Applying from a College Prepatory School

tonk002

5-Year Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2010
Messages
177
Hello all. I am new on the forum and a junior in high school, and have a few questions regarding USMA. I have searched the forum, but could not find an answer.
First, a bit about me and my high school:
I am a newspaper editor, the 1st chair in the band, involved in Big Brothers/Big sisters, a Model UN captain, and a volunteer in multiple national political campaigns. I have traveled abroad twice, once to Brazil and another time to Qatar for Model UN conferences. I am also a varsity wrestler and an extremely competitive road cyclist racer. I am very interested in applying to USMA, but am concerned about gaining admission because of class rank and GPA.
After attending a public middle school, I applied to a very demanding and prestigious prep-school to become more challenged and to prepare for college. I was accepted. I have done very well, but not as well as I would have done at the local public school. I maintain a 3.3 -3.4 GPA after 2 AP's and many Honors classes, and am about 30th in my class of 250. which I know is not nearly anything special compared to many applicants. However, after coming from public school, I know that my school is more challenging my local public school. My question is, will West Point view my GPA and class rank negatively, or will they take my high school difficulty into consideration? The majority of my peers attend Ivy and small liberal arts schools, so none of my advisors knew much about this.
Thank you very much for your help.
 
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your class rank places you in the top fifth of your class-- west point looks more heavily on a candidate's class rank due to GPA inflation. Since you go to an exclusive prep school, prehaps GPA's are handled differently than at other high schools across the country. Your best bet on a straight answer would be to call admissions, but I'd venture to say that your class rank would make you competitive for admission.
 
Class Rank: West Point will receive a school profile from your high school's college counselor which indicates things like the % of students that go to college, what classes your school offers, etc. West Point will adjust your class rank according to how competitive your high school is as indicated by your school's profile. Not all high schools are equal. West Point realizes that and the school profile helps them determine the rigorousness of your school.

GPA: Class rank and SAT/ACT scores carry more weight than GPA.
If you notice on the Class of 2013 proflie, (http://www.usma.edu/Class/2013/profile.asp), GPA is not mentioned but SAT/ACT scores and Class Rank are. This does not mean that GPA does not matter, it does, but scores and rank are a better determinator of success at West Point.

Continue to do your best academically and nail the standardized tests.

Welcome to the Forum and keep asking questions.
We're here to help!
 
Thank you all for your help. I received my GPA today online and have a 3.45, which is an improvement over what I had expected. I have one other question, and I hope that Im not being too annoying. As I begin this process, my parents, (well, my mom) are understandably nervous. They have suggested to me that after I graduate high school, I complete a post-graduate year at a place like Valley Forge Military Academy a private military high school, to see if I really want to go forth with the West Point process. I view this as a possibility, but am concerned of if USMA will view this negatively or positively. Does anyone know how this would look on my application, or does anyone have any experience with this? Their is a PG at my high school doing a civil prep year for USNA, so I know about that, but I have never heard of simply doing a regular Post grad year.
 
I view this as a possibility, but am concerned of if USMA will view this negatively or positively. Does anyone know how this would look on my application, or does anyone have any experience with this? Their is a PG at my high school doing a civil prep year for USNA, so I know about that, but I have never heard of simply doing a regular Post grad year.

My dad attended Fork Union Military Academy for his senior year of high school. His experience was that the demanding academics and the rigor of overall day-to-day activity prepared him very well for USMA but didn't really make a difference in how West Point "viewed" him when he was applying as far as he could tell.
 
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