The "do I have a chance" game is a hard one to play. I'll share a little bit about me, not to brag but to make a point:
I came out of high school with about a 4.65 weighed GPA on a 4.0 scale, Vice President of NHS, a Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps, where I helped start a brand new unit. I played high school varsity hockey as well as Junior hockey, which demanded travel eight hours each way just for a game or two. 2150 on the SAT, tons of AP classes, many with A's. I had a nomination from my Congressman and was told by one of my Senators that I was selected, but that my state doesn't double nominate. There's some other stuff I'm forgetting, but it doesn't really matter. Point is, I thought I had it going on.
I got denied from the Naval Academy, the Coast Guard Academy, the University of Virginia (my third choice school), and NROTC Marine Option. Didn't hear back from CGA and USNA until mid-April, if I recall correctly. I had about two weeks to figure out what to do. Completely rocked my world.
So I went, attended a different college for a year, did Marine Corps NROTC as a programmer, and volunteered in Sea Cadets and that was about it - that was what I had going on in a nutshell. Sure, a lot of the stuff from high school didn't just disappear, but when you're a college applicant, all that stuff from high school fades away a little in the minds of other colleges. Oh, and my GPA was floating between 2.6 and 2.7.
So I reapplied to all three of the programs I had previously applied to but didn't really expect much to come from any of them. In my mind, the one thing I really felt like was better than my application coming out of high school was my PFE (thanks to the NROTC-MO PT).
Sure enough, denied from NROTC. Then USNA. And then, somehow, I got into Coast Guard, and that's probably the most excited I've been in a long time, at least as long as I can remember.
Now that I've taken my time setting up the whole scenario for you, I'll get to my point, which is that you never really know what exactly they're looking for. I'll never know, but what I think made the difference for me:
1) My essays. Instead of writing all the BS about what I thought they wanted to hear, I wrote what felt true. My first application, on the question about something you've worked for, I wrote about being a Chief in Sea Cadets. It's true; I did. It's an achievement, ya know? Second time around, I wrote about how I worked my butt off to save money for a beater of a Jeep and then learned to work on cars so I could fix it up just to be able to drive it somewhat reliably because I've always wanted a Jeep.
2) I interviewed.
3) I kept my admissions officer updated.
Like I said, I know it's long-winded, but it's the answer I always give people when they ask the "what should I do to look better?" or "Do I have a chance?" question. The fact of the matter is, you never know.
