Is it worth applying with almost no athletic experience?

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swiggy

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Hello! I am a current high school junior and have begun the application process to West Point and USNA. I believe that I am solid academically and with extracurriculars, but my main concern is my lack of participation in sports. My whole life I have just never been that into sports and my only organized athletic experience in high school was one season of soccer my freshman year. I am by no means out of shape and am confident in my ability to perform well on the CFA, however, I am fully aware that the academies value continued athletic participation highly not just for the fitness aspect but also the determination/leadership that it demonstrates. Anyways, is it unheard of for an applicant to be accepted without much organized high school athletic experience? Thank you.

Edit: I should have phrased the title differently. I do absolutely plan on seeing my applications through, it's just that this particular aspect is a big concern of mine.
 
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Well, I may be going into Sophomore Year, HOWEVER I do know this:

Seeing you appear to be a well-rounded individual when it comes to academic's and extracurriculars (And seeing you did one year of soccer): Take your shot. Of course, being an athlete will help but I've heard of people who have gotten in with only 1 Year of Sports. But, as a suggestion, practice HARD for the CFA. It will boost your chances if its really good, and can make you look even better.
I believe you can do it. I KNOW you can do it. Don't give up that chance. If someone else can do it, so can you.
 
Worth applying? Absolutely, yes.
The only sport I've played my whole life is one season of varsity football my senior year. only played because i knew i "needed" a varsity letter for SA. Play one season of something your senior year if you can.
If you check the stats, there is a percentage of the student body without varsity letters.
 
Folks come with all sorts of backgrounds. Statistically people come having with at least one varsity letter, but there are other ways to demonstrate leadership, ability to work on a team, and physical aptitude without playing varsity sports. One of my classmates was home schooled through high school and had zero participation in any kind of team sports prior to the Academy. He had other things on his application that made him an extremely strong applicant (ended up graduating top 5% of our class and receiving a scholarship for graduate school to go to MIT directly after graduation). It takes all sorts to make up a class which is the cool thing about the Academy.

Recognize your weaknesses that you have in your applications, and keep doing the best with what opportunities you have available to you. Its much better to be fully invested in an activity and get really good at it versus participate in multiple activities to check a block. Colleges, not just West Point, tend to be able to tell the difference.
 
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Casey said:
Folks come with all sorts of backgrounds. Statistically people come having with at least one varsity letter, but there are other ways to demonstrate leadership, ability to work on a team, and physical aptitude without playing varsity sports. One of my classmates was home schooled through high school and had zero participation in any kind of team sports prior to the Academy. He had other things on his application that made him an extremely strong applicant (ended up graduating top 5% of our class and receiving a scholarship for graduate school to go to MIT directly after graduation). It takes all sorts to make up a class which is the cool thing about the Academy.

Recognize your weaknesses that you have in your applications, and keep doing the best with what opportunities you have available to you. Its much better to be fully invested in an activity and get really good at it versus participate in multiple activities to check a block. Colleges, not just West Point, tend to be able to the difference.
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Absolutely agree! Westpoint is a highly diverse school with people from all around the world! Don't be scared to follow through the application process, you got folks on your side!
 
I joined my high school cross country team during my junior year, and then did both indoor and outdoor track. To be honest, the only reason I joined was to get athletic experience for west point, but I really enjoyed my time on the team.
 
About 10% of any given class has no varsity experience. Now, that doesn’t mean no sports at all. Many of them participated — even excelled — in athletics that don’t fall into the typical high-school team structure. For example, martial arts or shooting or squash. Or they played on high-level club teams that don’t otherwise exist at their high school; this was DD’s case for her primary sport.

As others have mentioned, main value of athletics is that they tend to develop leadership, teamwork, discipline, perseverance and resilience — all valuable attributes at an SA and on AD. If you can show that you have those same attributes, just gained via different experiences, you can be competitive.

While others above said they joined a team for a season just so it would appear on their WP application, that’s not something I’d necessary encourage. SAs have a way of sniffing out gratuitous participation (no matter how well intentioned). I’m guessing the successful candidates had other things going for them that demonstrated the desired attributes. Not saying you shouldn’t join a team in the time you have left — just do so sincerely and develop yourself beyond that.
 
Casey said:
Folks come with all sorts of backgrounds. Statistically people come having with at least one varsity letter, but there are other ways to demonstrate leadership, ability to work on a team, and physical aptitude without playing varsity sports. One of my classmates was home schooled through high school and had zero participation in any kind of team sports prior to the Academy. He had other things on his application that made him an extremely strong applicant (ended up graduating top 5% of our class and receiving a scholarship for graduate school to go to MIT directly after graduation). It takes all sorts to make up a class which is the cool thing about the Academy.

Recognize your weaknesses that you have in your applications, and keep doing the best with what opportunities you have available to you. Its much better to be fully invested in an activity and get really good at it versus participate in multiple activities to check a block. Colleges, not just West Point, tend to be able to tell the difference.
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Thanks for the response! I'm currently participating in a Department of Labor registered cybersecurity apprenticeship (school district sponsored) that includes over 1200 hours of work experience and college courses so I'm hoping that will be unique/significant enough to make me a competitive applicant. (combined with academics and other extracurriculars of course)
 
You might also consider joining a town recreation sports team. As you know WP really does favor sports participation. Likely a large percent of the cadet who don't have a varsity sports experience are homeschooled students (which would include my son who instead was involved in town rec/club level sports since that's all that was available to him).
 
MidCakePa said:
About 10% of any given class has no varsity experience. Now, that doesn’t mean no sports at all. Many of them participated — even excelled — in athletics that don’t fall into the typical high-school team structure. For example, martial arts or shooting or squash. Or they played on high-level club teams that don’t otherwise exist at their high school; this was DD’s case for her primary sport.

As others have mentioned, main value of athletics is that they tend to develop leadership, teamwork, discipline, perseverance and resilience — all valuable attributes at an SA and on AD. If you can show that you have those same attributes, just gained via different experiences, you can be competitive.

While others above said they joined a team for a season just so it would appear on their WP application, that’s not something I’d necessary encourage. SAs have a way of sniffing out gratuitous participation (no matter how well intentioned). I’m guessing the successful candidates had other things going for them that demonstrated the desired attributes. Not saying you shouldn’t join a team in the time you have left — just do so sincerely and develop yourself beyond that.
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Thanks for the response. In regards to joining a team right now I don't believe it is possible to do that in time for it to make an impact on my application due to COVID-19. Not trying to make any excuses as I obviously brought this situation upon myself but yeah, I'm just going to have to work with what I have.
 
swiggy said:
Thanks for the response. In regards to joining a team right now I don't believe it is possible to do that in time for it to make an impact on my application due to COVID-19. Not trying to make any excuses as I obviously brought this situation upon myself but yeah, I'm just going to have to work with what I have.
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Perfect attitude! 👍
 
As long as you pass the CFA, it's all about the WCS (Whole Candidate Score). If your academic and leadership scores make up for any points lost from no sports, you are not at a disadvantage in the admissions process.
 
swiggy said:
Hello! I am a current high school junior and have begun the application process to West Point and USNA. I believe that I am solid academically and with extracurriculars, but my main concern is my lack of participation in sports. My whole life I have just never been that into sports and my only organized athletic experience in high school was one season of soccer my freshman year. I am by no means out of shape and am confident in my ability to perform well on the CFA, however, I am fully aware that the academies value continued athletic participation highly not just for the fitness aspect but also the determination/leadership that it demonstrates. Anyways, is it unheard of for an applicant to be accepted without much organized high school athletic experience? Thank you.

Edit: I should have phrased the title differently. I do absolutely plan on seeing my applications through, it's just that this particular aspect is a big concern of mine.
Click to expand...
So, I got in with almost no athletics. I am an avid CrossFitter and runner (did XC this past fall just for the fun of it). You just have to mail grades and extracurriculars. APs, 4.0 unweighted GPAs, the whole lot. Get all of your Congressional nominations (it’s tough, but possible) to prove that you are qualified. This summer (and now), train like your life depends on it. I would even say to sign up for some half marathon in the fall just so you can throw that on the table during interviews. Find an internship or research position between now and when school opens again (that might be hard because of the COVID-19 situation).

Just go headstrong into the process. You will never know unless you apply.

Also, I would be wrong if I didn’t suggest applying for a 4-year ROTC Scholarship. In short, the qualifications are very similar and it pays full tuition (but sadly not room and board) to any school you get into. Who knows, you could get into a top university, live the college experience, eat good food, skip the marching, get a quarter million tuition payed by the Army, do internships over the break / during school, not scream minutes your first year, and commission as an active duty second lieutenant nonetheless. Tempting, isn’t it?
 
My Son received his offer in Feb. 2020. He was homeschooled his entire High School career (mostly due to geography and poor public schools in the area). He religiously went to CrossFit (3 to 6 times per week), participated in a Spartan Race (with me), became PADI certified in SCUBA and participated in some martial arts. I wouldn't say he's extremely athletic, but he did show initiative and was given some leadership opportunities in what he did attempt. It may not have been a Varsity Letter, but apparently it was enough!

Good Luck!
 
One point to note is that Regional Commanders have some discretion in calculating WCS points for activities that do not fit exactly into the standard boxes on the application. One common situation is a candidate playing a club sport outside of school. This translates pretty easily to a high school equivalent. Other activities may require a bit more explanation, which is why it is important to communicate with the RC and provide detailed explanations where appropriate on the application.

RC's can not stretch it too far since the calculations must be verified by another RC, but it is possible to offset a lack of standardized activities with similar non-standard activities.
 
Listen You should apply with what you got but try to join like a club outside your school too. That can help boost your athletics. I know right now it is hard but still try. You also have time in your senior year to do some sports and be good at it. Also, record yourself playing that sport because some coaches want proof.
Good Luck!
 
My daughter had absolutely no experience in sports, both in and out of school. She trained very hard for the CFA however, and received her appointment to West Point in early February. She understood that sports weren’t her strong point, so she made sure she could get by but also focused on perfecting what she knew she was good at. Specifically leadership activities in her case. I suggest you, like her, find something that makes you stick out. If you really want it, you can get it. Just try your best. It is possible.
 
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