<p>I was wondering if one is ranked like 40 out of 430 students if that's pretty competitive for admissions. If not, would would be a competitive rank with a 2100+ SAT, Captain of Sports, and other various clubs/leadership.</p>
<p>Top 10% of your class, strong SAT, athletics and leadership in clubs, are all part of the profile of candidates with appointments. Nobody here can really judge your qualifications, but you seem to be on track. I am assuming you are not a senior this year, therefore you have time to become involved with Boys' State and/or apply to SLS for next summer.</p>
<p>Yes, I'll be doing Boy's State, and I have already been accepted to West Points and Air Forces Summer Programs. Also, I think my class is really competitive because I have a 3.9 UW(my school doesn't weight) and I'm barely top 10%. Doesn't that seem odd?</p>
<p>I don't know top 10% of my class has 4.0s, doesn't seem too competitive.</p>
<p>Nothing wierd about that.</p>
<p>The biggest thing that admissions looks at is your whole package; the academics, the leadership potential, the sports, all of it. If there is one thing you can do to try to increase your chances, it's to get involved in all kinds of things in your school and community. Seek out leadership positions. That's what admissions looks for, people who can make good leaders and have decent academics. Trust me, I was not top 10% of my class, and only got an 1100 on the SAT, and I'm here (and in the top 15% of my class here, go figure...). Dont get caught up in the competitive games, just do what you can to get the best grades you can, but most importantly, get involved.</p>
<p>Hope that helps a bit.</p>
<p>Screaming Eagle, what were you involved in that really caught the academy's attention?</p>
<p>There is no "cookie cutter" solution that will catch the eye of the academy, but you just need to be involved in a lot of things. I was class president, member of student council, NHS, 3 letter winner plus track captain, involved in the Big Brother/Big Sister program, and probably some other things I dont remember. Just get involved in things that serve your school or your community and seek out leadership positions if you are not already in them.</p>
<p>Sorry if this seems a little contradictory, ScreamingEagle, but I was under the impression that excelling in a few activities was better than dabbling in a bunch. "Be involved in a lot of things" makes it sound like an emphasis is put on quantity rather than quality. I only say this because I don't want ironjohn1989 to get the wrong impression. (Although, if he can be involved in a large amount of EC's and accomplish great things in them anyways, this point is irrelevent.)</p>
<p>That is a myth. WP's admissions is the most objective thing on the planet. They give you points for SATs, how many clubs your in, grades, leadership, and more. Being a leader definitely helps, but so does paying 10$ dues and showing up to three meetings to put debate club down or something. The long and short is, the more you do and the more you put on your applicaiton, the better chance you have.</p>
<p>lol....technically im in debate too...........</p>
<p>michaelburt is absolutely correct. The admissions people have a ranking system, the name of which I forget, but you get X number of points for all types of things, SATs, sports, clubs, etc. Sadly, you could put all your energy into being the greatest class president ever and be the most promising leader, yet their system really has no way of telling that. Instead, they go off the point score system. So the more things you are in, the higher you score. That being said, everything is weighted, so like student government is worth more than chess club, so yes, excelling in hard activities is more important than joining every club known to man. </p>
<p>That's just sort of the way West Point operates. Everything is objective. Welcome to the suck of it all...</p>
<p>On a totally unrelated note, if you are intersted in the Academy, you may want to check out this site:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.westpointcadets.org/%5B/url%5D">http://www.westpointcadets.org/</a></p>
<p>You can find cadets from your hometown and learn something about them and ask questions if you want; no one is forced into it so all the information on their is voluntary. Mr. Totten who runs the site takes a great deal of pride in trying to make it as helpful to candidates as possible.</p>
<p>Thank you for all of that information, and yes I am interested in the academy.
If I have a few solid leadership activities (ie big brothers, german club officer, retreat leader, [possible swim team captain], freshmen advisor, & summer league swim team coach) and part of my high schools varsity swim team with 4 varsity letters, will that look good? I have a B average that is going up, I am not sure exactly what it is right now and I am predicted to get mid 20's on my ACT and around 2000 on the SAT. How does that all look?</p>
<p>Also I tutor/mentor kids outside of my school for fun when I don't have swimming.</p>
<p>PS the all academy day is on saturday here and I have a German convention, if I know a lot about WP, but not the others should I go? The German convention is like the only activity in our club, so I don't know what to do. The secrertary from my congressman's office said I wouldn't be looked down upon if I didn't go, but I want to learn more about the other academies and meet with my senators and congressman.</p>
<p>Wow. I feel stupid. Sorry about that; maybe I should have my "Advice License" revoked. :)</p>
<p>envee06: I don't think your advice was off the mark. I vote you keep your "Advice License" ;)</p>