Need Prep School Information

Mackinaw

Mackinaw

Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2017
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52
My DS got a Appointment to prep school. I don't know anything about it. Please give me the good, the bad, and the ugly.
 
Good- Your DS/DD will get great training, education, and will be better prepared for the pace of a SA. The prep schools hit math, Chem, physics, and writing pretty hard, which helps balance out any weak areas your kid might have. Bad - Prep school is a extra year of academy life. Ugly - There is nothing ugly. I was very happy to have this extra year of prep for my son. He was a bit disappointed at first, but now believes it was good for him and he feels better prepared for what's to come. My son is currently at NAPS as his CGA prep school. Hope this helps and would be happy to answer any NAPS specific questions you might have.
 
Old School said:
Good- Your DS/DD will get great training, education, and will be better prepared for the pace of a SA. The prep schools hit math, Chem, physics, and writing pretty hard, which helps balance out any weak areas your kid might have. Bad - Prep school is a extra year of academy life. Ugly - There is nothing ugly. I was very happy to have this extra year of prep for my son. He was a bit disappointed at first, but now believes it was good for him and he feels better prepared for what's to come. My son is currently at NAPS as his CGA prep school. Hope this helps and would be happy to answer any NAPS specific questions you might have.
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Thanks, it's all so new and still sinking in. I'm sure I'll have a ton of questions as we are processing this news.
 
Prep school is a great opportunity. My DD attends the USNA and many of her friends attended NAPS. Every Midshipman with whom I have spoken said attending prep school was integral to their success at the Academy. In fact, most have said they likely would not have survived the first year without the prep school foundation.

My DS is a recruited athlete at USCGA and is apparently on the bubble in terms of direct admit or prep school He received a call tonight from the coach requesting an updated transcript with mid-year grades. For those of you who experience with the USCGA scholars program, any idea of minimum GPA and SAT/ACT scores for recruited athletes before Admissions offers a slot in prep school? My experience is only at USNA and recruited athletes at the D1 level is much different.
 
Great, thanks. Do you know of recruited athletics go to a certain prep school or they put you in either university. I heard either Marion, Georgia or Rhode island for USCGA.
 
Do they try and keep USCGA grouped together or with other cadets from different branches
 
RAC131 said:
Prep school is a great opportunity. My DD attends the USNA and many of her friends attended NAPS. Every Midshipman with whom I have spoken said attending prep school was integral to their success at the Academy. In fact, most have said they likely would not have survived the first year without the prep school foundation.

My DS is a recruited athlete at USCGA and is apparently on the bubble in terms of direct admit or prep school He received a call tonight from the coach requesting an updated transcript with mid-year grades. For those of you who experience with the USCGA scholars program, any idea of minimum GPA and SAT/ACT scores for recruited athletes before Admissions offers a slot in prep school? My experience is only at USNA and recruited athletes at the D1 level is much different.
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It is really hard to determine and forecast the scale for a direct appointment or a prep slot. Just know with a prep school offer the academy sees something really special in the potential candidate and wants them. It will make you absolutely crazy trying to forecast it on comparable stats. I Have a daughter completing her last leg of scholars year and all who are at the 3 schools are competitive in their own right. With CGA only bringing in a max of 300ish every year with over 1500 viable applicants they have to fulfill the needs of the academy in correlation to their process.

I will tell you this (you probably already know)if you are a recruited athlete seriously look at the rosters of your sport(s). Are you a specialized player? Does the team have this position stacked 3 deep? Have you asked the coaches how many are in scholars now for your position? Have they picked up a player during EA and of those direct appointments how many have accepted and qualified(not waiting for waivers)Those are the questions that will better help you get an idea or take away any sting for the final decision. With you having the experience from USNA the difference isn't so much the DIV1 vs DIV m3 levels. IMO it is the numbers CGA has to work with.
 
No1Fanof2 said:
It is really hard to determine and forecast the scale for a direct appointment or a prep slot. Just know with a prep school offer the academy sees something really special in the potential candidate and wants them. It will make you absolutely crazy trying to forecast it on comparable stats. I Have a daughter completing her last leg of scholars year and all who are at the 3 schools are competitive in their own right. With CGA only bringing in a max of 300ish every year with over 1500 viable applicants they have to fulfill the needs of the academy in correlation to their process.

I will tell you this (you probably already know)if you are a recruited athlete seriously look at the rosters of your sport(s). Are you a specialized player? Does the team have this position stacked 3 deep? Have you asked the coaches how many are in scholars now for your position? Have they picked up a player during EA and of those direct appointments how many have accepted and qualified(not waiting for waivers)Those are the questions that will better help you get an idea or take away any sting for the final decision. With you having the experience from USNA the difference isn't so much the DIV1 vs DIV m3 levels. IMO it is the numbers CGA has to work with.
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Thanks for your response and perspective. The coach did inform DS that he is pushing really hard and to hang in there. DS has a solid plan B but is holding out hope for USCGA. Whether direct admit or prep school doesn't matter to him. The coach made the same point you did regarding the numbers. Just fewer slots at USCGA and it is extremely competitive.
 
While there are recruited athletes which go to prep, there is more to it than that. DS is in this years graduating class. He went to prep. His prep class was the first to complete orientation at CGA (prep Swab Summer without the fun stuff) with zero attrition. Most of that class is graduating this year. DS was not a recruited athlete, although he did 12 seasons of varsity sports in high school. He did none of them at CGA (or all of them if you consider XC, track and swimming and triathlon the same). He had good grades in a smaller rural, but good, high school. His SATs were average for that class, or a little low. His plus was he put himself in his essays as to why he wanted to be a Coast Guard Officer, and he had a good recommendation from a retired military officer who knew him well.

Was prep fun? No. As a parent, do I think it helped him be better prepared? Yes. Did he come into CGA with money in the bank? Yes (they are on E-2 pay for ten months).
 
Mackinaw said:
My DS got a Appointment to prep school. I don't know anything about it. Please give me the good, the bad, and the ugly.
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Go to the home page. Towards the middle there is a big forum on prep school. Your will get answers there.
 
While the disappointment of not getting a direct admission is real, I think you would be hard pressed to find someone who has done a prep year that would not acknowledge after the fact that it was the best thing that happened to them. On the "go-in" the extra year seems like an eternity. On the back end, I suspect that you would not have wanted to do it any other way.
 
Mackinaw said:
My DS got a Appointment to prep school. I don't know anything about it. Please give me the good, the bad, and the ugly.
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One way to look at it is the SA wants your DS badly enough they will wait for him, give him the extra lick and polish he needs to be sure of success, and the gift of knowing if he completes prep successfully, a seat in 2022 is ready and waiting for him.
 
Current cadet at CGA prep school. It's not very enjoyable. GMC is better than Marion. It preps you well for the academy academically however the year itself is a struggle to get through
 
J.Davis6 said:
Current cadet at CGA prep school. It's not very enjoyable. GMC is better than Marion. It preps you well for the academy academically however the year itself is a struggle to get through
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Which school are you at? And what do you find to be the biggest struggles?
 
I'm at Marion. It's difficult to relieve stress because there's nothing in a 30+ mile radius besides a gas station, Subway, and farms. A majority of the cadets that aren't Coast Guard prep aren't necessarily as focussed on excelling academically/physically, which can be distracting. Classes are very difficult (not necessarily a bad thing). Also, it seems to always smell on campus.

The town of Marion itself isn't really a very safe area crime-wise.

However, there are plenty of cool people here and the faculty is quality. Teachers are always willing to help. Like someone else said, we are enlisted (E-2 pay grade), so we're able to bolster our savings before going to the Academy.
 
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