Late Introduction

G0navybeat@rmy

The Eternal Candidate
5-Year Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2018
Messages
148
I've been here for a while, but as a 4th time applicant I often get questions as to why I'm applying a 4th time. Here I'll be laying it all out. Complete open book, all my mistakes I made, and unfortunate events that brought me here. It is a bit of a long story, but I want to have it all in one place.

I have wanted to be a naval officer for about as long as I can remember. I knew I had wanted to go to the Naval Academy since I had first heard about it in the 2nd grade. My freshman and sophomore years of high school I went to a school in the countryside and made good grades, I played a lot of sports, and was a member of a national championship winning AFJROTC drill team. By my sophomore year I was on track to take Calculus my senior year, AP Chemistry my junior year, and other classes that look good for the Academy. The summer between my sophomore and junior years of HS, my dad got a new job, so we moved to a new school in the inner city. My new high school didn't accept a lot of my math and science credits, and thus placed me in remedial Algebra I instead of Pre-calc, physical science instead of AP Chem, and in a regular English class instead of Honors or AP. I fought to get out of the classes and moved, but by the middle of the semester it was too late and nothing could change. It would be impossible to take Calc at this school since I was in Algebra 1, so I decided to dual enroll at my local college, with the goal of taking precalc my first semester of senior year, and then taking Calc 1 my second semester of senior year. I was working to make the most of my situation.

Senior year came around and I had started my Academy application. I had become the Brigade XO in my new JROTC in a brigade of 13 schools, captain of the swim team, made a 30 on the ACT and had managed to weasel my way into AP Physics. I was taking precalc at the local university as I had planned as well. Unfortunately in mid-October, right after only my 3rd swim meet of the season, I came down with a triple mono/flu/strep infection. I had to pull out of school and in the 3 months I was sick I lost about 35 pounds. I had to withdraw from my pre-calc class, and did so before we began to cover any trig concepts. Despite my illness I was able to do my nomination interview over the phone and get my nomination and finish my application to the Academy. By January I had recovered from my illness and signed back up to retake Pre-Calc. I was starting to gain weight again, was doing well in Pre-calc and was nervously awaiting my application status for USNA and the NROTC scholarship. That semester was spring of 2020. When COVID hit in March, the small college I was at ended classes and let us keep our grades. Just like last semester, Pre-calc ended before we could cover any trig concepts. Sometime in March I was alerted that I did not receive an NROTC scholarship, and on April 15, I was declined at USNA. Because of the two declines, I decided to attend UNG (a small SMC), as a member of the Corps of Cadets. Unfortunately UNG does not have NROTC, so I opted for the non contracted Army ROTC route. It's not like I was gonna be there for longer than a year.

My freshman year was locked down due to COVID. This year was when the real fight began. My first semester I took Calc 1, Chem 1, Chinese 1, English Comp, and my ROTC Classes. My classes were a nightmare. My math and chem classes had no in person lectures, they sent out power points and worksheets and we showed up to a classroom once a month for a test. I learned nothing in those classes, and felt as though they had hurt me more than helped me. I barely passed both classes, but struggled greatly in Calc because I had never learned trig. That was not the worst part. Halfway through the semester I had a paper in English that was an autobiography. No big deal. I wrote my life story and turned it in. A week later I got an email from my professor saying it was very similar to another essay at another college. Basically the plagiarism detection system detected an autobiography essay I wrote at the college I dual enrolled at and flagged it. I tried to explain to my professor that it was also my essay, but then she accused me of plagiarizing and that I would have to face the school's disciplinary board. I was distraught and facing expulsion in my first semester because of a bullheaded professor. Nonetheless I gathered my case and was ready for hearing. The day before it piled on even more. My girlfriend of a year's brother called me to tell me he had caught her cheating on me. Being cheated on is never easy, but finding out you've been cheated on the day before you have to argue to not get kicked out is also pretty dang hard. At the hearing, I did not present my best image. I mumbled, I couldn't keep my thoughts straight, and my argument was very incoherent. Somehow though I had reduced my punishment from expulsion to 2 years academic probation (last pick when signing up for classes, had to meet with a counselor to make sure I was behaving, I would be marked a Plagiarist on my transcript). I immediately informed the Academy since I was reapplying, but knew my chances for the year were shot. I went into my second semester feeling truly defeated for the first time. Calc 2 was destroying me since I had zero trig skills, and ultimately I failed Calc 2. My GPA at the end of Freshman year: 2.05. I was a plagiarist with a bad GPA, No school with NROTC accepted my transfer application and USNA turned me down again.

At the beginning of summer 2021, I quit feeling sorry for myself and sorry for my freshman year. I was going to change it. I signed up for UNG's cadet NCOA over the summer. I ended up becoming a distinguished graduate (top 10 of 198), and was ready to try again. I knew my main area of weakness was math. I had never had trig, so over the summer I took 3 classes online, one being precalc to fill the trig void. My next issue was paying for school next year, so I took on two jobs. By day I was a whitewater raft guide, by night I was a bartender. By the end of summer I had made all A's, raised my GPA to 2.77, and raised enough money to pay for another year at UNG.

Coming into sophomore year, I knew it was a longshot with a 2.77 GPA, but now the school was no longer locked down under COVID, and I had many opportunities I never had before. I appealed to the Dean of Students and repealed the plagiarism charge. I gained a leadership position in the Corps, was a member of my company's intramural team, rushed a fraternity, finished my Chinese minor and retook the ACT, making 34. Academically, I redid freshman year courses due to my abysmal freshman year (except this time I was in 2 Chinese classes and no English). I did well in my classes, and when I retook Calc 2 my second semester, I managed to knab a B. Since I had to retake freshman year I was put behind for graduation, which I was already behind for since I had changed my major (from Mathematics to Biochemistry). I was able to complete my applications, but unfortunately, every school I applied to for transfer (including USNA ) turned me down. Because of the time lost, I can expect to graduate between 2025-2026 now. My GPA at the end of Sophomore year: 3.20.

Now it is the summer before Junior year. I initially wasn't planning on applying to USNA a 4th time, but looking at the time line and spending time thinking, I believe I would find 4 years at the Academy much more fulfilling than 3-4 more years at UNG. I know what my past performance looks like, but I believe I have overcome that and improved myself in every way possible. I wish that I never got Mono, I wish UNG was different under COVID, I wish I never got accused of plagiarism, but I can not deny that my experience through all these events has made me stronger, more mature, and a harder worker. I am currently trying again for transfer to schools with NROTC, USNA, and am looking into OCS. I am optimistic of my chances this year, but no matter the commissioning source, I'll know I fought hard for my butter bars.
 
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Why is it 3-4 more years at UNG if you have completed your soph year? Would it not be 2 more years?

My only observation is that you are at least partly blaming others or other situations for your problems. That is almost never a good look.

Besides these are the same kind of problems many applicants deal with daily.
 
Why is it 3-4 more years at UNG if you have completed your soph year? Would it not be 2 more years?

My only observation is that you are at least partly blaming others or other situations for your problems. That is almost never a good look.

Besides these are the same kind of problems many applicants deal with daily.
Redoing freshman year and changing my major both put me behind, overall it would take me 5-6 years to get my bachelors.

I acknowledge in the beginning that a lot of the stuff that happened to me is my own fault. I dug myself the hole and now I am climbing out of it.
 
Redoing freshman year and changing my major both put me behind, overall it would take me 5-6 years to get my bachelors.

I acknowledge in the beginning that a lot of the stuff that happened to me is my own fault. I dug myself the hole and now I am climbing out of it.
Then stop there. Take all the blame and then dig.

This going on about blaming a bull headed teacher just because they thought they caught you in plagiarism and blaming poor grades because your dad got a new job and you had to move to a city makes you sound like a complainer blaming others for your poor performance.. It sounds weak. Not accepting responsibility.



I assume who ever cleared you of plagiarism did so because it could not be absolutely proved. Don’t make more of this than you need to. And what ever you do don’t blame the teacher.

”It was not plagerism” ——must be the excuse nearly everyone who gets caught initially for plagiarism comes up with. This discussion , whether you did it or not, will not be helpful to you.

Good Luck
 
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