just finished ninth grade

jubileepeyton

5-Year Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2013
Messages
1
i just completed 9th grade and am on a service academy mission! 23 my first try on act and 1160 first try on sat....do i appear to be on track for a young guy!
 
We cannot possibly tell you. Take a look through this forum and see what the scores and activities are of other interested people.

You need:

High GPA
Sports
leadership
good test scores
great recommendations

and that's for starters.
 
fencer is correct, nobody can give you any answer at all, not only because we don't know anything else, except those scores, but also because nobody knows the size of the pool and the amount of appointments that will be offered in 3 yrs from now for the AFA.

4 yrs ago they offered 1600+ appointments, the past 2-3 yrs it was in the 1350 number range. Stats change when the pool remains the same size, while the availability decreases for apptmts. Simple supply and demand.

I agree with fencer's points, but I would add one more. Medical. DoDMERB can become an issue. Look at old threads on DoDMERB how many posts exist because they didn't realize what was never an issue as a high school student, now is an issue as a candidate. Asthma, vision, surgeries, prescriptions, wisdom teeth are a few common hiccups. Typically, it will work itself out, but it means a lot of paperwork, including medical records since you were 13. Prescribed an inhaler, play FB, no issue, you still have a current prescription for asthma. Get a concussion playing FB 11th grade and hospitalized for 3 days, it will be recorded. As I said it typically works itself out, but it is just a stress you don't want to be blindsided with during the process.

It is called WHOLE CANDIDATE SCORE for a reason. Don't wrap yourself up in just one thing...i.e. academics.

Best wishes.

P.S. if you have no athletic participation, I would suggest getting some in starting now. It is not just because it is sports, but because sports usually are team building, plus leadership opportunities, and proof that you can maintain a high cgpa from a time management approach. In our school district, FB starts practicing in July, and finishes in Dec. They start weight training in Jan. until May. Finally, it illustrates dedication over a long period of time.

There is a great quote. The best predictor for the future is history. That is why they look at things like your ECs. 50 ECs for 4 months, is not the same as 4 ECs for 50 months.
 
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I'm in the same situation as you. What are you doing to try and prepare yourself?
 
rebekah and jubileepeyton,

Do a search of the forums using the keyword 'chances'. You will get a ton of advice from over the years. Best wishes to you both. :thumb:
 
Let me give you a little advice. My daughter is at the USAFA doing her BCT. I know a pilot who once worked for the Naval Academy on the Admissions board. He told me that once they had a person who took the SAT and scored a 2200. While another person scored an 1800. They gave an appointment to the person who scored the 1800 and not the person who scored a 2200. The reason why is that the person who scored the 2200, took the SAT's once and felt 2200 was good enough. While the person who scored the 1800 took it numerous times to try and better there score. He said they always look for Candidates who always try to better themselves. Of course there is a lot more to getting in (Athletics, Leadership, GPA, etc).
 
Not to dampen your spirits or anything, but you also need a nomination on top of everything else to attend either West Point, Navy or Chairforce! I know plenty of people who attended the academy prep schools with perfect SAT scores, but needed improvement elsewhere or they simply failed to obtain a nomination.

For 9th grade, your test scores are pretty solid. Admissions likes to look at the whole package though. For academics, instead of having all A's in your regular courses, an ideal candidate for admissions would be someone who is struggling with a C in a more advanced course.

Team sports are crucial in getting an appointment as well. If you aren't part of a sports team, join a soccer club or a tennis team or something. Having that team player aspect to your profile is important.

Also, not from an admissions standpoint, but for your own benefit, it would help to get comfortable in the water and at swimming. If you attend Navy, a lot of emphasis is placed on swimming all 4 yrs. Not sure how it is at the other service academies.
 
i just completed 9th grade and am on a service academy mission! 23 my first try on act and 1160 first try on sat....do i appear to be on track for a young guy!

An ACT score of 23 at age 15 is a nice accomplishment. The reality is you have not taken a lot of the high school classes yet. That material is covered inside of the ACT and SAT. So don't sweat it. My free advise is to buy the test directly from ACT when you sign-up online that gives you the total results. They include the questions, answers as well as which one you got wrong. This will give you an idea of what part of the test you need the most help with. I don't think I would buy the questions until later in 10th or early 11th grade.

Your persistence with starting early and working on getting a great ACT / SAT score in 9th grade shows that you are motivated. :thumb: Keep up the great work. Getting a higher test score by applying yourself shows your dedication. Keep on plowing forward. Don't let a medical disqualification stop you either. My son had to overcome that time consuming obstacle as well. It was worth the effort. Good luck! :)
 
Let me give you a little advice. My daughter is at the USAFA doing her BCT. I know a pilot who once worked for the Naval Academy on the Admissions board. He told me that once they had a person who took the SAT and scored a 2200. While another person scored an 1800. They gave an appointment to the person who scored the 1800 and not the person who scored a 2200. The reason why is that the person who scored the 2200, took the SAT's once and felt 2200 was good enough. While the person who scored the 1800 took it numerous times to try and better there score. He said they always look for Candidates who always try to better themselves. Of course there is a lot more to getting in (Athletics, Leadership, GPA, etc).

I'm not going to argue what the Navy possibly does in their admissions process; but I have my doubts on an individual not receiving an appointment because they only took the SAT only once. That would take too much work just to figure out. Computer programs and algorithms come up with a composite score for academics that include gpa, ACT/SAT, class rank, difficulty of classes, etc... Looking through each of 2500, 4000, 6000+ applications to determine who took the ACT/SAT once or more than once is simply not worth the time. Not unless someone was on the border line.

And remember; that FINAL SCORE, which is a composite of not just academic gpa, ACT/SAT, class rank, etc..., but also athletics, leadership, volunteering, Extra Curricular, nominations, etc... And remember, if that individual with a 2200 SAT received a principal nomination, that there is absolutely NOTHING the academy can do to turn that individual down if they are otherwise qualified. No matter how much they'd want to say no, they can't. Matter of fact, it could have just as easily been the one with an 1800 SAT who received a principal nomination, and even though the academy though someone else deserved it more, the MOC saw differently, and there isn't a thing that the academy can do about it. They MUST give that person the appointment.

But I drift from my point. I know plenty of individuals with 2200 SAT and 33+ ACT AND 4.0 GPA (unweighted) who did NOT receive an appointment. Many times, it's because "That's ALL THEY HAD". Just academics. No sports. No leadership. No EC's. Just academics. So while it's possible that the naval academy had a prejudice reaction to an individual who scored high on their SAT (But only took it once), and they denied them an appointment;....... I really doubt that THAT was the only/main reason. I sure wouldn't bet on it.

I know PLENTY of applicants/appointees/cadets/graduates who only took the ACT or SAT only once. If the REST of their application is "CONSISTENT". e.g they are a 4.0 gpa; #1 class rank; all IB/AP classes; etc... then the academy knows that it is very likely that they don't need to take the SAT/ACT multiple times. It would simply be a waste of time and money. And you throw that excellent academic resume in with 2-3 varsity sports; captain of some of those; class officer or leadership in clubs; boy/girl's state; 200-300 hours volunteer time; etc... and there's no doubt that the individual most likely WILL receive an appointment. They would fall into the "No Brainer" club. But if that 2200+SAT was accompanied by a 3.2 GPA, "Regular" classes, little or no sports/EC/leadership, etc... then they most likely would not receive an appointment.
 
I'm not going to argue what the Navy possibly does in their admissions process; but I have my doubts on an individual not receiving an appointment because they only took the SAT only once.

I thought the same but I let it go.

When you take the ACT test, they ask what schools you want to send it to (it is included in the price of the ACT). 100% of the time my son and daughter selected "none". Meaning, ACT didn't send any test scores to any colleges. Later, we had to pay to send off the test so it is a more expensive approach.

If I understand things correctly, USAFA got one and only one ACT test score for my son. Personally, I would never recommend sending off test scores to colleges while attending 9th grade. Wait until 11th grade.
 
Wow, I got my info from someone who was on the Admission board. I guess both of you were on the Admission board too. You seem to question what I was told. Why should anyone else post messages on these boards? You both seem to know everything!
 
Wow, I got my info from someone who was on the Admission board. I guess both of you were on the Admission board too. You seem to question what I was told. Why should anyone else post messages on these boards? You both seem to know everything!

This is a forum. Take all the information with a grain of salt. No, I'm not on the admissions board. But I do work for admissions. I'm an ALO. I've been working with academy/ROTC/Enlisted/University applicants for the past 10+ years.

That's also why I said I'm not going to argue what the navy admissions board does. Maybe they do somehow give more weight to an applicant who takes the SAT/ACT multiple times. I was simply questioning the practicality of it. Considering that when the admissions board looks at your file, it has to be complete, and they are looking at composite scores as well as the subjective areas such as essays, teacher's recommendations, leadership, etc...

But again; if the navy is dissecting individual's academic scores to give more weight to those who took the SAT/ACT multiple times and punishing the 4.0gpa, #1 ranked individual, who tool all IB/AP classes; simply because they scored a 730+ on each of the SAT or a 33+ on each of their ACT tests and chose to only submit scores once; then more power to them. As Mn-Dad said, the individual could have taken the SAT 10 times and only submitted their best scores 1 time. How would the academy know? Or, they could have submitted them each and every time they took them. Remember; most universities don't superscore SAT/ACT and they actually look down on individuals who submit multiple SAT/ACT scores. Most people tend to only submit their best scores. But because this is an "Air Force" forum, I was simply commenting that while the navy MIGHT do as you were told; that doesn't mean the air force academy does.
 
Wow, I got my info from someone who was on the Admission board. I guess both of you were on the Admission board too. You seem to question what I was told. Why should anyone else post messages on these boards? You both seem to know everything!

It's o.k. to question a statement on a forum. I am not questioning what you were told, I am questioning if the information that you heard was correct for 2013 at the AFA.

This is a AFA forum not a Naval Academy forum. So to assume your information is correct in 2013 specifically for the AFA could be inaccurate. Do you agree? Independent of that, I've been told a lot of things from insiders that are false in many topics in life. Most of the time it is true but other times it is not. So I question things if it doesn't make sense. The 1800 versus 2200 ACT statement is one of them. Trying as hard as you can may result in failure if you are not smart enough to keep up. A 1800 SAT is in the 81 percentile. a 2200 is in the 99 percentile. That's also why I am questioning the logic of the statement that you heard. Putting it another way, I am questioning your sources statement and it's relevance, not you. :)
 
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