Single Most Important Factor?

I agree wholehartedly with @USMA 1994.

Some candidates can end up trying "too hard" to mirror the activities and stats of the "ideal" candidate in order to optimize their chances.

The result is a candidate who changes the essence of who they are. Instead of an amazing 4.0 GPA/ musician/captain of the swim team / you end up with a mediocre back up quarterback, with a dispirited attitude and a 3.5 GPA.

That said, I do believe that Standardized Tests are the one most heavily weighted thing.
 
USMA 1994 said:
@Dadx4 I am not sure what you are really getting at. The standardized test scores have the highest weighting for an individual item in the WCS(this is a simple math equation and really not open to debate). The scoring in other areas are more subjective and carry less weight individually but in line with everyone's comments, you need to meet the "WHOLE" part in the WCS to be successful.
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As Time2 said earlier in this thread, we don't know how USNA's WCS is calculated. We can only guess, based on data from USMA quite a few years ago. So, while one might theorize that, based on this old USMA formula, standardized test scores carry the highest weight, we do not know, in point of fact, if that is the case.
 
AROTC-dad said:
I agree wholehartedly with @USMA 1994.

Some candidates can end up trying "too hard" to mirror the activities and stats of the "ideal" candidate in order to optimize their chances.

The result is a candidate who changes the essence of who they are. Instead of an amazing 4.0 GPA/ musician/captain of the swim team / you end up with a mediocre back up quarterback, with a dispirited attitude and a 3.5 GPA.

That said, I do believe that Standardized Tests are the one most heavily weighted thing.
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Very good point.....but if there is 'gut feeling' consensus on that "must have" factor, like SAT/ACT, it could help candidates prioritize. Instead of looking for the extra club membership or 20 more hours of community service to make 400 hours, they could concentrate on standardized testing.
 
Dadx4 said:
Very good point.....but if there is 'gut feeling' consensus on that "must have" factor, like SAT/ACT, it could help candidates prioritize. Instead of looking for the extra club membership or 20 more hours of community service to make 400 hours, they could concentrate on standardized testing.
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I absolutely agree with you. If all the bases have been covered....your best "bang for your buck" is time spent squeezing one more SAT or ACT test into the package.
 
Dadx4 said:
Very good point.....but if there is 'gut feeling' consensus on that "must have" factor, like SAT/ACT, it could help candidates prioritize. Instead of looking for the extra club membership or 20 more hours of community service to make 400 hours, they could concentrate on standardized testing.
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If that is what you are looking for then we agree. The overall weighting of the WCS is not secret and is actually in most USMA briefings I have seen. It is a pretty safe assumption that the three academies use a similar if not exact methodology. It may change slightly, but academics are weighted higher than the others. It breaks down between test scores and your high school grades. There is some mystery exactly how they calculate the impact for gpa and class rank, but basically they take your school profile and your class rank and determine an academy gpa that is used. There are many opinions all across the forums on how exactly this works but most of it is outside your control. Best advice here is to take challenging classes and do well.

I would also agree that you can have too much of something and it not have any impact at all. The additional points, if any between 380 and 400 community service hours are probably negligible in scoring, just like listing 20 different academic awards. Candidates should do things they are passionate about and try to excel in them

I would also suggest that the CFA may be the easiest to improve in terms of impact on your score. It is the only part of the equation where you know the "test questions" and "answers" so your "studying" can be focused. Everything else in the process is dependent on other factors outside a candidates control.
 
This is a USNA forum, so one shouldn't assume their current WCS is the same as WP. Only admissions know USNA's current WCS formula, we do not. In any given year, there are numerous applicants who apply to multiple SA's and get a TWE from one, but get an appointment from another, so obviously there are some differences in each SA's process.

This thread reminds me of the various 'what are my chances?' topics that frequently appear. The more you know about how the application process works, the LESS likely you are to provide random guesses, hunches and wild speculation on topics for which we don't know the answer. Telling an applicant they 'look on track' for an appointment, can give them a false sense of hope when in reality only admissions know where they stand.
 
The "hypothetical" answer would be "all of the above." The Admissions Board uses the Whole Person Multiple (WPM) as an entering argument for qualifying candidates...it isn't the end all, be all. There is no rule that the Admissions Board has to have their yay/nay decisions tied directly to the WPM. What one Admission's Board member "thinks" should weigh more might be different from another. The Admissions Board can also add/subtract discretionary points if the WPM doesn't accurately reflect the entire candidate's record (i.e. superb CFA, significant teacher/BGO recommendations, etc.). The WPM will come more into play once slates and pools are decided. Not sure if this was a true story or an acting job (nor is it intended to be sexist)...but in the old Admissions video, one female candidate played baseball on the boy's team and this caused one of the Admissions Board members to immediately vote "yes." The process is a mile-wide inch deep. Some candidates might come from underrepresented areas, have significant hardships (in which they do so much to overcome adversity), etc.
 
Forgive me if this has already been addressed, but considering that there are only two categories that can be compared equally and are not in any way subjective. The CFA and SAT/ACT. Everyone takes the same test and results are easily compared. I would have to say those are the most important. Class rank and GPA, among others are subjective. If I had to pick one I would say it would have to be standardized tests. That being said though, I would ultimately agree that there is no one component to an application that is most important.
 
time2 said:
This is a USNA forum, so one shouldn't assume their current WCS is the same as WP. Only admissions know USNA's current WCS formula, we do not. In any given year, there are numerous applicants who apply to multiple SA's and get a TWE from one, but get an appointment from another, so obviously there are some differences in each SA's process.

This thread reminds me of the various 'what are my chances?' topics that frequently appear. The more you know about how the application process works, the LESS likely you are to provide random guesses, hunches and wild speculation on topics for which we don't know the answer. Telling an applicant they 'look on track' for an appointment, can give them a false sense of hope when in reality only admissions know where they stand.
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Thanks time2. That's an excellent point and one that I addressed in my initial post. There is no way to know exactly. None on this thread have given stats to ask "what are my chances?" This thread is simply meant to identify what the experienced people on this site feel might be the single most important factor in academy admissions (in their opinion). The goal of the thread is to help candidates focus on factors that may be more heavily weighted, even if nobody knows for sure if they are.
 
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Dadx4 said:
I know that there are no absolutes in the Academy admissions process. I have read most of the threads here on SAF for years. I'm curious though. If you "had to" pick the single most important factor for admission to any service academy, what would it be?
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No one knows! It is the WCS.
 
Dadx4 said:
But if you had to guess? :)
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No reason to guess. That is like giving a diagnosis before examinging the patient!
USNA has it's process that has worked since 1845. BTW shouldn't you be putting this info on USMMA site not USNA with your child attending there?
 
parent said:
No reason to guess. That is like giving a diagnosis before examinging the patient!
USNA has it's process that has worked since 1845. BTW shouldn't you be putting this info on USMMA site not USNA with your child attending there?
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DS would like to attend USNA. DD happy at USMMA. Question was intended for all academies, but I didn't want to be repetitive on the other boards. By no means am I questioning the USNA process! Just curious as to what others thought is the single most important factor for academy admissions if they had to pick one.
 
Dadx4 said:
DS would like to attend USNA. DD happy at USMMA. Question was intended for all academies, but I didn't want to be repetitive on the other boards. By no means am I questioning the USNA process! Just curious as to what others thought is the single most important factor for academy admissions if they had to pick one.[/QUOTE
For him I would say become the best candidate you can and apply. The chips will fall where they may and he will either recive an appointment or a TWE.
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Grit. Applicants need to have put in years of hard work, manage impossible schedules, juggle multiple applications and deadlines, repeatedly rise to the occasion, overcome failures, etc. I have the the deepest respect for anyone that even opens a preliminary application!
 
DS and I recently attended our congressman's Academy night. We were so fortunate that the SA representative pulled up his file on his phone. We went in there worrying about adding more extra curriculars and how he was going to finally master those pull ups. Left there knowing all of his extra time (which most of these kids don't have) needs to be spent on test prep. He has good scores for any other college but not the range that our district sends to the academies.
 
sdsmom said:
DS and I recently attended our congressman's Academy night. We were so fortunate that the SA representative pulled up his file on his phone. We went in there worrying about adding more extra curriculars and how he was going to finally master those pull ups. Left there knowing all of his extra time (which most of these kids don't have) needs to be spent on test prep. He has good scores for any other college but not the range that our district sends to the academies.
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Not to burst your bubble...but there is no Magic Bullet, put together the best application you can and max out on as much as you can and the chips will fall where they fall. Trust me there is a process and only those on the Admissions board in any given year knpw what they are looking for.
 
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