Hello, I’m a junior (currently mid 1st semester right now) and am interested in applying to one of the service academies, but I would like some input on how I can improve my chances of attending.
To give some background, I never really thought about attending a service academy until early this year, so you can imagine how panicked I am in terms of preparation.
Academics:
-SAT 1480 (710 reading/writing, 770 math); will retake and likely superscore a 1500+
-6 APs (including the ones I am taking this year)
-rest of classes a virtually all honor classes
-GPA: my school does it out of 100pts; unweighted is 96.9 and weighted is 101.7
Sports:
9th grade- was lockdown year (Covid-19) , so I didn’t attend much after school activities let alone sports as I couldn’t stand the idea of watching a screen for another hour.
10th grade- no participation in sports
11th grade- got into varsity track; will have 2 varsity letters by the end of junior year
12th grade (plan)- going to do XC and track
For the CFA I’m quite confident I can make most of the average scores.
Leadership:
This is the part I am most worried about. I was never the type to run for president of anything so never did. I am more of the type who will take on a leadership role if no one else would. I have joined many clubs, but never ran for leadership positions.
I have also done volunteering ~100 hrs where I taught English however. I was required to run the classes solo and created all the lesson plans and presentations myself if that counts as taking some sort of initiative. This experience really helped develop my presentation skills and helped me form connections internationally. It definitely was a valuable experience, but I’m not sure if it necessarily counts as leadership. I did this every summer since 8th grade.
I also did some other volunteer work as well over the years but nothing as noteworthy as my teaching job.
On top of all this I babysat my siblings. My mother works full time as well as night shifts at the hospital and my father is a supervisor who works late as well. My youngest sister is only in 2nd grade. I sacrificed a lot of my time on going home early from school to pick up my little sister and took care of her as my parents worked. That was a big reason why I wasn’t particularly involved with school.
I know my stats don’t look the brightest, but I am wondering if I still have a chance. A chance for an ROTC scholarship at least.
Brutally honest inputs are welcome. If I’m not cut out for this then I want to know. After all, I decided very late to try. I appreciate any insightful thoughts.
To give some background, I never really thought about attending a service academy until early this year, so you can imagine how panicked I am in terms of preparation.
Academics:
-SAT 1480 (710 reading/writing, 770 math); will retake and likely superscore a 1500+
-6 APs (including the ones I am taking this year)
-rest of classes a virtually all honor classes
-GPA: my school does it out of 100pts; unweighted is 96.9 and weighted is 101.7
Sports:
9th grade- was lockdown year (Covid-19) , so I didn’t attend much after school activities let alone sports as I couldn’t stand the idea of watching a screen for another hour.
10th grade- no participation in sports
11th grade- got into varsity track; will have 2 varsity letters by the end of junior year
12th grade (plan)- going to do XC and track
For the CFA I’m quite confident I can make most of the average scores.
Leadership:
This is the part I am most worried about. I was never the type to run for president of anything so never did. I am more of the type who will take on a leadership role if no one else would. I have joined many clubs, but never ran for leadership positions.
I have also done volunteering ~100 hrs where I taught English however. I was required to run the classes solo and created all the lesson plans and presentations myself if that counts as taking some sort of initiative. This experience really helped develop my presentation skills and helped me form connections internationally. It definitely was a valuable experience, but I’m not sure if it necessarily counts as leadership. I did this every summer since 8th grade.
I also did some other volunteer work as well over the years but nothing as noteworthy as my teaching job.
On top of all this I babysat my siblings. My mother works full time as well as night shifts at the hospital and my father is a supervisor who works late as well. My youngest sister is only in 2nd grade. I sacrificed a lot of my time on going home early from school to pick up my little sister and took care of her as my parents worked. That was a big reason why I wasn’t particularly involved with school.
I know my stats don’t look the brightest, but I am wondering if I still have a chance. A chance for an ROTC scholarship at least.
Brutally honest inputs are welcome. If I’m not cut out for this then I want to know. After all, I decided very late to try. I appreciate any insightful thoughts.