<p>2012Mom? has nailed it. Proving you can do the level work required of plebes is the important part. I'd also add that volunteering can be helpful, as can enrolling in ROTC as a "college program student" (no scholarship) if available.</p>
<p>Ok so. I'm reading these posts and all I see are a bunch of people trying to encourage the original poster, which is great. But the competition is stiff, and if USNA is something he really wants, then he'll work at it until hell freezes over. I'm also looking to apply to USNA (already got my NASS acceptance email, but no packet? whats up with that.) and Harvard. I'm a 4.0 unweighted (rank 1/419) and 4.573 weighted (rank 1/419) student, junior in highschool. I'm sorry to say it, but your son is going up against people like me. </p>
<p>I don't play varsity sports. Never had the knack and my father was really restrictive - he didn't want to see me get hurt. But, i've been doing workouts for about six months now and I can do three sets of 10 pullups and five sets of thirty five pushups. </p>
<p>O and I'm asian, which I think helps? I think there might be a minority representation thing going on in my favor, which is great because at schools like MIT and Harvard they dont' want asians (they have too many). I'm also from Kansas, an underrepresented state. </p>
<p>Anyways, your son is competeting against people like me. Some say "you're born smart". This is clearly not the case - I have a list of goals taped to my mirror that I stare at and get pumped up about every day. I studied for the SAT (790 Math, 730 Reading, 700 Writing) so much that I felt embarassed when I didn't get higher. I get up early and run until I crumble. If your son really wants this, then he should be, as Navy SEALS say, "putting out" and working as hard as he can. It might be late in the game, but if you can find a way to show dedication and hard work, Im sure NASS and USNA will accept him. They're not looking for a cherry picking list of random things. Honestly, the admissions folk don't seem to care whether I was an acadecalete at all. They cared about the devotion I had (you know that little explain more box). </p>
<p>And as for the person who wants to get into USNA after UConn? Same thing - you gotta make sacrifices, suck it up, and work hard. </p>
<p>Thats my 2 cents. See you in May, first session for anyone else (or their kids :D ) who are going. ... if i get my packet.</p>
<p>not to be mean or anything, but couyang2, u are sounding a bit cocky. being 1st in your class and doing well on the SAT doesn't get you into USNA. while it may help, its the leadership and sports that really help. the stats speak for themselves. i think its 89% (correct me if im wrong) of appointees did varsity sports during high school. so the odds stand against you. that being said, it is certainly not too late to get started. track at my school starts on monday and it is for anyone, so you should certainly look into that. u may find out u are quite good at it. i don't know, but my point is, you can't rely on good grades and a good SAT score.</p>
<p>ps: 3 and a half months till I-Day!!! :) im so excited.</p>
<p>. . . and you will be competing against amazing young men and women with similar stats to you AND many varsity sports, varsity letters, team captains, etc. Proven leaders in team situations.</p>
<p>Just keep that in mind--every candidate has the potential.</p>
<p>Good luck to all of you starting the journey for 2014!!</p>
<p>Impressive accomplishments and interesting insight into culture. You've worked hard and done well in several important areas of evaluation of candidates. You're likely on the $$ in acknowledging your ethnic and geographic good fortune relative to some of the current noted needs of the Navy and its Academy. And you've illustrated clearly why the USNA assessment process is so different than a Harvard or other selective secular institutions, embracing the "whole person" concept in seeking young men and women capable of becoming humble, devoted servants of our nation as well as innovative, wise, respected leaders of their peers. Good luck and be mindful that a leader without followers is just someone out for a walk. Go get 'em.</p>
<p>My son will compete with people like you?
His GPA is very close to your GPA at a small competitive school in a very competitive school district.
Have you ever recovered two fumbles, made a key first down running the football, and made the game winning interception with 1:20 left on the clock and the other team driving? I guess not, your father did not think sports was safe for you. Were you captain of all your HS sports team as a Junior? Oh I forgot, you aren't allowed to participate with the other kids, too dangerous. Scoring high on the SAT's, keeping your class rank and keeping your 4.0 GPA is more important than having a HS experience. Did you ever get to wrestle for your states 189 pound state championship as a 9th grader? I really doubt that. Has the Head football coach at Harvard written you two personal letters explaining the benefits of getting a Harvard education? That's right, you don't have any Varsity letters, let alone compete on the gridiron.
Are you VP of your school as a Junior, and most likely be voted in as President for your Senior year? My son, that is competing with you, is, and most likely will be president of his school next year. Have you been nominated as Asian Student of the Year in your State? My son has been nominated as Latino Student of the Year in our state.
Don't kid yourself, being accepted into SS does not mean you will be accepted to USNA. The SS is based on PSAT and SAT scores, not the whole student. My son has been leading other kids since he started as an 8th grader on his HS Varsity's football team, wrestling team, and lacrosse teams. On top of that he maintains a very high GPA. There is so much more my son has done that I can't even remember right now, on top of it all he was voted Homecoming King last fall.</p>
<p>well said lippy. i really think its important to stress the fact that grades and SAT scores aren't everything.</p>
<p>That is one obnoxious kid. Thinking he is more qualified because he was made to sit home and study, while other kids lived a well rounded HS life.</p>
<p>don't i know it. and please don't take this the wrong way, but at NASS, those kids really don't do as well. when i went last summer, you could see the kids who couldn't keep up with all of the physical stuff and you just knew that those were the kids who got accepted based on just the grades and PSAT etc. thankfully, the admissions board has a pretty foolproof process to filter those kids out lol.</p>
<p>Believe it or not, there were an awful lot of new Plebes who were really struggling during the first morning of PEP last July. </p>
<p>Admissions isn't foolproof, but it's certainly very good.</p>
<p>@couyang2: U.S. Service academies want "the whole person" (apologies for the cliche :(). Yea, those scores are good, but you are pretty arrogant right now. You do realize that w/o ec's and leadership, despite your gpa/scores, you are actually BEHIND those applicants with leadership and ec's? I actually feel bad for you, because you are a sheltered child who obviously hasn't had the chance to experience high school life outside of academics.</p>
<p>Also, don't act like you know what working hard is when you havn't even tried balancing 3 sports and school. actually, make that anything and school. I know kids who have your same gpa, class rank, and better SAT scores, BUT THEY ARE 2 SPORT ATHLETES!</p>
<p>@lippythelion: Your son is a lot like me, except my gpa/scores aren't nearly as good, and I wasn't nominated as White student of the year :p</p>
<p>There are some pots calling kettles black here, it seems. Let's pull the schard of glass from our own eye prior to fretting about the neighbor's imperfections. </p>
<p>And remember, 70% of one's order of merit @ USNA is academics. So running an 8:30 mileandahalf is great, but it means much less than acing calculus in the big scheme. And the most heavily weighted measure of scholastic qualification is ...math SAT/ACT score.</p>
<p>I keeep reading anecdotes in which the writer describes their (or their child's) school as being "very competitive". What exactly does this mean, and on what basis is this determined?</p>
<p>Is there a national, or state, or regional ranking I can access to see how our school compares?</p>
<p>Quite frankly, it seems as if everyone's opinion of their school is "highly competitive". </p>
<p>I do know that some private schools in our area have used some slick marketing to convince the public that they are "very competitive". A thorough examination of the curriculum by those well informed of our state standards indicates otherwise. </p>
<p>So where do I find this ranking and the criteria used in its determination?
CM.</p>
<p>LOL Good question. In my experience, the self proclaimed competitiveness really only exists at the top 20% or so of the class and usually only in the parent circle.</p>
<p>Here are some of the questions we asked when reviewing admissions (when I did admissions) and for merit aid.</p>
<p>What is your middle 50% SAT range - does it put over 50% of the class in a competitiveness (via SAT) for the highest selective schools? (2000-2250) Do all students take PSAT and either SAT or ACT or is it done on a gate keeper situation so the numbers can be skewed?
How many of the SR class qualified for National Merit recognition? 20% of the Class or is it reported by % who sat for the exam, thus again skewing the results?
How many AP classes are offered? Out of that number do over 67% score 4's or 5's? Are all students who enroll in an AP requited to take the AP test. </p>
<p>These are items that we generally asked to be presented in the school profile. Some can be verified through College Board others can be skewed. We see skewing in both the publics and privates. GPA's is one we usually do not look too closely at as typically funny things occur with GPA's, each school trying to devise a system where they believe that their student will benefit over another systems student. Many times there is a discord between SAT/ACT and GPA. Harsh as it may be, it is the only way to evaluate a GPA and one's ability to do well in higher ed.</p>
<p>In my experience there are very few schools that would have been truly labeled as highly competitive.</p>
<p>couyang2
"Honestly, the admissions folk don't seem to care whether I was an acadecalete at all."</p>
<p>First of all, how would you know? Did someone in the academy tell you they don't care about you being a "acadecalete"? </p>
<p>They care very much about how "acadecalete" you are. That is exactly why you receive a checklist that you need to submit to the academy of what sports and extracurricular activities you participated in. That is why all the candidates have to take the Candidate Fitness Assessnt (CFA).</p>
<p>Your academic score is outstanding. But it seems you really don't have a way to show the how physically fit you are, except through CFA. </p>
<p>"But, i've been doing workouts for about six months now and I can do three sets of 10 pullups and five sets of thirty five pushups."</p>
<p>Can you do one set of 20 pullups? or one set of 75 push-ups? How about your sit-ups?
Remember that the academy want to see you do your best on the CFA. </p>
<p>"O and I'm asian, which I think helps? I think there might be a minority representation thing going on in my favor,"</p>
<p>You have the same chances as the others applying to become an officer. You still have a long road in the process and your cockiness is way out of hand. I am asian too, and I don't brag that around.</p>
<p>Oh, and don't forget, some colleges search online, be careful of what you post.</p>
<p>Excellent explanation, NT. As an example, my daughter's HS considered itself to be highly competitive. Using NT's criteria as much as I can:</p>
<ul>
<li>All incoming freshmen must past an entrance examination</li>
<li>2007 National "Blue Ribbon" school (1 of 40 HSs nationwide to receive the award)</li>
<li>All students take the PSAT, and 5 of last year's 220 graduates were National Merit Finalists. 5 more received National Merit Letters of Commendation</li>
<li>98% of graduates go on to college, and 84% are accepted by their 1st choice school</li>
<li>Most of the school's top students take the SAT, but the school's ACT average was still in the top 10% of schools nationwide.</li>
<li>16 Advanced Placement classes are offered. All students who register for an AP class MUST take the national AP exam. I don't know the scores for all of those classes, but all students who took AP Chemistry received scores of 3 or better, and 13 of 15 had scores of 4 or 5.</li>
</ul>
<p>As I got on my computer to check the response to my first post on college confidential ever, the overwhelming negative response has certainly humbled me. As i review my previous post, I realize that specific words, or lack thereof, create a misleading effect. I sound like a self-righteous, conceited *******. I am very sorry for the pain I have caused. The rebuke is welcome, if not even self inflicted. Hopefully it will make me a better candidate for USNA. Thank you all. </p>
<p>I was once told that I should try to be part of the solution, not just point out the problems. So to the original poster, who's son excels at athletics but struggles at test taking, here is my take. Your son's athletics certainly give him enormous weight during admissions, but the scores are probably lower than a 3.7 GPA student should be achieving. Bad test taker? the SAT is a 4 and a half hour marathon. Some suggestions</p>
<p>-Study while lifting? I usually hit up vocab during this.
-Princeton Review? Their methodology is great at improving test taking skills. I really enjoyed some of their strategies for the reading / writing sections. For the math section, I suggest looking back into geometry and probability - things like permutations, combinations, special right triangles, etc.
-Real friend study sessions? Does your son have friends who are actually willing to sit down and work with him?
-Talk to CA teachers? Find a way to improve essay writing for SAT and for admissions.</p>
<p>Again sorry for being the ass. I take full responsibility. I'm leaving my original post as a reminder in hopes it makes me a better person. </p>
<p>"Daddy won't let his boy get hurt" - I neglected to say that I played soccer for two years in high school, but quit because our varsity is associated with doing weed, shrooms, and binge drinking. Also, both my father's parents passed before he turned 16, explaining his overprotectiveness. How could anyone else understand. But then again, how could i perfectly understand your situation. It gives me enormous respect for your son. No i have never scored a winning touchdown, nor have i won a game on the wire like you describe. I envy his physical ability. </p>
<p>"SAT's aren't everything" - Yes, they aren't. But to work on the guy's "whole picture", its necessary to discuss it, as it is really one of the only things lacking. </p>
<p>The words of wisdom are great. The internet's a great place. I'm apologizing to people I don't know, but it feels great. Thanks again everyone.</p>
<p>The reason I came off negative toward you is because of the way you worded your response, very self centered and arrogant. Maybe you didn't mean it to sound like it did, but saying stuff like "I'm sorry, but your son will be competing with people like me" is kind of provocative. </p>
<p>I did want to state that the gpa/scores aren't everything, because as someone above me posted, it is "scholastically qualified", not "academically qualified". I myself and triple qualified with a 690 math and 550 cr, 3.73 gpa, but a lot of leadership in my ec's (football, track, boy scouts, etc). So when you implied you need close to perfect scores to be considered, that's why I came off the way I did.</p>
<p>It doesn't matter who you were in high school. You could have been valedictorian in a class of 700 at a magnet school for gifted geniuses, ran a sub 9 minute two mile, won an olympic gold medal in the triathlon, have 3 consecutive international chess championships, beat chuck norris in karate and created cold fusion using basic high school equipment, you will be equal to your shipmate on I-day and for the rest of your military career. And equal means you will both be treated like dirt (for a year or so). No answer you give will relieve you from ridicule. </p>
<p>EXAMPLE:
At NASS on the day when they were treating us like plebes one of the 1st classmen came up to me and asked me if I liked the attention from the detailers. Of course I said no, and i thought he was going to explode, "WE ARE HERE TO HELP MAKE YOU BETTER, SMARTER, FASTER, STRONGER, GET IN THE FRONT LEANING REST". So he leaves and a few minutes later he comes back to me and asks me the same question and being clever i say SIR YES SIR!!, once again he exploded "YOU TRYING TO BILGE ON YOUR SHIPMATE AND SUCK UP TO ME, PUSH IT OUT". There are a lot of situations where there are no right answers. Can you handle that?</p>
<p>Hahaha.. Wow. Plebe summer is going to be a blast.</p>
<p>I just hope I can perfect my methods for chewing ass and fully hone my "knife hand" when I'm at USNA like that First class mid up above. I'm getting good.. but still not perfect. The Enlisted side has definitely helped me. Lmao.</p>
<p>And this is ridiculous nonotherless, I can totally see why my fellow shipmates hate Naval Academy officers so much.. the obvious arrogance is palpable. Since they're 90% civilian to begin with.. I see how they can only forge their opinions of The NAvy based on what the Academy is like. The Fleet is completely different. Good.. I'll be able to take my experiences there.. and I'll be a better O because of it. Not a total dick.</p>