How much more...?

dlee96

5-Year Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2012
Messages
260
I recently had a great opportunity to talk with a competitive applicant and I am fearing for my upcoming application.

They say that I need numerous awards in sports at the county and state level (which is nigh impossible for a varsity-since-freshman swimmer like myself).

Furthermore, they say that I need a minimum of 500+ service hours during high school. I will most likely finish with around 320 hours.

Can any current cadets, FFR's, or anyone with experience chime in?
 
There are many more factors that weight in in the application - there's no set standard that "if you have x amount of volunteer hours and y leadership positions, you'll get in". Just make sure you are well-rounded: get/stay fit, have leadership positions, get great grades... stand-out, somehow.

Good luck!
 
that is simply not true. There is certainly a benefit to having those things, just like there is a benefit to having a 4.0 GPA. However, they are not requirements.
 
Opinions are worth what you pay for them.

Since the "competitive candidates" don't sit on the admission board and they don't know how academies do their scoring, I would not worry for one second about their opinions. They are entitled to their opinions, but you should ignore them. There are so many factors that go into the decision process, just do your best and see what happens. Good luck!
 
I don't sit on the admissions board neither, but anyone that has been involved knows that the whole candidate score is 60% academic, 30% leadership, and 10% physical. Simple math, 60% trumps 30%, so even if you are an Eagle scout, several club presidents, 1000 hours of volunteer service, three sports varsity letters, and on your spare time you save homeless dogs, someone with higher SAT score will more than likely get higher whole candidate score.
 
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