ECA and Classes Resume Opinions Requested

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USSEnterpr1se

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Hello! I am currently aspiring to get appointed to the USNA class of '28, and a current 11th grade Junior. I plan on graduating high school in the year 2024 and am currently in the process of preparing for the USNA applications and researching the admissions process for it. I have a list of my extracurriculars and I'm currently wondering if these are strong enough to be seen as a strong candidate. I would really love to hear your guys' opinions and any tips you guys have for me! Thank you!

General Extracurriculars:
- NJROTC
- Debate Club
- Beta Club
- (City) Youth Leaders
- Mock Trial
- Model UN
- Archery: Second Place in State for my Division
- Civil Air Patrol: (1 year, c/A1C)
- Pilot’s License: (FAA left only)
- School Leadership Team

Leadership Extracurriculars:
- Mock Trial Officer: Treasurer
- Debate Club: Team Captain in Middle School
- Archery: Team Captain
- NJROTC: Cadet Officer/Petty Officer (Battalion Staff)

Rigor Courses:
- AP Human Geography
- AP World History: Modern
- AP Biology
- AP Physics C: Mechanical (Currently taking)
- AP Calculus BC (Currently taking)
- AP US History (Currently taking)
 
Do you have the opportunity to participate in any team sports?

You will also be eligible to participate in Boys State/Girls State the summer before your senior year, which is highly regarded.
 
InItToWinIt said:
Do you have the opportunity to participate in any team sports?

You will also be eligible to participate in Boys State/Girls State the summer before your senior year, which is highly regarded.
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Sadly, I don't have the time committment to be able to participate in any team sports. I have a pretty high chance of being able to attend Boys State next year due to my JROTC unit being able to nominate a candidate and I have a solid relationship with our senior instructor.
 
Lots of information on this forum about the importance of team sports. Note USNA class portraits show ~91% of those actually appointed have played one or more varsity sport. Posters will weigh in that you don't need sports...true, but that means you are now competing for one of the 9% seats. Math: 1200 appointed x 9% = 108. This makes the likelihood of obtaining an MOC nomination and appointment much lower. You are competing against many others that will have sports as well as a list of ECAs and strong academics. You will need to demonstrate superior physical condition to increase your likelihood of getting appointed. USNA is looking for those that can make the time to participate in sports.

TIP: Consider dropping a few ECAs and picking up Cross Country or Track. Then use that action as something to talk about how you self motivated to remedy your lack of sports/athletics participation. Leaders take challenges head on. What is your Plans B & C to become a Naval officer? Good luck.
 
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Athletics. Academics. Leadership. Not my words, but the service academy's words. Make time for spring track this year, or better yet, winter track/swim now, and cross country next fall. Not completely impossible, but athletics of some sort are expected AND you need to do well on your CFA. There is still time, but that window is closing.

Good luck.
 
Although I have no idea what your home life is like, looking at your activities, there appears to be time. Most of the candidates have similar, if not more full resumes, multiple sports, plus a job. The competition is fierce. Everyone has great grades, test scores, AP classes, sports, music, and clubs. Make time for sports, and excel in them.
 
“Sports” is not simply a box to check off. SAs value athletic competition (in teams, especially) because they develop leadership, perseverance, discipline, resilience, collaboration, spirit and drive. Now, can those qualities be developed through different activities? Certainly!

At this point in your high-school career, don’t just do sports because you’re applying to an SA. You frankly might be better off doubling down on the activities you already do — and they seem to be good ones. But now you need to demonstrate how those activities developed the same qualities attributed to athletic competition.

It can be done. About 10% of each SA class is testament to that. It’s a tougher task, to be sure, but it seems to be where you’re at. Make the most of your situation.
 
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Agree with @MidCakePa … I wouldn’t “chase a sport” just to pad your resume.

One thing I would do for sure …. “Run run and run …. “ and train for the CFA starting now …. Knock it out of the park when it counts.

If you can get your CFA mile time below 6 minutes … while maxing the other events too … you’ve done your work …
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What do you mean by Pilot's license (FAA left only)? You only need to pass the check ride?
 
MidCakePa said:
“Sports” is not simply a box to check off. SAs value athletic competition (in teams, especially) because they develop leadership, perseverance, discipline, resilience, collaboration, spirit and drive. Now, can those qualities be developed through different activities? Certainly!

At this point in your high-school career, don’t just do sports because you’re applying to an SA. You frankly might be better off doubling down on the activities you already do — and they seem to be good ones. But now you need to demonstrate how those activities developed the same qualities attributed to athletic competition.

It can be done. About 10% of each SA class is testament to that. It’s a tougher task, to be sure, but it seems to be where you’re at. Make the most of your situation.
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As much as I agree with this, I would always recommend getting involved in sports - discipline/determination, teamwork, leadership, and time management are important parts of an application and sports is a great place to develop the necessary traits to succeed. Plus, SAs' graduation requirements truly require every Cadet and MIDN to be an athlete (to varying degrees).
Dr. Strange Love said:
One thing I would do for sure …. “Run run and run …. “ and train for the CFA starting now …. Knock it out of the park when it counts.
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This is spot on for someone who is not involved in sports. But, I'd go a step further. Start working on your core strength (sit ups and planks), pull-ups and push-ups. It is not enough to just be a good runner to crush the CFA. And, if you aren't already a competent swimmer, consider working on that.
 
As others have said, I would highly recommend doing a sport. I started a sport in HS simply because I wanted to go to an academy, but this was my Sophomore year so it might be different than in your case; I would recommend you do cross country but if you are a junior that would leave you only one season. My experience with starting Track/XC as a Sophomore was awesome (I wrestled in Middle School), and I really benefited from the team aspect as well as the physical training and ended up to be an accomplished athlete by my final seasons, something I didn't know was possible. From what I gather the single digit percent at an academy that did not letter in sports in HS probably did marching band or had a full time job.

By participating in a sport and continuing to do well in academics and leadership, you would be exemplifying and practicing skills in what seems like perhaps the biggest challenge at a service academy- time management. I have gathered that the one of the main things an academy looks for is a well rounded applicant with mastery/success in multiple playing fields at once. I would also seek athletic leadership if possible.

If you do end up applying without a sport, I wouldn't tell said academy that "Sadly, I don't have the time commitment to be able to participate in any team sports."😅. You WILL be required to have the time commitment to do a sport at an academy, so think about some legitimate reasons why you didn't do any in HS, i.e. you had a full time job. I am the CO or my NJROTC Unit as well as a Scoutmaster in Scouting and involved in some other things and AP academics. During my sports seasons, I really don't have as much free time as I do in the rest of the year and this is something that I think is not only something that you just put up with but something that would be good to get used to for attending an SA. I believe you can make the time for almost anything, if you really want it.

If you do not do a sport, at least train now for CFA as others state. You can take it sooner rather than later if you are able to attend NASS this summer. I think that track/XC could answer your problems though. Just IMHO as a 27' applicant/appointee to a few SA's.

**you mention your Debate Team Leadership in middle school. The USNA application only has 9-12th activities if I remember correctly.
 
T-37IP said:
Athletics. Academics. Leadership. Not my words, but the service academy's words. Make time for spring track this year, or better yet, winter track/swim now, and cross country next fall. Not completely impossible, but athletics of some sort are expected AND you need to do well on your CFA. There is still time, but that window is closing.

Good luck.
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I plan on joining track this spring semester and continuing it onto next year in order to prepare for the cfa.
 
Don't Give Up the Ship said:
Lots of information on this forum about the importance of team sports. Note USNA class portraits show ~91% of those actually appointed have played one or more varsity sport. Posters will weigh in that you don't need sports...true, but that means you are now competing for one of the 9% seats. Math: 1200 appointed x 9% = 108. This makes the likelihood of obtaining an MOC nomination and appointment much lower. You are competing against many others that will have sports as well as a list of ECAs and strong academics. You will need to demonstrate superior physical condition to increase your likelihood of getting appointed. USNA is looking for those that can make the time to participate in sports.

TIP: Consider dropping a few ECAs and picking up Cross Country or Track. Then use that action as something to talk about how you self motivated to remedy your lack of sports/athletics participation. Leaders take challenges head on. What is your Plans B & C to become a Naval officer? Good luck.
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Is it better to just join track in general or only if I believe I have a chance at being on the varsity team? I haven't always been the super athletic and fast type, I do plan on training and preparing for the CFA.

My only Plan B on becoming a naval officer is applying to a college with an NROTC program or a senior military college like The Citadel and commissioning afterwards.
 
USSEnterpr1se said:
Is it better to just join track in general or only if I believe I have a chance at being on the varsity team? I haven't always been the super athletic and fast type, I do plan on training and preparing for the CFA.

My only Plan B on becoming a naval officer is applying to a college with an NROTC program or a senior military college like The Citadel and commissioning afterwards.
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Almost all track and XC teams have no "JV" and they field multiple people in each different event. In general if you are able to race something in meets you will letter.
 
cbasulto1 said:
Almost all track and XC teams have no "JV" and they field multiple people in each different event. In general if you are able to race something in meets you will letter.
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How important are varsity letters for the academies? Do they care about how many letters you have? So far I have one from NJROTC.
 
USSEnterpr1se said:
Is it better to just join track in general or only if I believe I have a chance at being on the varsity team? I haven't always been the super athletic and fast type, I do plan on training and preparing for the CFA.

My only Plan B on becoming a naval officer is applying to a college with an NROTC program or a senior military college like The Citadel and commissioning afterwards.
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Echoing above, you need more athletic activities. You state that you haven't always been "super athletic". Make sure you know what you are potentially getting yourself into. The SAs aren't just prestigious colleges. There is a lot of demanding "athletic" requirements. You should join track (as a distance runner) in general because you are much more likely to make progress as a runner if you are under the coaching of someone and running with teammates. It won't necessarily help your application that much if you don't run varsity, but you need to start somewhere.

Another note, when you write your resume (for any college), drop the Middle School activities. Even ones you think look good because you were captain. Colleges don't really care about middle school, and you don't want it to look like you peaked early. You have plenty of great high school activities to include, focus on those.

Otherwise, your resume looks solid and if you can get the physical portion sorted, I am sure you would be a very competitive candidate.
 
cbasulto1 said:
Almost all track and XC teams have no "JV" and they field multiple people in each different event. In general if you are able to race something in meets you will letter.
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I would say that is very school specific. If you go to a small school that has difficulty fielding an entire team that might be true but that is not at all true in any of the school situations my children have been.
 
USSEnterpr1se said:
How important are varsity letters for the academies? Do they care about how many letters you have? So far I have one from NJROTC.
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1. Look at the Class Portrait for USNA available on their website-this will show you that 91% of the class has earned at least one Varsity Letter-so yes, its important to them. Also about 67% were Captains of a Varsity Team.
2. Join CC/Track regardless whether you think you will earn a Varsity letter-you will need the running ability.
3. Start practicing the CFA in you HS junior year, train, train and then train more.-Max it out!
4. Apply for Summer Seminar and Max the CFA then...you will likely get noticed-reports are generated during SS.
 
NavyHopefulMom2027 said:
Echoing above, you need more athletic activities. You state that you haven't always been "super athletic". Make sure you know what you are potentially getting yourself into. The SAs aren't just prestigious colleges. There is a lot of demanding "athletic" requirements. You should join track (as a distance runner) in general because you are much more likely to make progress as a runner if you are under the coaching of someone and running with teammates. It won't necessarily help your application that much if you don't run varsity, but you need to start somewhere.

Another note, when you write your resume (for any college), drop the Middle School activities. Even ones you think look good because you were captain. Colleges don't really care about middle school, and you don't want it to look like you peaked early. You have plenty of great high school activities to include, focus on those.

Otherwise, your resume looks solid and if you can get the physical portion sorted, I am sure you would be a very competitive candidate.
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Thank you for your response! I'm currently debating between starting more sports or doubling down on my current ECAs. I definitely do plan on joining track or XC.
 
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