@flexagons This wouldn’t be another “Chance me” post tacked onto a thread about a different topic…would it?
@aglages No, the last couple of comments have been about the special admission aspect presented by West Point and not the ivies: the leadership experience required. So I was just wondering how big of a role they play by presenting that situation.
@flexagons - your state has a State Coordinator for West Point who helps kids put their packets together and can identify any areas where additional qualifications are needed. Leadership and athletics certainly help, but a lack of in-depth experience there certainly won’t keep you out. It just means your other areas might need to be stronger to compete in the application process. I would encourage you to talk to your school counselor and see if you can make contact with your local State Coordinator. Also, if you get the opportunity, attending Boys/Girls State is a huge bonus. Hope this helps.
USMMA is a great school in its own right. I was class of '72 but quite literally flunked out. Made a career as a Mariner, spent the last 26 years as Master. Retired after 40 years at sea in 2009 and I’m now admitted to UC Berkeley for the Fall 2016 semester to study architecture. Pluck a duck and spruce a goose. KP forever!
I don’t think that’s necessarily true you have to also get congressional nomination. If it tells you anything a friend of mine’s husband applied to the US Naval Academy, Princeton, and Harvard. He was excepted to Harvard but not to Princeton or the Naval Academy. Think if you take all the requirements for both they equal out fairly well. Will agree that some of it is luck as far as whether or not your congressman has a nomination that year and how many students want that nomination.
To say that the service academies don’t focus on academics simply means that you don’t really know much about the service academies. Despite all the other things cadets go through militarily and physically, the academic standards and expectations are rigorous, and the education you receive is comparable to any top 10 college in the country. The goal of producing military leaders doesn’t take away from the quality of education - believe it or not, military leaders need to be just as smart and just as educated as the head of a software company.