USCGA early action vs other service academies

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Apr 13, 2021
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To the kind and generous people of the internet,
I have been researching the USCGA early action, and there is one thing I couldn't hunt down the answer to.
If I am accepted to USCGA with early action, can I wait until USAFA releases decisions before accepting?
As of now, I have USAFA as my top choice followed by USCGA, but USAFA does not have early action.
Thanks,
-P
 
You would have until 5/1 to accept any appointment offer (EA or RA) so assuming USAFA releases its decision before then, yes, you can wait. And assuming that last year’s 5/1 date remains the same for this year, of course. The appointment offer letter will specify by what date you must respond.
 
To add to What @RJB1690 said, you can accept any offer you receive and are not committed until the day you report for INDOC/BCT. If you were selected by USCGA during early action, you could accept the appointment. If you then received another offer that you found to be higher on your list of dream schools, you can then accept that and decline the offer you had previously accepted.

Understand that the schools are racing to achieve a target number of students for the incoming class. Your accept/decline decision factors into their algorithms that dictate how many total appointments they need to send out to achieve the desired yield. Service Academies are often competing for the same top talent each year and these types of situations present themselves each admissions cycle. Each applicant has a mental rank order of schools - just like you laid out in your question.

Accepting an appointment does not commit you to attending that school should a perceived better offer come along later. The 1 May decision date is intended to clear the deck of people on the fence about what they want to do next year and provide clarity to the Admissions team for how many more appointments they need to send out to achieve their target class size. Additional offers of appointments will go out right up until the report date for INDOC/BCT to achieve the class size they want. I say this to remind you that the real end date for this adventure is the report date for the school. Students should understand that the 1 May date is important and your best chance to receive an appointment comes before that date, but the music in this game of musical chairs does not stop until the report date and some late appointments will go out.

I was headed to USMMA but received the USAFA call two weeks prior to their report date. I kindly called my USMMA liaison - thanked him for all his help, informed him that I received an appointment to USAFA, and that I would be going there instead. He understood - these types of last minute changes happen each year.
 
To add to What @RJB1690 said, you can accept any offer you receive and are not committed until the day you report for INDOC/BCT. If you were selected by USCGA during early action, you could accept the appointment. If you then received another offer that you found to be higher on your list of dream schools, you can then accept that and decline the offer you had previously accepted.

Understand that the schools are racing to achieve a target number of students for the incoming class. Your accept/decline decision factors into their algorithms that dictate how many total appointments they need to send out to achieve the desired yield. Service Academies are often competing for the same top talent each year and these types of situations present themselves each admissions cycle. Each applicant has a mental rank order of schools - just like you laid out in your question.

Accepting an appointment does not commit you to attending that school should a perceived better offer come along later. The 1 May decision date is intended to clear the deck of people on the fence about what they want to do next year and provide clarity to the Admissions team for how many more appointments they need to send out to achieve their target class size. Additional offers of appointments will go out right up until the report date for INDOC/BCT to achieve the class size they want. I say this to remind you that the real end date for this adventure is the report date for the school. Students should understand that the 1 May date is important and your best chance to receive an appointment comes before that date, but the music in this game of musical chairs does not stop until the report date and some late appointments will go out.

I was headed to USMMA but received the USAFA call two weeks prior to their report date. I kindly called my USMMA liaison - thanked him for all his help, informed him that I received an appointment to USAFA, and that I would be going there instead. He understood - these types of last minute changes happen each year.
Thank you for the clarification, I see no downside to early action so I'm going to go for it!
 
Thank you for the clarification, I see no downside to early action so I'm going to go for it!
There are other posts on CGA EA. Having experienced a recent cycle - my suggestion is to apply EA if you consider your package one of the best in the country. SAT/ACT should be high, as well as every other variable. Average to below average will be cut with a full non-selection decision and there is no round 2. Some will roll over to RA, but trust that EA is for the elite applicant. Just one person's opinion, but there are posts here about EA that would be good to read. The flip side is certainty - there are 3 EA outcomes - appoint, decline, defer to RA. 2 out of 3 options give you certainty and that will be highly valued throughout this process.
 
I think if you have a really competitive USCGA application, you should ask your Admissions rep. if he/she thinks EA is a good play for you. Some might steer you in the right direction. For my DS, we were visiting USCGA during an official overnight visit (DS had allready attended AIM), we were talking to an admissions LT (not his assigned person), and asked. LT asked DS to summarize his stats/quals...he looked at us and said ...I would apply for EA for sure. DS did and got it. Ended up at the Yard...but USCGA is a great Academy and great service (different mission).
 
Thank you for the clarification, I see no downside to early action so I'm going to go for it!
Assuming you are a highly accomplished candidate with an outstanding PFE score, there is no downside. If you are a borderline candidate who could improve your application by applying RA, then there would be a downside. Good luck!
 
To add to What @RJB1690 said, you can accept any offer you receive and are not committed until the day you report for INDOC/BCT. If you were selected by USCGA during early action, you could accept the appointment. If you then received another offer that you found to be higher on your list of dream schools, you can then accept that and decline the offer you had previously accepted.

Understand that the schools are racing to achieve a target number of students for the incoming class. Your accept/decline decision factors into their algorithms that dictate how many total appointments they need to send out to achieve the desired yield. Service Academies are often competing for the same top talent each year and these types of situations present themselves each admissions cycle. Each applicant has a mental rank order of schools - just like you laid out in your question.

Accepting an appointment does not commit you to attending that school should a perceived better offer come along later. The 1 May decision date is intended to clear the deck of people on the fence about what they want to do next year and provide clarity to the Admissions team for how many more appointments they need to send out to achieve their target class size. Additional offers of appointments will go out right up until the report date for INDOC/BCT to achieve the class size they want. I say this to remind you that the real end date for this adventure is the report date for the school. Students should understand that the 1 May date is important and your best chance to receive an appointment comes before that date, but the music in this game of musical chairs does not stop until the report date and some late appointments will go out.

I was headed to USMMA but received the USAFA call two weeks prior to their report date. I kindly called my USMMA liaison - thanked him for all his help, informed him that I received an appointment to USAFA, and that I would be going there instead. He understood - these types of last minute changes happen each year.
You CAN do this, but as long as that May 1 deadline hasn't come yet, there's no good reason to do this. Why accept something when there's no pressure to do so instead of just leaving your options open in every way?
 
To the kind and generous people of the internet,
I have been researching the USCGA early action, and there is one thing I couldn't hunt down the answer to.
If I am accepted to USCGA with early action, can I wait until USAFA releases decisions before accepting?
As of now, I have USAFA as my top choice followed by USCGA, but USAFA does not have early action.
Thanks,
-P
Updated Question: Does applying for early action provide any BENEFIT to me? Even if my application was one of the best in the nation (which it is probably not), would applying early action give me a leg up? It seems like many here think my best bet is to leave the door open and apply regular admissions timeline.
Thanks,
-P
 
We just went over this three weeks ago. Go back and read this and the countless other threads on the topic over the years. The answers don't change much: they pick most of the class during early admission but that's when the recruited athletes and strongest candidates usually apply so it's hard to determine cause and effect. If you have a solid app and you don't anticipate anything changing soon then put it in, but if you are awaiting first semester grades or a team captaincy or something else that will give you a boost then wait a bit.

 
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