Hi, I recently applied to the USCGA having just turned 21 this month, so I'm an older candidate. Being a few years out of high school, I have three years of professional experience in the field of my intended major (Cyber Systems), currently with NASA. I earned a 2260 on my SAT (roughly equivalent to a 1500 on the 1600 scale) and a 36 on my ACT, but my high school GPA was a pretty mediocre 3.0 unweighted (3.5 weighted), brought down significantly by my senior year. I have my explanations for the dip, but I didn't want to make excuses on the application because at the end of the day I just should've done better. I graduated in 2017.
I was able to list several awards (coding, robotics, National Merit, etc.) and get some good letters of recommendation, which I hope carry some weight. I was also a lead in a musical in high school, Varsity in double's tennis, and Captain of the Math Team. I'm still a little underweight (5'5"ish and 100 pounds at the start, female) but my PFE scores were at least passing. Since high school I've been mostly working full-time and also attending a local community college part-time, where I currently have a 4.0 and am due to get my associate's degree in computer science in May. I also have an inactive security clearance from a previous position, which I hope indicates I lead an honorable lifestyle (or you know, that I don't smoke weed at least). Oh, and I still do community theater and volunteer at a linguistics museum.
My question is, am I totally damned because of my high school GPA, or can work experience and a community college GPA make up for a little bit of that? I know it's not an exact science, but I want to know if I should even bother wondering if I'll get accepted. I am working out and drinking tons of Ensures to fix at least the weight issue. All of your stats I see on this site are so impressive, and I know a 3.0 for high school is pretty shabby, but I figured I'd still give it a shot. Thank you for reading, and good luck to you guys!
I was able to list several awards (coding, robotics, National Merit, etc.) and get some good letters of recommendation, which I hope carry some weight. I was also a lead in a musical in high school, Varsity in double's tennis, and Captain of the Math Team. I'm still a little underweight (5'5"ish and 100 pounds at the start, female) but my PFE scores were at least passing. Since high school I've been mostly working full-time and also attending a local community college part-time, where I currently have a 4.0 and am due to get my associate's degree in computer science in May. I also have an inactive security clearance from a previous position, which I hope indicates I lead an honorable lifestyle (or you know, that I don't smoke weed at least). Oh, and I still do community theater and volunteer at a linguistics museum.
My question is, am I totally damned because of my high school GPA, or can work experience and a community college GPA make up for a little bit of that? I know it's not an exact science, but I want to know if I should even bother wondering if I'll get accepted. I am working out and drinking tons of Ensures to fix at least the weight issue. All of your stats I see on this site are so impressive, and I know a 3.0 for high school is pretty shabby, but I figured I'd still give it a shot. Thank you for reading, and good luck to you guys!