Early Action Question

YardDog136

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Joined
Sep 20, 2020
Messages
72
Howdy, I’m currently done with everything on the application excluding the PFE. I’ve used all optional parts of the application to include additional recommenders. The only thing I’m worried about submitting by the early action deadline is my academics. Here are my academic stats:

  • 25 ACT
  • 3.9 unweighted GPA
  • 4.6 weighted GPA
  • 5 Honors, AP Lang and Comp (Scored 3 on the exam), and DC Bio next semester
  • 43 / 277 class rank
I’m aware that I can’t change much of this during the course of my senior year besides my ACT score. As far as athletics and ECAs go, here’s some info:
  • 4 years varsity track
  • 2 years JV football
  • 1 year varsity XC
  • 2 years of concert and marching band (No longer in the band)
  • Summer job 10+ hours a week
  • JROTC PT specialist, Flight Sergeant, Flight Commander, Squadron Commander, Deputy Group, and eventually Group CO.
  • 100+ hours of community service
  • Organizer of various community service events and a few on the larger side
  • Air Force Association Leadership award winner (given to 1 top cadet per state)
There’s more, but I didn’t know what to list and what not to list. Either way, just wondering if I should be worried about submitting early action.
 
My only question is have you been able to take the SAT? You may score better on that test than the ACT.
 
My only question is have you been able to take the SAT? You may score better on that test than the ACT.
Unfortunately not. I’m in an ACT state so the drive for an SAT is an hour plus. I’ve been considering trying it though.
 
May be worth an hour drive to take the SAT .
Or at retake ACT for superscore. And of course your PFE score will need to be competitive. You want to put your BEST application possible, so rushing for early action may not be the wisest plan unless you're confident in your submission
 
@Saveair-K
What is your ACT score breakdown for Math and English?

Before you drive for the SAT, do a practice test on Khan Academy. It'll help you scope out if the different format will be advantageous before you make a long drive. From my experience, with the SAT you are given more time, but the questions are less straightforward on what needs to be done. With the ACT, it's more fast-paced, but it's also much more straightforward. More than anything, study hard and know the ins and outs of whichever test you decide you're better at! Definitely try both, but take advantage of the super score!
 
@Saveair-K - congrats on getting this far. Are you being recruited for track? If not, based on the stats, my suggestion would be to wait until regular admission while you continue working on the resume and being strategic in the standardized tests. The ACT and class rank are not currently at a level where candidates are picked up in CGA Early Action. Early action is for the most qualified of qualified applicants and not for candidates who are simply good or average amongst the general population of historically successful applicants.

There are three outcomes of CGA Early Action - Appoint, Defer to Regular Action, and Reject. Candidates who are viewed as average in respect to the candidate pool are more often than not outright rejected as opposed to deferred to Regular Action. Historic trends are not always indicators of future success, but they are all we generally have to go off of. Most assume that CGA would simply reject unqualified and place qualified in a holding pattern for Regular Action - but the last cycle showed this was not the case. Each SA have different criteria for admission, but as we have seen previously, candidates who were offered admission at other SA were outright rejected in CGA early action. I point this out because there is generally a "recipe" for success and a general student profile that we find to be successful in gaining admission. There are outliers, but in general, we can look at a profile and at least identify whether or not a candidate has a chance at gaining admission. This student profile is generally consistent across all 5 schools. One would assume that IF QUALIFIED for 1 SA, you are generally QUALIFIED for all in terms of minimum requirements for all SA. This does not mean that the candidate should expect to receive 5 appointment offers -- beyond minimum requirements, there is room for variation and specific diversity needs for the branch of service or the SA.

My point is that I find it odd that the same candidate who receives a USNA appointment could be outright rejected from CGA in Early Action. What I read into this is that EA is intended to grab as many top-tier candidates ahead of other SA announcement windows. If a candidate will be a borderline admissions candidate (remember they have less than 300 slots to offer in the cycle...) they will generally reject the candidate.

@coasttocoast mentioned in another EA thread you need "for EA academics, math SAT above 700 and/or ACT above a 29". I would add that from what we have seen, you can expect a full rejection with anything less than this. With the amount of interest in CGA, they can afford to be choosy when filling those limited seats.

If you are left wondering why a candidate could be offered a slot at USNA, USMA, or USAFA when rejected from USMMA or USGCA - remember the power of scale - 300 (or fewer) seats at the small schools and 1000 seats at the big schools. In many cases, when a student applies to 1 SA, they apply to all 5. When rank ordering applicants and you can only accept ~300, there are still 700 candidates that would have made the cut at the other SA and received an offer. In my personal opinion, CGA is the most difficult of the 5 to get into. EA is only for the best of the best applications OR a recruited athlete that the school is very serious about.
 
@Saveair-KThere are three outcomes of CGA Early Action - Appoint, Defer to Regular Action, and Reject. Candidates who are viewed as average in respect to the candidate pool are more often than not outright rejected as opposed to deferred to Regular Action.

No there are four possible outcomes. The one omitted from this list is CGAS which is an offer to the academy’s prep school program.
 
May want to get another ACT under your belt for superstore purposes.
Definitely going to take a few more. Currently waiting on the results from an ACT I took on 2 October.
@Saveair-K
What is your ACT score breakdown for Math and English?

Before you drive for the SAT, do a practice test on Khan Academy. It'll help you scope out if the different format will be advantageous before you make a long drive. From my experience, with the SAT you are given more time, but the questions are less straightforward on what needs to be done. With the ACT, it's more fast-paced, but it's also much more straightforward. More than anything, study hard and know the ins and outs of whichever test you decide you're better at! Definitely try both, but take advantage of the super score!
My score breakdown is 19 math 28 English 29 reading. I took it a while back so there was some math I haven’t taken yet. Hopefully it came up in this recent one. I might just try the SAT.
 
@Saveair-K - congrats on getting this far. Are you being recruited for track? If not, based on the stats, my suggestion would be to wait until regular admission while you continue working on the resume and being strategic in the standardized tests. The ACT and class rank are not currently at a level where candidates are picked up in CGA Early Action. Early action is for the most qualified of qualified applicants and not for candidates who are simply good or average amongst the general population of historically successful applicants.

There are three outcomes of CGA Early Action - Appoint, Defer to Regular Action, and Reject. Candidates who are viewed as average in respect to the candidate pool are more often than not outright rejected as opposed to deferred to Regular Action. Historic trends are not always indicators of future success, but they are all we generally have to go off of. Most assume that CGA would simply reject unqualified and place qualified in a holding pattern for Regular Action - but the last cycle showed this was not the case. Each SA have different criteria for admission, but as we have seen previously, candidates who were offered admission at other SA were outright rejected in CGA early action. I point this out because there is generally a "recipe" for success and a general student profile that we find to be successful in gaining admission. There are outliers, but in general, we can look at a profile and at least identify whether or not a candidate has a chance at gaining admission. This student profile is generally consistent across all 5 schools. One would assume that IF QUALIFIED for 1 SA, you are generally QUALIFIED for all in terms of minimum requirements for all SA. This does not mean that the candidate should expect to receive 5 appointment offers -- beyond minimum requirements, there is room for variation and specific diversity needs for the branch of service or the SA.

My point is that I find it odd that the same candidate who receives a USNA appointment could be outright rejected from CGA in Early Action. What I read into this is that EA is intended to grab as many top-tier candidates ahead of other SA announcement windows. If a candidate will be a borderline admissions candidate (remember they have less than 300 slots to offer in the cycle...) they will generally reject the candidate.

@coasttocoast mentioned in another EA thread you need "for EA academics, math SAT above 700 and/or ACT above a 29". I would add that from what we have seen, you can expect a full rejection with anything less than this. With the amount of interest in CGA, they can afford to be choosy when filling those limited seats.

If you are left wondering why a candidate could be offered a slot at USNA, USMA, or USAFA when rejected from USMMA or USGCA - remember the power of scale - 300 (or fewer) seats at the small schools and 1000 seats at the big schools. In many cases, when a student applies to 1 SA, they apply to all 5. When rank ordering applicants and you can only accept ~300, there are still 700 candidates that would have made the cut at the other SA and received an offer. In my personal opinion, CGA is the most difficult of the 5 to get into. EA is only for the best of the best applications OR a recruited athlete that the school is very serious about.
Unfortunately I haven’t made contact with CGA track, only USNA when they invited me to their track and field/cross country camp. From what it sounds like, I should wait until regular action.
 
Yeah definitely want to get the math up since it’s a STEM school. Study hard and use the super score for RA. You got this!!
 
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