BracesGlasses
5-Year Member
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- Feb 20, 2012
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Any advice on how to prepare for next years summer seminar? Also, how does the application process work?
Summer Seminar 2014
- Thread starter BracesGlasses
- Start date
A good place to start would be learning the correct name. I believe it's now the "Summer Leader Experience," more commonly known as SLE or SLS to anyone who went before last year. Now that you know the name, you can google it and read all about it, straight from the source - the USMA website
SuaSponte
5-Year Member
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- Mar 1, 2013
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- 276
Considering SLE 2013 ended last month I wouldn't worry about it, it isn't something you need to prepare for besides the CFA. Just look it up and then do your best junior year, it will be your hardest academically so you shouldn't be too wrapped up in SLE.
Hi Braces,
First, good for you for being proactive.
Second, it can seem a lot to learn, but in some cases each SA has their own name for things. I know you posted on the AFA forum as well; it is indeed "summer seminar" there.
Third, please remember that even getting into a summer program at one of the academies can be super tough. Some SAs use them as a recruiting tool of sorts. So if you are from a group geograpically or demographically that already has a strong tradition of applying to the academy, you may not get in at all no matter how good you are! Instead they may use your "slot" to reach out to another area the counrty/population.
Finally, no matter what... don't be discouraged. As everyone will tell you, whether you attend a summer program or not has no direct impact on getting an appointment. It's not held against you in anyway if you don't attend.
So good luck and stay focused!
First, good for you for being proactive.
Second, it can seem a lot to learn, but in some cases each SA has their own name for things. I know you posted on the AFA forum as well; it is indeed "summer seminar" there.
Third, please remember that even getting into a summer program at one of the academies can be super tough. Some SAs use them as a recruiting tool of sorts. So if you are from a group geograpically or demographically that already has a strong tradition of applying to the academy, you may not get in at all no matter how good you are! Instead they may use your "slot" to reach out to another area the counrty/population.
Finally, no matter what... don't be discouraged. As everyone will tell you, whether you attend a summer program or not has no direct impact on getting an appointment. It's not held against you in anyway if you don't attend.
So good luck and stay focused!
If you have not already, take the SAT and ACT at least once each this fall, for several reasons. Although, IIRC, only the PSAT score is needed for SLE application, a good ACT/SAT score looks even better. Second, if you do just average on the SAT/ACT, you know what you need to work on and have longer to fix it.
2013hopeful
5-Year Member
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2012
- Messages
- 30
Good luck in your quest to attend the SLE next summer. My son went to SLS last year and enjoyed it a lot.
One thing that surprised him was the CFA. He had worked pretty hard to do well on the CFA. However, after flying to New York on Sunday and then taking the shuttle to West Point, he was pretty tired. The CFA for him was the next morning (Monday). Needless to say, he did not do as well as he thought he would after working on the events for the preceding months.
I might suggest when you begin working on the CFA, at some point begin doing all the events one right after the other. I think you might be surprised how the number of push ups may go down after you have completed the previous events. I think you might be surprised how slower your run might be after you have completed the previous events. I know my son was dumbfounded with how tired he was after the accumulation of events.
He retook the CFA a month later and improved each event considerably. Gratefully, they (and the other Academies) accepted his second CFA. I think I have read somewhere that about 40% of the people fail the CFA at SLE/SLS. While he did not fail his CFA at SLS, it was clearly not what he anticipated.
Again, good luck. If you don't get in to SLE/SLS, don't worry about it. My son did not get into the Navy's NASS and yet received an appointment there (he's in Plebe Summer right now). BTW, he also received an appointment to West Point.
One thing that surprised him was the CFA. He had worked pretty hard to do well on the CFA. However, after flying to New York on Sunday and then taking the shuttle to West Point, he was pretty tired. The CFA for him was the next morning (Monday). Needless to say, he did not do as well as he thought he would after working on the events for the preceding months.
I might suggest when you begin working on the CFA, at some point begin doing all the events one right after the other. I think you might be surprised how the number of push ups may go down after you have completed the previous events. I think you might be surprised how slower your run might be after you have completed the previous events. I know my son was dumbfounded with how tired he was after the accumulation of events.
He retook the CFA a month later and improved each event considerably. Gratefully, they (and the other Academies) accepted his second CFA. I think I have read somewhere that about 40% of the people fail the CFA at SLE/SLS. While he did not fail his CFA at SLS, it was clearly not what he anticipated.
Again, good luck. If you don't get in to SLE/SLS, don't worry about it. My son did not get into the Navy's NASS and yet received an appointment there (he's in Plebe Summer right now). BTW, he also received an appointment to West Point.
BlackKnight2016
5-Year Member
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- Jan 29, 2012
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- 46
A previous posting suggested taking the SAT or ACT early and I will echo this suggestion. Our high school hands out the PSAT results in late January and this made it difficult to apply to SLS when WP opened up the applications in mid December (timing may be different now - this was a few years back). Taking the ACT or SAT in October will give you the assurance that you have a score ready to submit when the application process opens. If you are going to use a study program to help prepare, that means this summer (right now) before the start of your junior year you could be preparing for one or both these tests. Some folks may say it's too early to start preparing for next summer's SLS, but if you want to sit for an October testing - I can't think of a better time than the present to crack open a study prep guide.