<p>I'm in the spring of my junior year and these are my stats:</p>
<p>3.8 Unweighted GPA
4.3+ Weighted GPA (I will have 6-7 AP Classes completed by graudation)
Class rank has not yet been announced but I can safely say i am in the top 10% of my class.</p>
<p>Didn't take the SAT yet.
1420 PSAT: 730 Math 690 Verbal</p>
<p>2 Years of Varsity Wrestling + 1 JV <em>wrestling next year also</em>
Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do
Wrestle Freestyle Off-season and compete in tournaments</p>
<p>Tri-M Music Society
Marching Band
Community Service Club
Habitat for Humanity
Church Youth Group
Science Olympiad
Sea Cadets
*I plan to join NHS next year</p>
<p>I have already applied for the Summer Seminar, going to Boys State, and I am readying my nomination applications as soon as my class rank is announced. How are my chances?</p>
<p>Continue to enroll/do well in challenging classes, participate in sports, community service, leadership positions, etc... PSAT is not scored as 730/690 but rather two digits with a predicted "range" for SAT score. Since you are a junior, the new SAT will apply. NHS is usually by invitation to apply if a student meets the school's criteria, followed by application, review and then possible induction. Since you are a wrestler, the PAE should not be difficult. Medical qualification, nomination, and interview... Looks like you are off to a good start. Stay focused and good luck.</p>
<p>I think you're doing well--haha I got in without really having any true desire to go there. 4.0 unweighted GPA, 4.8 weighted, 1470 SAT. I think my academic record helped a lot. I have part-time job, swim, run, but no Scouts, etc like that or anything even remotely military-affiliated. also have never had any experience w/ ROTC but got both of those scholarships. so stay in shape, do some sports, keep up your grades, do well on standardized tests, pizazz them in your interview (your best shot is w/ congressman/woman) and you should have no prob.</p>
<p>Brie-3 Many on this board spend 2 years plus their whole HS career working towards this goal and have equally or better stats but don't get in. It's great that you're in and your didn't have a great desire to go but in respect to those that have worked so hard and may not get in because of their district etc. you should downplay those comments....staying in is a whole different ballgame and you're not in until you're sworn in... be grateful you have the option...Good Luck!</p>
<p>I agree with Juniormom. Bri-3 if you don't have a true desire to be a graduate of the Naval Academy, don't go. There are so many kids who have had a life time dream to be a part of USNA and would be the ones to work and succeed there. Don't be the one who accepts an appointment and then drops out before Plebe summer...it's not fair to the people who could have gotten in and would have stayed the course. You sound like a bright successful person, just think it through and go or don't go, but for the right reasons. It's not a contest to see who can get it.</p>
<p>Brie3:
The fundamental question is: Do you want to be a professional Naval Officer and part of an extraordinary institution that trains our nation's leaders?</p>
<p>dhy322, I think you have a good shot at getting in. Do try to gain some leadership positions if you don't already have some. I hope you get accepted to summer seminar, as it's a lot of fun.</p>
<p>brie-3, I'm curious, why did you even apply to the Academy? Did you apply to all of them just to see if you could get in?</p>
<p>I'm sure I'll catch heat from the mom-bloc here, but alas . . . </p>
<p>I think it is both unfair and unrealistic to expect a 17 y/o kid to be able to speak intelligently about whether he/she has "a true desire to be a graduate of the Naval Academy" or "wants to be a professional Naval Officer." I certainly didn't know. During interviews, I could say, "I want to serve my country and protect our freedoms . . . " but I certainly didn't understand what that entailed. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to be an officer once I had graduated. I was several years removed from graduation before I knew for sure what I "really" wanted to do with myself. </p>
<p>A better question would be "Do you have any desire whatsoever to serve in the military?" If the answer is "yes", or even "I think so", I believe you should attend. If you've received an appointment, then the Academy thinks you capable of picking up the skills necessary to be commissioned--so you should go!</p>
<p>I would also suggest that "most" high school students who appear to have been working tirelessly towards an apointment for many years may not be doing so because of a personal desire to serve. Instead, I suspect that most of them are being strongly influenced by external pressures, likely from an overzealous relative. Nothing at all wrong with this--as long as the young person has some desire to serve--but a far cry from the purposeful, driven high school student who wants nothing more out of life than to be a Naval Officer that some folks are suggesting as the standard.</p>
<p>I agree with DeepThroat that it's very unrealstic to think any of us 17/18-year olds really know that we want to be Naval Officers. We just don't know enough about what that really means.
However, I don't think someone who goes into it thinking, "I don't really want to go through this" Will have any chance of making it. Brie-3, don't kid yourself, Plebe summer, plebe year, is going to suck! If you don't really want to be there, you will probably quit.</p>
<p>Seems like brie has shifted discussion away from dhy322's original question.</p>
<p>Dhy322 your academic and athletic accomplishments are great and should put you in good standings for an appointment. The area of leadership experience is not addressed. The academies look for candidates that demonstrate an interest and willingness to lead, or be in charge.</p>
<p>It would help your application to show some leadership experience at school, church or other organizations- like Boys State.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Brie-3 . Good job on stirring up the dander of the forum readers. Hope you're really not the trophy hunter you say you are. I found that being passionate isn't so bad, it helps motivate you on rainy Monday mornings.</p>
<p>True some may not know if they want to really serve or not, but some do. You just need to make sure you explore the Navy and try to experience it. For any younger kid who thinks they may want to go to the Naval Academy....look into Sea Cadets, it may not sound cool, but if provides lots of chances to explore Naval careers and interact with people who live it everyday. It afforded me may amazing chances, which lead me to now know that I do want to be a naval officer, and I do have a understanding of what it take to serve.
I have stood the midnight to 6 watch on the bridge of the Ronald Reagan with only an hours sleep, I'm seat qualed in a F-18, I've driving a nuclear powered aircraftcarrier, but most importantly I've lived the day to day life....I've been underway, I've interacted with enlisted and talked to officers...I've seen XOI. I'm 18, still in high school and know that this is the life for me.....I know I want to serve and I know what in will take and how hard it will be, but how rewarding at the same time. I encourage all of you to make sure you know what your getting yourself into....its not an easy life.<br>
*dhy322 you stand a fairly good shot depending on where you live....try to get more leadership roles.
(also for any juniors or younger, look at sea cadets if you are really serious about the naval academy.....10% of every class is former sea cadets, and they have a far less drop out rate.)</p>
<p>The profile of USNA states that it is a four-year service academy that prepares midshipmen to be professional officers in the naval service. Therefore, according to my logic, if a candidate accepts an appointment for any other reason than to become a professional naval officer it becomes an honor issue. Moreover, the notion of being a naval officer seems infinitely more tangible to me than Fighting for freedom, i.e., unless an American teen has spent time in a communist country or dictatorship and experienced tyranny firsthand. </p>
<p>Lets not discredit the candidates. They have researched schools and exerted a major effort in the application process. Heck, weve all aged in the process! These young men and women are among Americas finest! They are gifted in many ways and we all benefit from their desire to serve our country. My daughter is on her third passport. She has experienced life in other countries. She came home from Summer Seminar and said she wanted to be a naval officer. She chose her high school (among seven in our school district) and now she is choosing her college based on her professional goals and personal values. Passion makes great leaders. </p>
<p>I want to hear from the candidates on this one!</p>
<p>"I think it is both unfair and unrealistic to expect a 17 y/o kid to be able to speak intelligently about whether he/she has "a true desire to be a graduate of the Naval Academy"</p>
<p>It's irrelevant if anyone else thinks the desire of a 17 year old is "intelligent" or not. The fact is that every year thousands of our young people make the decision to attend a service academy based on exactly that---desire. It shouldn't be any other way. I am certain that the 17 year olds who made that choice in the early days of USMA or USNA had even less info available to them with which to "intelligently" base their decisions on! Thank God they did (and still do). For over 200 years service academies have welcomed 17 year olds with no more and no less desire than those of today.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Moreover, the notion of being a naval officer seems infinitely more tangible to me than “Fighting for freedom,” i.e., unless an American teen has spent time in a communist country or dictatorship and experienced tyranny firsthand.
[/quote]
Why does a teen need to have experienced a dictatorship firsthand in order to fight for freedom? Why is Fighting for freedom not tangible? What do you think the soldiers who are in Iraq are doing?</p>
<p>"Therefore, according to my logic, if a candidate accepts an appointment for any other reason than to become a professional naval officer it becomes an honor issue."</p>
<p>Well, "candidates" aren't bound by the honor concept, nor are they required to make any representations about their motivations for going to USNA, so there isn't an "honor issue" involved. </p>
<p>Anyway, what if a kid wants to be the President (like Jimmy Carter!). That is his ultimate goal. He figures that the awesome education he'll receive, coupled with the powerful alumni network will be the boost he needs to get into office. He doesn't really want to be an officer, but he's willing to do it for a few years, and he'll do the best job serving as he possibly can. Should he accept an appointment? Is he being dishonorable?</p>
<p>With respect to the candidates making an informed decision, my point is not that they haven't researched there options, but that it is difficult to expect young men and women to REALLY know what they want to do with themselves. Look at students at civilian schools--even the top civilian schools! Lots of changing of majors. Taking a sabbatical. Transferring. Running off to join the Peace Corps. Teaching in an inner-city school for a year after they graduate. etc, etc. These early years of adulthood are times of transition. I used to feel like taking time off to "find yourself" was a waste for the 17-25 y/o crowd--but now I'm not so sure that it isn't a good idea. It is wrong to assume that the folks going to the service academies are any different in this respect than their civilian school-attending counterparts. That is why I do not buy the assertion that many potential appointees KNOW that they want to be officers. They know the academy is a good deal. They know they'll get a great education. They think they serving won't be that bad--and hell, it might even be fun! I don't think anything more should be expected of a candidate. </p>
<p>I'd like to hear what the candidates have to say as well. I'd bet that the three top reponses to "Why do you want to go to USNA?" would be:</p>
<ol>
<li> To be an officer!!</li>
<li> 'Cause it's free!</li>
<li> 'Cause it's a great place to graduate from!</li>
</ol>
<p>I'll keep my thoughts on what the actual order would be to myself!</p>
<p>"For over 200 years service academies have welcomed 17 year olds with no more and no less desire than those of today."</p>
<p>I agree. The dispute is over exactly what it is that they desire, and how strongly this desire is felt. I think that candidates have never had more than a vague notion of what they were getting themselves into--and I think that is just fine, because very few people at that age know what they want to do with themselves. </p>
<p>This is in contrast to others on this board (now feel free to correct me if I'm misstating your point) who feel like candidates need to have some strong predispostion towards "becoming a naval officer." </p>
<p>My stepson started flying sailplanes when he was eleven years old. He set a number of national records that still stand. He went to college on a NROTC scholarship, graduated and became a skilled naval aviator. Are you saying kids' dreams dont come true?</p>
<p>Honestly, you dont think that President Carter attended USNA with an eye on the Oval Office???</p>
<p>"Well, "candidates" aren't bound by the honor concept, nor are they required to make any representations about their motivations for going to USNA, so there isn't an "honor issue" involved." DT </p>
<p>If I remember correctly, the prompt for the personal statement on the USNA application specifically asked candidates why they want to attend the Academy. Additionally, all candidates were asked the same question during congressional interviews. If they misrepresented their motives on the application or during the interviews, i.e., lied, I would consider that an honor issue.</p>