I have been watching this forum for quite some time. A lot of great information thanks for giving your time to those in need! My son is a junior at a very competitive all boys prep school. Each year, the school gets two or three boys that get appointments to the various SA's. In fact, last year, they had four who graduated from West Point at the same time!
He has been interested in the service academies for quite some time and has a lot of qualifications except for the grades. Last year, his HS councilor told him that he did not think he would make it into an SA because he was not an A student, but I told him not to give up on his dream. His main goal is to get a pilot slot with either the AF or Navy. He is active with his CAP squadron and has consistantly promoted, hoping to make officer by next year. Even though others outrank him, he is the non-officer squadron leader and head of the color guard. He is half way to getting his pilot license and is also active the past three years playing on his high school Varsity-A rugby team. Also works summers, but we do not allow him to work during the school year because of the work load.
We have a family contact that is a close to high ranking staff member of our US Senator, who likely can help him with the recommendation. My son has since met the Senator and worked this past year on the Senator's re-election as well our MOC's campaign. Also has a number of other community service hours.
His grades are good considering the school he attends. His average has consistently been around an 86. They do not grade on a four point scale, so we do not know the equivalent. He worked hard this last semester and knew he would need a lot of A's but ended up with both A's and B's.
After a long drawn out explanation above, my question is whether or not he really has a chance at getting into an SA? Because of his grades, he has decided not to apply for the summer programs and has pretty much given up on the SA's. As a back up, he is looking at ROTC at either Embry Riddle or Texas A&M Corp of Cadets. If he does good on his SAT's, will that over-ride his GPA?
Any advice you can give is appreciated.
Thanks again.
He has been interested in the service academies for quite some time and has a lot of qualifications except for the grades. Last year, his HS councilor told him that he did not think he would make it into an SA because he was not an A student, but I told him not to give up on his dream. His main goal is to get a pilot slot with either the AF or Navy. He is active with his CAP squadron and has consistantly promoted, hoping to make officer by next year. Even though others outrank him, he is the non-officer squadron leader and head of the color guard. He is half way to getting his pilot license and is also active the past three years playing on his high school Varsity-A rugby team. Also works summers, but we do not allow him to work during the school year because of the work load.
We have a family contact that is a close to high ranking staff member of our US Senator, who likely can help him with the recommendation. My son has since met the Senator and worked this past year on the Senator's re-election as well our MOC's campaign. Also has a number of other community service hours.
His grades are good considering the school he attends. His average has consistently been around an 86. They do not grade on a four point scale, so we do not know the equivalent. He worked hard this last semester and knew he would need a lot of A's but ended up with both A's and B's.
After a long drawn out explanation above, my question is whether or not he really has a chance at getting into an SA? Because of his grades, he has decided not to apply for the summer programs and has pretty much given up on the SA's. As a back up, he is looking at ROTC at either Embry Riddle or Texas A&M Corp of Cadets. If he does good on his SAT's, will that over-ride his GPA?
Any advice you can give is appreciated.
Thanks again.
