<p>Hello all, this is my first visit to this particular forum and I'm sure you get a lot of people asking about their chances so I apologize beforehand if anybody is tired of this. I am an aspiring Westpoint Cadet. I am graduating high school tomorrow night, and going to go on to Penn State University, and I am going to taking part in Army ROTC. Last year I was considering Wespoint, but it seemed so venerable and prestigious that I became intimidated about applying. I now know that you miss 100% of the shots you don't take, but I was so sure that I was going to be denied admissions that I didn't bother taking the shot of applying. I had the nomination papers to fill out in my hand, and turn in to see if I could receive a nomination from my Congressman, but I never went through with it. Now I am thinking that maybe I did stand a chance. I am graduating in the top 10% of the class, of 370 students. I am an honors grad, and have taken a very challenging course load in high school, for all 4 years, and have been on the honor roll all four years, only missed 1 day in all the 4 years, and participated in French Club and Cross Country - in which I earned my varsity letter. My SAT scores are far below average however. I have an 1100, on the old SATs, never had to take the new SATs and familiarizing myself with them and taking them would be a pain. Suppose I go to Penn State for a year or two, do an absolutely outstanding job, and then apply for admissions... does anyone think I would stand a chance at being offered admissions? There is absolutley no doubt in my mind that I would succeed. I just want the chance to prove myself. Any advice or comments you could give I would appreciate it greatly.</p>
<p>I'd also just like to genuinely thank any former or future attendees of Westpoint for your service to our country.</p>
<p>Yea, I've read that post, but am still unsure about my chances. I've heard of some surprising admission offers. My mom's friend in North Carolina has a neighbor that got into Westpoint a while back and she knew him for years and years. She knew him very well and told me he wasn't too self-disciplined or motivated and he didn't have the most outstanding academic performance, but went on to attend Westpoint anyway. I suppose if worst comes to worst... I have to attend PSU for four years. Which wouldn't be too bad. I'll get a degree in something (not sure about a major yet) and I'll "earn" my commission through ROTC. But respect does not come with a ROTC commission like it does a Westpoint commission. Respect is what it is all about for me, I don't care about money or anything like that. My heart is with serving my nation and Westpoint is the perfect fit for what I want to do with my life. I'm just at your basic crossroads in life right now but the only thing making a whole lot of sense is that I want to go to WP, and bad. How can I contact an admissions officer?</p>
<p>I understand. When the bullets start flying the respect is earned or lost. It's won by the content of your character, not what institution you attended to receive the commission. However, if I'm not the best, then it is the only thing that's ever on my mind. I just don't want to live wondering "what if...." Thanks for the advice nickyoungerman. I'll send an email to the admissions officer and try with everything I got until I'm too old to be offered admission ;)</p>
<p>Don't worry about your chances. I am speaking from experience. I applied to USNA my senior year and did not get in. I didn't give up though. I went to a local university and had a 3.3 average and got in this year. I believe the service academies like candidates who have a year of college under their belts. I have not heard of a person who went to college for a year and did not get into one of the academies the next year they applied. Don't worry about your low test scores either. I only had a 27 on my ACT and everybody told me it would be extremely difficult for me to get into USNA. I proved their "opinion" wrong. The bottom line is if you want to go to USMA, then go all out for it. Don't worry about what other people say. I have heard that Penn State has a really good ROTC program. You never know. You might love it at Penn State and decide that it is better for you than USMA. Remember that you come out the same rank regardless of service academy or ROTC. Good luck with everything. </p>
<p>THanks for the advice everyone. I contacted the admissions officer at Westpoint last night and he sent me an email this morning. He said that they have a surprising amount of students that spend a year or two at another college or university then apply for admissions to Westpoint. He said to stay as active as possible in ROTC, earn exceptional marks at Penn State, and retake the SATs and ACTs a minimum of two times. He also said to fill out the pre-candidate questionnaire, but should I fill this out now or wait until I've started at PSU. Because I will look way better on paper after having attended PSU and including ROTC and all of my activities there. Thanks again.</p>
<p>The Pre-Cand Questionnaire opens your file at West Point and basically lets them know you are interested. From that, they just take down the basics and send you a TON of paperwork that you can start filling out to complete your application. Nothing is too serious on the questionnaire and you can always add things later. I found that on the questionnaire it primarily asked about your high school activities. I would say that it would be wise to fill out the questionnaire now so that you can start getting the papers from USMA. They are a process for sure!! It will be tough to complete because you are in college (I had to contact three high schools to complete my packet...) but it will be worth it! Good luck!</p>
<p>I filled out the candidate questionnaire and officially enrolled in Army ROTC with PSU. Any advice on when I should apply for a nomination? I feel kind of behind because everything I read says to start in the junior year of high school. That's when I first developed my interest but of course didn't act on it right away. Do the congressman prioritize students according to their grades and such, or is a nomination just simply a nomination?</p>
<p>I applied for my Congressional nomination as soon as I could. The process doesn't start until the middle of summer each year. Don't worry about not applying your junior year. It doesn't matter. To my knowledge, it is the congressman's or senator's decision to prioritize candidates. Mine did. Oh, something I forgot to tell you the other day about not giving up. Did you know that it took Jimmy Carter three tries to get into USNA? Persitance pays off.</p>
<p>I guess I'll start contacting my congressmen now then. Would it be wise to contact all possible congressmen who are able to nominate me? </p>
<p>I suppose underlying any story of success is one of mulitple failures. It is persistance that gives birth to success. Michael Jordan didn't make his high school basketball team when he first went out and Einstein didn't even do good as a student when he was little. This time around I'm going all the way through with this, and if I don't get accepted this time then I'll try again and again until it's not possible to anymore. This is something I really really want and I personally believe that with a little hard work and a good heart people really get what they want in life. And thanks for all the advice sig09, I really appreciate it.</p>
<p>Send your Congresscritter an email now from either senate.gov or house.gov. Contact all of em, and even drop Cheney a form letter. You can get one online at USMA.edu, after you complete the pre-candidate questionarre(sp?) and they send you the password and all that jazz.</p>
<p>It never hurts to drop a congressperson a line.</p>
<p>Nickyoungerman is right. Contact all the people you can. I checked in with mine about once a month just to keep on dropping my name in the mix. I ended up being their principle nominee. What do you have to lose? Go ahead and get it done now during the summer before college starts. You will be really busy your freshman year. Take care and good luck.</p>
<p>If you know your state assemblyman or state senator, or anyone who works in their office(s), you might drop them a line explaining that you are seeking a congressional nomination and would appreciate their support in your quest. If you are lucky, they will send a letter of support to your congressional senator and/or representative on your behalf. Sometimes, even if they don't know you, they will advocate for you because you are a constituent. (Be sure to send a cover letter and your resume.)
CM</p>
<p>So I've contacted my area representative, and my two senators. The information packets to fill out are all in the mail now. Hopefully I can get those filled out and returned quickly, and obtain a nomination. I also received a letter today from the Academy letting me know that I am on file there and I need to get the nomination(s) and try to get those SAT and ACT scores up. I don't know what it is with those tests... I perform well on any other test... even on other standardized tests... there is just something about those that I can't get. Everytime I'm finished I'm sure that I did great just like I do on other tests then the results come back and it's not what I expected... guess I better familiarize myself with the new SAT and try to pinpoint my weakness to work at it. Writing is actually a strong subject with me so maybe this new SAT will work to my advantage. By the way, how much weight do these test scores carry in the admissions decision?</p>
<p>"Writing is actually a strong subject with me so maybe this new SAT will work to my advantage"</p>
<p>Unfortunately West point completely disregards the writing section. They are only looking at math+verbal scores. The reason is that there is just too little data on it, it is subjective, and they never required sat II's in the past. Try to work on your weaknesses and bring your math+verbal to around 1300ish to be competative. You probably already said it but what state are you from?</p>
<p>They carry a lot of weight. Get the College Board book and do some practice tests to get more familiar with the format so you can do better on test day.</p>
<p>jq722 I am from Pennsylvania, just outside of Philly. It's unfortunate that the writing section doesn't carry any weight... I am an exceptional writer but I need to get my math and verbal up about 100 points each. I don't know what that would equal with these new SATs. Part of raising my SAT score will be getting myself familiar with this new SAT and then the first time I take it I will probably do pretty bad. I plan on taking it twice more, hopefully by the second time my scores are improved enough to be competitive. I'll pick up the book sometime this week so I will have plenty of time to practice for the test. </p>
<p>If I don't get nominated it would suck though. Guess I could maybe take the SATs anyway and maybe have to wait another year... which I certainly don't want to do, but I'm determined, so as long as it takes....</p>
<p>I received my nomination papers to fill out today from my congressmen who I contacted. It seems pretty simple to fill out, but usually you're in your junior or senior year of high school while you fill these out. I'm in the summer now between high school and college. The congressmen want letters of recommendation from academic, and extra curricular teachers/counselors. Should I get them from my high school or get them from college. I have until October 7 to return these. So there is plenty of time. Seems like the earliest interview time would be November 15, so I have penty of time with these. Especially since I chose to get them early. The thing is, I didn't do too many activities in high school and wasn't on good terms with some teachers. It would be better for me to get them from college. I plan on starting over, with a clean slate, when I go to college. I burned a few bridges in high school, lets put it that way. Is it wise to maybe get a recommendation letter from my Army ROTC captain or is it that imperative that I get them in ASAP and use the high school option. It doesn't look like they are going to start reviewing them all closely until mid October, and it would probably look a whole lot better coming from college professors and ROTC leaders than from my high school teachers who would give me a hard time about doing me a favor.</p>
<p>Kwith
The only problem with relying on your soon-to-be college professors is that they will be basing their evaluation of you on a whopping 30-45 days of knowing you and that it is probably asking a lot to expect them to rate you based on a month in their classroom (assuming they know you from Adam by then). Good luck, but you may want to mend some of those bridges you burned in High School. MOC offices appreciate applications that are turned in in a timely manner, not at the last minute. Remember, it is a staffer that will be handling your file, not "Senator or Rep Jones".</p>