USMA Chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z Military Academy - West Point
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1

It’s been over a year since I’ve thought about West Point and I’m actually seriously considering it now. I know I’m super late in the admissions process, but I’m still planning to apply. I read somewhere their rubric for admissions is 60% academics, 30% leadership, and 10% fitness. What are my chances of getting in and is it worth it to start now?

Intended Major: Computer Science or Math
PSAT: 1460 (11th grade)
SAT: 1540 (740 r/w, 800 math), 20/24 essay
UWGPA: 4.0, WGPA: 4.3670, Class Rank: 1/106 (it hasn’t come out officially, but from what I’ve heard, I’m valedictorian)
SAT IIs: Chinese (800), Math 2 (800), Chemistry (800), Physics (800)
APs: Chinese (5), World History (5), Computer Science (5), Calculus BC & AB Subscore (5), US History (5), English Literature (3), Capstone Seminar (4), Chemistry (5), Statistics (5)

ECs:

  • Math Club Founder and President (10-12th grade): I create lesson plans, write handouts and practice problems, and lead meetings during lunch. I also founded and coach our middle school section’s MATHCOUNTS team and I founded our school’s ARML team this year.
  • Web Design Club Cofounder and President (10-12th grade): My friends and I founded the Web Design Club to gather a group of students to help redesign our school website. We spent all of last year teaching members HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and set up group participation in local Hackathons. My friends graduated last year, so this year I’m leading the redesign of the school website in this club.
  • Boy Scouts (9-12th grade): I started scouting at the end of 4th grade as a Bear Scout and I’ve been in Scouting since then, although I took a break for a year in 8th grade (my grades were falling so my parents made me quit for a bit). I’m currently a Life Scout, likely will be an Eagle Scout by the beginning of January, and I’ve been the Senior Patrol Leader in my troop for a year now. I also served as Historian and Patrol Leader before that. Some of my Scoutmasters have been in the military and honestly they’ve (along with my parents) inspired me to apply to West Point and serve some years in the military.
  • WEB/LINK Leader (10, 12th grade): I was a WEB leader in 10th grade and a LINK leader in 12th grade. I led a group of 10-15 new students in orientation as well as several class bonding activities throughout the year. We planned all of these events throughout the year. I also led parents around the school during Open House.
  • Volunteer at Food Bank (9-12th grade): I volunteer at my local food bank every summer. I currently have around 110 hours of community service.
  • Varsity Volleyball (11-12th grade): I was part of my school’s varsity volleyball team in 11th grade and I plan on doing it again this year. I don’t think my school does Varsity Letters since we’re such a small school (we had 11 people on the team last year) or anything like that.
  • Volleyball Intramurals (9-12th grade): Before joining the Varsity team, I’ve been playing in my school’s volleyball intramurals.
  • Dodgeball Intramurals (10-11th grade): I’ve been a part of my school’s Dodgeball intramurals every year they had it. I don’t think we’re having it this year since the PE teacher who coordinated it left.

Awards:

  • National AP Scholar
  • 2018 Fall OMO (Online Math Open) 36th Place out of around 340 teams
  • 2018 SrcHacks 3rd Place
  • AIME Qualifier (2018, 2019), scored 10/15 this year
  • Top 10 in schoolwide essay contest last year
  • Top 10% in 2019 Breakthrough Junior Challenge

I don’t play many school sports, but I do exercise a lot everyday. I’ve been kickboxing in my free time for almost 6 years now and I also regularly do pull-ups and curls. I think I could do alright on the physical fitness test.

2

You application is weak in this regard. Most appointees are (multiple) varsity athletes. As you can see from a recent class profile:

https://westpoint.edu/admissions/class-profile

Of an incoming class of 1210, almost all were varsity athletes and most earned letters:

Varsity Athletics…1200
Letter Winner…1067
Team Captain…808

So, keep at whichever sports you DO play and see if you can earn a letter and/or a leadership spots in at least one of them. Martial arts are not team sports and are not valued the same way. For grades and test scores, you should study the stats in the above link and make sure you at least meet if not exceed those metrics.

As for chances, I will repeat what I tell every applicant who asks (and you would have seen this very response if you read any of the other “chances” posts on the subforum). Due to the vagaries of the nomination process and the rubric the service academies use to determine appointments, it is impossible to chance anyone for a service academy beyond the general advice given here.

Your first step is getting a nomination. USMA does not consider applications without a nomination, so you need to familiarize yourself with this process if you aren’t already by checking the websites of your congressperson and both senators. Once you start the nomination and application process, you will be assigned a Field Force Representative (FFR) who will shepherd you through this process and who will have insight into how competitive your district is and how you stack up against the competition in the year you apply. Getting the nomination is the gating factor; once a candidate has a nomination and is deemed 3Q (qualified academically, physically, and medically), the likelihood of an appointment is close to 50%. How likely YOU are to be 3Q, no one here can tell you. You will also need to dig deep to be able to explain clearly and genuinely to the nomination panels why you want to serve as an officer in our armed forces. Also be prepared to answer your understanding of the consequences of your decision.

Also, you should scour the wealth of applicant information on the USMA website and serviceacademyforums.com (CC for military applicants) where you can learn more about the process and get all your questions answered by current and former military personnel. However, no one there will chance you either for the reasons I gave above. These sources will tell you to do your best academically, up your physical fitness game, and pursue leadership opportunities. You will want to show quality over quantity, stay focused, and put your best application forward. That’s all you or any candidate can do.

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Also, you have until you’re 23 to age out of entering West Point. You have plenty of time.

Good luck to you!

3

It’s worth applying, but West Point is notoriously hard to get into. I agree with the above advice. You may want to check out the Texas A&M Corp of Cadets on an ROTC scholarship. A&M is considered the largest producer of military officers next to West Point and the other academies. They also have a top CS program over there. No matter where you attend, you’ll be a Second Lieutenant just the same when you get out.

4

(Update: The posted link always resolves to the most recent class profile, so the varsity numbers I cited are a bit different, but the result is the same; the overwhelming majority of the incoming class comprises varsity athletes.)

5

The USMA Office of Institutional Research provides detailed class profile stats going back to 2014:

https://westpoint.edu/about/west-point-staff/g5/institutional-research/class-characteristics

6

@ChoatieMom Awesome! Thanks for the information.