Requesting Help for DS - SAT vs. ACT

Dadx4

Dadx4

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I'm throwing this out to the forum for DS, because you all are incredibly experienced and have been so helpful during this process.

So... DS has SAT 1480 (740/740) single sitting (and best superscores), and that is the high score on his portal. DS just got ACT from December - 34 Math, 35 English (both high scores), but not so well on Science (28 - highest score 29) and Reading (24 - highest score 27).

Send to USNA? Are only Math and English considered? Thoughts appreciated before we make that decision. Thanks for the help.
 
DEFINITELY. Those scores are awesome, and even if they weren’t, I would send anyway because the board likes to see how hard you are trying to get in.
 
Dadx4 said:
I'm throwing this out to the forum for DS, because you all are incredibly experienced and have been so helpful during this process.

So... DS has SAT 1480 (740/740) single sitting (and best superscores), and that is the high score on his portal. DS just got ACT from December - 34 Math, 35 English (both high scores), but not so well on Science (28 - highest score 29) and Reading (24 - highest score 27).

Send to USNA? Are only Math and English considered? Thoughts appreciated before we make that decision. Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
Send all the scores in. USNA only looks at the Math and English sections on the ACT. My DS received an LOA with math-33, English-35, but Reading-27 and Science-28
 
GoUSNA said:
Dadx4 said:
I'm throwing this out to the forum for DS, because you all are incredibly experienced and have been so helpful during this process.

So... DS has SAT 1480 (740/740) single sitting (and best superscores), and that is the high score on his portal. DS just got ACT from December - 34 Math, 35 English (both high scores), but not so well on Science (28 - highest score 29) and Reading (24 - highest score 27).

Send to USNA? Are only Math and English considered? Thoughts appreciated before we make that decision. Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
Send all the scores in. USNA only looks at the Math and English sections on the ACT. My DS received an LOA with math-33, English-35, but Reading-27 and Science-28
Click to expand...
Thanks GoUSNA! Congratulations to your DS!
 
Yup. USNA only use ACT Math and English. I would only send the ACT. USNA will internally equalize his ACT to SAT. His current ACT will = SAT V800 M760 = 1560. So don't send the SAT.

Good luck. He will get an Academic LOA. If everything else looks top notch. Meaning his Leadership Athletics ECs have to be all excellent. SAs don't weigh your GPA much. Class Rank is more important. But you should take the most advance math at your school like AP Cal and Physics. And hit Precalculus and AP Cal and Physics over 90. 90 = A at USNA.
 
USMA and USAFA will evaluate all ACT sections. So if applying to them I would only send the SAT for now until he can hit over 30 in all sections. They like to see 30+ in all sections vs high math English low reading science. They will make Average of Math/Sci and ENG/Reading. To get your Average Verbal and Math. I don't like this since Science and Reading testing on reading than Science knowledge. Also if you score 9 or better in writing your Reading can get a big bump to 32. So do well on Writing Test. This is how the Army does it. They use percentiles. Writing 9 gets 95% percentile in Reading.
 
Thanks Patriot4Life. His SAT scores are already at USMA and USAFA. Previous ACT scores only at USMA because his RC asked for them, so he's going to send new ACT scores to USMA because they are better than the ones on file, even though not up to par. Good news about USNA though!
 
I redid his ACT to SAT. He will actually get V800 M800 = 1600. Even better! Navy will use percentile on each sections. 99% percentile gets 800. Worst case he will get M770. All good!

Navy ROTC Scholarship will use the same scoring for his scholarship if he applies to NROTC which he should. But the colleges will still evaluate him on his true score her gets on each section so he should continue to take the test until he gets all sections past 30+ including Writing.
 
Patriot4Life that sounds like good news! He was awarded the ROTC Scholarship on his SAT scores, so he has a solid plan B. Thank you!
 
My DS took the SAT one last time, mainly to include the essay, which one of his plan B schools required. He actually bumped up his verbal score by 50 points! I made sure he paid the college board the $12 to send the updated score to USNA. So now his superscore Math-760, verbal-720.
Maybe we are just whistling in the wind, seeing as he did not receive the principal nom from our MOC...
 
Lazyboy, have you heard from all possible nomination sources? Your DS could very well still be in the running for a nomination. I think I've seen it all with noms this year. I've even seen a candidate get both Principal Senatorial Noms for the same academy. So spots do open up on Principal slates. Otherwise he will do very well on the NWL. I hope my DS will be in the top 150 with yours!
 
Regretfully, he cancelled the interview with a Senator. He had a nom from our congressman, he would have missed a very important day of classes and there was a death in the family. That is why we cancelled, but hindsight being so clear, I’m kicking myself for it. In NY it seems as if the two senators split up the interviews because only one wanted to interview him.
We did not know that our MOC gave a principal nom, and did not realize the benefit of being on multiple slates until afterwards. Let this be a lesson to future applicants.
 
Lazyboy said:
Regretfully, he cancelled the interview with a Senator. He had a nom from our congressman, he would have missed a very important day of classes and there was a death in the family. That is why we cancelled, but hindsight being so clear, I’m kicking myself for it. In NY it seems as if the two senators split up the interviews because only one wanted to interview him.
We did not know that our MOC gave a principal nom, and did not realize the benefit of being on multiple slates until afterwards. Let this be a lesson to future applicants.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that. Maybe you could call the Senator's office and explain the situation. You never know! Best of luck to your son.
 
Patriot4Life said:
Yup. USNA only use ACT Math and English. I would only send the ACT. USNA will internally equalize his ACT to SAT. His current ACT will = SAT V800 M760 = 1560. So don't send the SAT.

Good luck. He will get an Academic LOA. If everything else looks top notch. Meaning his Leadership Athletics ECs have to be all excellent. SAs don't weigh your GPA much. Class Rank is more important. But you should take the most advance math at your school like AP Cal and Physics. And hit Precalculus and AP Cal and Physics over 90. 90 = A at USNA.
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Regarding your suggestions above and our DS: his application is complete and has just finished first semester of his senior year in HS. He made A’s in AP calculus BC and AP Physics 2 and AP language. Should he send the updated transcript to USNA - will it be considered - or do they just look at transcript from end of junior year already submitted?
 
I wouldn't mess with sending transcripts unless they ask. Unless he has stellar grades in all. Eventually they will ask for all grades but no need to send if they don't ask.
 
following......my DD has an SAT of 1490 (math 760, verbal 730) and ACT composite of 35, math 35, verbal 34 and SAT2's: Math 2 score 770, physics score 800. Our school district doesn't do class rank. She has taken 7 AP exams so far and is an AP Scholar with Distinction (scored a 4 on 5 exams, a 3 on 2 exams) and is currently a senior, taking 4 AP classes which will require 6 AP exams to be taken come May, 2018. She is also a Gold National Spanish Award winner (top 3% in the country) and has 3 NYS-Scholar Athlete awards and a county Sportsmanship Award. She has a competitive CFA (was told by admissions coordinator), passed her medical (DoDMERB qualified status as of today, woohoo) and has a congressional nomination (although still not uploaded in DD's portal yet). She is a co-founder of 2 STEM-related clubs and vice president of 1. Her GPA is 97. Anyone have any insight on a LOA for her? would she even get a LOA since she is now complete (although I don't think USNA knows she's complete since medical and nom are not in portal yet)?

sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread...just trying to give another perspective and gain some insight since "academic LOA" was mentioned with what looks like similar stats/classes.
 
Ok. LOA is only given for the following reasons:

URM and candidates coming from a non competitive district

Recruited athlete

Strong References

Presidential or JROTC/ROTC Noms

ACT 34 or SAT 1550 and have everything else in leadership athletics and top priority ECs like Eagle Scout Gold Award and Boys/Girls State. National level medals and awards. Extensive service hours.

GPA not a factor but expect you to have all As and Bs. Mostly As. A includes A and A-. Expect candidates to have taken through Calculus and 4 years of Lab Science. Taking many APs not a factor. They don't take SAT Subject tests either. Mostly advance math and science to assess you can handle STEM in SAs. School US National rank and school college admissions rate also weighed.

Class rank is more important than GPA. If not Ranked given then rank taken from ACT/SAT. SAT rank is easier than ACT.

Being a female Is also advantage. And female from URM category even better. Everything counts.

You can still get LOA without CFA Noms DODMERB. But you will need to have passed and gotten all of these if you want LOA to become Appointment.

Only USCGA is pure Merit based like civilian colleges. SAs don't select candidates on pure merit. You can have everything Mentioned on the above and still not get selected because you competitive against highly qualified pool. If you are from Orange County CA or Suffolk NASSAU County New York or Fairfax County Northern Virginia which are some of the most competitive counties in the US you have a very tough battle to fight. You can read these threads through this forum.

NY District 3 had 700 applicants to SAs this year. Only 40 were invited to interview and 4 were given principal Noms. ACT and SAT are as high as 36 and 1600 in these counties.

If your son daughter just applied then it may not be until after the first selection is done you may hear from the SAs. Her score and background looks strong. If she's not from the above counties she should have excellent chance.
 
Asians are over represented at 7%. Korean ancestry make up about 80% Asians. So tougher as Korean American. National average is 3.5% Asians. Blacks from urban areas are vastly under represented. So good to be from this category. Hispanics are also given priority. White is fine but I would think more advantageous to as female at schools like USMA USNA USCGA but not USAFA. Females are well represented at Air Force due to better life style fixed base and missions. I am not an expert nor represent the views of the SAs but I heard enough from 4 out of 5 SA admissions, grads and alumni societies to share my point of view. Hope this is helpful.
 
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