Advice for a college applicant

[iceberg]

Hi all - I am applying to USMA 2023 as a college freshman and have a couple questions.

- For SOEs, I have submitted all four for high school and was wondering if I need to submit the two for college? I have only been in college for a few weeks and am in mostly 200+ student lectures so I'm not really sure how this would work? Could the SOE come from a TA?
- Any advice on the activities I should try to get involved in that would look best on my application? I already applied for a few leadership positions in some clubs so hopefully that will help.
- Anything else I can do that would help my chances? My application is pretty much complete at this point besides the "supplemental activities" for college students (which actually says is not required for me... confusing).
- I read somewhere on this site that as a college applicant my application won't be reviewed as early action (even though it will be 100% done within 2 weeks) because I won't have first semester college transcripts, and I then won't receive a decision until February. Is this true? Don't high school students have to wait for first semester grades as well?

Thanks so much for any help. Best of luck to everyone.

 

[usmajy]

Fellow college applicant here. Yes, you need to submit two evaluations from college, and I'm guessing they have to be from a professor, but you should contact USMA to confirm. I'm no authority on this, but consider doing some sort of athletic activity in college since all cadets are athletes as well. As for your application not being reviewed early, probably best to get the info (and most everything else specific to you) directly from admissions because everyone's situation is different. Good luck!

 

[jl123]

1. Join ROTC
2. Take classes that closely resemble plebe year academics - English composition, STEM Calculus/Chemistry/Physics
3. Stay fit
4. Make sure to apply to all available nomination sources

USMA does not have early action and no appointments can be made until nominations are submitted. Since you are in college, admissions will likely wait to see college grades before qualifying your file.

 

[MidCakePa]

The reason college applicants need to await first-semester grades while high-school applicants don’t is that the “playing field” is different. High-school students already have a three-year track record to show whether they can do high-level work. For college students, the context has changed and now USMA wants to know if they can handle college-level work.

The strongest college (re)applicants have mimicked a plebe’s class schedule (including calculus, chemistry, English). They also tackle a relatively heavy workload, say 15-16 credits per semester (plebes take 18-20 credits).

Since you mentioned in another post that you became interested in USMA only recently, you may not have these courses or load. Suggest you contact your regional admissions liaison officer to seek his/her advice. They can be very helpful, and it’s importabt to establish a relationship with them through this process. Your distinct situation requires guidance beyond this forum.

 

[usmajy]

Just wanted to update this thread since I now have more specific information. I stated in a previous post that college SOEs probably have to be from a professor, based off of my own intuition and no primary source. Since I go to a university with 35,000 students with lectures of 300+, I reached out to USMA about whether SOEs from TAs would be acceptable (for me, TAs are more accessible, flexible, and have fewer students). I received a response today that reads "[SOEs] are usually from a professor but if you feel the TA knows you better you can use them." Hope this helps.