applying to SA's in college

wannabeplebe

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Today I submitted my second preliminary application for USNA (c/o 2022). However, when I received the TWE for c/o 2021, I did some self-reflection and realized that while USNA is definitely my preference, my end goal is to serve my country. With this in mind, I plan on applying to USNA, USMA, and USAFA for the c/o 2022. I was wondering how it looks to an academy to see you applying as a college freshman when you've never applied before (so I wouldn't be a re-applicant to USMA or USAFA). I opened an application for USMA last year, but never completed it because I was so set on USNA. Will I be looked at less preferably than those freshman applying that are re-applicants to USAFA and USMA?
 
Not as knowledgeable as @NavyHoops, but I don't think any college applicant will be looked less preferably. After all you have completed a year of college and have decided you want to serve your country as an officer. It will be an honor to attend the academy, which they all should understand.
 
How were you able to submit a preliminary application already? Don't you need a new candidate number? Do you already have it?

My DS may be in exactly same boat - applying to USAFA for the first time as college applicant.
 
How were you able to submit a preliminary application already? Don't you need a new candidate number? Do you already have it?

My DS may be in exactly same boat - applying to USAFA for the first time as college applicant.
All of the preliminary things for each SA were opened up for the c/o 2022 today I believe. You complete a prelim and if you "qualify," they'll send you a new candidate number. The USAFA was a little confusing because it said "application" the whole time and "your application has been submitted" when I finished but I believe it was also just the prelim.
 
The academies have no preference between high school and college applicants. They want the best candidates. Frankly having a year to contemplate and mature may be looked upon favorably. Will you be doing rotc? That would be helpful. You are not a reaplicant to USMA or USAFA, but having gone through the experience with USNA should help you I think, and I wouldn't hide that from the others.

Just worrry about getting good grades and get those ACT/SAT scores up as high as you can. And BTW, if you earn a spot at either USMA or USAFA, I am confident you would never look back wishing you were at USNA. You will become a part of the corps of Cadets at that institution, and never regret. And if you land at USNA as a true reaplicant, that's good too. Remember; all the academies are equal. It's just that West Point is more equal than the others. Go Army!
 
The academies have no preference between high school and college applicants. They want the best candidates. Frankly having a year to contemplate and mature may be looked upon favorably. Will you be doing rotc? That would be helpful. You are not a reaplicant to USMA or USAFA, but having gone through the experience with USNA should help you I think, and I wouldn't hide that from the others.

Just worrry about getting good grades and get those ACT/SAT scores up as high as you can. And BTW, if you earn a spot at either USMA or USAFA, I am confident you would never look back wishing you were at USNA. You will become a part of the corps of Cadets at that institution, and never regret. And if you land at USNA as a true reaplicant, that's good too. Remember; all the academies are equal. It's just that West Point is more equal than the others. Go Army!
I plan on joining NROTC freshman year and will apply for the 3 year scholarship as well. I think (hope) my standardized test scores are sufficient enough so that I don't have to take them again and I can focus everything towards getting good grades and maintaining leadership. I may be applying to 3 academies for this coming year, but I'm still tempted to say Go Navy! ;)
 
I didn't see your scores if you mentioned them. If you have 34's or better in each subscore, you may have the luxury of not taking test again. If not, then you should keep taking. I think if you don't that may reflect poorly, not to mention you should want to improve your application if you didn't get a spot this year.

....And if you are tempted to say go n__y, then contact your priest and ask for an exorcism immediately!
 
I didn't see your scores if you mentioned them. If you have 34's or better in each subscore, you may have the luxury of not taking test again. If not, then you should keep taking. I think if you don't that may reflect poorly, not to mention you should want to improve your application if you didn't get a spot this year.

....And if you are tempted to say go n__y, then contact your priest and ask for an exorcism immediately!
I've got 2 34's (math and science) and 2 32's. My SAT's are about the same. I think my biggest issue was the physical and only having one nom source, but definitely will do everything I can to improve all aspects of the app!
 
I didn't see your scores if you mentioned them. If you have 34's or better in each subscore, you may have the luxury of not taking test again. If not, then you should keep taking. I think if you don't that may reflect poorly, not to mention you should want to improve your application if you didn't get a spot this year.

....And if you are tempted to say go n__y, then contact your priest and ask for an exorcism immediately!
I've got 2 34's (math and science) and 2 32's. My SAT's are about the same. I think my biggest issue was the physical and only having one nom source, but definitely will do everything I can to improve all aspects of the app!
Those are solid scores for sure. I might take it once more if just to show you are still working to improve; and hopefully even bump a score or two (math and English are most important).

Get a pullup bar for the doorway of your bedroom, and do pullups, sit-ups, and pushups twice a day, or at least before you shower. Try to go for a two mile run at least three times a week, and for one of them do it in quarter mile sprints, where you push yourself as hard as you can, and take a few minute walk, then do it again. Those things will help your CFA a lot.

Good luck., And keep us posted.
 
I did some self-reflection and realized that while USNA is definitely my preference, my end goal is to serve my country. With this in mind, I plan on applying to USNA, USMA, and USAFA for the c/o 2022.

You can also serve your country in the USCG. It should also be an option and the USCGA doesn't require the whole congressional nomination process.
 
I did some self-reflection and realized that while USNA is definitely my preference, my end goal is to serve my country. With this in mind, I plan on applying to USNA, USMA, and USAFA for the c/o 2022.

You can also serve your country in the USCG. It should also be an option and the USCGA doesn't require the whole congressional nomination process.
I encouraged my son to apply to USCGA when he was applying to USMA, USNA, and USAFA, but he wasn't interested. Now that he is at USMA he admits that he should have given USCGA more consideration. He talked to a few USCGA Cadets, and, although he says he would still choose USMA, he thinks USCGA would have been tremendous too.

I think frequently young people have a romantic vision of the academies, and the military service thereafter. The Coast Guard isn't thought of the same way. If I was young again and making the choice, USCGA would be my first choice. I can hardly think of a better career than an officer in the Coast Guard. We visited the campus last year, and it is a really cool place too. The school is smaller, with only about a quarter of the students as the other academies. It's admissions standards are about the same.for sure I would consider USCGA.
 
I think frequently young people have a romantic vision of the academies, and the military service thereafter. The Coast Guard isn't thought of the same way.

The USCGA has the highest retention rate after the initial five year commitment. It is often attributed to the responsibilities that CG JO's have. It's not uncommon to see a 25 y/o JG in command of a CG vessel. Not a romantic vision, rather the reality.
 
That is my understanding. Great career, great opportunities, great choice.
 
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Those are solid scores for sure. I might take it once more if just to show you are still working to improve; and hopefully even bump a score or two (math and English are most important).

I respectfully disagree about retaking the ACT. Those are very competitive scores and the reason that you did not get an appointment was not because of the ACT score. In a vacuum it sounds reasonable that you should retake the test -- to show the USNA that you are trying to improve. However, you are not in a vacuum. Whatever effort you expend on the ACT will have to come from somewhere. You already suspect that your CFA is weak. You should focus on that. Keep in mind that you'll also want stellar grades while attending college for a year. Those two are much more important than increasing your already strong ACT scores by fraction of a point, composite score wise.
 
I think you should take the ACT as many times as you can fit in your schedule while you continue to improve physically. I would not stop taking it until you have a 36 or you are out of test dates. That being said, your test scores are solid and I would not stress over them. Continue to improve everywhere you can. You want to be able to tell admissions that I improved here, here and here.....
 
Other than the cost of the test, there is no disadvantage to taking it again, and there are several advantages. The stronger you are in the strong components of your application may supplement for the weaker components. Obviously work extra hard on the CFA if that is where you suffered this year, but try to improve everything.

There is no doubt that if you had to single out the most important piece of a service accademy application, the test scores would be at the top. And it is not unusual for applicants to have 35's and even perfect scores. Even real good scores can be made better, and there is no penalty to trying.
 
Agree with retaking the ACT and SAT as much as needed over the next few months all the way till September.. That's my advice for DS. What else can be more important than working on improving your application (by which I mean test scores and CFA) during the time period of April - August? Unless you are doing volunteering in a remote village on a different continent with no access to internet.. Of course, many will be working during the summer, but there is a way to balance both.... Once the school starts, I agree there will be limited time to improve test scores, but September is months away..
 
I know this has been mentioned in a few threads but can someone give me a little sense of how college vs. high school grades are weighted as a reapplicant? I know many second semester seniors (myself included sometimes) who are very tempted to say "I've gotten into/committed to a college so this semester doesn't matter as long as I don't fail." It's easy to slip into this mindset as graduation approaches. Obviously, this becomes a different story when plans are the reapply to the SA's. No, I won't walk away from this year with any C's or very low B's, but is getting all very high A's worth it or are college first semester grades weighted more heavily?
 
Today I submitted my second preliminary application for USNA (c/o 2022). However, when I received the TWE for c/o 2021, I did some self-reflection and realized that while USNA is definitely my preference, my end goal is to serve my country. With this in mind, I plan on applying to USNA, USMA, and USAFA for the c/o 2022. I was wondering how it looks to an academy to see you applying as a college freshman when you've never applied before (so I wouldn't be a re-applicant to USMA or USAFA). I opened an application for USMA last year, but never completed it because I was so set on USNA. Will I be looked at less preferably than those freshman applying that are re-applicants to USAFA and USMA?
I will share with my DD journey to the USNA class of 2021. She graduated from HS in 2016. Top 1% of her class, an accomplished athlete, 11 AP's, straight A's all four years of HS, community service, church service and the list goes on. The fall of her senior year we discussed applying to a SA. Quiet honestly, the SA process seemed overwhelming to her at the time. She was captain of her HS soccer team, she had 4 tough AP Courses and was applying to 8 regular colleges. She chose not to apply. By Christmas of 2015 she was rejected from her top choice Notre Dame and had been deferred by 5 other schools. She started applying to second choice schools. She eventually chose one of them and entered in the fall of 2016. In December 2016 after attending Navy/Army game with her BF, who was at West Point, she realized she had made a mistake and decided to apply to USNA, USCGA, and USAFA. A long 9 weeks later she had been accepted to all three. She matured last fall, got great grades , discovered a passion for National Security and wrote a very heartfelt essay about her journey for "wanting" to attend a SA. So this long story is to tell you......I think SA actually look very favorably on 1st year college applicants. At least from our story.
 
@NavyHoops any insight you can provide?
I know this has been mentioned in a few threads but can someone give me a little sense of how college vs. high school grades are weighted as a reapplicant? I know many second semester seniors (myself included sometimes) who are very tempted to say "I've gotten into/committed to a college so this semester doesn't matter as long as I don't fail." It's easy to slip into this mindset as graduation approaches. Obviously, this becomes a different story when plans are the reapply to the SA's. No, I won't walk away from this year with any C's or very low B's, but is getting all very high A's worth it or are college first semester grades weighted more heavily?
 
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