Two Questions

Cadet35

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When will essays/open ended portions of the application open up? Also, with the new entering GPA portion; is GPA now a deciding factor of appointment? I’ve heard before that USMA looks at GPAs but only takes into account SATs and Class Rank for the 60% portion academic part of a candidate’s overall profile.
 
Per latest information GPA is the new norm, not the class rank. We just came from USMA info meeting at a nearby school. Seems this is new to the admissions as well and they are adapting to the new criteria.
 
Per latest information GPA is the new norm, not the class rank. We just came from USMA info meeting at a nearby school. Seems this is new to the admissions as well and they are adapting to the new criteria.


Are other service academies like this as well? I assume so.
 
Are other service academies like this as well? I assume so.

I am not sure about that. I can only speak of the info I got from USMA meeting. May be others can chime in if they have been to USAFA or any other SA meeting.
 
So in order to calculate that 60% of the whole candidate score, they just this year have begun to use class rank?

Do they take into account course rigor or school ranking when calculating GPA into a finite score?
 
So in order to calculate that 60% of the whole candidate score, they just this year have begun to use class rank?

Do they take into account course rigor or school ranking when calculating GPA into a finite score?

For this year they are using the GPA instead of class rank. Admissions officer I spoke with personally has not had chance to go back to office yet ( been on road) and find out more details. One thing for sure he mentioned that there will be some happy folks ( folks that will be become competitive) and some folks will not be happy ( those who will become uncompetitive).
 
While USMA is changing the process from class rank to GPA, they are still using an algorithm developed internally that will crunch all data and provide a ranking. Please do not think it will just be a straight self-reported GPA calculation.
 
I don't think anybody answered the 1st question, so I will do it for you. Once you are updated to candidate status, you are given access to the Candidate Personal Responses which will give you the 3 essay questions you must answer.
 
While USMA is changing the process from class rank to GPA, they are still using an algorithm developed internally that will crunch all data and provide a ranking. Please do not think it will just be a straight self-reported GPA calculation.
Does anyone know if the GPA change is weighted or unweighted? Seems odd for this change to occur so late in an admissions cycle, especially since no one knows how this will shake things up.
 
For this year they are using the GPA instead of class rank. Admissions officer I spoke with personally has not had chance to go back to office yet ( been on road) and find out more details. One thing for sure he mentioned that there will be some happy folks ( folks that will be become competitive) and some folks will not be happy ( those who will become uncompetitive).

So if a person is ranked 1 in their class, this won’t help them at all?
 
Does anyone know if the GPA change is weighted or unweighted? Seems odd for this change to occur so late in an admissions cycle, especially since no one knows how this will shake things up.

Admissions officer I spoke with had no idea whether weighted or unweighted gpa will be taken into consideration and how important other factors such as rank, difficulty of the course load are going to be.
 
So if a person is ranked 1 in their class, this won’t help them at all?

It's out of your control, but if you want to keep working on it go ahead, maybe try for a rank of 0 or -1. ;) After a certain point a lot of this is just a matter of being proud of your record and letting the chips fall where they may.

For all you candidates with high class ranks there are a herd of folks at rabidly competitive top schools who want to emphasize grades and test scores. When GPA was the fashion people who may have benefited from grade inflation or went to schools without tough courses seemed to have an advantage. Whatever. The SAs have been doing selections for quite a while under a variety of criteria and it seems to work out. Individuals may not always get what they want, but the Army keeps rolling. So keep your head up, feet moving, and good luck to you.
 
It's out of your control, but if you want to keep working on it go ahead, maybe try for a rank of 0 or -1. ;) After a certain point a lot of this is just a matter of being proud of your record and letting the chips fall where they may.

For all you candidates with high class ranks there are a herd of folks at rabidly competitive top schools who want to emphasize grades and test scores. When GPA was the fashion people who may have benefited from grade inflation or went to schools without tough courses seemed to have an advantage. Whatever. The SAs have been doing selections for quite a while under a variety of criteria and it seems to work out. Individuals may not always get what they want, but the Army keeps rolling. So keep your head up, feet moving, and good luck to you.

I have never focused or worked on rank and always try my best. I was pleasantly surprised by the rank I received for this semester, but know that it takes a lot more than a great class rank to be offered an appointment. That is why I spend my energy on different components of my application, such as test scores.
 
I don't think anybody answered the 1st question, so I will do it for you. Once you are updated to candidate status, you are given access to the Candidate Personal Responses which will give you the 3 essay questions you must answer.


When are you usually updated to that status? I’ve had everything filled out for awhile now.
 
When are you usually updated to that status? I’ve had everything filled out for awhile now.
I was updated as soon as the application came out. You are usually given access to the candidate kit within a week or so after filling out the precandidate questionnaire. I would email your regional commander or admissions to find out why you do not have access. I would also look in your spam folder or search your email inbox to see if you were given candidate status and you just missed the email.
 
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