<p>I have just recently recieved a Congressional Nomination and now I am just waiting to hear back from the Academy. I did not recieve a Letter of Assurance but I was wondering what my chances on getting an Appointment.</p>
<p>GPA: 3.68
SAT: 1250 (M: 640 V: 610)
Class Rank: (176/476)
Current Studies: Art History III AP, Calculus AP, English IV Dual Credit,
Economics AP, Government AP, Engineering Graphics, Speech/Communications </p>
<p>Extra Curriculars:
Student Council: Vice Pres Student Body and JR. Class
Athletics: Football - 3yr Letterman/Captain , Baseball - 2yr Letterman<br>
Track - 3yr Letterman
Latin Club - Vice President
Outdoor Grilling Club - Founder
Freshman Drug/Alcohol Awareness Mentor
Young Life - Middle School and Freshman Young Life Student Leader
Active in Church Youth Group
National Honors Society
Washington Close-Up
Univ. Houston Engineering/Architecture Summer Program</p>
<p>Awards:
National Latin Exam - 2-time Silver Medalist Recipient
Most Outstanding Male Athlete
Word Geography Award</p>
<p>Community Service:
Homeless Shelter Volunteer (lots of hours)
Summer Camp Work Crew
Mexico Habitat for Humanity</p>
<p>Employment:
Local Country Club Assistant to Golf Pro</p>
<ul>
<li>I just gave the broad aspect of my EC's and left out all the specific details.
-Let me know on how my chances for Appointment stand out.
Thanks.</li>
</ul>
<p>SAT is average.Class rank is not good.You are from a very competitive area,if you reside in the Houston area.Can you play a varsity sport at the academy?If you can participate in a varsity sport,you need to contact that coach ASAP.Are you able to play sprint football? Are your track times competitive?If these can give you an advantage,you may want to try them!!</p>
<p>Looks like you have great blend of academic, scholastic and leadership experiences/acheivments. If it was up to me, I would let you in just to see you throw the basketball 113'.</p>
<p>you need to realize wsims that we aren't college counselors, or even remotely qualified to tell people how good their chances are. don't rely on anyone from this site to give you that information. of course you can consider what anyone says, but you're really not going to know what your chances are until you take them.</p>
<p>scitsailor is absolutely correct! But, since you asked, the only things I'd be concerned with is your SAT and your class rank. You're probably in the low to mid average range on the SAT and your class rank isn't great, so given the information you have provided, I'd have to say you have a 50/50 chance. Having a nomination is wonderful, though. Congratulations and good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for yalls input. I am in a very competitive class. Our first quarter ends at a 3.7 GPA and we are expecting 30 something Valedictorians and Saludatorians. I have talked to the Track and Baseball coaches up at the Academy and they say that they have their own way of making appointments. Would anybody know how that works?</p>
<p>Also, I just started this post to get a glimpse of what other people see how I stand out, especially my weak points. But anyways it's up to the Academy to decide and hopefully I see some of yall the first day of plebe summer.</p>
<p>I am confused (must be a west coast thing! :))---how does a class have more than one valedictorian and saludatorian? Does that mean there are 30 people with exactly the same weighted gpa? Doesn't seem likely with only 437 class members. Maybe I'm old!</p>
<p>wsims-If the coaches feel you are capable of playing the sport for them,the coaches will either contact your high school or club coach.You must have filed with the NCAA clearinghouse also.The coach will verify your track times you submit or ask for films /stats on baseball.If they are interested,they will visit or ask you to come up their for a visit. The coaches actually get to submit a few names to the admissions board for their consideration or recommendation for prep school. Baseball is a little more difficult to recruit(as competition varies so widely) but track times are pretty much equal,giving the coach an easier decision w/o traveling.What do you run and what kind of times? I hope this helps.</p>
<p>wsims:
I realize that your SAT scores are only a portion of what is being evaluated, and that strengths in one area can compensate for weaknesses in another.</p>
<p>When my son was at the admissions office for a first look, the counselor told him that the minimum SAT that they were looking for was a composite of 1300, with minimums of 600 in each of the two subtests. I also know that some have been appointed with less than these scores, but those appointees tend to come from the fleet, NAPS, foundation, or are recruited athletes. (so I'm told)</p>
<p>The standardized SAT scores are the only consistent objective tool that can be used to evaluate candidates from across the country.</p>
<p>I would strongly recommend that you retake the SAT to raise your scores to a higher level. I know that there is an administration in January. That may be the last one the Academy takes. Check it out.</p>
<p>Please explain how a school can have more that one valedictorian. I'm from the east coast and have never heard of this before. What are the criteria?
CM</p>
<p>Shogun & Candidatemom: You get the multiple valedictorians when there are more than one person with "perfect" grades for their entire high school tenure. With class sizes of 400-600 students, it is very common for schools to have multiple straight A students. With the grade inflation of the last 10 years, more and more students are maintaining A averages.</p>
<p>This also happens at some of our smaller private schools that have competitive admissions. As I mentioned in a previous post, we have one local school with a class size of about 100 that had 25 national merit finalists. Within that group, several maintained straight A grades for their entire high school careers.</p>
<p>How do your schools handle multiple straight A students ??</p>
<p>Aspen:
Our students' grades are on a 0-100 scale rather than a 0-4. As a result, I have never seen a tie between the top students. Often their grades are separated by 0.001, but there is still a separation. It is rare for a student to receive a 100 in all courses. 99's are common, but not all 100's. (There is also a weighting factor for AP classes, and PE scores are excluded from the gpa.)
CM</p>
<p>My daughter attends an academic magnet in a large urban public high school (5,000 students!). Last year the school was on Newsweek magazine's top 100 high schools list. Their music program has received Grammy awards over the past five years. Additionally, it's a virtual "football factory." Frequently, the varsity football team is in the top five teams nationwide. They also claim more graduates as NFL players than any other school in America. Her class rank is 92 out of 945. Three of her friends just received EA from Stanford and one from CalTech. Two years ago, four students from her program were accepted to CalTech--more than any other school in the nation. Every class sends graduates to Princeton, Harvard, Brown, etc. The rigor is mind-boggling! She has a sophomore in her calculus class, and many of her friends are taking their second year of calculus and physics as seniors. My point is that there are approximately 40 students in the senior class with 4.0 GPAs (unweighted). Most of these kids have taken 8-10 AP classes, so their weighted GPAs are extremely high. Consequently, the school doesn't name valedictorians. However, at graduation students with 4.O wear gold robes and are honored for their extraordinary achievement in other ways. (Relax, few of her classmates apply to service academies!)</p>
<p>On another issue, my daughter concentrated on one sport, tennis. She earned MVP for JV tennis as a freshman. Then, she played varsity tennis for three years. This year she is team captain and just got this huge MVP trophy at the team banquet! (The coaches call her "The Terminator" because of her strong forehand.) She has many all-league awards, and last year the team was first runner-up in the state finals for their division. That is saying a lot considering how big tennis is in California. She is a strong, gifted athlete and participates in many sports outside of school: running, sailing, kayaking, and snowboarding. We know women's tennis at USNA is a club sport. She is considering offshore sailing or crew at the Academy. She works part-time and earned her Girl Scout Gold Award last year. Does anyone think three varsity letters in a single sport is a bad thing? She passed the PAE with flying colors.</p>
<p>Aspen, your positive attitude puts us all in the holiday spirit! Thank you.</p>
<p>Wsims- none of this is as cut and dry as it seems. I have a very good friend who didn't break 1300 and he is there and doing very well, and didn't go NAPS or the fleet. Yes you should strive to do your best, but don't sweat it.</p>
<p>"Does anyone think three varsity letters in a single sport is a bad thing?"
Absolutely not! 3 varsity letters in any sport, whether it be combined or multiple is good. My varsity letters consist of several different sports, but I have more in track/XC than anything else. I also play club sports and if your daughter does, she should be sure that admissions knows about it. The more sports she actively participates in, the more she appears to be physically fit and able to handle the rigorous challenges of plebe summer. I didn't play tennis on the varsity level, nor was I on the swim team (just couldn't do it all and also run track/XC - my favorite), but I have been an active member of a tennis club and swim club for 6 years. Your daughter being the team captain this year looks great!!! Congrats on her trophy!</p>
<p>It sounds like your daughter has an excellent chance!</p>
<p>Aspen
My daughters school has 748 seniors, none of them are tied for valedictorian (in fact the top 30 kids at least show no ties). Class rank is based on 4 year weighted gpa and there is enough of a variance between the number of AP 5.0 courses these kids take that virtually no one takes exactly the same scheule of classes and gets the same grades. The only way I see a scenario with multiple valed. would be if class rank was based on unweighted grades in which case you could get a number of 4.0 students--but then if you did that what would be the point of AP 5.0 courses (and certainly no point in naming a valedictorian!)? Bizzare how schools are so different!</p>
<p>Navgirl
3 varsity letters in one sport a bad thing? No way. My daughter had 3 V letters in xcountry, 4 V letters in track and 1 V letter in Basketball. The more the merrier (to the academy it shows a candidates willingness to stick to something for more than a year at a time.</p>
<p>To yall's question about multiple valedictorians, Aspen's reply is exactly right. I'm from Texas and in most area schools, especially in big 5A schools, there are 450+ students and GPA is determined on a 4.0 or 6.0 scale and some students have exactly the same GPA, so they are classified as Valedictorians. My school in particular is on a 6.0 weighted GPA. On average there are atleast 15+ Valedictorians and about 10 Saludatorians because they all end up with straight A's in taking all AP and Honors classes. The way it works is that they award 7 points for an A in an Honors or AP class and then 6 for B and so on. But it comes out where people who have made all A's all four years get a 6.6666 repeating GPA. It has it's flaws but it can benefit in some ways also.</p>
<p>D's school does not weight AP classes - all GPA's are unweighted. School wants to encourage kids to take the classes that are appropriate for them, and trusts that kids that want the challenge will take the tougher classes.</p>
<p>Am I wild about it? No. But school compensates by not ranking students (I'm not sure a valedictorian exists either) and by ensuring that colleges are aware of who's taking the most rigorous courses. On average, kids take 3-5 AP's at her school, and there's no shortage of kids lining up to take the tougher classes.</p>
<p>Wow, colleges must have a real fun time leveling out the playing field, not to mention the obvious issues with an educational system that allows such inequities between high schools. Another topic, I am sure.</p>
<p>Aren't the service academies looking for well-rounded individuals, not only kids with perfect SATs and astronomical GPAs? I feel that some of the kids at my daughter's school went overboard on the academics, e.g., taking college classes every summer. Some got so carried away that they graduated a year early! Personally, I thought backpacking in Bryce Canyon or seeing "Twelfth Night" at the Globe in London was a better way to spend the summer.</p>