Considering the following information, how competitive do you think my application is?
(I was homeschooled in the 9th & 10th grades; currently attending private school going into my senior year)
ACADEMIC:
-4.7692 GPA (4.0 unweighted)
-36 ACT composite score (E-36, M-34, R-36, S-36, Writing-6)
Any honors classes my school has offered I have taken. My school does not offer AP classes.
ATHLETICS/FITNESS:
-Swimming (YMCA) (9th & 10th)
-Cross-country (12th)
-Volleyball (12th)
-Running (independent) 9th & 10th, PR- 22:47 for a 5k
-CFA Score: 604 (at SLE)
Basketball Throw: 38ft
Pullups: 7 (max for female)
Pushups: 36
Shuttle Run: 9.6 seconds
Situps: 70
1 mile run: 7:21
EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITES:
-Piano: 11 years (no awards; played in bi-annual recitals, non-competitive)
-Choir: 8 years (Alabama All-state SSAA choir Alto 2019; ACCS National Honor Choir Alto 2019)
-Band: 2 years
LEADERSHIP:
-Alto Section Leader (Choir, 1 year)
-Attire Coordinator (Choir, 1 year)
-Distinguished Young Women of ------- County participant (competition in August)
-Teen Leader in church group (assigned leader of 3-4 children ages 5-12) (4 years)
-Teen Leader at 3-day homeschool conference (3 years)
-West Point Cadet Candidate SLE 2019
-Camper-in-Training at 2 week Leadership Camp in NC
*I am also the second oldest of a nine-child family (I have an older twin sister)
VOLUNTEERING: (approximately 280 hours accumulated from 8th to 11th grade)
-various volunteering at church through music (vocal/piano), children’s ministry (Wednesday/Sunday regularly; periodic special events), and nursery (6 years)
-assisted administrator of Sable Learning Center with after-school and summer program for children in low-income families (10 hours)
-periodically played piano and sang (independently & with church choir) for nursing homes (3 years)
-one week of volunteer service at camp daily meal preparation and cleanup from 6:30am to 8:00pm
-various volunteering at school events: fundraisers, etc. (10 hours)
My family is not low-income, and no one in my immediate family has served in the military.
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 your sports and see if you can earn letters and leadership spots in the sports in which you participate. 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. Your family income and military history have no bearing in admissions, nor does attending SLE.
As for chances, I will repeat what I tell every applicant who asks: Due to the vagaries of the nomination process and the rubric the service academies use to determine appointments, it is impossible to chance anyone.
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.
Your leadership is a weak area but the other two (academics and fitness) are very strong. Team Captain would be a nice cap to your senior year, and yes you have a very competitive application even with the lack of leadership positions. The SLE is also a BIG plus.
I’m a USMA grad, a member of the Field Force and have sat on several congressional boards. You are a very strong applicant particularly in terms of academics. Something like 30 or 40 percent of the incoming class are strong academically. One caution is that primary congressional nomination spots for a given member of congress are capped such that the MOC has no more than 5 cadets at the Academy at any time. Your MOC may have 1,2,3 or potentially 0 spots although some horse trading supposedly does happen between MOC. The Academy can offer an appointment from all non primary nominees but that is a highly competitive national pool. Hedge your bets and seek nominations from both senators and the Vice President and consider applying to other service academies as well. You would be at the top or very near of candidates I meet each year but an awful lot depends on your congressional district
@ChoatieMom My school is so small we don’t award varsity letters. (less than 250 students in a K-12 school, 10 in my graduating class).
I have submitted two nomination applications already (one congressman, one senator). The other senator’s application is not open yet, and I am in the process of editing the essay I have written for the Vice Presidential nomination.
Thank you for including the information about the Field Force Rep and about the gating procedure of nominations. I understood that getting a nomination is a hard part of the application, but I didn’t realize how significant it was.
@Wje9164be
Thank you for your encouragement and caution regarding the nominations. I have applied for a nomination from my representative and one of my senators so far. I am editing an essay for the Vice Presidential nomination, and the application for my other state senator has not opened yet.
I am applying to USNA, USAFA, and the USCGA as well.
Your leadership is the weakness, and while some of it can be explained away by limited opportunites at a small school, it’s on you to find ways to exhibit it elsewhere. Move the band section stuff (based on technical mastery, not necessarily leadership) below the things you did in the wider world: SLE, Teen Leader at conference, long-term instruction position, etc. Maybe find a coaching gig at some grade school this winter?
And I’d really like to second @ChoatieMom 's mention of serviceacademyforums.com. They know everything, and reading through the site will give you a bunch of other ideas on who else is applying, how to present your achievements and other opportunities to investigate for this fall.