Honest Opinion

evhah3237

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I am a homeschooled high school junior, currently considering college options. I am interested in applying to USAFA as well as another traditional college. However, I am not sure I even have a chance to receive an appointment to USAFA as I did not play sports in high school and was not/am not involved in many extracurriculars. Below is my academic and extracurricular info:

GPA: 4.0
ACT Composite: 30
ACT Math/Science: 26.5

Extracurriculars:
Community Orchestra
Tae Kwon Do
Youth Leader at Church Youth Group
4H (Freshman and Sophomore)
Photography Club (Sophomore)
Part-Time Job at regional home improvment store: 10 Months
Owner/Operator Small Mowing Business

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to strengthen my appliction or thoughts about my chances of receiving an appointment?
 
Work on ACT scores (stem), maybe try a club sport, and workout. Other than that great GPA and solid ECs.
 
Attend Boys State. Apply for summer seminar. Get that math ACT up. Find leadership opportunities anywhere you can. Take challenging STEM courses. If you take dual credit at a community college, those teachers can do your teacher evaluations. My DS is a current candidate and also homeschooled.
 
If you don't apply you have zero chance. Academics. Athletics. Leadership. Those are the three pillars. Your ACT is ok, but could certainly be better. Your athletics and leadership could use some work. It is a Leadership school first and foremost, with a strong STEM component and a very physical part to go along with it.

The competition is fierce. Keep working on athletics, max you Tae Kwan Do. Can you teach it? That is a good leadership component. Volunteer fireman is always good. Lifeguarding has leadership, athletic, and responsibility components.

Spring Track is always a good option.

Work on your CFA.

And everything Texar147 said.

Good luck.
 
I am a homeschooled high school junior, currently considering college options. I am interested in applying to USAFA as well as another traditional college. However, I am not sure I even have a chance to receive an appointment to USAFA as I did not play sports in high school and was not/am not involved in many extracurriculars. Below is my academic and extracurricular info:

GPA: 4.0
ACT Composite: 30
ACT Math/Science: 26.5

Extracurriculars:
Community Orchestra
Tae Kwon Do
Youth Leader at Church Youth Group
4H (Freshman and Sophomore)
Photography Club (Sophomore)
Part-Time Job at regional home improvment store: 10 Months
Owner/Operator Small Mowing Business

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to strengthen my appliction or thoughts about my chances of receiving an appointment?
Not sure why you think you don't have a chance. I had a candidate last year who was homeschooled and got an appt.
Tae Kwon Do is a sport.

As for extracurriculars - its isn't about having a bunch of clubs and sports. Its about finding what you like to do and excelling at at. In Taekwondo, do you help run classes? Seems like a great leadership opportunity. How about at work? Any opportunities to be in charge of something? Remember that your boss or your TKD instructor may be able to write stellar recommendations.

Here's another suggestion - Start running and working out so you do well on the Candidate Fitness Assessment (CFA).
 
I think you have plenty of time to fill in the gaps. You've got some great suggestions in this thread. As it's been said before, this is a marathon, not a sprint, so start working on what's lacking, and you'll be there in no time! GL to you!
 
I've said it once and I'll say it again. My alo told me to look at other options. My JROTC commander told me I was 3 of 3 for those applying. I'm stubborn as ALLLL get out. I'm the only one here if those who applied. You have a chance do not self eliminate. Take the advise above if you can practice answering those hard questions and keep pushing. Make them tell you no aka they would have to search the bottom of ocean for a reason to reject you. Deep breath. Go attack
 
Sounds like you have an ok foundation. Is that the strongest record? No. Is it within the range of normal applicants? I'd say yes. Keep building.
 
I'm also a homeschooled student! I'm a senior and have gotten my appointment to West Point (still waiting to hear back from USAFA and USNA), so getting into a service academy as a homeschooler is definitely possible. Your stats look good as well, here are mine for comparison if it's at all helpful:

GPA: 3.97 (unweighted)
ACT: 33
SAT: 1420

Extracurriculars:
High School Girls Swim & Dive, Varsity, Team Captain (I'm a part of my district high school's swim team three months of the year)
Club Swim Team
Homeschool National Honor Society
President of Church Group
Co-founder: Creative Writing Club
Lifeguarding/Swim Coaching job
*not really an extracurricular but still good for my application: I've taken Dual Enrollment classes at a local university freshman through senior year, earning 31 credits*

I totally understand how finding extracurricular opportunities as a homeschooler is super hard, especially "school clubs" and such. The creative writing club I mentioned above I put as a "non-school club" in all of my academy/college applications, as it's something I started with a small group of friends to help each other become better writers. We had meetings in person or over zoom (COVID) and critiqued each other's stories and other writing pieces.

Tae Kwon Do is also a great sport for leadership (my sister did it for a while). Did you have to lead any volunteer opportunities as a part of it that you could speak to?

And as other people mentioned, maybe seeing if you could join a spring sport this year at your local high school would be a great opportunity. If you haven't already and are able to, also consider applying to boys/girls state (I attended last summer and that was great to put on applications), and are you going to apply for any of the summer programs at the service academies? Those were fantastic opportunities for me.

Finally, speaking to your current stats, your ACT score is pretty good, are you planning on taking it again? I took it four times and it was definitely worth it, especially regarding the math section. The first time I took it I got an 18 (!) but then studied and got a math tutor and got it up to a 28. I'm lucky to have had the resources for that but I think just taking it a few times is also good because you can build your confidence each time.

All in all, this was super long and I'm not sure if it's helpful. I understand how tricky it is to find extracurriculars and such as a homeschooler, but everything you have looks great so far and I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you! Let me know if you have any questions about anything additional.

Edit: I forgot to mention two more things. Some super helpful advice I learned from admissions at West Point (Probably the same for the other service academies) is to get everything done in your portal as soon as possible!!! I can't stress that enough, especially DODMERB. I started the DODMERB process in the summer so thankfully was cleared by August, and that was a huge relief for me. Pushing deadlines is not fun!

Also, my congressional district selects a primary nominee and then sends an unranked list (as far as I know), to the service academies when it comes time for nominations. Acing the nomination interviews is huge! I was lucky enough to have a great interview with my congresswoman's board of interviewers and earned the primary nomination, which is definitely a large part of how I got my appointment to USMA. Even if you're in a district where your nomination source sends the service academies an unranked slate, practicing answers to interview questions and making sure you present yourself well is super important. Obviously that's a bit further down the road in the application process, but still very important I think.
 
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Thanks for all your advice! Definitely a lot to think about and some big decisions coming up. I forgot to mention that I have been running/working out for most of the past year and think that if I continue to train, that I will do well on the CFA.
 
Homeschoolers will have the challenges you and other noted. One item that will be important is your transcript and the details required by USAFA -- the Admissions website page for homeschoolers outlines the details. I would start now to line up the necessary documentation. As I tell my students who homeschool, USAFA and other SAs put much more emphasis on your ACT / SAT scores so pushing up your scores in math and science will be important. Lots of good advice above -- good luck!
 
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