Overall Character (grades,sports,community service)

My impression seems to be that it's a lot better to have the lower grades freshman year than later. If you buckle down and do better now, obviously those grades will affect your cumulative GPA, but it will also show the trend that you're taking classes more seriously. If you have a 4.0 freshman and sophomore year, then a 3.5 first semester junior year, it looks a lot worse unless it's readily explained (ie you went from 0 to 6 honors/AP classes).

And with everything else you have, I don't think it will be a problem. Either way, not much you can do about it now so focus on what you can change! :thumb:
 
marciemi - thanks. I'm trying to bring it up while one AP class next semester, but not a lot until Junior Year.
 
If you're taking an AP class next semester, and do well on the exam, that will look good when you apply for summer seminars. My son took two AP's sophomore year (Calc and Physics) and got 5's on both exams and everyone he spoke with (academies/liaisons) seemed to be impressed with this. I realize the AP's don't count for nearly as much at the academies as at civilian colleges, but they do get looked at in the admissions process!
 
marciemi said:
If you're taking an AP class next semester, and do well on the exam, that will look good when you apply for summer seminars. My son took two AP's sophomore year (Calc and Physics) and got 5's on both exams and everyone he spoke with (academies/liaisons) seemed to be impressed with this. I realize the AP's don't count for nearly as much at the academies as at civilian colleges, but they do get looked at in the admissions process!
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Woah, thats pretty intense, calc and physics as a soph. :thumb::smile: The AP class I'm taking next semester is stats. Just as a side note, would a Biotechnology class look good along with the other "give-ins"?
 
Well, he's in AP Stats now as a senior! :wink:

I have no idea on the Biotechnology class - I think other than AP classes, they have no way to judge. For example, my son took Engineering Principles last year (junior) just because it was a fluff class and it was during his travel time to the college (to take Calc 2) and he literally missed more than half the class. It was nearly all freshmen and kind of a "play on the computer" class that he got an A in, being there only one full class period a week (and half of 3 others). This year he's in Pre-Engineering - which is our school's Capstone/Honors course in which the students do full design projects and work with a local engineering company. But neither are weighted and if the academy looked at them - Pre-Engineering/Principles of Engineering - how can they tell? If you think you'd get something out of it, then take it. If not, I'd look more for classes they'd recognize/recommend like Economics/Computer Science, etc. if you can get those. But that's just me!
 
Ha, thats weird how the order of classes got switched. :rolleyes:

Anyways, from the catalog of classes and what friends/ teachers have told me is that biotech will go somewhat hand in hand with phyics, bio, chem, math. I'm not 100% about this though, so during the end of the year I'm going to try and sit in on a few classes just to see what its about.

I think an architecture/engineering intro class will be valuable however, somewhat like what your son is taking. Do you know if he finds that class to be what he needed/expected?
 
Not really. He took CAD and Architectural Drafting last year (pre-req's for the Engineering Capstone course). In any of these sequences, you have a lot more, um, "trade school" or maybe "non-college-bound" types! :rolleyes:

Meaning that each day he accomplished what is necessary in about 5 minutes and spent the rest of the class playing video games. Although he took Comp Sci freshman year all year and it was the exact same. There they were allowed to work ahead and he finished the semester each time in about a month and spent the rest of the time helping others or using it as a study hall. So while it was nice to get the info in each of these courses (and even in the pre-engineering course), they move so slowly that it's like getting a week's worth of info in a semester (for him at least!).

As a result, I'd really recommend staying with the AP's as much as possible. They're much more of a set curriculum, with a higher level of students. Our school offers a fairly limited number - he took all the ones he was interested in, plus college classes (he's in Organic Chemistry now with his final tomorrow!). But he just wasn't going to take the couple (Euro, Bio) that he had no interest in. I can understand that, but it would have been better to stay in AP's if there was anything that even was vaguely interesting to him. Our school is adding a couple AP's each year, so just a bummer he missed a lot of possibilities.
 
Same with my school, we only have 5 AP classes, maybe 6 now. It does get frustrating, wanting to take certain ones and not having them available for you.
About the SAT's, I talked to my guidance counselor and got paired up with a junior to study with until I can take the class for SAT's. What would you say competitive math and verbal scores are? Mid 600's?
 
Cool, to see a few sophmores looking intently at the NA. Pretty much same story here.... not a lot of community service work but I plan changing that! My soon to be Physics teacher actually graduated from the academy so I have to introduce myself to her soon. I took PSAT's during fall and got a 153 out of 240. Pretty dissapointed but I didn't study so .... Plan on actually studying for them in the spring, possibly getting a tutor over summer for the actual test next fall. does school volunteer work count (ie - leo and key club)?
 
So I was talking to another guy who is considering applying for USMA. He was kinda bummed because his first 4 semester GPA's were all around 3.5-3.6. (He's a junior right now). I was wondering if that can affect the outcome of getting an appointment or not if you have good SAT/ACT scores and are a "well-rounded person"?
 
I'd have to say that yes, it can (or will) affect it. Does that mean it's impossible for him to get in? Of course not! So much of admissions for the academies is based on the overall candidate, plus your location plays a big factor as well. Realize that someone in a less-populated/underrepresented area may easily get in with a 3.5 simply because there aren't as many people they're competing against. However, even someone with a 3.5 in a competitive area has a chance to get in if they are strong everywhere else. Academics is the most important component of your overall score - comprising 60 percent of your "points". Someone with a 3.5 GPA but a perfect 1600 SAT could potentially do as well as someone with a 4.0 GPA and a 1300 SAT. I don't know their exact scoring, but realize that he'll lose points with a 3.5, but everyone will lose points somewhere. Just depends what else he has to offer.

Know it's been awhile, but USNA 16, to answer your question, I would certainly list things like Leo and Key Club, especially if you have any kind of leadership role in them. General rule of thumb would be to always let the academies know everything that you've done and let them sort out what is important to them. Especially when you start going for your MOC interviews, you'll never know what will jump out at a panel member as important or interesting. And sometimes it seems like it can just be coincidence - maybe a board member remembers someone else they interviewed who was in Leo club and went on to do great at the academy and has that in their mind when they ask you about it. You never know!
 
attacklax17 said:
Thanks so far for the info. Is there any books you would reccomend to use for SAT/ACT studying? How would you say I should get in touch for community service on weekends? Call local churches/libraries/shelters? Hopefully I can get a more leadership role on science club by next year but I only started this year so it'll be a little bit. My state isn't that competive for spots either, about 40 total for all academies, maybe 15 for usna. If I can get the nomination will I have a decent chance if I become an official candidate? Thanks

(ps. - this is from an iPod so sorry for any grammar issues) :cool:
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i'm in the exact same status as u (desire for usna, a sophmore)

a. find out which test will suit u better
theres plenty of test prep material from princeton review, barrons, kaplan, gruber(these thing are amazing). I know about this from having a perfect score achieving sister.


b. I was going to recommend scouting, but seeing that 2 years is really short to get Eagle-I'm already life, this being my 5th year.


and a ques for everyone,
Does USNA admission seem to recognize applicants listing like 10 team/club captain positions/ aka false leadership roles? In other words, holding positions for obvious gains versus role of learning leadership?
 
Thanks for the above two answers. Score wise, what is an "average" SAT/ACT score for an incoming plebe and what is the above average SAT/ACT score for an incoming plebe?
 
navy2016 said:
In other words, holding positions for obvious gains versus role of learning leadership?
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I don't think. They just like to see leadership roles, but they won't necessarily know if you learned anything from them. However, at my nomination interview/NROTC scholarship interview, they did ask questions about what I learned from those roles and leadership decisions I had made.
 
attacklax17 said:
Thanks for the above two answers. Score wise, what is an "average" SAT/ACT score for an incoming plebe and what is the above average SAT/ACT score for an incoming plebe?
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national average is about a 22 composite act
sat the average is about 520 per subject
both of these can be expected to change over the years

as for the score of incoming plebes, usna grads, parents, and midshipman can probably give u more accurate info.

but heres something to go by
http://collegeapps.about.com/od/collegeprofiles/p/annapolis.htm

personally i'm aiming for at least a 32 to be safe
 
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