I get that it's a bit early, but I'm working to make myself as competitive as possible now. From reading other threads, I understand that no one can tell me my chances of getting in, especially this early, but I was hoping to get some input on what I should be doing to prepare myself and what will look good on my application. Though I have plenty of military family members, I would be the first to go to a service academy. Therefore, websites like this are my only real resource for information on what the applications process and academies are really like. I will be applying to USMA, USAFA, and USNA, USNA being my first choice.

Soo, enough backround. Here's some info:

-I go to a small school in a small town. No ROTC, no weighted AP courses until next year. Pretty much the opposite of NAPS. I've heard that your high school makes a difference in your competitiveness, and also that it makes no difference.

-I'm tied for 1st in my class. I have a perfect 4.0 GPA and I scored in the top 4% of college bound juniors on my PSAT as a sophomore. I am already preparing for SATs and ACTs.

-I have plenty of ECAs. I am very active in my schools theater department as well as my community theater. I do 2-3 shows a year, and have gotten several leads/supporting roles. I'm in multiple academic and community service related clubs and I'm the vice president of my class. During the summer I am a counselor in training at a summer camp. I am a strong leader there as well as in school, and I earn 900 community service hours a summer.

-Athletics is where I fall short. I am the captain of my color guard (marching band, not military) but that's it. I've heard that the academies don't count marching band as a sport, but I'm not sure about guard? Even though I'm not necessarily an average athlete, I am currently searching for a trainer to help me prepare for CFAs. Once I find a trainer, and once I finish with the 2 musicals I'm currently in, I will start training regularly.

I'm probably a little ignorant as far as the academies, the application process and the requirements goes. But I'm researching a lot, and looking for information from as many sources I can find. Any suggestions or advice you can give me would be really, really helpful.
thankyouthankyouthankyou

Importance of Athletics

navysealniece4262 said:

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-Athletics is where I fall short. I am the captain of my color guard (marching band, not military) but that's it. I've heard that the academies don't count marching band as a sport, but I'm not sure about guard? Even though I'm not necessarily an average athlete, I am currently searching for a trainer to help me prepare for CFAs. Once I find a trainer, and once I finish with the 2 musicals I'm currently in, I will start training regularly.
:

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Color guard and marching band are good areas through which you can show long term commitment, working with others and leadership (band council member, section lead, etc.)...BUT we to heard that the academies don't count marching band or color guard as a sport.
Athletics are one of the key areas looked at. If you are tied up with band in the fall, what about a winter or (this year) spring sport? Track and swimming come to mind. If not, could you do martial arts outside of school? Without quesiton, I would think you would want to be involved in organized athletics and as a sophomore, you want to jump on it now.
Good luck to you!

S

Congratulations on your early decision to pursue an appointment to a service academy; it is a big decision for a young woman - and very commendable! The important thing for you at this point is to take maximum advantage of the time available to you between now and your senior year, and you have started in that direction by taken the PSAT.

Plan to take both the SAT and ACT exams as they are slightly different and you may discover that one series is more favorable to you than the other. The SA's give the advantage of best score on either exam to the candidate. Candidly you need to aim to take the exams until you are comfortable that you have attained the best scores you can. Bear in mind that NAVY is more concerned with your math scores than the verbal.

It is important to you to visit the campus of any school in which you are interested, and there are several programs to facilitate that; eg, STEM, Naval Academy Summer Seminar (end of junior year), and sports camps. Check out www.usna.edu/Admissions and www.navysports.com for the events and how to register. In your junior and senior year you may be able to get a Candidate Visit Weekend (CVW) which will get you into Bancroft Hall for a couple of nights and the opportunity to audit some academic classes.

Look at you list of ECA's and pare it down to those activities that are most interesting and fulfilling to you. Pursue leadership roles in your ECA's, student government, band, and any other programs you get into. Look at Girls State and HOBY for excellent leadership training opportunities.

Sit down with your guidance counselor and lay out your curriculum for the next two years to ensure that you will be able to get into chemistry with lab, physics, pre-calc and calculus, along the most rigorous grammar and composition course available. These courses should be taken at the highest level available. Consider courses at the local college or junior college. If you are being put off by the counselor, take you parents with you on your re-visit.

Don't be shy about getting in touch with your USNA Area Coordinator to get onto the local event list, and also contact your congressman's local office to get on the mailing list. Don't get hung up on your school's size, etc., I have presented certificates to appointees with graduating classes of 50 students. Your efforts and accomplishments are more important than your school's size. Your goal going forward should be to be the absolute best you can be. Don't get caught up in playing the odds or taking shortcuts; every BGO in this forum have seen prospects fail because they got distracted by such issues. Keep your options open, be flexible, look at all of the service academies, the ROTC programs, and all opportunities available to you. BEST WISHES to you!

Previous replys give sound advice. Athletics are good but leadership is better. The more leadership roles the better. Run for office, student council, class pres, treasurer etc. To offset the sports, focus on doing extremely well on the CFA. The best way to train is by doing the test, the whole test. Failing any portion means failing the whole test. Make sure your trainer is familiar with the details of the test. You can find details on the USNA website.

If it makes you feel better, I spent my high school life in JROTC and did pretty much zero organized sports aside from a couple months of Cross Country.

I have come to the conclusion that cross country is an excellent conditioning activity, and particularly applicable to the service academies. Just don't forget training for the CFA.

Sports

1964BGO said:

I have come to the conclusion that cross country is an excellent conditioning activity, and particularly applicable to the service academies. Just don't forget training for the CFA.

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The above quote is what the BGO at our oldest's school tells everyone considering applying to any Academy. For those who can't do this (cross country), he suggests the longest events in spring track. If you can't do either of those, he then says swim team (endurance) or team sports with more running and a true team environment so that you have workouts involving moving and sweating AND get to learn how to interact with a team to accomplish goals. So he suggest, to this end, soccer and basketball vs. softball and golf, for instance...IF you cannot run cross country because of conflicts or ability.

His BIG push is to be a LEADER, be and ATHLETE, be a very good STUDENT and make time to SERVE others if you want to be competitive.

S