When filling out the application for all service academies, is it better to use unweighted GPA or weighted GPA?

Meowspike13

Meowspike13

C/O 2026 Applicant
Joined
Jan 18, 2021
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I am currently a junior who has already filled out my preliminary applications for USNA and USMA. When filling out the academic information, it asked for my GPA. For both applications, I put my weighted GPA along side with the corresponding class ranking for it.

My unweighted GPA (out of 4.0) is a 4.0. The corresponding class rank is 1 out of 524.
My weighted GPA (out of 4.0) is a 4.666. The corresponding class is 13 out of 524.

Which is the correct GPA that should be used when filling out the application in the near future?

Thank you so much for your help!
 
Ultimately your GPA won’t matter because the SAs do a very detailed scrub of your transcript in the context of your school profile. They’ll be looking to see what classes you took — particularly in STEM and English — compared to what your school offers and whether you excelled in them. SAs prefer candidates who took the hardest classes on offer and did well in them. GPA falls by the wayside because there’s no uniform standard around the country.
 
Additionally, my recollection is that the instructions cover this piece. I recall USNA was weighted, USAFA was unweighted.

Make sure an follow the instructions. There is very, very little grey. Especially an objective, measurable thing such as this.
 
Meowspike13 said:
I am currently a junior who has already filled out my preliminary applications for USNA and USMA. When filling out the academic information, it asked for my GPA. For both applications, I put my weighted GPA along side with the corresponding class ranking for it.

My unweighted GPA (out of 4.0) is a 4.0. The corresponding class rank is 1 out of 524.
My weighted GPA (out of 4.0) is a 4.666. The corresponding class is 13 out of 524.

Which is the correct GPA that should be used when filling out the application in the near future?

Thank you so much for your help!
Click to expand...

What is the prelim application you filled out? I thought that application opened around April of Junior year?
 
MidCakePa said:
Ultimately your GPA won’t matter because the SAs do a very detailed scrub of your transcript in the context of your school profile. They’ll be looking to see what classes you took — particularly in STEM and English — compared to what your school offers and whether you excelled in them. SAs prefer candidates who took the hardest classes on offer and did well in them. GPA falls by the wayside because there’s no uniform standard around the country.
Click to expand...
Thank you for this information!
 
justme said:
What is the prelim application you filled out? I thought that application opened around April of Junior year?
Click to expand...
I applied to USNA Summer Seminar. I believe NASS Applications serve as a preliminary application towards admission for the academy; and it's better because you have a head start on the preliminary application that opens up a few months later.

The USMA applications for c/o 2026 opened last week, and I input my application for them as well.
 
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