Here to Help

lolo

Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2017
Messages
38
Hey, everyone!

I'm a new plebe here at West Point. I'm only just finishing my third week, but I'm here to answer any questions you have!

Just to give some background, I'm from California and received a Principal Nom. Now that I'm here, I'm a new member of the Ski Patrol Team and Model Arab League. Not sure if it'll make a difference, but I'm a girl (in case any girls need some tips/advice).

I can answer any questions about the application process, BEAST, or anything about actually being here. :)
 
Hi, Lolo!
I'm a sophomore in high school. It has my dream to be in the navy since I was 7, and my goal to attend a service academy (Navy is my first option) since I was in 4th grade. I am aware you attend West Point, but I plan to apply to multiple service academies. With that being said, I was wondering if you would be able to give me some information regarding your extra curricular's in high school as well as your standardized test scores. Thanks!
 
Hi!
I was just wondering: how are you able to do extra curricular things, like the ski patrol and model Arab league, with how stringent a schedule you have? Also, during beast what was the most difficult part mentally and physically for you?
Thanks!
 
Hey, I have an interest in taking a foreign language and was wondering if the clubs like Spanish clubs are for people who already speak that language or for people who are interested?
 
It is best to not post personally identifiable information such as your picture or diploma on public websites.
 
Hi, Lolo!
I'm a sophomore in high school. It has my dream to be in the navy since I was 7, and my goal to attend a service academy (Navy is my first option) since I was in 4th grade. I am aware you attend West Point, but I plan to apply to multiple service academies. With that being said, I was wondering if you would be able to give me some information regarding your extra curricular's in high school as well as your standardized test scores. Thanks!

Hey!

In high school, I was a member of ASB for all four years, serving as secretary, spirit advisor, and Vice President throughout the years. I was also founder/president of a club called One Green Earth. Then, like most, I was also a member NHS. Sports wise, I played on the soccer team for three years & volleyball for one.

Outside of school, I played club soccer since I was like seven. I was also a group leader at my church. :)

For any advice, I would definitely try to not join as many clubs/services at possible. Just try to join and LEAD in few.

As for my tests, didn't take the ACT. For the SAT, I got a 1210 (new) and 2240 (old).

Hope this helped! If you have any other questions just let me know.
 
Hi!
I was just wondering: how are you able to do extra curricular things, like the ski patrol and model Arab league, with how stringent a schedule you have? Also, during beast what was the most difficult part mentally and physically for you?
Thanks!

Hi!!

Honestly, if you want to join a club or team here, you just have to make time for it. Some advice I've learned here is that if you want to do something, you don't just "find" time for it, you MAKE time for it.

Here, you're given the syllabi for each class & when & what is due for the WHOLE semester. For ski patrol, we have meetings from 1300-1700 on sundays & 1900-2100 on mondays. With these things in mind, now I know that on Thursdays, I should also do the homework that's due on Mondays. Then on Fridays, I should do my homework that's due on Tuesdays.

Again, I haven't been here too long, but this is the best advice I've been given and so far it's working well!! Just have to plan accordingly & it's not too bad :)

For BEAST: physically, I absolutely hated rucking. HATED IT!![emoji23] It was something I wasn't prepared for & had never done before so it was pretty tough at first.
Mentally, it was the want to be there. I think I can speak for most of us when I say that nearly every morning, when you're woken up at 0430 after you just fell asleep at 0030, it's really hard to get yourself out of bed and say "I want to be here." I'm not going to lie, it was tough. However, to get through it, you look to the people next to you and tell yourself that you're not struggling alone. It helps SO much to have people to talk to that are going through literally exactly what you are.
 
Hey, I have an interest in taking a foreign language and was wondering if the clubs like Spanish clubs are for people who already speak that language or for people who are interested?

Hey!

Any language club is for absolutely everyone!! Personally, I'm not in any language clubs, but from everything that I've heard I know that they welcome literally anyone with any knowledge of the language.

I actually would recommend joining a language club because they take trip sections to places all around the world :)
 
Hey, I have an interest in taking a foreign language and was wondering if the clubs like Spanish clubs are for people who already speak that language or for people who are interested?

Hey!

Any language club is for absolutely everyone!! Personally, I'm not in any language clubs, but from everything that I've heard I know that they welcome literally anyone with any knowledge of the language.

I actually would recommend joining a language club because they take trip sections to places all around the world :)
Thank you very much for the insite, hopefully if I get accepted I will be able to apply what you have said
 
Hey!

In high school, I was a member of ASB for all four years, serving as secretary, spirit advisor, and Vice President throughout the years. I was also founder/president of a club called One Green Earth. Then, like most, I was also a member NHS. Sports wise, I played on the soccer team for three years & volleyball for one.

Outside of school, I played club soccer since I was like seven. I was also a group leader at my church. :)

For any advice, I would definitely try to not join as many clubs/services at possible. Just try to join and LEAD in few.

As for my tests, didn't take the ACT. For the SAT, I got a 1210 (new) and 2240 (old).

Hope this helped! If you have any other questions just let me know.

This helped SO much, I cannot thank you enough! What were your grades & classes like in High school?
Thank you!!!!
 
lolo,
I'm currently a candidate for USMA 2022 (and a girl, haha). I'm just going to throw a bunch of questions out here...

1) What tips would you have to succeed during Beast?
2) Do you know yet what you want to do in the Army? And why did you choose West Point?
3) What's your major? What classes are you taking at the moment, and how are you handling them so far? How are the professors?
4) How is plebe life? Overall, do you like being at USMA?
5) As a female, how have things been so far? Something that I have heard (heard) about USMA is that life there is "difficult" as a female and females are not treated well.
6) Do you happen to know anything about the Equestrian Team or the Psychology major?
7) Finally, CONGRATULATIONS on getting into West Point and getting through all the challenges so far. I wish you the absolute best of luck!

That's all I have at the moment...
 
1. When did you receive your appointment? I'm assuming you were accepted to other colleges. Did you find out your acceptance status there before or after West Point?
2. I'm studying/trying to well in school, working on the CFA and know to get things in as soon as possible. Do you have any other specific advice on applying?
3. Is it worth meeting your Congressional reps before going to apply for a nomination, just to introduce yourself?
Thanks, and congrats on making it to West Point
 
This helped SO much, I cannot thank you enough! What were your grades & classes like in High school?
Thank you!!!!

No problem!

I ended with an accumulative 4.0 GPA.

I took 2-3 honors/AP a year. Classes that probably looked good on an app: I took PreCalc, AP Eng, & AP physics my junior year; Calc, AP Econ, AP Gov, AP Lit, AP psych my senior year.
 
lolo,
I'm currently a candidate for USMA 2022 (and a girl, haha). I'm just going to throw a bunch of questions out here...

1) What tips would you have to succeed during Beast?
2) Do you know yet what you want to do in the Army? And why did you choose West Point?
3) What's your major? What classes are you taking at the moment, and how are you handling them so far? How are the professors?
4) How is plebe life? Overall, do you like being at USMA?
5) As a female, how have things been so far? Something that I have heard (heard) about USMA is that life there is "difficult" as a female and females are not treated well.
6) Do you happen to know anything about the Equestrian Team or the Psychology major?
7) Finally, CONGRATULATIONS on getting into West Point and getting through all the challenges so far. I wish you the absolute best of luck!

That's all I have at the moment...

Hey!

1. POSITIVITY!! That is literally what saved me. No matter what the cadre make you do, make it fun!! For example, you have to greet every upperclassman you see with whatever the company motto is. Just to make things a little fun, my roommate and I would scream at the top of our lungs, "BIG RED ONEEEEE, SERGEANTTTT!!!" & they would either LOVE IT or HATE IT[emoji23] just make it a good time

2. I've always wanted to be a doctor-- thought it would be so awesome to serve as a doctor/officer in the military :)

3. I'm currently taking chem, english, math, eastern Asian history, psych, and military movement. I haven't chosen a major yet (don't have to until after spring break) but it's either going to be Life Science or possibly double majoring in Psych & German.

4. Plebe life, as you've probably heard, isn't too fun. However use the same advice I said in #1. The upperclassmen aren't nearly as harsh, but they still enforce the rules. I definitely do LOVE being here, the people are absolutely amazing. Super loud all the time & some of the things we do are a blast (like stealing other companies' spirit items and getting tackled to the ground)

5. So far, it's been going really well. Obviously, as being one of the 20% of girls here, guys treat you a little differently. Different doesn't mean bad though.

6. Equestrian team- I know that they have authos! Authos is GREAT because it means you don't have to drill/parade/do company athletics. That's about all I know about it.
Psychology major- Yes definitely!! As I said earlier, I may major in it. I've heard really good things about it. I have also heard it's a little on the easy side, which is why I'd double major with German.

7. Thank you SO much!! I appreciate it, & good luck with that application![emoji6]
 
1. When did you receive your appointment? I'm assuming you were accepted to other colleges. Did you find out your acceptance status there before or after West Point?
2. I'm studying/trying to well in school, working on the CFA and know to get things in as soon as possible. Do you have any other specific advice on applying?
3. Is it worth meeting your Congressional reps before going to apply for a nomination, just to introduce yourself?
Thanks, and congrats on making it to West Point

1. I received my appointment pretty late actually, if I remember the day it was April 19. I knew about all the other acceptances I received well before that, & I had back up plans ready to go. I actually received an ROTC scholarship back in December so I was set on that if I hadn't made it into West Point.

2. I would say patience. I remember a year ago I would check my status EVERY DAY for any updates/emails. I stressed myself out and there was no need to. Other than that just don't let senioritis get to you. :)

3. I'm from Southern California. I have no idea how it works in other cities/states, but where I lived, there were a lot of people in my area.. so no one would really be able to just meet our representatives. If you live in a smaller town where it'd be easy to introduce yourself and have him/her get to know you a little, go for it! If not, I wouldn't stress about it.

Thank you & good luck!
 
You said that you want to go into medicine. Why chose West Point over your ROTC scholarship then? I've read that it's difficult to go straight from West Point to a medical school, as in the top 2% may get that opportunity.
 
You said that you want to go into medicine. Why chose West Point over your ROTC scholarship then? I've read that it's difficult to go straight from West Point to a medical school, as in the top 2% may get that opportunity.

It was actually a reallyyy touch decision for me. I didn't want to base my army career off of just medicine. I wanted the exposure first because who knows if I'll change my mind or not? In the end, I chose West Point because of all the things we can do here that you can't do at a civilian college. For example, it's branch week right now, and just yesterday I talked to 50+ Captains, majors, lieutenants, etc. about all the branches and why I should branch there. Where else could I do that?
Also, a main reason I wanted to go to an academy was because of the people. I went to NASS last summer and I thought that every person there was so outgoing, and I wanted to be surrounded by those kind of people!!
It's the culture and spirit that I really love :)
 
Hello,
I'm a candidate for 2022.
What did you do with your hair during Beast?
My hair is super long and I know I will have to cut it, but I'm not sure how short I need to go.
Also, how strict are the hair standards on the day-to-day during Basic and during the Ac year? Like does your hair have to be gelled down perfectly with zero fly aways or as long as it's off the collar and out of your face it's okay?
Thanks
 
Hello,
I'm a candidate for 2022.
What did you do with your hair during Beast?
My hair is super long and I know I will have to cut it, but I'm not sure how short I need to go.
Also, how strict are the hair standards on the day-to-day during Basic and during the Ac year? Like does your hair have to be gelled down perfectly with zero fly aways or as long as it's off the collar and out of your face it's okay?
Thanks

Hey!

My hair is pretty long, about 3/4 down my back. I wouldn't cut it too much if you like having long hair-- after a hard day, it's the BEST feeling taking your hair down and feeling how long it is (at least for me lol)

At garrison, they're more strict with the loose strands around your face. They don't really care about frizz/flyaways because of the humidity, that's bound to happen. Personally, I didn't use any gel, and I would only recommend it if the hair by your face doesn't stay back. Once you're at Buckner or in the field doing anything physical while in OCP's, it would surprise me if they said anything about your hair being messy.
This was something I was scared about before coming here, but honestly during BEAST, hair was the last of my worries :)
 
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