what are my chances for 2014?

jason

10-Year Member
5-Year Member
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Jan 14, 2009
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I live in Seattle, WA and i'm a junior at Garfield High School

Academics: (this is what i need to work on the most)
GPA: ~3.7
Honors Chemistry
Honors Biology
Honors English 10th grade & 9th grade
Honors Pre-calc 10th grade
Honors Int. 3 9th grade
Honors World history
Pre-Calc 10th grade
AP European History
AP US History
AP Language Arts
AP Calculus

PSAT:
math: 67
verbal: 58
writing: 60

Extracurriculars
Sports:
Varsity Swimming 3 years
Varsity Lacrosse 2 years
Varsity Diving 3 years

Extras:
Martial Arts 8 years
Musical Instrument 7 years
Certified Lifeguard
Staff of Outdoor Education program at my school
Teach both music and martial arts weekly

I know my main focus right now is to work on academics, and i'm taking the SAT's in a couple weeks, planning to score in the mid-2100's. I didn't get accepted into SLS, but just wondering how my chances still are for acceptance into the class of 2014.
 
Hi Jason and welcome!

I live in Lacey (near Olympia) and am a member of the WA West Point Parents Club. We work closely with the WA West Point Field Force - have you been in contact with them yet? Did you attend the informational meeting in October at the Seattle Convention Center? If you missed that one, there will be another in April. I highly recommend going to these meetings. The Field Force people can give you a better idea of where you stand.

I am not an expert but looking at your stats I think you look like a good candidate. Keep taking those honors and AP classes. Getting a C in an AP class is not the end of the world, but aim for all A's and B's. Take the SAT and ACT more than once because USMA will use your best scores.

My son did not get into SLS either but he is a yearling now, so don't worry too much about SLS. Will you be applying for Boys State? It is also held in June and is looked at favorably by USMA.

Good luck!
 
Hello,
yes i missed the meeting, but i'm trying to make the april one. I havn't been in contact with the Field Force, i'm still fairly new to the whole application process, what does the Field Force do?
Probably another silly question, but what's Boys State? I just researched it a little, but didn't get a lot of details other than that it's held in high regard by service academies.
 
your "stuff" looks awesome.. but what about community service?

I know that at her interview today (at Congressman Smith's office) the interviewers LOVED the hundreds of hours of community service that my daughter has had both with school programs, church and girl scouts.


WaMom--- fingers crossed...:shake:
 
A lot of people have never heard of boy’s state. I hadn’t until my son came home saying he was going to apply for it. The counseling office at his school told him about it and gave him the application. Boys/girls state is viewed by USMA as a leadership activity.

Here’s a brief overview:
Boys State and Girls State are summer leadership and citizenship programs sponsored by The American Legion and the American Legion Auxiliary for high school students between their junior and senior years. Boys and Girls State programs are held in each of the U.S. states (excluding Hawaii), usually on a college campus within that state. In general male and female programs are held separately, but at least four states — Georgia, Nebraska, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania — host Boys' and Girls' State on the same campus on the same week. Program participants are first divided up into subgroups that are given city names. The citizens of each of these cities then elect mock municipal officials and representatives to the mock State Legislature. If enough citizens are present, then a county level is added to the program between city and state. The participants also elect state officials, such as Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and other state-level officials that their real state has. The legislature then meets to organize, elect leaders, and to pass bills, in a way that is similar to how their actual legislature operates. Some states hold mock trials, the participants volunteering as lawyers, criminals, and juries, and others are able to form bands and choirs from the talent pools that they have assembled.

Link to more information: http://www.legion.org/programs/youthprograms/boystate
Either ask your high school counselors about it or contact the nearest American Legion post.

Regarding the field force…they are a group of alumni that help candidates through the application process. They can answer admissions questions and also give you more feedback on what you may need to do to improve your chances of admission. I can get you the contact information for the field force if you would like it. They were a great resource and a huge help to my son when he went through the process.

Another thing you can do if you haven’t already is join prospective-net. This is for prospective candidates and their families to get information. Once you sign up you can email questions, alumni or other experts will answer your questions. You will also get emails with other people’s questions and see the answers too. Here is a link to information about prospective.net:http://www.west-point.org/parent/prospective-net/
 
Another program:

My Daughter attended the Northwest Leadership conference at Pacific Luthern University. It is a one week conference sponsored by the MOWW (Military Order of World Wars). She was nominated for the program by her principal, and the Local Kiwanas and the Pierce county paid her tuition. County Councilman Dick Muri was the one that told us about the program.
 
thanks for the heaps of information WAmom, i'm going to looking into some of those programs now.

J Collins, both the music tutoring and trips run through my outdoor education program count as community service, and i've racked up hundreds of hours from those combined, good to know that it's an important factor though
 
thanks for the heaps of information WAmom, i'm going to looking into some of those programs now.

You are very welcome! Other people answered my, and my son's, questions when he was going through the process so I am passing it on.

Go ahead and post more questions as you think of them. If we don't have the answer here I can always try my sources on the field force.
 
Have your studied for the SATs? its not really unheard of but its really rare for someone to jump from your PSAT to 2100's without studying...I didn't study because I felt like it was cheating the system but I know if I had tried to learn all those tricks from the books I would have done a lot better...Also take the ACT
 
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