How Many Schools Did You Apply to?

[cc.cg]

I applied to one school and one school only

Do you mind sharing your stats if you dont mind or were you a recruited athlete?

SAT 1090, GPA 2.9. Not a recruited athlete.

Whaaaat!?!?!? Most people are saying right now. I got in by some combination of bonus points for determination (applied 3 times and only school I wanted to go to), clerical error, weak applicant pool that year and/or excessive prayer by my parents.

You are a truly determined person and an inspiration!

 

[cc.cg]

I applied to one school: West Point. That was not the best decision and my parents were not too pleased; however, I was accepted. In interviews it was quite entertaining watching their reaction to this fact when they asked where else I was applying. It probably did indicate a sort of dedication to only apply to one place, but if I had not decided on enlisting if I was rejected, then I hopefully would have applied to other places (Maybe not though, as I wouldn't have wanted to go anywhere else).

I can tell you that applying to a host of colleges and all of the service academies will probably not give off a sense of a deep desire to attend MMA. A stellar applicant in my district with an LOA did not even receive a nomination in large part- I believe- because he wanted to attend multiple other service academies over West Point. So I would recommend having solid backup options that you would be content with if you don't get in, but limit them to a reasonable number of schools that you would be excited to attend.

Take that for what you will as I have precisely zero knowledge of MMA admissions save for its similarity to the other SAs. Best of luck to you.

Thank you so much for your advice I love hearing all the different outputs this truly helps!

 

[Humey]

I applied to one school: West Point. That was not the best decision and my parents were not too pleased; however, I was accepted. In interviews it was quite entertaining watching their reaction to this fact when they asked where else I was applying. It probably did indicate a sort of dedication to only apply to one place, but if I had not decided on enlisting if I was rejected, then I hopefully would have applied to other places (Maybe not though, as I wouldn't have wanted to go anywhere else).

I can tell you that applying to a host of colleges and all of the service academies will probably not give off a sense of a deep desire to attend MMA. A stellar applicant in my district with an LOA did not even receive a nomination in large part- I believe- because he wanted to attend multiple other service academies over West Point. So I would recommend having solid backup options that you would be content with if you don't get in, but limit them to a reasonable number of schools that you would be excited to attend.

Take that for what you will as I have precisely zero knowledge of MMA admissions save for its similarity to the other SAs. Best of luck to you.

You were lucky, my best friend son who is very smart (high GPA and SAT) and has been taking college courses for over a year now applied to MIT, Stanford, Berkely, UCLA, USC, Caltech, most of the Ivys, Tulane, Babson, and Cal Poly Pomona and was rejected by everyone accepted Tulane and Cal Poly. Tulane doesnt have the program he needs and being the smart guy he is, I dont think he is happy about going to Cal State school. He royally screwed up in my belief as most of the schools he applied for while certainly not a reach for him, are hard to get in even with outstanding scores. Why he didnt apply to schools like Univ of Virgina, Univ of Texas, and Univ of Wisconsin is beyond me. Not saying he had to choose these specific schools, but schools that maybe are one step below an IVY. Berkley and UCLA are a perfect fit for him, but those schools are looking for a more diverse group these days and he doesnt fit what they want. He didnt want his parents involved even though they offered a counselor. I dont understand how his school counselor didnt have him apply to more safety schools. His father made it sound like UCLA and Berkley were his safefy school because of his grades, but honestly, those are two hard schools to get into.

 

[AROTC-dad]

His father made it sound like UCLA and Berkley were his safefy school because of his grades, but honestly, those are two hard schools to get into.

"Safety" schools? I agree with you, Humey. UCLA and Cal are difficult to call safety schools.

My oldest DS and oldest DD both are UCLA grads.....
Last year UCLA received 102,000 applications for a class of about 6,000.

I don't care how good your grades and scores are, the staggering number of applications makes UCLA difficult to regard as a "safety" school.

Source:
http://www.admission.ucla.edu/Prospect/Adm_fr/Frosh_Prof17.htm

 

[StPaulDad]

"Safety" schools? I agree with you, Humey. UCLA and Cal are difficult to call safety schools.

My oldest DS and oldest DD both are UCLA grads.....
Last year UCLA received 102,000 applications for a class of about 6,000.

I don't care how good your grades and scores are, the staggering number of applications makes UCLA difficult to regard as a "safety" school.

Source:
http://www.admission.ucla.edu/Prospect/Adm_fr/Frosh_Prof17.htm

Yeah, most of the University of California schools are really not safeties for anyone. That's just not smart planning, but every kid heading off to college is doing it for the first time. Left to their own devices not everyone is going to do a great job at it, and some folks will end up creating those horrible examples for the rest of us to cringe at.

And while not getting in anywhere you want to go is pretty awful, what some people run into is almost worse: getting into one or more dream schools and then figuring out you can't afford them. Safety means getting in *and* paying your way. It means having a place to go for school next year. It should not involve any substantial doubt. That's a hard lesson to learn first hand. Luck to all.

 

[service1st]

The academies are looking to see if you want to serve. Its not all about being an officer for a selected branch. Its about your willingness and commitment to sacrifice and serve this country. That being said, you should apply to all of the academies and show your intent is to get into that single one. Like in one interview say you want USMMA and the next USAFA. Its all on preference though. Let me know if you want to know my stats. Best of luck.

I really like your opinion on this! My priority is to serve my country but if I was to word that in an essay like "although I applied to all of these schools I really want to attend yours the most" Without offending MMA how would I word that? Just let me know thanks!

Yes, make sure you state that you want to serve and you intend on taking whichever route is possible, but definitely make your desire to attend CGA/MMA very evident in your statements. Best of luck!

 

[cmakin]

I applied to one school and one school only

Do you mind sharing your stats if you dont mind or were you a recruited athlete?

SAT 1090, GPA 2.9. Not a recruited athlete.

Whaaaat!?!?!? Most people are saying right now. I got in by some combination of bonus points for determination (applied 3 times and only school I wanted to go to), clerical error, weak applicant pool that year and/or excessive prayer by my parents.

My SAT was a bit higher (1200s I think), but not much, if I recall correctly. My high school GPA was also a bit higher, too. 3.0 or 3.1. I was NOT a principal appointee, but an early alternate to KP. I also applied to Navy and Air Force, but was not accepted. I also applied to South Dakota School of Mines (my plan b). Oh a whim, I also applied to USC and was accepted, but no way I could afford it. . .

 

[Youngman]

@cc.cg I applied to 5 schools with USMMA being my first choice and only service academy. My SAT is a 1400 and my GPA is 4.4 weighted. I received an LOA in December and the appointment in January. But, from what I've absorbed from these forums and all the reading and research I have done on one of the best schools in the country.... is that you need to be a complete candidate. From sports to athletics to other extra-curricular activities. In regards to your question about applying to more schools, if you can afford it why not? I wish you luck with your application and if you have any questions I'll be happy to help.

 

[KPEngineer]

I applied to one school and one school only

Do you mind sharing your stats if you dont mind or were you a recruited athlete?

SAT 1090, GPA 2.9. Not a recruited athlete.

Whaaaat!?!?!? Most people are saying right now. I got in by some combination of bonus points for determination (applied 3 times and only school I wanted to go to), clerical error, weak applicant pool that year and/or excessive prayer by my parents.

My SAT was a bit higher (1200s I think), but not much, if I recall correctly. My high school GPA was also a bit higher, too. 3.0 or 3.1. I was NOT a principal appointee, but an early alternate to KP. I also applied to Navy and Air Force, but was not accepted. I also applied to South Dakota School of Mines (my plan b). Oh a whim, I also applied to USC and was accepted, but no way I could afford it. . .

I had no real credential to justify admittance other than my desire to go. I had subpar grades (my GPA dropped from a 3.1 to 2.9 senior year) and SAT scores, I had no significant extracurricular (played one year of HS football and was baseball team manager) and I had no real academic record between HS and KP. I sort of went to community college but the majority of my grades were "Z" which meant didn't drop the class but just stopped going.

Talking to a fellow alum recently we got on this same topic. When I told him my SAT and GPA he gave me a quizzical look and said "Dude, how the hell did you get in?"

The then director of admissions actually called me and asked what the Z grades were. After I told him he followed up with ... no kidding this direct quote is burned in my soul forever ... "So Phil, the committee and I were wondering. Just what exactly have you been doing for the last two years." (his emphasis on the word "doing". He thanked me for my answer of basically just trying to balance work and school but without too much success.

A week later I got my acceptance letter. I think all here would agree that one of two theories has to be true

1. Divine intervention
2. Administrative error

 

[azmilmom]

I applied to one school and one school only

Do you mind sharing your stats if you dont mind or were you a recruited athlete?

SAT 1090, GPA 2.9. Not a recruited athlete.

Whaaaat!?!?!? Most people are saying right now. I got in by some combination of bonus points for determination (applied 3 times and only school I wanted to go to), clerical error, weak applicant pool that year and/or excessive prayer by my parents.

My SAT was a bit higher (1200s I think), but not much, if I recall correctly. My high school GPA was also a bit higher, too. 3.0 or 3.1. I was NOT a principal appointee, but an early alternate to KP. I also applied to Navy and Air Force, but was not accepted. I also applied to South Dakota School of Mines (my plan b). Oh a whim, I also applied to USC and was accepted, but no way I could afford it. . .

I had no real credential to justify admittance other than my desire to go. I had subpar grades (my GPA dropped from a 3.1 to 2.9 senior year) and SAT scores, I had no significant extracurricular (played one year of HS football and was baseball team manager) and I had no real academic record between HS and KP. I sort of went to community college but the majority of my grades were "Z" which meant didn't drop the class but just stopped going.

Talking to a fellow alum recently we got on this same topic. When I told him my SAT and GPA he gave me a quizzical look and said "Dude, how the hell did you get in?"

The then director of admissions actually called me and asked what the Z grades were. After I told him he followed up with ... no kidding this direct quote is burned in my soul forever ... "So Phil, the committee and I were wondering. Just what exactly have you been doing for the last two years." (his emphasis on the word "doing". He thanked me for my answer of basically just trying to balance work and school but without too much success.

A week later I got my acceptance letter. I think all here would agree that one of two theories has to be true

1. Divine intervention
2. Administrative error

Somehow the movie 'Legally Blonde' keeps running through my head...I can see admissions debating your appointment just like Harvard Law did in the movie, minus the admissions video with you in a bikini one hopes!

 

[KPEngineer]

minus the admissions video with you in a bikini one hopes!

You promise not to ask and I will promise not to tell