Sophomore in HS- Do I have a shot?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Naval Academy - Annapolis
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<p>I'm considering trying to get into one of the Service Academies, primarily the Naval Academy. </p>

<p>Here's what I got:
183 PSAT as a Soph. Have a good chance at being named a National Merit Semifinalist if I do well next year on the exam. For the ACT, I'm projected to make a 30-32.
I maintain a 3.7-3.8 range GPA at 4-time Blue Ribbon School Catholic High here in Baton Rouge (<a href="http://www.catholichigh.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.catholichigh.org&lt;/a&gt;) with some Honors and AP classes mixed in here and there.
I'm involved with service in the community, and before this coming year is over I will have done 60 service hours.
I'm in some clubs Hi-Y (youth leg.), Student Newspaper (might be high-ranking member next year), and Key Club.
I might be on my school's Lacrosse team next year.
I play guitar and will probably play in the school's jazz ensemble next year.</p>

<p>Thanks for reading, and Happy Easter to everyone!</p>

2

<p>You're only a sophomore, so you have some time. Academically you look like you're on track. Keep up that GPA and continue to take AP classes.</p>

<p>You definetly need to start playing a sport and get involved in some leadership positions.</p>

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<p>okay, thanks for the fast reply.</p>

<p>Yeah, I'm definitely considering Lacrosse. Leardership-wise, I'm going to try and be editor-in-chief of our newspaper, but I'm not sure yet. I'm also gonna do student council. I read somewhere that they care more about your leadership in the clubs than the amount of clubs that you participate in.</p>

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<p>Your last statement is really true. One serious leadership position that shows that you can handle stress, work with people, and accomplish goals is worth a lot more than being a mid-level member of 5 different clubs...</p>

5

<p>Yes, definently go for quality not quantity.</p>

<p>I would recomend doing Cross Country and/or Track too. It really helps your stamina with everything and really improves your running which I think is one of the toughest physical parts of the PT for most people.</p>

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<p>Definitely do a running sport as Steve said - XC or track. The spring sports season is just beginning, you can probably jump in on the track team this year. Maybe go to a few sports camps at the academy. You can't go to NASS until after your junior year, but the sports camps are great. I went to crew for two summers and xc for two summers - both these camps take beginners.
Good luck!</p>

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<p>


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<p>Not so fast. Get in shape on your own. Look at the CFA and do everything you need to do to max all parts. For sports, leadership and teamwork are paramount. The humility of victory and the resilience of coming back from defeat. Team sports exemplifies these traits much more so than individual sports. The Academy recognizes this. Excel in lacrosse.</p>

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<p>acgeaux, do what's in your heart....do it because you want to, not because someone is telling or forcing you! With that being said, stevethebeav, XC and track are team sports and the purpose is to help the team, while helping your own individual performance....but the sole purpose shouldn't just be to get in shape, though running, in general, accomplishes just that.</p>

<p>USNA69,</p>

<p>I disagree on your reasoning to do a "team" vs. "individual" sport. </p>

<p>First, cross-country and track are not just individual sports. In cross-country, five runners score and seven usually count. If any of the five runners don't perform, the team score suffers. The other two runners act as displacers, meaning they still get a team scoring place (though they aren't added to the team score) and "push back" other teams because they are now getting a higher scoring place than normal. The sixth runner is crucial in a tie, because the tie is broken by the place of the sixth runner (if team A's sixth runner is 100 and team B's sixth runner is 99, team B would end up in front of team A). Everyone on the team COUNTS!!! Not just the top five!</p>

<p>Now let's look at the more details. Running is not just about physical toughness. It is about mental toughness. When you are two miles into a race and the fifth runner from another team passes you....are you going to keep going at your pace or pick it up and stick with him and try to outkick him? It is very easy to quit when you are racing....the question is do you keep going? are you more worried about yourself or the team?</p>

<p>Track is the same way. Now in track there are more evident, team events...relays. Each of them, again, like other team sports requires teamwork. Handing off a baton in a 4x100m relay is important...from starting at the right time to screaming the keyword for the runner to grab the button, to sprinting....oh did I mention that the baton has to be handed off in a specific zone? This is the same in the 4x400 and 4x800, though the race pace of these races aren't "sprints". Then add all of the "individual" events.</p>

<p>I can say for one thing, USNA Admissions isn't going to look down at a cross-country or track runner. Most problems for the PRT is the run portion. If they have someone who can pass the run for 3 miles+, then they shouldn't have a problem passing the run for 1.5 miles. I am sure this is something they take into consideration.</p>

<p>I can tell you from personal experiences of running cross-country and track in high school, that it is much of a team sport as any other sport. Not to brag, but I am a three time team state champion in cross-country and on a 4x800m relay state 1st place team. The 3 XC championships were never because we had talent. We spent the summers as a "team" and made sure we were all running together every summer night (when in town), we went to running camp for 1-2 weeks of the summer, and we had strong accountability for practices during the season. Again, for the most part, the majority of our seven runners weren't talented. It was all about the seniors leadership that made us who we were. Guess what? There are at least 5 other current teams in my county that do the same thing as what we did.</p>

<p>USNA69, not only did we have great wins but we also had defeats. At the 2001, regional championship we placed 2nd by a significant amount to a team that shouldn't have beat us (we were ranked #1 in the state in our classification). The first thing our captain did after everyone's heart rate returned to normal was to have a team meeting....and ask about everyone's races to see what went wrong and do some analyzing. What happened next week at states? We won.</p>

<p>Each experience is different, obviously. However, you will find that you win and lose as a team. You win and lose as an individual. You have
mental lessons learned.</p>

<p>The funny thing is....that almost every other sport is exactly the same but in a different fashion.</p>

<p>GoNavyXC...what about your experiences?</p>

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<p>yeah I agree with what everyone has so far said. if you go to Navy, you will be an officer in the military so you HAVE to be a leader and be in shape. you will thus need to have at least one sport and at least one strong leadership position to be competitive. most people who apply have multiple sports and multiple leadership positions. I varsity lettered in 3 sports, was president in many clubs, was a squadron commander in CAP, eagle scout, etc. You need to do those things, but remember as Jadler 03 said "do whats in your heart". if you do not enjoy a certain sport, try another but make sure you work hard at everything. same with what leadership stuff you get involved in. I would though definitely recommend joining CAP (civil air patrol), navy sea cadets, or JROTC to gain some "military style leadership" if you are truly serious about going to an academy. not only does it let you get a taste of a military organization, but it also will develop your leadership ability well.</p>

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<p>I assume you are really asking two questions; “what are my chances of getting into a Service/Naval Academy and what can I do to improve those chances. You’re already received some great feedback on the latter; perhaps the best of which was Jadler’s comment about doing what is in your heart. </p>

<p>Don’t fall into the trap of trying to craft your profile into something you are not or into the person you feel will be most desirable or competitive. You don't want to come across as insincere. </p>

<p>The best things you can bring to your applications are strong academics, very competitive SAT/ACT scores, (take both if at all possible and take them as many times as you can, some people are more successful with one testing format than the other). As others have said, you also need some ability to demonstrate success and leadership outside your academics; in sports and ECs’. </p>

<p>Any sport that involves running will help in bringing your overall level of physical condition up, a benefit for both the CFA as well as Plebe summer survival. In applicants that bring a more limited athletic profile to their application, I’m sure it’s helpful to follow ‘69’s advice and do everything you can to score very well on your CFA. You don’t need to be a jock, but when it comes to physical conditioning and ability you don’t want to look like a wimp. Lacrosse is also big at the Naval Academy, if you have the aptitude and can walk on to your team and have some success, by all means go for it. </p>

<p>As to your other question; what are my chances; tough question to answer but you can do some homework, starting with your MOC’s. The first question I would ask is how many slots does you congressman expect to have in the year you expect to apply, might be a bit early to ask, but you can pose the question down the road. Does your congressman rank their submissions? Spend some time online and look at the number of nominees and applicants listed on all your MOCs web sites. I can’t speak for your state, but we have seen a decline in the number of applicants submitted by our MOCs. The Naval Academy still seems to generate the most interest in our district, with the Air Force Academy second and West Point third. Off the top of my head I think we had 7/5/3 this year so at least around here if you wanted a slot at the USMA for example, your odds appear better than one competing for a USNA slot. Are you eligible for any special consideration based on the service history of your family? Make sure you apply to all the nominating sources available to you.</p>

<p>Good luck and try and enjoy the next two years.</p>

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<p>I saw this thread and wanted to respond right away and I even saw that Jadler extended the invitation to me. He pretty much covered why running is such a vital part of life here. I hardly ever hear of someone failing the PRT due to strength. Most of the time, it's those who are lazy and don't run, or those who run everyday and still have trouble breaking the 10:30 barrier. When my company runs inventory PRT's, hardly anyone passes the run portion. It is the most dreaded physical activity here, and let me tell you, am I glad that I ran before I got here because I see other people struggle.</p>

<p>I ran XC and indoor track for Navy last year, and for the most part it was a blast. Being about 13th on the depth chart was a little different for me considering that everyone on the team was great in high school wherever they came from. I thought running 16:20 for the 5K was fast before I got here. There are some guys (and girls) at the Academy who put up amazing times because of the coaches here and Navy could go up against any team in the country and put up a fight.</p>

<p>Getting back to why excelling in running to me meant more than playing a team sport in high school like jadler said... I was cut from the basketball team in high school, so naturally I went out to a sport where there were no cuts. Little did I know, the indoor track team at my school always hovered near the top of the state standings, but of course you never heard about the team's success in the hallways. Talk about humility- the school's most successful sport consisted of a bunch of guys who were all business after school going on long runs in the snow, freezing rain, and frigid Rhode Island winters. After practicing for a few weeks I ran my first race, the freshman mile in 5:49.</p>

<p>Immediately, I saw myself in the lower tier of the standings and felt bad that I couldn't come close to scoring any points for my team. I looked at some of the seniors on the team and I held them in high regard. They ran about 4:55 for the mile and I thought it was fast until we started to go to larger meets in the season and I saw people running 4:20's. I knew that if I trained hard enough that I could be one of those guys one day.</p>

<p>Well so far, the story sounds pretty self-centered. Coach told me at the conclusion of indoor season that I could be an asset to the team during outdoors and cross country if I really wanted it. I always took pride in improving myself, but it became much more than that. When that group of seniors graduated, I saw my 800m time drop down to 2:12 by the end of freshman year. I looked at the standings, and for my state, that was the 17th best time posted by a freshman, it gave me something to work for XC.</p>

<p>So I took it upon myself to train over the summer as my school really didn't give XC much of a care. I increased my mileage to 50 miles per week. By the time XC season rolled around, I was running 17:40's for the 5k and quickly realized that distance running at my school was all on my back. Our next best runner was 20:00. I always knew I had more speed than distance abilty, so indoor track rolled around and I concentrated on the middle distances.</p>

<p>All of a sudden, the team wasn't as deep and I saw myself as the lone scorer in many of the big meets running 2:52 for the 1000m as a sophomore. I managed to recruit two freshmen for the indoor team and told them about my experiences. At this point, my times were dropping and dropping and I realized that running is really not about the talent you have, but the work you put into it that yields success.</p>

<p>So outdoor that year, everyone had decent seasons and my 800m time went down to 2:09 which was kind of a dissappointment and I hoped for more. Coach told me that finding enough guys just to fill the XC roster was going to be a challenge, so that summer, I trained hard once again. My junior year of XC, we had 8 runners and I started running for myself since I became discouraged about the team aspect. I ran a 16:47 that year.</p>

<p>Then after that season, there's the rest of my career which was a 16:20 5k, a 4:23 mile, a 2:37 1000m and a 1:56 800m. What do the story above and all of these times mean? Unlike jadler's team where he had the cohesive unit that made sure everyone was pushing themselves to the limit for the betterment of the team, I was forced to have the intrinsic motivation to push myself without having anyone else around me. I became obsessed with the sport as I tried my best to recruit other members to the team in my school and I even reported all the scores from my school's meets to the newspaper. I think it says something about someone if they can work hard and improve in a sport without someone else pushing them. If you can set your own goals, and work toward them, it's a quality good officers should have. Now I have no problem here at USNA because everyone either likes running, or knows the consequences of not running, so finding someone to run with afterschool is not a problem anymore.</p>

<p>I'm sure Jadler will attest that it's great to run on great relay teams and have awesome team experiences winning. I really wish that I could've had the same in my high school career. I made the best friends that I'll ever keep in high school through track. Everyone shares that common struggle of trying to improve themselves through hard work. My mile is the school record, but the record that I'm most proud of setting isn't even that impressive but I hold it close to my heart. Our 4X8 team my junior year consisted of me and 3 seniors. One guy was a perennial 2:07 guy, but in the last two meets, his splits came down to 2:02 and I usually led off with a 1:58 and we had two slower guys who we called the "2:22 crew". So we barely qualified for the state meet in the event getting the 12th slot out of 12 posting a time of 8:52 prior to the meet. We broke the school record at the state meet and ran an 8:41 as everyone PR'd. I ran a dismal 2:01 in the open 800 later on in the day, but I'll trade it for the 1:55 split I ran to open up and it proved to be the difference since the school record was 8:43. A lot of numbers and a lot ramble, but in all, track became my most important outlook of leadership at the academy because motivation, in any form will always carry you through and will always help you execute the mission.</p>

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<p>Not so sure if "what" sport is as important as "what you do in it."
Tons of sports to choose from-
lax is great, so is track.<br>
If you really want something even harder, try crew.</p>

<p>Don't lose the message USNA69 has sent- "leadership and teamwork are paramount."</p>

<p>I will second Jadler re: doing something that is of interest to you.
I will also second not to "craft" your resume into something you THINK the admissions board wants to see, rather something of particular interest to you. Far better to do something you love to do.</p>

<p>As for lax- great team sport, but with all due respect, jumping in as a junior is a hard thing to do..... a lot of players out there have gotten their start during single-digit years- which is not to say some come along later in the game, pick up a stick and excell- but they are the exception and not the rule. But if you love it, go for it.</p>

<p>Best of luck!!</p>

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<p>Last time I checked Lacrosse is definitely a running sport!</p>

<p>You don't need to do track or XC to get in good enough running shape.</p>

<p>I play baseball, hardly a cardiovascular sport, but I run on my own nearly every day to prepare for the academy and I can already score very well on the PRT.</p>

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<p>what is that national merit thing for the psats exactly? my sophomore year i got a 188 and my junior year i got a 197.</p>

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<p>National Merit recognition is based on the PSAT score for the test taken in the junior year only.</p>

<p>The top xxx% of the students are recognized with various designations:
National merit scholarship
National merit scholarship finalist
NM semi finalist
NM commended scholar
etc.</p>

<p>I am sure I omitted a few.</p>

<p>I do not think that there is the same cut score for each year, but rather the same percentage of the test takers for each recognition level.</p>

<p>CM</p>

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<p>I was a National Merit Commended Scholar with a 97th percentile score on the PSAT. If I remember correctly, I scored a 205.</p>

<p>So loosely 97th percentile or greater is NM Commended.</p>

<p>To qualify for finalist I think the minumum is about 215 and 99 percentile.</p>