Am I on the right track?

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Aug 18, 2017
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Hi all,

Right now I'm a sophomore in high school and I've become increasingly interested in going to the USNA. At my school I'm in the marching band and I'm in the top concert band as well. Im planning on trying for a leadership position in band next year and my senior year. I'm the secretary of the Mu Alpha Theta club (honors math club where we tutor kids for free and also go to team/individual competitions), a member of the bridge club, and I am joining NHS this year. I've volunteered for over 100 hours at a retirement center, I volunteer at my church, and I'm planning to keep doing volunteer work throughout high school. I also babysit sometimes for neighbors. Every summer I also go to a couple week long basketball camp. I haven't played organized sports since 7th grade however and this year I'm thinking of trying out for the basketball team and/or joining track. I take AP and honors classes and have always gotten straight A's. My weighted GPA is about a 4.5 right now.

What sort of things should I add/change to help myself become more competitive? Any advice would be extremely appreciated!

Thank you so much,
qwertyuiopsmile
 
Get fit! Try for a varsity sport, or JV, and start training for the Candidate Fitness Assessment (pushups, pull-ups, sit-ups, mile run, shuttle run, basketball throw). Shoot for team captain, or maybe initiate some kind of positive change on your team (you don't necessarily have to be the captain to maybe start a community service initiative, etc). You seem to need to add some leadership on your resume. Athleticism and leadership are two very important factors! Track sounds great, and so does basketball. Best of luck to you!
 
You seem to need to add some leadership on your resume.
I will definitely try to be a leader if I make the teams, but would leadership in band as well as being a math club officer count towards this? Also I'm thinking of arranging a day at my school where local first responders teach people how to do CPR. Is something like that considered acting like a leader?
Thanks for the help!!
 
Yes, that is definitely leadership. You seem to be active with your ECA's, and those are great ways to show leadership.

Thank you so much. I appreciate all of your advice. I don't have a lot of experience with any of this and I'm so glad that people like you can help!
 
Know the USNA website like the back of your hand. Keep it as your automatic homepage and read it like a book. DO your research!!!
 
You need to be looking into NASS!! I'm currently applying to the actual academy and NASS was a wonderful experience. Work on getting fit and practice the cfa. It's never to early to prepare for it! Also how do you compare to the rest of your class GPA wise? Everything you are doing is great, but there is always more you can do! Keep up your hard work!
 
You need to be looking into NASS!!
Also how do you compare to the rest of your class GPA wise? Everything you are doing is great, but there is always more you can do! Keep up your hard work!
Applications are started during your junior year correct? I have a 4.0 unweighted (on a 4.0 scale) and a 4.5 weighted. I'm not sure what my class rank is but I think I'm pretty high up there. My class has about 800 kids I think.
I went to a service academy night at my school the other day. It was really informative but I didn't get to talk personally to the representatives for more than a few seconds. I did send an email out to my representative to thank her for setting it up which I hope lets my name be in her head for when I ask for a nomination.
Does anyone have advice on whether or not I should contact my BGO now or if I should wait until later? If I do talk to him now what sort of things would I tell him/ask him?

Thanks again to everyone for their advice!!
 
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