I recently applied to the Air Force Academy Summer Seminar, and I was rejected. I also applied to the USMA summer program about a month ago, and I haven’t heard back yet, so I probably didn’t get into that either. I was wondering if putting that I am Asian on my application could hurt my chances. I am half white and half Asian but my birth certificate only says that I am white. I was surprised when I didn’t get into the AFA Summer Seminar, and I am also surprised that the USMA SLE has not replied yet. I felt like I was a strong applicant.
So basically, does saying that I’m half Asian and half white instead of simply white hurt my chances? Thanks.
Nope, it shouldn’t. Anything military-based has historically been “open” to different races. The military was the first to integrate people of color.
Nope. Like aunt bea said and that Asians are not overrepresented at the SAs.
Alright thanks! I was wondering because I saw this thing that said being Asian could potentially hurt your chances.
http://www.ceousa.org/attachments/article/663/ceousa-service-adademies.pdf
That was what I saw. So could being Asian potentially help me?
At the academies, I would say you have a very promising future. Don’t worry about summer school, worry about the coursework once you are accepted.
It helps you in a way that you wouldn’t face extreme competition within your own race like at other top colleges. But you still need to meet all the requirements and have great characters for the academies.
Did you not know that the summer programs at the service academies always receive more qualified applicants than they have openings for? Are you some speical snowflake that should get special preference above the other qualified applicants?
If you don’t go to a summer program then see about attending Boys State this summer as that will look very good on your application to any academy you apply to.
YOu should also know that acceptance to the summer program has no bearing on whether or not you’ll be accpeted to the academy. Lots of kids are not accepted to the summer program but are accepted to the academy.
@bookreader Is there a reason that you responded like this? When did I say I am a “special snowflake”? I’m not here to brag, I’m not here to show off, I made this post to obtain information. I obtained it. I found out that being Asian was not the reason that I didn’t get accepted. There was a weakness in my application, I thought it may have been associated with my race, I found out that it isn’t. I now need to find whatever my weakness was and do everything in my power to fix it. I never said that I deserve some special preference over anyone else, I have absolutely no idea where you got this from. Other applicants were better than me, so they got in and I didn’t. It’s as simple as that. Did you want me to explicitly state that in my post? Again, my goal here is not to show off, it is to obtain information. The whole purpose of this post was to help me find out why I did not get accepted into SLE so that I can fix whatever problem I had an increase my chances of receiving an appointment.
Thanks for the other advice. I have applied to Boys State, and it unfortunately overlaps with SLE. If I am accepted to both I will attend Boys State because it helps my application unlike SLE. The Naval Academy summer seminar does not overlap and I applied for that as well. Hopefully I am accepted to that, I felt like that application suited me better than the other two did.
There was a long discussion on serviceacademyforums.com about the value of Boys State v SLE. There was also a recent (lively) discussion on admission preference based on race/gender with lots of stats to back up different views. You will find a wealth of info there. I promise.
I called you a special snowflake because you gave the impression in your OP that you felt that you should have been selected. Again, the reality is that many qualified applicants do not get selected because there are simply not enough slots for all qualified applicants. Develop a thicker skin or you’ll never survice in the military. You’ll get called much worse in the academies. I promise. 
@bookreader
My bad, you’re right, I overreacted.
I am surprised that I wasn’t accepted, but that doesn’t mean that I think that I deserved to be selected. I wouldn’t have even applied if I thought that I wasn’t going to be accepted. The purpose of me stating that I felt like I was a strong candidate was to tell the readers that I don’t think the reason I was rejected was because I scored a 12 on my ACT or something of that nature. I’m still looking for that reason, I’m guessing it is associated with either my class rank, my work experience(I have none), my volunteer experience(I didn’t know the exact number of hours I had so I didn’t even put my volunteer experience, I probably should have just estimated), or my essays. I believe my essays were well written but I basically stated that I was dead set on attending a service academy, and in hindsight that probably was not a very good idea considering the summer seminar is a recruiting tool.
My leadership profile needs work to say the least. I’ve held leadership positions in JROTC, and I was the captain of a rec league basketball team, but beyond that nothing really. Because of this, I believe that it is very important that I attend Boys State, and. If my leadership profile were much stronger, I would probably favor SLE.
Do you know where I can find this discussion on admission preference based on race/gender?
My bad, you’re right, I overreacted.
I am surprised that I wasn’t accepted, but that doesn’t mean that I think that I deserved to be selected. I wouldn’t have even applied if I thought that I wasn’t going to be accepted. The purpose of me stating that I felt like I was a strong candidate was to tell the readers that I don’t think the reason I was rejected was because I scored a 12 on my ACT or something of that nature. I’m still looking for that reason, I’m guessing it is associated with either my class rank, my work experience(I have none), my volunteer experience(I didn’t know the exact number of hours I had so I didn’t even put my volunteer experience, I probably should have just estimated), or my essays. I believe my essays were well written but I basically stated that I was dead set on attending a service academy, and in hindsight that probably was not a very good idea considering the summer seminar is a recruiting tool.
My leadership profile needs work to say the least. I’ve held leadership positions in JROTC, and I was the captain of a rec league basketball team, but beyond that nothing really. Because of this, I believe that it is very important that I attend Boys State, and. If my leadership profile were much stronger, I would probably favor SLE.
Do you know where I can find this discussion on admission preference based on race/gender?
I went back to look for it but didn’t find it quickly. You can read the posts here and see if you can find the breakdown of the students based on gender/race. It was quite interesting.
This one touches on it: http://www.serviceacademyforums.com/index.php?threads/what-are-my-chances.14787/
There are many threads in the West Point forum section and you’ll learn quite a lot there. The link below may be of interest to you: http://www.serviceacademyforums.com/index.php?threads/ranking.42244/
Good luck!
I went back to look for it but didn’t find it quickly. You can read the posts here and see if you can find the breakdown of the students based on gender/race. It was quite interesting.
This one touches on it: http://www.serviceacademyforums.com/index.php?threads/what-are-my-chances.14787/
There are many threads in the West Point forum section and you’ll learn quite a lot there. The link below may be of interest to you: http://www.serviceacademyforums.com/index.php?threads/ranking.42244/
@bookreader
I’ve seen that thread 2nd thread, I’m frenzymando hah. Small world isn’t it? I learned a lot of useful information in that thread even though a lot of people didn’t like what I was posting. I wasn’t trying to complain, I was simply trying to justify my stance with a personal anecdote that I felt effectively illustrated the issue. But what I try to do isn’t always what happens. I need to change my diction I suppose.
I’ll check the other one out, haven’t read it.
Thanks for the help!
Good luck as you navigate your way from high school to college. The path you are on isn’t an easy one.
I’m glad you’ve found your way to the other forums as they are an amazing wealth of wisdom and info.