College student looking to apply to the Academy

Hello all,

I am currently a freshman at a top liberal arts college on the West Coast. Ever since high school I have had a deep desire to attend USMA, but never applied due to a colligate sports opportunity. I tried and was never recruited to USMA, so I took the offer to be a D1 athlete at a different school. I decided at the beginning of the year to see if I really wanted to be in the Military and more specifically the army, and my desire has grown more. I am not currently in a ROTC program but am looking at getting myself set up to start next fall (late this spring if possible). I have around a 3.2 GPA as a first semester freshman as a Chem major, and graduated HS with a 3.9. My ACT was a 31, and I had lots of EC’s and volunteer hours.

Currently in college I volunteer with BBBS (Big Brothers Big Sisters) and have have numerous hours this year. In HS I volunteered with 4H, at a hospital (+200 hours), and at Church (+100 hours). In HS I took part in many EC’s. I was a 2 time captain for a sports team, I have 6 varsity letters, and garnered many awards throughout my time in HS athletics. I was also the leader of the FCA group at my HS. I was apart of 3 clubs.

Like I mentioned earlier I have thought about ROTC, but at the end fo the day WP is where I want to be. I understand that I will have to restart college, and am totally okay with it. I did not start college in the ROTC program because I wanted to make sure I would be committed to serving, and after thinking it through for some time, I know its what I want to do. I feel that if I am going to serve I would really like come out of WP.

I plan on putting in an application for USMA, and was just wondering if others have experience with the transfer from a civilian college to WP, or have any advice/idea if it is worth my applying due to my stats?

Wow I meant to say East Coast… guess my computer did not like that one! I also was probably not too clear, but my main point for posting was to see if anyone thinks I may have a chance at admissions.

Thank you, and good luck to this years applicants.

I thought I would add that I currently go to school in Pennsylvania.

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Many have applied successfully to service academies from college. 25% of the incoming class at WP is either prior service, re-applicants, or those with previous college experience. Good luck and read other threads here where I have posted about the futility of asking for chances. Make sure you understand the nomination process, then put your best effort into your application and let the chips fall where they may. That’s all you can do.

You can also research and post on serviceacademyforums.com which is the official website for applicants to the five service academies. Lots of experience and advice on this question there.

You’re a second lieutenant whether you go to West Point or a west coast university. I don’t see a reason to start college all over again if you don’t have to. You can do ROTC and get your commission in 3 years.

After reading these responses and other posts, I think my best plan of action at this point would be to stay where I am for school and join the ROTC program. I think with my end goals and the fact I would graduate two years later then when I was projected too, it makes the most sense to stay and do the ROTC program.

Thank you for the responses.

@undergrad21 - good plan. If your goal is primarily to serve as an officer, then, in your situation ROTC is a great option. You will get essentially no credit for work done in your current college. That would represent waste time and money for me personally. ROTC is a great pathway. One of the strongest leaders I served with in the Army was ROTC. Its all in what you put into it.