SLS 'Value' and Reapplying

EmeraldFalchion

5-Year Member
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Mar 10, 2011
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I actually have two questions.

1) Does anyone know how much SLS attendance helps your chances of acceptance? Are there statistics on how many who were accepted into SLS went on to be accepted into West Point?

2) If you're not accepted to West Point, I know you can attend another college for a year and try again. However, I haven't been able to find any details on that process. Does it help to attend a prestigious school, or is a 2-year college fine? It would be a great help if someone could point me towards more information on reapplying. I want to have my backup plan ready in case I need it! :)

Thanks in advance!
 
In regards to your first question, I have seen somewhere on this site something along the lines of the following:
1) The Academy says: It is only a marketing tool. It does not affect your chances at all.
2) In reality: Applying for SLS gets you application in front of a review board. It allows them to see your basic details and see if you are a somewhat good Candidate.
Don't quote me on that but I saw that somewhere on this site. Try looking through the past SLS threads and you might find it.

In regards to your second question, I honestly don't know. I would presume though that taking rigorous courses geared towards what USMA/the other SAs want would be the best to take.
 
They say about 50% get accepted but that can't be 100% true because about 10-20% of the people there want to go to a different service academy and about 10% don't want to go to a service academy after that week, so I'd say the percentages are pretty good if you get accepted to sls.
 
1) Does anyone know how much SLS attendance helps your chances of acceptance? Are there statistics on how many who were accepted into SLS went on to be accepted into West Point?


This issue is a bit misleading. You'll hear repeatedly that attending SLS will not help your odds of appointment. This very well may be true from a purely WCS perspective.

But, the odds of getting an appointment are fairly high for SLS attendees. (Multiple data points on this)

Which seems contradictory until you realize that it's being good/of interest enough to make it into SLS is what increases those odds.

The bigger issue is that the SLS appl depends mostly on PSAT, and many kids do not do well on it, but then go on to do very well on ACT/SAT.

Likewise, it appears to heavily weight varsity athletics, and since it's an abbreviated application you will not get credit for intangibles or non-traditional athletics unless you find a way to get that on their radar.

This is where meeting admissions reps, getting their input on resumes, and being able to demonstrate some of those intangibles make the difference.

DS was direct placed into NASS based on interaction with an admissions rep at a college fair. He was squared away, had a resume, and most importantly, interviewed well.

Similar occurred with SLS. He was initially denied, but before he had received that letter the RC reversed that decision based on some interactions and early SAT scores.

This does not mean call up and beg. But never underestimate the value of meeting RC's, admissions, field force, etc at briefings, academy days, and college fairs!!!
 
Thank you very much for your replies! But does anyone know anything about my second question? If it looks better to attend a prestigious school for that year before reapplying, I need to start looking at my options now so I can have that as a backup plan.

Thanks!
 
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