Competitiveness - Class of ‘26 Applicant

[TheJayDoctor]

Hello everyone, I’m a current Sophomore in high school whose top choice is USAFA. My current high school is competitive, one of the top ranked public schools on US News and World Report. This is a little worrying for me. I have a fairly high PSAT, currently 1300 (97th percentile for 10th grade), preparing a lot and can see myself getting 1350+ (98th?) next year, but I am worried about grades and class ranking, as being in a competitive school is making my grades lower than they would be otherwise. I’m im all honors and AP courses with mostly A’s (can’t give a GPA estimate because I’m waiting for them to be released by my school), and between what I’m taking now, what I’m registered for next year, and my required senior APs, I will have a bare minimum of 6 total AP classes. I’m on the schools Ultimate Frisbee team, which is unfortunately a club sport, but I am on track to be a captain for the next 2 years. I’m not currently working but will be as soon as this quarantine is “officially” lifted and plan to work throughout the school year, though it depends on my workload. Finally, I will graduate with 120 community service hours and I am a member of our peer mentorship program, which essentially introduces incoming freshmen to the school’s academic and social climate, starting the summer before their freshman year and ending at the end of that year. I’m a member of a couple clubs and expect to lead a few, but they’re not especially great looking in applications, just some clubs for fun. Is there anything I should worry about in terms of applying? My school does not release class rank, will this be a problem? And I’m sure you get enough people here asking for advice, but is there anything I need to improve in terms of how on track I am for application?

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I recently got a flight school scholarship, not enough to pay for a PPL or anything, but I’ll have a couple hours down. I doubt it will make too much difference but it’s something to mention.

 

[PositiveEnergy]

Hello everyone, I’m a current Sophomore in high school whose top choice is USAFA. My current high school is competitive, one of the top ranked public schools on US News and World Report. This is a little worrying for me. I have a fairly high PSAT, currently 1300 (97th percentile for 10th grade), preparing a lot and can see myself getting 1350+ (98th?) next year, but I am worried about grades and class ranking, as being in a competitive school is making my grades lower than they would be otherwise. I’m im all honors and AP courses with mostly A’s (can’t give a GPA estimate because I’m waiting for them to be released by my school), and between what I’m taking now, what I’m registered for next year, and my required senior APs, I will have a bare minimum of 6 total AP classes. I’m on the schools Ultimate Frisbee team, which is unfortunately a club sport, but I am on track to be a captain for the next 2 years. I’m not currently working but will be as soon as this quarantine is “officially” lifted and plan to work throughout the school year, though it depends on my workload. Finally, I will graduate with 120 community service hours and I am a member of our peer mentorship program, which essentially introduces incoming freshmen to the school’s academic and social climate, starting the summer before their freshman year and ending at the end of that year. I’m a member of a couple clubs and expect to lead a few, but they’re not especially great looking in applications, just some clubs for fun. Is there anything I should worry about in terms of applying? My school does not release class rank, will this be a problem? And I’m sure you get enough people here asking for advice, but is there anything I need to improve in terms of how on track I am for application?

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I recently got a flight school scholarship, not enough to pay for a PPL or anything, but I’ll have a couple hours down. I doubt it will make too much difference but it’s something to mention.

As a junior who is also at a very competitive school and trying to stand out more make sure you’re taking an extracurricular sport or something. Join the swim or track teams, they’re both easy to get into and very fun in my experience. If you’re able to balance good grades, community service, a job, and a sport USAFA will see your ability to handle what they throw at you. Also you might want to take more ap classes if you’re able to get good grades. Personally when I graduate I will have 10 ap classes under my belt and the rest will be honors and I’m still pretty unsure if I will be getting in. Not trying to make you lose confidence because it seems like you’re a solid person, just try and get another thing in terms of sports so they see the physic side of you.

 

[TheJayDoctor]

As a junior who is also at a very competitive school and trying to stand out more make sure you’re taking an extracurricular sport or something. Join the swim or track teams, they’re both easy to get into and very fun in my experience. If you’re able to balance good grades, community service, a job, and a sport USAFA will see your ability to handle what they throw at you. Also you might want to take more ap classes if you’re able to get good grades. Personally when I graduate I will have 10 ap classes under my belt and the rest will be honors and I’m still pretty unsure if I will be getting in. Not trying to make you lose confidence because it seems like you’re a solid person, just try and get another thing in terms of sports so they see the physic side of you.

Yeah, I’ll have to focus on a sport more. I could make it on track but I’ll have to see about it interfering with Ultimate. Also I’ll take more APs for sure, I’m thinking my number will be 8, I just didn’t want to sound too overconfident or anything so I just said what I’ll be taking for sure. Thanks for the advice, I’ll look into track for sure, I’ve been thinking about it for a while.

 

[OldRetSWO]

Hello everyone, I’m a current Sophomore in high school whose top choice is USAFA. My current high school is competitive, one of the top ranked public schools on US News and World Report. This is a little worrying for me. I have a fairly high PSAT, currently 1300 (97th percentile for 10th grade), preparing a lot and can see myself getting 1350+ (98th?) next year, but I am worried about grades and class ranking, as being in a competitive school is making my grades lower than they would be otherwise. I’m im all honors and AP courses with mostly A’s (can’t give a GPA estimate because I’m waiting for them to be released by my school), and between what I’m taking now, what I’m registered for next year, and my required senior APs, I will have a bare minimum of 6 total AP classes. I’m on the schools Ultimate Frisbee team, which is unfortunately a club sport, but I am on track to be a captain for the next 2 years. I’m not currently working but will be as soon as this quarantine is “officially” lifted and plan to work throughout the school year, though it depends on my workload. Finally, I will graduate with 120 community service hours and I am a member of our peer mentorship program, which essentially introduces incoming freshmen to the school’s academic and social climate, starting the summer before their freshman year and ending at the end of that year. I’m a member of a couple clubs and expect to lead a few, but they’re not especially great looking in applications, just some clubs for fun. Is there anything I should worry about in terms of applying? My school does not release class rank, will this be a problem? And I’m sure you get enough people here asking for advice, but is there anything I need to improve in terms of how on track I am for application?

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I recently got a flight school scholarship, not enough to pay for a PPL or anything, but I’ll have a couple hours down. I doubt it will make too much difference but it’s something to mention.

A LOT of people who post on this site say that their school is one of the top ranked schools in the US. In general, at a "top ranked" school, the average PSAT would be be close to or above 1300. You say that you can see yourself getting a 1350 and while seeing that listed as 98th percentile may seem great to you, I am sorry to tell you that in many congressional districts, a 1350 is below the AVERAGE Service Academy applicant. This past cycle, I did interviews for my Congerssman and across two days, I interviewed approx a dozen applicants for USNA, USMA and USAFA and I think that the lowest SAT score among them was a 1380 and the rest well above 1400.
By the way, that 1380 was an LOA holder who was recruited for a major revenue sport, does very well in classes, captain of 2 large teams while also helping care for a disabled family member.

I'm not trying to talk you out of anything, just telling you to strive to do better and also DO MORE because these are the sorts of kids that you will be competing with.

 

[PositiveEnergy]

A LOT of people who post on this site say that their school is one of the top ranked schools in the US. In general, at a "top ranked" school, the average PSAT would be be close to or above 1300. You say that you can see yourself getting a 1350 and while seeing that listed as 98th percentile may seem great to you, I am sorry to tell you that in many congressional districts, a 1350 is below the AVERAGE Service Academy applicant. This past cycle, I did interviews for my Congerssman and across two days, I interviewed approx a dozen applicants for USNA, USMA and USAFA and I think that the lowest SAT score among them was a 1380 and the rest well above 1400.
By the way, that 1380 was an LOA holder who was recruited for a major revenue sport, does very well in classes, captain of 2 large teams while also helping care for a disabled family member.

I'm not trying to talk you out of anything, just telling you to strive to do better and also DO MORE because these are the sorts of kids that you will be competing with.

I was thinking the same, my school is usually ranked within the top 3 in the state. Personally I'm aiming for 1500 on the SAT and @TheJayDoctor should try and do the same or more. You're stuck inside right now might as well be productive and kick some butt man. Its never too late to start the prep, if this is the future you want for yourself you should work as much as you can on getting to it.

 

[ij.sam]

Start planning your alternative plans. Apply to AFROTC and the other academies if interested. There's piloting opportunities in the other branches.
Work on your SAT score, there's plenty of free resources you can find yourself, and take the ACT. With a fee waiver you can take the SAT twice and ACT once and send your scores for free. So there's no excuse to not take either test.
It would help if those 120 hours of community service and your future service hours were towards commitments that you are very passionate about.
Majority of candidates are varsity letter recipients, keep that in mind when choosing what sport you should do because a varsity sport is high recommended.
Keep things like Boys/Girls state and nation in mind for when you're a junior.

 

[PositiveEnergy]

Start planning your alternative plans. Apply to AFROTC and the other academies if interested. There's piloting opportunities in the other branches.
Work on your SAT score, there's plenty of free resources you can find yourself, and take the ACT. With a fee waiver you can take the SAT twice and ACT once and send your scores for free. So there's no excuse to not take either test.
It would help if those 120 hours of community service and your future service hours were towards commitments that you are very passionate about.
Majority of candidates are varsity letter recipients, keep that in mind when choosing what sport you should do because a varsity sport is high recommended.
Keep things like Boys/Girls state and nation in mind for when you're a junior.

Kahn academy is a GREAT resource for SAT prep, you can link your PSAT test to it and it will show you exactly what parts you need to improve on

 

[PositiveEnergy]

So there's no excuse to not take either test.

unless you're like me and a junior who was supposed to take the SAT 4 days before your school got canceled and as of late the portal hasn't had any updates about COVID-19 since April 2nd and that update said they don't plan on changing deadlines at the moment but the earliest an SAT can be taken is September 26th as of right now so you'll need to throw out all the SAT prep and instead focus on ACT which is in July as of now but might also get pushed back

 

[TheJayDoctor]

I've read all of these and I'm not discouraged from the Academy, my school is highly ranked, top public in my state, I don't really know how to prove that without flat-out revealing the school itself so there's nothing I can really do about that. I do think that I can do better on PSAT but PSAT and SAT are not graded on the same scale. A 1300 PSAT converts to somewhere in the 1390 range on SAT. My goal for next year is 1400 PSAT (which would put my logical SAT goal at somewhere around 1470, though I'm really looking for 1500), but I didn't say it because saying I want to accomplish something means little in comparison to actually doing it. I'm not trying to say that because PSAT doesn't directly translate that I'm good, because even on that scale I have a lot of work to do, and I'm sure most people here know that, but I wanted to mention it. Also, in terms of sports, I've been planning on Track for a couple months now, is this a good option as far as late starts go?

I want to stress that when I reply to these messages with this which I have posted I in no way mean to dismiss anyone's claims or seem overconfident in my abilities as I'm extremely critical of myself and looking for ways to do better. I know that may seem obvious, but I want to make it clear in case these messages are worded wrong.

 

[MidCakePa]

Your school is your school — nothing you can do about that. More important than GPA and class rank is this: Did you take the hardest classes your school has to offer — especially in STEM — and excel at them? SAs will know all about your school (they examine your school’s profile) so they’ll have good context.

For sports, better to stick with ultimate, excel at it and lead! Don’t just be named team captain — do something worthy of that mantle. Make an impact that affects the whole team and leaves it better than you found it. SAs recognize varsity-letter chasers — those who join with a year left to pad their resume. Stick with what you’re passionate about, and show commitment and continuity.

Similar thought for clubs. Don’t be a club collector or title chaser. Focus on the one you’re most passionate about. Identify something that needs improvement, devise a solution, rally others to the cause, and then execute. That’s leadership, not a bunch of titles that may just be window dressing.

Finally, refrain from using your school’s competitiveness as rationale or justification for anything. It is what it is. Focus on what you can do and control.

 

[TheJayDoctor]

Your school is your school — nothing you can do about that. More important than GPA and class rank is this: Did you take the hardest classes your school has to offer — especially in STEM — and excel at them? SAs will know all about your school (they examine your school’s profile) so they’ll have good context.

For sports, better to stick with ultimate, excel at it and lead! Don’t just be named team captain — do something worthy of that mantle. Make an impact that affects the whole team and leaves it better than you found it. SAs recognize varsity-letter chasers — those who join with a year left to pad their resume. Stick with what you’re passionate about, and show commitment and continuity.

Similar thought for clubs. Don’t be a club collector or title chaser. Focus on the one you’re most passionate about. Identify something that needs improvement, devise a solution, rally others to the cause, and then execute. That’s leadership, not a bunch of titles that may just be window dressing.

Finally, refrain from using your school’s competitiveness as rationale or justification for anything. It is what it is. Focus on what you can do and control.

Absolutely, I understand. I'll keep this all in mind when deciding what I should be doing as I tackle the second half of High School. It's here that things start standing out to colleges more than before, so I'll make sure I'm careful with what decisions and commitments I make. Thank you for the advice, and although I'm not quoting every reply, I've read them all and thank everyone. Thanks so much for the advice everyone.

 

[PositiveEnergy]

Absolutely, I understand. I'll keep this all in mind when deciding what I should be doing as I tackle the second half of High School. It's here that things start standing out to colleges more than before, so I'll make sure I'm careful with what decisions and commitments I make. Thank you for the advice, and although I'm not quoting every reply, I've read them all and thank everyone. Thanks so much for the advice everyone.

If you’re thinking about track I’d advise you start running in your daily routine if it’s not already it can take several months for your heart muscles to strengthen and your heart is probably gonna carry you harder than your legs

 

[MM777]

As a sophomore, I suggest you do the following:
1) Structure your Jr and Sr years curriculum to be math and science heavy.
2) Plan to take your ACT/SAT in the Spring of your Jr. year -- I suggest, if your budget allows, take a formal ACT/SAT prep course around Dec of your Jr. year. Take the prep course seriously for the Feb test date of your Jr. year. Be early, score well.
3) Balance your AP/IB course load. In my opinion, a transcript with a moderate amount of IB/AP courses and straight As shows better than a transcript that is entirely AP/IB courses but contains a few or several Bs. Ideally, a transcript that is heavy with AP/IB courses and straight As is the best. Be honest with yourself and what you think you can achieve.
4) Be active in athletics. Whatever you choose to do, do so consistently. Strive to earn a team captain position -- Varsity or JV.
5) Be an active community servant. Go above and beyond your school's required minimum hours. Serve your community often.
6) Try to become a leader in a few organizations(ASB, clubs, sports, extracurricular groups, etc) rather than just a member of several.
7) Become an all-around athlete. If you are a track and field athlete, don't neglect the weight room. Also, don''t wait until your Jr or Sr year to participate. Start now.
8) In July before your Sr. year, begin the USAFA application. Make it your personal goal to complete the application, as much as you can, prior to your first day of your Sr. year classes. Get it done as early as possible.
9) Apply to ALL available congressional sources(U.S Congressperson, 2 U.S. Senators) -- do this in the late summer early fall of your Sr. year.
10) Go to www.academyadmissions.com and www.usafa.edu -- watch every video, click on every link, know everything you can about USAFA and the Air Force. Thoroughly familiarize yourself with this journey you are about to embark upon.
11) Vigorously and thoroughly work on "Plan B" college applications, including AFROTC. You want to have solid, viable alternatives available to you.
Good luck!