Does admissions look upon you more favorably if you have had family members in the military? For example, let's hypothetically say my father was an officer in the U.S. Army, on top of that - lets also say my grandfather was an officer in the U.S. Navy. How do they feel about that, or is it just irrelevant?
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How does WP feel about family members in the military?
- Thread starter JoeyM
- Start date
majmattmason
10-Year Member
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2008
- Messages
- 57
I disagree. It most definitely reflects favorably on you. To what extent, who knows, but like chicken soup, it can't hurt.
To quote Joan Rivers, "It's not who you know, it's whom you know."
While that fact alone might not get you into the Academy, it's not going to slow you down either. If your family name is Eisenhower, Powell, Schwarzkopf, etc you are most definitely getting a second look, I don't care what people say to the contrary. The folks in admissions are human and there's no getting around human nature.
To quote Joan Rivers, "It's not who you know, it's whom you know."
While that fact alone might not get you into the Academy, it's not going to slow you down either. If your family name is Eisenhower, Powell, Schwarzkopf, etc you are most definitely getting a second look, I don't care what people say to the contrary. The folks in admissions are human and there's no getting around human nature.
"points" for family members in the militart
It was explained to us this way - if there is an immediate family member who has been in the military, then a certain number of points are added to the Whole Candidate Score (parent, sibling), but more than one generation away (grandparent) and there is not an impact.
It was explained to us this way - if there is an immediate family member who has been in the military, then a certain number of points are added to the Whole Candidate Score (parent, sibling), but more than one generation away (grandparent) and there is not an impact.
It was explained to us this way - if there is an immediate family member who has been in the military, then a certain number of points are added to the Whole Candidate Score (parent, sibling), but more than one generation away (grandparent) and there is not an impact.
If you don't mind, who is your source?
FlyBoy1993
10-Year Member
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2011
- Messages
- 272
I never heard about points being adjusted on WCS, but rather family military history simply being an indicator of how supportive a family might be. Obviously a family with zero prior military service could still be 100% behind the candidate. It's just an additional indicator.
845something
5-Year Member
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2013
- Messages
- 738
BGO = Blue and Gold Officer = Navy. FFR = Field Force Rep = Army.
1) the specifics of each acadmy's admissions policy and process, while very similar, have some notable differences. You cannot extrapolate specifics from one to the other. Example: West Point doesn't score the interview, nor is it mandatory. A BGO or Air Force Liaison Officer (ALO) would have a totally different perspective on the interview.
2) most admissions reps do not have direct access to the scoring for WCS. In broad terms, West Point puts out that WCS = 6x Academics + 3x Leadership + CFA with Leadership being the average of your Athletics, Extracurricular, and SOE scores; it does not share the exact equation on how Academics is calculated, point totals for Leadership, or the score sheet for the CFA. While a good FFR will know what is good for your area based on experience, they do not have direct access to the score to see exactly how you stack up to your competition in terms of WCS.
3) the only benefit of having a (qualifying) military parent is the extra nomination, no points; the application is about what you have done and your potential, not your parents' accomplishments or service. You mention an officer parent, but let's think hypothetically about this to show how unsupportable of an admissions policy this would be: would you reward more points to a candidate with a higher ranking officer parent (GO vs Field Grade vs Company Grade), or what about commissioning source (academy vs ROTC vs OCS), and service (Army vs Navy), how about enlisted parents, would you distinguish against candidates whose parents were drafted vs those that volunteered. If you just gave points for service without regard for length of service, what would be the impediment for a parent to just enlist in the reserves to benefit your chances. Imagine how that could skew the results of admissions (and ultimately the next generation of military leaders) and just as quickly knock you out of competition because your family, while part of the military family, wasn't as connected to the upper echelon in the right branch from the right commissioning source as your competition - negating a candidate's superior Academic and Leadership qualifications that predict a greater potential to succeed at West Point.
1) the specifics of each acadmy's admissions policy and process, while very similar, have some notable differences. You cannot extrapolate specifics from one to the other. Example: West Point doesn't score the interview, nor is it mandatory. A BGO or Air Force Liaison Officer (ALO) would have a totally different perspective on the interview.
2) most admissions reps do not have direct access to the scoring for WCS. In broad terms, West Point puts out that WCS = 6x Academics + 3x Leadership + CFA with Leadership being the average of your Athletics, Extracurricular, and SOE scores; it does not share the exact equation on how Academics is calculated, point totals for Leadership, or the score sheet for the CFA. While a good FFR will know what is good for your area based on experience, they do not have direct access to the score to see exactly how you stack up to your competition in terms of WCS.
3) the only benefit of having a (qualifying) military parent is the extra nomination, no points; the application is about what you have done and your potential, not your parents' accomplishments or service. You mention an officer parent, but let's think hypothetically about this to show how unsupportable of an admissions policy this would be: would you reward more points to a candidate with a higher ranking officer parent (GO vs Field Grade vs Company Grade), or what about commissioning source (academy vs ROTC vs OCS), and service (Army vs Navy), how about enlisted parents, would you distinguish against candidates whose parents were drafted vs those that volunteered. If you just gave points for service without regard for length of service, what would be the impediment for a parent to just enlist in the reserves to benefit your chances. Imagine how that could skew the results of admissions (and ultimately the next generation of military leaders) and just as quickly knock you out of competition because your family, while part of the military family, wasn't as connected to the upper echelon in the right branch from the right commissioning source as your competition - negating a candidate's superior Academic and Leadership qualifications that predict a greater potential to succeed at West Point.