Hello, I am currently a dual enrollment student, a junior in high school. I recently earned my Associates Degree in Arts and I am continuing my college education until senior year and will graduate with over 106 college credits (also with over 30 high school credits). I want to serve my country and I am applying to West point this fall. Currently I have an unweighted GPA of 3.93 and Weighted GPA of 5.37. I am first in my class. I have founded the HOSA Club at my school, I am a three consecutive year Regional Finalist and State and National Finalist last year. Aside from HOSA I am a part of NHS, First Robotics, and many other clubs. Aside from my extracurriculars, I practice judo and jiu-jitsu at competition level, but I do not have varsity letters, as my school does not offer these sports. I have not taken my SAT or ACT yet, but my current PSAT score is 1350. With my profile I want to know my chances of being accepted into West point? Also are varsity letters important, even though I am an athlete and I am fit for military standards.
First, I appreciate your desire to serve your country.
For your situation, however, here are some things to consider:
- West Point requires a full 4 years of college for all students, so you will not get credit for the college classes you’ve already taken.
- You must be at least 17 on July 1 of the year of admission.
- There are many other college options available that would allow you to serve your country AND get credit for the college courses you’ve taken. For example, ROTC is available at 1700+ colleges/universities across the country.
For more information:
https://www.marines.com/becoming-a-marine/officer.html
https://www.airforce.com/how-to-join/process/officer
https://www.navy.com/joining/ways-to-join/commissioned-officers.html
https://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/become-an-officer/how-to-become-an-officer-in-the-army.html
Good luck!
Hello magtf1, thank you for your reply, I am aware Westp oint will not accept my credits, I only mentioned them as an addition to my application. I would like to know if it would make me a more competitive candidate. Although I am a junior now, I will graduate high school in 2019, at that time I will be 17. My main question is does my profile make me more competitive as a candidate compared to others, not being a varsity athlete?
The admission committee would certainly recognize that you’ve challenged yourself academically by earning so many college credits. How much would this benefit you? That’s hard to know…but it can’t hurt your chances.
Preparing for and doing well on the SAT/ACT would be one of your next focus areas.
Otherwise, compare yourself to the class of 2021 class profile. It seems like you would be a well-qualified applicant.
https://www.usma.edu/admissions/sitepages/class%20profiles.aspx
Good luck!
@vjramirez305: You also posted this question on the service academy forum:
The reason you did not get a whole lot of responses is that you are asking what your chances of getting into West Point are and no one can answer that. I’m sure you know that you need to be qualified academically, physically, and medically (3Q) and you need a nomination from a member of congress before your application will be considered by the academy. Due mostly to the vagaries of the nomination process (we have no idea how competitive your district is, for instance), no one can chance anyone an appointment to any of the service academies. You need to put together the best application you can (top grades and test scores, strong leadership, and competitive athletics), secure at least one nomination, and then let the chips fall where they may. That’s all you or any applicant can do. You can get an idea of how to you compare to successful appointees by looking at the stats from a recent WP class linked above.
Good luck!
Yeh, you seem fine academically, but it depends on getting a nomination and how they evaluate you in terms of athletics and leadership. It might be a problem if you don’t have varsity athletics or Eagle Scout.
As you probably know, you should be able to apply 60 credits if you go to a state university. Ivies and such will not take the CC credits, but generally will give credit for 5s on AP exams.
You should have a strong application to top 50 schools, depending somewhat on your standardized test scores.
I’m not sure if @vjramirez305 is still around.
The AA credits will not transfer to a service academy but will be considered as part of his/her academic qualifications.
Tbh, I am not sure your chances are that good. They want more than that you are in good physical shape. They generally want team sports and it is important to be a team captain. I understand the CC program you are in doesn’t allow you to do sports. Plus you need to somehow get a nomination from a Congressman or whatever.
There is discussion of this where someone couldn’t play sports in a service academy. I assume I can’t post a link or forum name.
You’ll need to emphasize the competition level jiu-jitsu and any competitions you have won, in order to make up for the lack of sports, you also might want to get a leadership role in some of the clubs you mention.