I agree to look at the profile, but also understand that those scores are the median.
As MidCake stated your post is a little vague. Appointments start geo-centric (congressional district, state than national) The scores in VA where the MOCs share the wealth (they talk =1 nom) can be higher than a state where they do not share the wealth.
~~ IOWS, apples to apples from a state level, don't look at the median because it will also include the appointees from prep school, which could be lower.
Secondly, part of the WCS will include paperwork from your GC. That info includes the school profile. 3.6/3.7 sounds great, but now they are going to look at the school. % of students that go Ivy vs 4 yr Private/OOS vs 4 yr IS vs 2 yr vs work force. Let's say your class rank is 10%, and 25% go Ivy. 3.6 is strong, now compare it to 0% go Ivy. In essence, 1 is saying they don't hand out A's like candy on Halloween, the other is more laxed with the As.
I would def. take the PSAT, because it is a good marker for where you will stand on the SAT, just add a 0 behind the number. Additionally, if you do very well (top 5%) you will be able to place NMSF on your application.
Look into applying for SLS around December. It is for juniors.
It has always been my opinion that any applicant should look at an SA as an elite college from a selection rate.
If you have had any medical issues I would also take this yr to get my ducks in a row. There are tons of threads here on the DoDMERB side where candidates and parents never realized it cause them issues. IE allergies to tree nuts; prescribed an inhaler, but never used it; color vision deficiency, etc.
You have 0% of an appointment if you don't apply.
