Community college To West Point advice?

Florida_Y2000

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Mar 7, 2017
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Hypothetically speaking, if i had a below average highschool gpa, but in college/CC i recieve a perfect GPA along with a strong amount of athletic and extra-curricular activities in college, will they only review your College Transcript since its more recent, or will they also review your HS Record? (as it is subpar (2.4 gpa).

In their website it states that they look at Highschool OR College, but i have been recieving mixed opinions. Also, is it possible for College/CC students to get accepted into one of the SA? If so would i still have to get a nomination from a congressman while attending MDC or can i talk to my ROTC about getting a reccomendation from them. I am also planning to apply more than once while having ROTC as a backup plan if i dont manage to get into the service academy.

Also for a student that hasn't gotten much into athletic activities/clubs in highschool, what would be my best bet on making my application strong as a CC student?
 
Enlisting in the National Guard...this would be your best bet on making your application stronger as a CC student who did not have a good high school GPA and does not do any athletics or clubs--and has a limited track record of leadership activities. You should also continue to retake the SATs until you are well within the publicly available range of 25-75 percentile.
Also, as a first step I would go for an admissions visit and arrange to speak to your RC.
Good luck.
 
@Florida_Y2000 You really need to do a self-evaluation and decide what you want to do in life and where you see yourself in a few years. Your gpa wold make me question either your motivation or your ability to handle the rigorous academic requirements of the academy. If you truly want to be an Army Officer, then you need to start applying yourself now and do your best. But to answer your question, the academy will look at your test scores, transcripts and school profile from both your high school and college. Getting good grades in College can offset some of the deficiencies in your high school GPA but you will be competing against kids that had a much more stellar high school performance and did well in college. They will also take in to account all activities in both high school and college.

You will compete for nominations from your MOCs and if you are enrolled in ROTC, you can also compete for a service connected nomination and appointment.

Joining the National Guard may provide you with another path to a possible appointment, but there are no guarantees and you need to make sure that being in the National Guard as an enlisted soldier is an acceptable outcome.

My advice would be to enter a college that has an ROTC program and join the program. You do not have to be on scholarship to start taking the classes and if you do well in college and ROTC their is a possibility of an ROTC scholarship. After you enter college, you can compete for local ROTC scholarships from your unit and they will only consider your college performance. You also should focus on taking STEM courses and doing well in them in your first year to demonstrate to the academy that you can handle the first year classes at West Point. If you are doing well in ROTC and do not win an appointment, you are still on a good path to become an officer.

As DrMom said, you also need to look at your test scores and work to improve them if they are under the average for admittance.
 
Agree with USMA 1994.

Joining an AROTC unit also gives you a future source for a nomination.

The biggest benefit is that it allows you to make progress toward commissioning through AROTC, and earning a 3 or 2 year scholarship.
 
@Florida_Y2000 You really need to do a self-evaluation and decide what you want to do in life and where you see yourself in a few years. Your gpa wold make me question either your motivation or your ability to handle the rigorous academic requirements of the academy. If you truly want to be an Army Officer, then you need to start applying yourself now and do your best. But to answer your question, the academy will look at your test scores, transcripts and school profile from both your high school and college. Getting good grades in College can offset some of the deficiencies in your high school GPA but you will be competing against kids that had a much more stellar high school performance and did well in college. They will also take in to account all activities in both high school and college.

You will compete for nominations from your MOCs and if you are enrolled in ROTC, you can also compete for a service connected nomination and appointment.

Joining the National Guard may provide you with another path to a possible appointment, but there are no guarantees and you need to make sure that being in the National Guard as an enlisted soldier is an acceptable outcome.

My advice would be to enter a college that has an ROTC program and join the program. You do not have to be on scholarship to start taking the classes and if you do well in college and ROTC their is a possibility of an ROTC scholarship. After you enter college, you can compete for local ROTC scholarships from your unit and they will only consider your college performance. You also should focus on taking STEM courses and doing well in them in your first year to demonstrate to the academy that you can handle the first year classes at West Point. If you are doing well in ROTC and do not win an appointment, you are still on a good path to become an officer.

As DrMom said, you also need to look at your test scores and work to improve them if they are under the average for admittance.

My only two/three options that are open at the moment is to whether go to VMI/The citadel and do rotc there, or preety much enlist...but the enlisting part is new info to me. Can anyone explain about the enlisting? For instance if i join Army/National guard as enlisted and do not qualify academically in highschool, would i have to work hard in college? The process seems confusing since i cant really find much about it online. SAT scores are high, would my chances be ultimately easier? It seems that i find both an attractive path.

I desire to attend west point to become an officer there tbh...the prestiege is quite amazing and i have that strong desire to attend there. Not only that but i want to make it a full on career. My gpa is low due to me not really having a desire freshman and sophmore year, and junior year was when my desire to attend began. One of the cadets from west point visited our school and explained that he knew someone that enlisted and applied, and afterwards got accepted.
 
I'm certainly not trying to seem like a jerk, but your post seems 99.9% similar to the person who has been banned from this forum 3 times.

At risk of repeating what others have said ad naseum, you need to improve your spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Your GPA is less than average, so you need to prove your desire/potential/worth to the USMA admissions board.

By no means am I trying to dissuade you from a goal, but you have a long ways to go IOT beat out more well rounded candidates. I wish you the best.

-AIR CAV
 
The current plebe class has only 10 prior enlisted plebes. So the odds of enlisting as a route to WP are not very high.
 
Not sure why you are saying that VMI/Citadel or your only options. If you can afford these schools you should be able to get in a state school. You do not have to attend a SMC to join ROTC. Most state colleges have an ROTC program.

Enlisting is a much harder route with fewer options. You join the Army as an enlisted soldier. You will go to basic training and AIT then get to your unit. You will have to do well as a private and impress your chain of command. You need a recommendation from your Company Commander to apply to the academy. Being enlisted will take all of your time and attending college at night or even improving your test scores will be difficult. If you enlisted today, the earliest opportunity you would have to apply is the class of 2023.
 
I'm certainly not trying to seem like a jerk, but your post seems 99.9% similar to the person who has been banned from this forum 3 times.

At risk of repeating what others have said ad naseum, you need to improve your spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Your GPA is less than average, so you need to prove your desire/potential/worth to the USMA admissions board.

By no means am I trying to dissuade you from a goal, but you have a long ways to go IOT beat out more well rounded candidates. I wish you the best.

-AIR CAV

You must be mistaken? I made this account a few days ago because it was the only place where there were experts on my objectives. Im sure ill make the right choice in the future. And im typing this through my phone, so im not usually used to speaking formally lol.
 
Not sure why you are saying that VMI/Citadel or your only options. If you can afford these schools you should be able to get in a state school. You do not have to attend a SMC to join ROTC. Most state colleges have an ROTC program.

Enlisting is a much harder route with fewer options. You join the Army as an enlisted soldier. You will go to basic training and AIT then get to your unit. You will have to do well as a private and impress your chain of command. You need a recommendation from your Company Commander to apply to the academy. Being enlisted will take all of your time and attending college at night or even improving your test scores will be difficult. If you enlisted today, the earliest opportunity you would have to apply is the class of 2023.

Reason why i prefer a SMC is due to being able to get active duty after graduation. I read a bit about the enlisting option, supposedly they accept max 85 active duty army and national guard. I was also speaking to a cadet there, and he knew someone that barely graduated HS and ended up with a GED, afterwards enlisted (national guard i believe) and got an appointment at west point. Im not sure if he took the Prepatory school route or Got directly admitted, but it seemed like a solid option.

Im still in school, so really i have time to decide which route would be best for west point, and if not go in as an officer.
 
You do sound identical to another poster who was recently here. You are asking the same question and making many of the same spelling, grammar and punctuation errors. Your excuse about typing on a phone is lame.

Also, attending a SMC does not guarantee you active duty after graduation. If someone told you this, then they were misinformed.
 
VMI and Citadel are not the only SMCs in the country. Honestly, just wanting West Point is not enough. You have to present something unique...why should they choose you over CCs that have high grades, leadership, SATs, and sports? There are other routes to officership.
 
You do sound identical to another poster who was recently here. You are asking the same question and making many of the same spelling, grammar and punctuation errors. Your excuse about typing on a phone is lame.

Also, attending a SMC does not guarantee you active duty after graduation. If someone told you this, then they were misinformed.

Here is a link to the other poster. 2.3 GPA as well.. Not banned though. Curious....
https://www.serviceacademyforums.co...into-vmi-need-advice.54189/page-2#post-536739
 
You do sound identical to another poster who was recently here. You are asking the same question and making many of the same spelling, grammar and punctuation errors. Your excuse about typing on a phone is lame.

Also, attending a SMC does not guarantee you active duty after graduation. If someone told you this, then they were misinformed.
I dont see why are you so hostile and rude...this is the first account i created, i dont see why you are all of the sudden accusing me . What i find "lame" is criticizing someone based on small grammatical errors and accusing someone without proof. Can you please direct me to whoever you are talking about?
 
You do sound identical to another poster who was recently here. You are asking the same question and making many of the same spelling, grammar and punctuation errors. Your excuse about typing on a phone is lame.

Also, attending a SMC does not guarantee you active duty after graduation. If someone told you this, then they were misinformed.

Here is a link to the other poster. 2.3 GPA as well.. Not banned though. Curious....
https://www.serviceacademyforums.co...into-vmi-need-advice.54189/page-2#post-536739
Very curious....many similarities!
 
To the OP.

SMC's do have a law that assures Army ROTC graduates of active duty but ONLY IF the PMS signs off on them. There have been discussions on this forum of cases where those Army Cadets who are "on the bubble" are NOT approved as it would take away the AD opportunity from a non-SMC cadet who has higher OML points.

The BEST way to assure yourself of Army AD is to score high on OML points regardless of what AROTC school you attend....period.

I also agree with others here that community college is not the optimal route to apply to West Point.
 
Same boat you are in. Also I don't think it matters if the user was banned or not, he's just asking a *EDITED* question.
 
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If you were my son, I would advise you to apply for an Army ROTC scholarship to a state college. Do your very best there then apply to West Point:) We all make mistakes in high school, it's not the end of the world, do best now!
 
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