A rising Junior

E

Excellence

Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2022
Messages
19
Hey guys, so I did my math and I found out if I were to do well this junior year I'll be have around a 3.5 GPA. (I took all honors and AP courses). Is this seen as a competitive gpa in USMMA or is it below?
 
zico said:
Hey guys, so I did my math and I found out if I were to do well this junior year I'll be have around a 3.5 GPA. (I took all honors and AP courses). Is this seen as a competitive gpa in USMMA or is it below?
Click to expand...
The admission process is very complicated for every service academy, including USMMA. Admissions will look at your school profile to see what your GPA even means. A 3.5 at one high school may be really high, while at another, it may be just average. That is why your standardized test scores are very important in determining the likelihood of you success in college. Study hard for your SAT/ACT and take the test multiple times to make sure you attain your best scores. Make sure you are very physically fit and have demonstrable leadership experience. Good luck in your journey.
 
My daughter and I were at KP for a recruiting trip about 2 weeks ago. We were in an admissions briefing discussing the entire application process. The admissions officer said flat out multiple times... "I don't really care what your GPA is...I just want to see you're taking challenging (honors/AP) STEM oriented classes". Now, personally I think that's slightly oversimplifying. Obviously you can't be failing those challenging classes, and if it comes down to a between you with a 3.5 and some other kid with a 3.9 - all other things being equal - the 3.9 kid may win out.

But, I think it supports what many say that it's all about being a well rounded candidate. Solid academics, solid test scores, sports (he said 72% of the cadets are recruited athletes, quality extracurriculars (not necessarily qty), adequate fitness (the CFA is simply pass/fail) and proven leadership skills.
 
Hope2BeA27BearDad said:
My daughter and I were at KP for a recruiting trip about 2 weeks ago. We were in an admissions briefing discussing the entire application process. The admissions officer said flat out multiple times... "I don't really care what your GPA is...I just want to see you're taking challenging (honors/AP) STEM oriented classes". Now, personally I think that's slightly oversimplifying. Obviously you can't be failing those challenging classes, and if it comes down to a between you with a 3.5 and some other kid with a 3.9 - all other things being equal - the 3.9 kid may win out.

But, I think it supports what many say that it's all about being a well rounded candidate. Solid academics, solid test scores, sports (he said 72% of the cadets are recruited athletes, quality extracurriculars (not necessarily qty), adequate fitness (the CFA is simply pass/fail) and proven leadership skills.
Click to expand...
Hello! Do you mind me asking what year in HS your daughter is? My son is interested in USMMA, as a recruited athlete, but I wasn’t sure when he should reach out to the coach. He’s a junior now. Thank you!
 
Boymomof3 said:
Hello! Do you mind me asking what year in HS your daughter is? My son is interested in USMMA, as a recruited athlete, but I wasn’t sure when he should reach out to the coach. He’s a junior now. Thank you!
Click to expand...
Looks like she is senior (hopeful class of 2027) It is not too early to reach out to coaches as a junior. My son was in regular contact with coach throughout junior year (did an overnight in January staying with a rower) and giving coach updates throughout. Most sports have recruiting questionaire links on the USMMA athletic pages.
 
RowingMom said:
Looks like she is senior (hopeful class of 2027) It is not too early to reach out to coaches as a junior. My son was in regular contact with coach throughout junior year (did an overnight in January staying with a rower) and giving coach updates throughout. Most sports have recruiting questionaire links on the USMMA athletic pages.
Click to expand...
Thx! I was thinking the same thing but never want to assume anything 😉.
 
Boymomof3 said:
Hello! Do you mind me asking what year in HS your daughter is? My son is interested in USMMA, as a recruited athlete, but I wasn’t sure when he should reach out to the coach. He’s a junior now. Thank you!
Click to expand...
Hi! Yes, my daughter just started her senior year (swimmer) and is eyeball deep in the application process!

I think it’s the perfect time to get on the coaches radar. Curious what sport? I feel like service academies are slightly different than other colleges when it comes to recruiting. It obviously takes a special type of person to have interest in a SA, so letting a coach know you’re interested helps them with building a pool.

That said, all coaches are different and they’re heavy into figuring out legit recruits for the 2023 class. So don’t get discouraged if you don’t get a response right away.
 
Back in the dark ages, I started the Academy process during my junior year of high school.
 
Hope2BeA27BearDad said:
Hi! Yes, my daughter just started her senior year (swimmer) and is eyeball deep in the application process!

I think it’s the perfect time to get on the coaches radar. Curious what sport? I feel like service academies are slightly different than other colleges when it comes to recruiting. It obviously takes a special type of person to have interest in a SA, so letting a coach know you’re interested helps them with building a pool.

That said, all coaches are different and they’re heavy into figuring out legit recruits for the 2023 class. So don’t get discouraged if you don’t get a response right away.
Click to expand...
Thanks so much! Swimmer 🏊‍♂️ too 😉. I think with swimming there is an advantage by seeing if they are competitive enough to be considered (thank you Meet Mobile 😂!). He came off a pretty good LC summer season. We weren’t sure if he should wait until after his high school & SC season (March). I’ll talk to him & see what he wants to do. He could move to being 100% distance, if that’s what his college team needs. I guess it doesn’t hurt to reach out. I agree - it takes a special kid to want to go this route ;-). Thanks, again!
 
Seems to be some confusion about the application process. Review the content at Admissions. Note in particular the content below, quoted from that site.

"Completing an application to the United States Merchant Marine Academy is a lengthy process. Applicants may start the application on May 1st of their junior year of high school, and are encouraged to complete the application as early as possible to receive an early determination.

Applications must be completed by February 1st for appointment consideration."
 
John from PA said:
Seems to be some confusion about the application process. Review the content at Admissions. Note in particular the content below, quoted from that site.

"Completing an application to the United States Merchant Marine Academy is a lengthy process. Applicants may start the application on May 1st of their junior year of high school, and are encouraged to complete the application as early as possible to receive an early determination.

Applications must be completed by February 1st for appointment consideration."
Click to expand...
No confusion on our part 😉. Our oldest applied to a service academy & NROTC 2 yrs ago. We may not know everything but definitely have the experience & learning “experiences” from that process.
 
Boymomof3 said:
Thanks so much! Swimmer 🏊‍♂️ too 😉. I think with swimming there is an advantage by seeing if they are competitive enough to be considered (thank you Meet Mobile 😂!). He came off a pretty good LC summer season. We weren’t sure if he should wait until after his high school & SC season (March). I’ll talk to him & see what he wants to do. He could move to being 100% distance, if that’s what his college team needs. I guess it doesn’t hurt to reach out. I agree - it takes a special kid to want to go this route ;-). Thanks, again!
Click to expand...
The swim coaches have been wonderful! They’re very organized with their recruiting process. Other than one on one phone calls, Toward the end of Junior year they’ll schedule some town hall zoom calls to talk about the academy and the application process. Over the summer, they invited some swimmers to an overnight visit…tour, admissions brief, stay overnight with a cadet, hang with the team, etc. Parents included for much of it too. Very nice event. Good luck!
 
Hope2BeA27BearDad said:
The swim coaches have been wonderful! They’re very organized with their recruiting process. Other than one on one phone calls, Toward the end of Junior year they’ll schedule some town hall zoom calls to talk about the academy and the application process. Over the summer, they invited some swimmers to an overnight visit…tour, admissions brief, stay overnight with a cadet, hang with the team, etc. Parents included for much of it too. Very nice event. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the great info! I’ll talk to him about it this weekend & see what he thinks about filling out recruiting info this Fall. I can’t believe we are at this point 😢. Exciting & bittersweet at the same time….
 
Hope2BeA27BearDad said:
The swim coaches have been wonderful! They’re very organized with their recruiting process. Other than one on one phone calls, Toward the end of Junior year they’ll schedule some town hall zoom calls to talk about the academy and the application process. Over the summer, they invited some swimmers to an overnight visit…tour, admissions brief, stay overnight with a cadet, hang with the team, etc. Parents included for much of it too. Very nice event. Good luck!
Click to expand...
@Hope2BeA27BearDad - do you mind if I send you a message? We have a question about the best way to contact the coach (outside of filling out the recruit me form). Thank you!
 
The swimming coach at USMMA is very responsive. I am sure he would appreciate your contacting him. I would start with the recruiting form on the swimming page on the USMMA Athletic Swimming page. I am the parent of a senior who swims on the USMMA team. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top