West Point Application questions

[sa_applicant2023]

Hi, I know this forum gets a LOT of these but I apologize because there really is not a lot of people I can ask that have as much knowledge as you guys. What are my strong points and weak points and how can I improve my application to USMA? Heres a rundown:
North African, Egyptian descent (if that really matters, i dont know)
PSAT 1300 combined (680 math, 620 reading) will take SAT in March
Unweighted GPA: 3.61
Class rank - none, school doesent provide
I attend a specialized high school in NYC
All of my classes with the exception of 2-3 electives are honors classes, and I have 2 APs - AP world history and AP US history.
Got an A+ in Precalculus so i Want to take AP Calculus, Advanced CAD, AP russian language and the rest honors.
Extra Curriculars
Treasurer officer of a high school charity club
Shift Manager of a school health cafe
Civil Air Patrol (by the time I hand in application I will at least be a non commisioned officer)
Did wrestling for a year but I wanted to join Civil Air Patrol and join Tae Kwon Do again instead
2nd degree Brown Belt in Tae Kwon Do (will get black belt by the end of the year)
Intern at the Congressmans office + School Library Volunteer - combined = over 50 hours (named school Library volunteer of the month by the librarian)
Student Organization Student Leader - volunteer at parent teacher conferences, represented the school at Open Houses
School Newspaper Editor
Muslim Students association
Freshman Mentor
SING! Stage Crew
Applying for NHS
Getting recommendation letters from a teacher (who is also a veteran of the US Army) and also from physics teacher.
Have a history of jobs, and I work one during the school year every week
Certified User of the Autodesk AUTOCAD program, and I want to get certified in Revit as well.

But heres the thing - I slacked off freshman year. But the improvement is tremendous like night and day ... for example my weighted average in freshman year 1st semester was 86% but it fired up to well over 100% this last semester in junior year. I want to continue to challenge myself to improve and West Point can also be a place for that to happen.

Thanks for getting this far, any advice regarding my academic situation or how to realy strengthen my application is sincerely accepted.

 

[DrMom]

The recommendations are from your English and Math teachers. You get to pick the third referee.
Did you earn a varsity letter in Wrestling?
You didn't say why you want to be an Army officer.
However, no one can really tell you what your chances are...you can look at the class profiles for recent classes for activities and SAT scores...and try to ensure that you are a candidate who fits within that range. There is so much more to it than grades and activities, I would think that medical qualification is the bear in the closet that no one ever thinks about or discusses.
Also, do not forget to apply for Army ROTC. It has to be about wanting to serve and lead as opposed to just wanting to get accepted to West Point.
Best wishes.

 

[Parent of 4]

You look good academically, PSAT score is competitive assuming you score same or better on actual SAT. Look into Boys State, that would provide a big boost to your application.

Begin working out and taking practice CFA’s. The better you can do on that the better off you will be overall. When doing something as competitive as applying to any SA every little bit extra you can do makes a difference.

Good Luck.

 

[sa_applicant2023]

The recommendations are from your English and Math teachers. You get to pick the third referee.
Did you earn a varsity letter in Wrestling?
You didn't say why you want to be an Army officer.
However, no one can really tell you what your chances are...you can look at the class profiles for recent classes for activities and SAT scores...and try to ensure that you are a candidate who fits within that range. There is so much more to it than grades and activities, I would think that medical qualification is the bear in the closet that no one ever thinks about or discusses.
Also, do not forget to apply for Army ROTC. It has to be about wanting to serve and lead as opposed to just wanting to get accepted to West Point.
Best wishes.

Hey, thanks a lot for the reply. To follow up, there aren't varsity letters in my school - they just do not hand them out (I asked my athletic director on this one, sorry for not putting it on the original thread).
I am working on the English and Math ones, I have good grades in both English and Precalculus this year so I am going to ask in the upcoming months.
I also did just look at the medical stuff, thanks for the heads up. Nothing really disqualifying, the worst I had was a tailbone contusion (not broken) during my wrestling year. Fully healed, and I resumed strenuous activities again.
Army ROTC is also on my list but the commute to its host university in Manhattan is a problem that I am trying to solve... :/ Therefore West Point comes in.
I have reasons to be an Army officer, and I am prepared to answer them in case of questioning by the admissions board.

Do you think its okay if I showed the improvement on my transcript, because unlike a lot of other candidates I do not have a continuously fine academic record, mine had to be boosted from 86 weighted average freshman year to 100+ weighted this year (junior year)?

 

[sa_applicant2023]

You look good academically, PSAT score is competitive assuming you score same or better on actual SAT. Look into Boys State, that would provide a big boost to your application.

Begin working out and taking practice CFA’s. The better you can do on that the better off you will be overall. When doing something as competitive as applying to any SA every little bit extra you can do makes a difference.

Good Luck.

I am actually in the process of getting sponsored to the NY Boys State program by my local American Legion post.
Am I still competitive academics wise, including with my slacked freshman year? Like I said in the original posting I really improved my situation but I am just afraid that I would not be able to look as well as the other candidates that had straight academic records since the start of high school. Thoughts on this?
Thanks for your reply.

 

[DrMom]

So, if you had a bad freshman year, you can write about how you recognized that you were not on track to achieve your goals and reframed your approach to school and have improved outcomes...or something like that.
You cannot hide or deny it, so you might as well own it.

 

[Humey]

So, if you had a bad freshman year, you can write about how you recognized that you were not on track to achieve your goals and reframed your approach to school and have improved outcomes...or something like that.
You cannot hide or deny it, so you might as well own it.

I dont know how it works with West Point, but the civilians colleges love that I had a bad freshman year because of X Y and Z, but I turned my situation around and became a straight A student. They always have that question about what situation you have to overcome in your life and how you did it. My kids came from a middle class home with a middle class lifestyle with almost no drama. The joke in the family was thank god my younger son (non military) had learning issues early in his life as he had something to write about.