New to forums-IL congressional districts question

jculligan

5-Year Member
Joined
May 25, 2014
Messages
76
Hi everyone. I will be a junior in the 2014-2015 school year and I am starting to get info on USNA. I like in IL-06 (Roskam) and I was wondering if anyone can give me info on how competitive the district is. Any help is much appreciated!!
 
ridiculously difficult....sorry to say...

Im not being sarcastic. I would say it is one of (if not THE) toughest district in the state. It is affluent plus republican. In Illinois that is not typical.

My Plebe-no-more son was in that district when he applied (though we were redistricted to IL-5 Quigley this year---good news for future sibs who may be interested...)

Though the application is NOT BY ANY MEANS based solely on ACT scores (though it is the largest individual piece of the puzzle) I can tell you that my son's highest score was 36M & 34E. The mid who got the nom the year before got a 35/36 (but went to Harvard instead). The person the year before got a 34. None were recruited athletes but all were good enough to play D3.

By nature of the geographical area that you are from the demographics include a population that is well off, primarily republican, one of the highest educational-attainment districts in the state. So you can see why you need to have the total package.

finishing up his sophomore year of highschool is when my son decided to turn in the direction of a service academy. I would honestly say that he spent that summer and the following year making every single choice he could make to help him get in. (he got an LOA before senior year started). The good news is you have loads of time to work on missing pieces.

tips:
1.This board is a great resource. I would first spend time reading everything you can from this board.
2. Never say "good enough" until that BFE arrives.
 
Thank you so much for this info! I am taking the ACT in June and am hoping for 33 or 34. Do you have any tips for me, as I am just finishing up my sophomore year also.
 
Also, does admissions take into account going to a hard college prep school (Benet)?
 
Benet is a hard prep school and they do request your school profile (you get extra points if more than 65% of your school attends college which Benet of course does). So that will help. Benet has sent kids to the academies in the past so start working now with your guidance counselor and your BGO.

Illinois libraries all have practice act tests over summer. Take one and see your score. fix your poor areas. Dont send all of your tests, only the best ones. use score choice.

  • Spend the summer accruing "points" for your WCS:
  • get a job
  • volunteer
  • get your life guard certificate
  • improve your running, pushups and situps.
  • If interested in engineering find something you can do in that field. There is an engineering score as part of your WCS (Strong Inventory Interest (SII) Engineering Science Score)

I think STEM is closed but you can try.

Do you play a sport? Are you a minority? (being a girl is not a minority)

Good luck to you, feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions.
 
Thank you so much for this info! I am taking the ACT in June and am hoping for 33 or 34. Do you have any tips for me, as I am just finishing up my sophomore year also.


also I love that you are taking this in June. You should have a good enough score in place by January when apply for NASS, and under the "Mini Multiple Criteria" you get points for NASS.

Make sure you are looking at multiple S.As. as well as ROTC.
 
Regarding SAT/ACT:
The Naval Academy counts your highest score in critical reading and mathematics and plugs those numbers into the Whole Candidate Score. USNA converts ACT scores into SAT equivalents for this. There is NO PENALTY for multiple scores, and they seem to see all your scores anyway. USNA does not take score choice and, again, there is no penalty. They only care about your highest score.

They do not care about AP Exams or SAT subject tests.

Anyway, take ACT and SAT and take them as often as you can stand.
 
Regarding SAT/ACT:
The Naval Academy counts your highest score in critical reading and mathematics and plugs those numbers into the Whole Candidate Score. There is NO PENALTY for multiple scores, and they seem to see all your scores anyway. USNA does not take score choice and, again, there is no penalty. They only care about your highest score. Anyway, take ACT and SAT and take them as often as you can stand.


Cut and pasted from an admissions document on the usna.edu website:

"The Admissions Board scholastic evaluation of a candidate begins with reviewing the candidate’s Rank in Class, SAT-Math and SAT-Verbal, but will also include other factors to view the whole person candidate.
One of those factors could be average SAT scores. Some reasons for not scholastically qualifying a candidate who has qualifying SAT scores would be
The candidate took the SAT exam multiple times (some as many as five or six times) before qualifying.
The candidate did not take a math course in 11th grade.
The candidate had too many grades of C."

jculligan,
1.) since you live in Illinois you will most likely take the PSAT for National Merit but then take the ACT for college aps. To clarify it is English (not reading) that USNA looks at on the ACT though math is weighted heavier. On the SAT it is called 'critical reading' on the ACT it is English. The other S.A.s look at all four+writing.

2.) The ACT is only score choice (unlike the SAT) USNA ONLY sees what you specifically send them, not all of your ACT scores (again unlike the SAT although the SAT is moving to score choice). You can/may get points taken away for too many tests, The words at the end of the admissions document state "before qualifying," so this can be interpreted many ways. However, do yourself a favor, just to keep it simple dont send until you have some under your belt and then dont send the worst ones. Wait until mid spring of you jr yr to start sending ACT tests. It will cost you about $80.00 more in the long run but less chance of a mishap.

3) I agree with NCdoc in that you should take them as many times as you can stand.

Good luck!
 
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