Advice For High School?

Giantatom

Giantatom

5-Year Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2019
Messages
15
I'm a Junior in high school right now, and I'll be starting my pre-candidate questionnaire when it opens in March. I'm looking for advice on anything I can do in my last year and a half of high school. Currently, I have a pretty good GPA at 3.95 unweighted/4.86 weighted with the most rigorous courses my school offers, which lands me in the top 22% of my class, and scored a 1300 my first time taking the SAT earlier this year. I'm also a varsity baseball player and member of NHS as well as a few other clubs being an officer in one of them. I've been in JROTC all through high school, holding multiple staff positions, an officer rank, and taking part in competitions. I'd appreciate any general advice as to what I could do to strengthen my application before I finish high school.

My big question right now is whether or not dropping JROTC would seriously affect my application? I feel my school's program has been in a downward spiral for a while now, and I don't enjoy it as much as I used to. I have a shot at being corps commander or some other senior staff position next year, which would certainly be valuable for leadership experience, but I feel that my chances are severely limited by being from another school. I take JROTC at a separate, nearby high school and the rest of my classes at my main school, and because of that, I haven't been able to attend things after school. So, I wonder if I should stick with JROTC for another year, or replace it with another class for extra GPA? Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Edit: I forgot to add, when is the best time to start seeking nominations, and how should I go about it?
 
Giantatom said:
I'm a Junior in high school right now, and I'll be starting my pre-candidate questionnaire when it opens in March. I'm looking for advice on anything I can do in my last year and a half of high school. Currently, I have a pretty good GPA at 3.95 unweighted/4.86 weighted with the most rigorous courses my school offers, which lands me in the top 22% of my class, and scored a 1300 my first time taking the SAT earlier this year. I'm also a varsity baseball player and member of NHS as well as a few other clubs being an officer in one of them. I've been in JROTC all through high school, holding multiple staff positions, an officer rank, and taking part in competitions. I'd appreciate any general advice as to what I could do to strengthen my application before I finish high school.

My big question right now is whether or not dropping JROTC would seriously affect my application? I feel my school's program has been in a downward spiral for a while now, and I don't enjoy it as much as I used to. I have a shot at being corps commander or some other senior staff position next year, which would certainly be valuable for leadership experience, but I feel that my chances are severely limited by being from another school. I take JROTC at a separate, nearby high school and the rest of my classes at my main school, and because of that, I haven't been able to attend things after school. So, I wonder if I should stick with JROTC for another year, or replace it with another class for extra GPA? Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Edit: I forgot to add, when is the best time to start seeking nominations, and how should I go about it?
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My son had to dropped from jrotc bc class conflicts and to be able to take extra classes he wanted. He got nominated to the academies and already has one offer ….. in his case it was a non issue. Plenty appointees w no jrotc st all also
 
Giantatom said:
I'm a Junior in high school right now, and I'll be starting my pre-candidate questionnaire when it opens in March. I'm looking for advice on anything I can do in my last year and a half of high school. Currently, I have a pretty good GPA at 3.95 unweighted/4.86 weighted with the most rigorous courses my school offers, which lands me in the top 22% of my class, and scored a 1300 my first time taking the SAT earlier this year. I'm also a varsity baseball player and member of NHS as well as a few other clubs being an officer in one of them. I've been in JROTC all through high school, holding multiple staff positions, an officer rank, and taking part in competitions. I'd appreciate any general advice as to what I could do to strengthen my application before I finish high school.

My big question right now is whether or not dropping JROTC would seriously affect my application? I feel my school's program has been in a downward spiral for a while now, and I don't enjoy it as much as I used to. I have a shot at being corps commander or some other senior staff position next year, which would certainly be valuable for leadership experience, but I feel that my chances are severely limited by being from another school. I take JROTC at a separate, nearby high school and the rest of my classes at my main school, and because of that, I haven't been able to attend things after school. So, I wonder if I should stick with JROTC for another year, or replace it with another class for extra GPA? Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Edit: I forgot to add, when is the best time to start seeking nominations, and how should I go about it?
Click to expand...
Your application for Nominations will be in Jul-Sep timeframe of your senior year. Contact the offices of your district Congressman and your State Senator offices for actual deadlines by which you need to apply. They may also have a website with all the required documentation and deadline information.
 
As someone who took JROTC senior year because of usafa, drop it if it's going to make you miserable. My corps was exactly the same. I hated my last year there and cried because of how much I want to take that JROTC patch off. Same person who won community service award every year because I seriously enjoyed 12 community events for days where I could help someone.

That last year sucked, I knew it was going to suck after my job came out but I stayed. Sure I had one command staff position, but it ruined my joy for the corps. The people in charge ruined it for me. If you are only there for USAFA leave. You can find other leadership positions and you clearly have some. If you have to explain be honest. "The program wasn't right for me anymore. " That's all. It's true and doesn't put a negative spin on JROTC.

Just remember run towards something not away. I ran towards NWP and being track Captain. That's what got me through the last semester. Run towards something that makes you better.
 
The best thing for nominations is to check your MOC and Senator websites and gather all the deadlines. The earlier you start on this stuff the better it is. If you are currently a Junior I recommend starting during your Summer.

As for other things to do is try to bring your SAT Score as high as possible. If it isn't a 1600 then there's room for improvement. If you can get it to the 1500s then that would be amazing. (Remember that the service academies superscore so use that to your advantage and strategize. For example, on my first SAT I received a 1490 with a 790 on math but only a 700 on the verbal. Knowing the academies superscored I studied a lot more on the verbal section but not on the math. The second time I took it I got another 1490, but received a 750 on verbal and 740 on math making my superscore a 1540.)

As for JROTC it would make an amazing story and experience if you could become corp commander and make your program better, taking it out of the downward spiral. Is it a challenge? Yes, but it would be a seriously huge way to impact your program's future and develop you as a leader.
 
FuturePilot1220 said:
As for JROTC it would make an amazing story and experience if you could become corp commander and make your program better, taking it out of the downward spiral. Is it a challenge? Yes, but it would be a seriously huge way to impact your program's future and develop you as a leader.
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My thoughts exactly. DS was not happy with his CAP squadron when he entered. Becoming Cadet Commander provided him the opportunity to make a change in the squadron for the better. I’m confident this initiative sat well with his MOC review board and USAFA application, which ultimately led to his appointment. SA’s are interested in future leaders as well as those academically strong.
 
Work on those test scores, prep for your CFA so you shine there, and then work on that JROTC conundrum. It looks like you have to balance the possibilities for a leadership role and the chance to effect change vs how much (or how little) joy you'll experience doing it in your senior year. Have you talked to the staff about the issue? My DD had a great relationship with her JROTC office and they knew up front that she was aiming for an academy spot, so while they didn't put a thumb on the scale, they did make sure she got a lot of opportunities to lead the brigade. At the very least it could help push back on the "wrong school" concerns. I would say this: if you still enjoy it, the activities and the people are fun, then staying with it in a fairly high role looks good. But if you still aren't going to be able to attend after school activities then there's kind of a ceiling on your experience that you might have to accept.

As said above, be moving toward something, not away. Away can highlight a fortitude gap in the same way remaining shows your staying power. Heading towards something draws the light ahead, not behind, so only drop JROTC in favor of something specific that excites you. Good luck.
 
FuturePilot1220 said:
The best thing for nominations is to check your MOC and Senator websites and gather all the deadlines. The earlier you start on this stuff the better it is. If you are currently a Junior I recommend starting during your Summer.

As for other things to do is try to bring your SAT Score as high as possible. If it isn't a 1600 then there's room for improvement. If you can get it to the 1500s then that would be amazing. (Remember that the service academies superscore so use that to your advantage and strategize. For example, on my first SAT I received a 1490 with a 790 on math but only a 700 on the verbal. Knowing the academies superscored I studied a lot more on the verbal section but not on the math. The second time I took it I got another 1490, but received a 750 on verbal and 740 on math making my superscore a 1540.)

As for JROTC it would make an amazing story and experience if you could become corp commander and make your program better, taking it out of the downward spiral. Is it a challenge? Yes, but it would be a seriously huge way to impact your program's future and develop you as a leader.
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COVID sucked. It cancelled a lot of my sat dates. When I finally had a second chance in December, where I studied a lot for, I had to do a congressional nomination interview.
 
fude87658 said:
COVID sucked. It cancelled a lot of my sat dates. When I finally had a second chance in December, where I studied a lot for, I had to do a congressional nomination interview.
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Dang, yeah that's very unfortunate. For me, our school decided to create a day during school for our school's Juniors to take the SAT due to the whole Covid Issue so I was able take the SAT twice. I was very grateful to my school for doing that since if not I would not have received a second try. I hope you still the best of luck!
 
Regardless of your numeric GPAs, you are at 22%, so get that SAT/ACT up. AT 1300, I hope either EBRW or Math is over 700, so you can focus more on the weaker score.

Varsity Baseball - continue, try for captain
NHS and clubs - make sure you are engaging in key clubs (beginning, middle, end of projects/#'s served, outcomes); avoid "laundry list" syndrome
JROTC - I would stick with it. If the culture isn't great, it's up to the leaders (will that be you?) to change it, pivot the mindset, get it back or set it on the right course.

Don't give up a competitive advantage and a great essay of overcoming social, logistic, and political issues to be a leader in ANOTHER high school's JROTC. Very near and dear to my heart, as my DD worked very hard to overcome these and be captain of another high school's swim team, and with 6 high schools rolling up into 1 JROTC Battalion, only 1/6 of leadership positions available was very competitive. During her senior year, she could cite #events/hours worked, doubled the JROTC enrollment, and regained their honor unit status.

Does anyone have a link to that USNA video where the admissions committee are discussing a female lacrosse player, her admissions advisor is presenting her candidacy, and then says she is the goalie/captain(?)....of the men's team....because there is no women's team....and then the colored block is immediately switch to Green by the committee members? Where there is adversity, there is incredible potential for opportunity and differentiation.
 
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