I'm currently a sophmore in high school and I want to apply to USNA when I'm a senior. Are my stats okay so far?

I

ilovehockeylol

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I have a 3.7 unweighted gpa, I play JV hockey and I'm on swim team. I also do trap shooting and I'm going to start track and field this spring. Other than that I play AAA hockey and PPL hockey during the summer, both are tryout only and hard to get into. I have a commission on City Council and I am a class officer for Student Council. I'm founder and president of my schools Key Club and I'm a member of Red Cross Club. I also am in Sea Cadets which the Navy's youth program. This summer I went to basic training for that. Lastly this summer I went to a Navy engineering camp through the Society Of Military Engineers. We worked with USNA midshipmen and it was really fun. Does all this make me an okay candidate so far? Is there anythinng I could improve on or anything else I could be doing?
 
ilovehockeylol said:
I have a 3.7 unweighted gpa, I play JV hockey and I'm on swim team. I also do trap shooting and I'm going to start track and field this spring. Other than that I play AAA hockey and PPL hockey during the summer, both are tryout only and hard to get into. I have a commission on City Council and I am a class officer for Student Council. I'm founder and president of my schools Key Club and I'm a member of Red Cross Club. I also am in Sea Cadets which the Navy's youth program. This summer I went to basic training for that. Lastly this summer I went to a Navy engineering camp through the Society Of Military Engineers. We worked with USNA midshipmen and it was really fun. Does all this make me an okay candidate so far? Is there anythinng I could improve on or anything else I could be doing?
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Start Standardized Test prep now. You do not have to wait till Junior Year to take ACT/SAT
 
Take AP/IB and honors courses at your high school, especially in STEM subjects
 
Here’s a roadmap from usna.edu:

www.usna.edu

General Advice for Grades 9-12

General Advice for Grades 9-12 page for Admissions at USNA.edu. Updated Tue Nov 26 04:42:18 EST 2024.
www.usna.edu

Be strategic. Quality over quantity in ECAs, positions where you can exercise leadership and make a difference.

It’s not too early to read every page, link and dropdown menu item on USNA.edu. There is a lot of great info there.

It is also not too early to research your Senators’ and Representative’s service academy nomination sections, get smart on that, and look to see if they have any Service Academy Info nights coming up. Though you are not yet in the application window, you can learn a lot from these events.

Be sure to explore the other 4 federal/service academies and the 6 armed services officer specialties, so you can make an educated decision.
 
Capt MJ said:
Here’s a roadmap from usna.edu:

www.usna.edu

General Advice for Grades 9-12

General Advice for Grades 9-12 page for Admissions at USNA.edu. Updated Tue Nov 26 04:42:18 EST 2024.
www.usna.edu

Be strategic. Quality over quantity in ECAs, positions where you can exercise leadership and make a difference.

It’s not too early to read every page, link and dropdown menu item on USNA.edu. There is a lot of great info there.

It is also not too early to research your Senators’ and Representative’s service academy nomination sections, get smart on that, and look to see if they have any Service Academy Info nights coming up. Though you are not yet in the application window, you can learn a lot from these events.

Be sure to explore the other 4 federal/service academies and the 6 armed services officer specialties, so you can make an educated decision.
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Thank You! I've already done a decent amount of research and I'm 90% sure I want to go to USNA over all of the others.
 
Apply for Boys/Girls State. Great leadership programs.

Take the hardest STEM courses your school offers, and do well in them. Sit down with your academic advisor and discuss the suggested classes USNA says applicants should have on their HS transcript. See if you can check all of those boxes. It's good that you are preparing early.

Attend any local SA Forums that your MOCs may host.
 
ilovehockeylol said:
Thank You! I've already done a decent amount of research and I'm 90% sure I want to go to USNA over all of the others.
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The REAL question is what service do you see yourself serving in for 5+ years after graduation? (This is a rhetorical question.)

The service academy is a 4-year waystation, not the end goal. Be sure there are several things you could see yourself doing after USNA. If you are not selected for your dream warfare community or medically DQed your 2/C (junior) year for that dream path, there should be other paths of interest.

And you can go active duty Navy or Marine Corps out of USMMA, with a set of merchant mariner skills as well.

You will find out by browsing these forums that “alternate plans” are a common sense strategy, such as NROTC at a civilian university or Senior Military College (SMC, you can google this). Every year, there are more fully qualified candidates with nominations than there are seats available. But - a segment of each class is made up of re-applicants.

There are class profiles for each class. Take a look at one.

www.usna.edu

Class Portrait

Class Portrait page for Admissions at USNA.edu. Updated Tue Nov 19 04:44:57 EST 2024.
www.usna.edu
 
It is never too early to prepare for the CFA. I advise my students to focus on the published averages from USAFA and USMA (note that USNA does not publish them). I also recommend a good running regime, working you way up to 10 miles per week and about 3 miles per run. Good luck!
 
I was told that SAT Math outweighs many other factors but not the only factor. My daughter prepped many hours and got a decent score to apply for NASS and near perfect for the application. Her application was in limbo for weeks. Two weeks after reporting near perfect score, she got the LOA. Her English was on the low side of the scale.
 
ilovehockeylol said:
Lastly this summer I went to a Navy engineering camp through the Society Of Military Engineers.
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Without question, the most under-appreciated, under-used, under-recommended summer program for SA/xROTC aspirants.


The best aspect for my DS was applying for the scholarship. He had to write an essay explaining why he wanted to attend and how attending the camp was part of his longer range plans. It was good practice for later college/scholarship applications.
 
Heatherg21 said:
Apply for Boys/Girls State. Great leadership programs.

Take the hardest STEM courses your school offers, and do well in them. Sit down with your academic advisor and discuss the suggested classes USNA says applicants should have on their HS transcript. See if you can check all of those boxes. It's good that you are preparing early.

Attend any local SA Forums that your MOCs may host.
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I can attest to Boys State. Truly an awesome experience getting to know a bunch of random guys/girls and becoming close knit friends within a week of meeting them. Plus invaluable knowledge from speakers and other activities, I chose Boys State over a Student Council summer camp and I'll never regret it!
 
SAT/ACT scores will differentiate you from the other candidates applying. They are extremely important. I recommend starting to study off of practice tests NOW and not later (my biggest regret from sophomore year). I highly recommend putting your nose in college board practice tests and also recommend the Princeton Review's Digital SAT Premium Prep Book. It comes with multiple practice tests, and those helped me greatly. Make it a priority now, not later.
 
blacknight5478 said:
SAT/ACT scores will differentiate you from the other candidates applying. They are extremely important. I recommend starting to study off of practice tests NOW and not later (my biggest regret from sophomore year). I highly recommend putting your nose in college board practice tests and also recommend the Princeton Review's Digital SAT Premium Prep Book. It comes with multiple practice tests, and those helped me greatly. Make it a priority now, not later.
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I'm curious, how so? I thought it was mainly stuff like ECAs and whatnot?
 
blacknight5478 said:
SAT/ACT scores will differentiate you from the other candidates applying. They are extremely important.
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I would disagree with that, highly. It is one part of the whole candidate, and I would posit that it holds less weight than people think.
 
ThinkingMans said:
I'm curious, how so? I thought it was mainly stuff like ECAs and whatnot?
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If you look at the Class Profile, everyone has ECA’s and 80% plus earned varsity letters. The challenge IMO is what do you do to differentiate yourself. SAT/ACT is the best tool the academy has to gauge you against your peers. Score higher than the middle 50%, be in the top 25% and not the bottom 25% will make you a standout. You has a great ECA’s and what’s not. With excellent SAT/ACT will make you a standout. Speaking from experience, my DS and my DD both has almost identical ECA’s and GPA form the same high school. Their only difference was SAT scores. One was offered NAPs but chose to attend and graduated from USCGA. The other received an LOA for USNA and hoping for a nomination and eventual an appointment.
 
S_Austin said:
If you look at the Class Profile, everyone has ECA’s and 80% plus earned varsity letters. The challenge IMO is what do you do to differentiate yourself. SAT/ACT is the best tool the academy has to gauge you against your peers. Score higher than the middle 50%, be in the top 25% and not the bottom 25% will make you a standout. You has a great ECA’s and what’s not. With excellent SAT/ACT will make you a standout. Speaking from experience, my DS and my DD both has almost identical ECA’s and GPA form the same high school. Their only difference was SAT scores. One was offered NAPs but chose to attend and graduated from USCGA. The other received an LOA for USNA and hoping for a nomination and eventual an appointment.
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To be honest, my ECAs are kind of terrible. I'm only the vice president of a club and I'm only a varsity rower, without any major awards in anything other than economics and Model UN. The only real standout features I have are my speaking skills and my academics, which are as about as good as you can get. I think in my case the ECAs are probably going to be what stops me from getting a nomination or appointment, but I'll give it the best shot I have, since USNA is my dream school and I know that I'll be able to do well there.
 
Or, you say something in your BGO interview that sparks a conversation or gives you a leg up. Or, you crush the CFA, or demonstrate higher athletic ability. Or, you come from an underrepresented group. Or, or, or ......

All the SAT/ACT does is test your ability to take a test. And if you have the means, you can buy your way to a better score. That's one of the big reasons schools are relying on them less.

Kids that get 1500 get turned away. Kids that get 1200 get in. Tells you there is other stuff that matters more.
 
There's no single magic bullet that'll get anyone in. The academies need a blend of skills and personalities, so they make sure that everyone has enough of every skill as a baseline and then mixes and matches the candidates' pointy excellent parts to build a class. If everyone was only smart they'd look like MIT (and they don't) and if it was just athletes they'd be in the SEC and if the goal was just aggressive war fighters they'd end up with a bunch of Marines (ha! joking) and if it was leadership or citizenship or patriotism or anything else you'd be missing out on some body of folks that should be part of the officer corps. To get in you need to be smart and athletic and patriotic and charismatic enough to be an officer, and then you need to rise from that group of applicants to be selected for the class.
 
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