Unique Circumstances?

P

Ponchco235

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Jun 13, 2016
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51
Hi all,

I'm worried about what USMA will think about my extracurriculars. While I have a couple strong leadership activities such as yearbook editor-in-chief and track/field team captain, they were primarily positions held in 9-10 grade. As a 11-12 grader, I was a teacher assistant who led class math sessions and also I was in charge of my own freshman seminar class with another club. Yet, these are not traditional leadership activities and I'm worried they could be overlooked.

My reasons for not getting involved in StuCo, class president, etc. is because I moved from the middle east following the Arab Spring/ an Islamist-inspired attack on my school in the middle of 10th grade. As such, I was just getting used to life in the US (only lived in the Middle East--father was a pilot there), a new school, and new life. More than that, my dad was very sick after moving here (various MRIs, lab test results, biopsies) and I had to help him out at home. I don't want USMA to think I am making excuses at all but these were my circumstances and I tried to make the best out of them. How would I go about saying something or should I even bother at all?
 
Generally when someone has unique life experiences, they find a way to incorporate them in their essays.
 
I don't know the answer to your question, but I would ask your RC, and hopefully the RC can find a category to place it in so you receive points. USMA literally gives points for each accomplishment, as long as it falls into an identifiable category. For example, being team captain of one sport counts as so many points, and team captain for another sport may count for more or less points, depending on the sport. Student counsel President counts for a boat load of points, whereas SC Secretary counts for less of points than President. Most everything has a designated amount of points, but some are not listed, so I think an RC has some discretion in terms of how many points something may be. Check out the Rand Study, as it does a nice job outlining how it works, and lists the scoring for most categories.
 
I've seen this before, how does someone get to be team captain as a freshman or sophomore? It certainly wouldn't happen at my high school, or any in our conference.

Perhaps at a very small school I guess.
 
I attended an international school with 400-ish students and not many girls were interested in running long distance for track
 
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