USNA Candidate '17

Colleges and Universities A-Z Naval Academy - Annapolis
1

<p>Hello, my name is Dan and I am entering my junior year of high school. I am a white male. Here are my crudentials:</p>

<p>Extracurriculars: </p>

<p>ASB (student govt), 3 years varsity soccer, club ice hockey and soccer teams, over 750 hours community service at a nonprofit summer camp, alter server, academic league, class council, attended National Student Leadership Conference</p>

<p>Leadership:</p>

<p>Elected as secretary and vice president of ASB, served on the schools executive council, captain/co-captain of club sports teams, nominated cougar crew leader, camp counselor, vice president of community service club at my school</p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<p>Straight A's in every class taken (Honors), 4.0 unweighted, 4.5 weighted GPA
Ranked 23rd in the class (ASB drops my GPA so I would be #1 of 586), top 5%
Taking AP US History, AP English, AP Biology, Honors Pre-Cal next year (block schedule)</p>

<p>Personal Info:</p>

<p>I have always known that I have wanted to attend a service academy. I come from a strong military family (My father was a commander and my mother was a captain in the navy). I am not being forced by my parents to apply, I WANT TO GO. I always try my hardest in school, am well rounded, have a military background, in shape, and have strong leadership skills.</p>

<p>Next year will be a more challenging year with harder AP classes but I know I am ready. I also know how important the SAT's are.</p>

<p>With this information, do I stand good chances?</p>

2

<p>Sorry, forgot to mention that I am also applying to USAFA and USMMA</p>

3

<p>Dan, your record is excellent from an academic standpoint and you appear in all regards to be a solid candidate. The tough part about USNA is that only 10-15% of the applicants get in just because there are so many qualified applicants. You don’t say where you are from or what you plan to major in. You stand a better chance of getting in if you’re from a state where there are fewer applicants and less of a chance where USNA is extemely popular (VA, MD for example). Your intended major makes a difference as well. USNA prefers engineering majors and least perfers English, history, political science, etc majors but it certainly doesn’t exclude you if you intend to major in one of these areas. </p>

<p>Do you intend to apply for Summer Seminar? I would highly recommend that you try to participate in Summer Seminar next summer (between your junior and senior years in high school). Applying and participating helps point out to admissions that you are serious and it also gives you concrete information to be able to use in your interviews and application. Do what you can to make yourself known to your local Blue and Gold officer (who will be assigned once you complete your interest form next spring) and attend any local events for all the service academies and meet their representatives. Do you have JROTC at school? That’s another way to indicate your strong level of interest in the military.</p>

<p>And finally, there are many USNA candidates that do not get in the first time they apply. In case this happens to you, don’t give up. These candidates often go to college for a year and reapply to USNA. If they’ve had academic success in college and continued their leadership roles and physical fitness, they may have more success when they reapply.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

4

<ol>
<li><p>I’d not sweat the major thing @ all. Yes, there is a mandate for engineers, but reality fails to measure up in that there is zero pressure to declare engineering during semester #2 when Plebes are required to designate their academic majors. At least at this point.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes, some states and MOC districts are more competitive than others. Not much you can do about that beyond awareness. In any case, your strategy is alwasys the same … do your best in all you do. And that’s all you can do.</p></li>
<li><p>You will get a minor boost w/ both parents retiring? from USN and will give you a pres nom.</p></li>
<li><p>The most obvious missing link in your info: PSAT scores. How’d you do?</p></li>
</ol>

5

<p>I’m from California and I do plan in majoring in some type of engineering (if that makes a difference). I have contacted my Blue and Gold officer, he is aware of my interest to attend a service academy. Yes, I am applying to summer seminar. I applied to the STEM program this year and was not accepted. I have a friend at the Naval Academy right now who just finished his plebe year (we grew up on the same street and attended the same school) who told me that I should not be worried about this. Unfortunately, my school does not have an NJROTC program though when I found out this school year that they existed, my guidance counselor and I submitted an application for an NJROTC program. Finally, I took the PSAT last year and scored a 1680, which is certainly too low at this point in time. In the future I plan to take many SAT prep courses and do as well as I can by taking the test multiple times. My goal is to score a 1400 (reading comprehension and math). Thank you both so much for reading this and giving me advice. I really appreciate it.</p>