So I don't play any sports for my school due to timing issues, but outside of school I do a lot of things like rock climbing, running, swimming, indoor soccer, and martial arts. My question is since im not in any varsity sports or have no state level recognition, if I could have the swim coach at my school write me an extra rec to back up my physical fitness would that be ok? Or would they still want to see a varsity sport?
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Athletics question
- Thread starter hormiga13
- Start date
Can you join the swim team and earn a varisty letter now?
It comes down to how much you effort you want to put in for your West Point application? What do you have to give up in order to join your school swim team and earn a varsity letter this year (I am assuming if you think you could get a letter of recommendation for your school's swim coach, you should be good enough to make your school team).
From my perspective, a way to increase your chance of getting accepted by West Point is making West Point #1 priority. Some candidates tell me something along the line "I am too busy right now so I cannot work on my West Point application."
What it comes down to is that the admissions office has a finite time to review your application. If you are a typical competitive candidate, good SAT/ACT, good grades, good leadership, varisty letters and etc, the admissions office don't have to spend extra time looking into your application. So if you are not a typical candidate, you are almost asking the admissions office to ignore your application (Disclaimer - this is my opinion only).
Good luck.
It comes down to how much you effort you want to put in for your West Point application? What do you have to give up in order to join your school swim team and earn a varsity letter this year (I am assuming if you think you could get a letter of recommendation for your school's swim coach, you should be good enough to make your school team).
From my perspective, a way to increase your chance of getting accepted by West Point is making West Point #1 priority. Some candidates tell me something along the line "I am too busy right now so I cannot work on my West Point application."
What it comes down to is that the admissions office has a finite time to review your application. If you are a typical competitive candidate, good SAT/ACT, good grades, good leadership, varisty letters and etc, the admissions office don't have to spend extra time looking into your application. So if you are not a typical candidate, you are almost asking the admissions office to ignore your application (Disclaimer - this is my opinion only).
Good luck.
No I wouldn't really consider myself a typical candidate. My first semester grades from freshmen and sophmore years aren't that great so my overall gpa is now 3.4. My SAT was a 1900 and ACT a 31 though so Im not sure how they'll look at it. And Im captain of our schools speech team(its sorta like debate but not exactly) so thatd be a major leadership postion Id be losing and I really like doing it. Im also african american if that makes a difference. Not too many of us are swimmers haha....
if your ACT composit is 31, you are on a solid footing. Mean ACT score for class of 2015 was 29. Candidates are evaluate academically, leadership, and physically.
Academic is 60%, with about 50% being your GPA/class ranking and 50% being your standardizes test score.
Leadership is 30%, also include sport participation. For class of 2015, out 1261 admitted, 1155 varisty participation, 1093 letter winners
Physical is 10%, it's the candidate fitness test.
http://www.usma.edu/class/2015/2015profile.pdf
As for being a minority, make sure you contact the diversity outreach office in the admissions office. Each region has a full time diversity outreach officer to assist diversity candidates.
Academic is 60%, with about 50% being your GPA/class ranking and 50% being your standardizes test score.
Leadership is 30%, also include sport participation. For class of 2015, out 1261 admitted, 1155 varisty participation, 1093 letter winners
Physical is 10%, it's the candidate fitness test.
http://www.usma.edu/class/2015/2015profile.pdf
As for being a minority, make sure you contact the diversity outreach office in the admissions office. Each region has a full time diversity outreach officer to assist diversity candidates.
The diversity officer will be your liaison/advocate.
From the West Point website
http://admissions.usma.edu/faq_admission.html
"Admission to West Point is open to all students. There are no appointments, vacancies, or nominations designed exclusively for minority groups. However, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds are given appropriate consideration while evaluating all applicants. West Point makes a concerted effort to inform minorities of admissions opportunities, reaching many that might not otherwise apply for admission. Today, minorities represent about 15-20 percent of the Corps of Cadets."
A role of the diversity outreach office is the "concerted effort to inform minorities of admissions opportunities . . ." In theory, minorities are less informed about West Point or other SAs. Many candidates have some sort of SA connection, parents, sibilibing, and/or relatives attending or relatives being in the military. So far majority of SA graduates are non minority. I ran into many high school counselors that had no clue about West Point or SAs.
Regardless of my personal opinion concerning "diversity outreach," the bottomline is that it's an additional assistance available to minority applicant to West Point. No different from a candidate getting assistance from an admissions office liasion officer.
From the West Point website
http://admissions.usma.edu/faq_admission.html
"Admission to West Point is open to all students. There are no appointments, vacancies, or nominations designed exclusively for minority groups. However, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds are given appropriate consideration while evaluating all applicants. West Point makes a concerted effort to inform minorities of admissions opportunities, reaching many that might not otherwise apply for admission. Today, minorities represent about 15-20 percent of the Corps of Cadets."
A role of the diversity outreach office is the "concerted effort to inform minorities of admissions opportunities . . ." In theory, minorities are less informed about West Point or other SAs. Many candidates have some sort of SA connection, parents, sibilibing, and/or relatives attending or relatives being in the military. So far majority of SA graduates are non minority. I ran into many high school counselors that had no clue about West Point or SAs.
Regardless of my personal opinion concerning "diversity outreach," the bottomline is that it's an additional assistance available to minority applicant to West Point. No different from a candidate getting assistance from an admissions office liasion officer.