Going to West Point is my absolute dream. However, my gpa which should reach a 3.58-3.6 by the end of the school year( i am a junior), is low compared to their average admitted gpa. How can I show I am at their academic level if this is due to me switching out of a bad school halfway through freshman year? As my new school is private, catholic, and very competitive my numbers are not at the top but i know at my old school i would be in the top ten kids class rank wise. Ive been earning 3.6-3.95s per quarter since sophmore year and am in the top 20%. Along with that my SATs are in the high 1300s and im hoping to get to 1400. Is there anything else I can do???
You can only control what you do from here on out. You should not stress about the past or anything over which you have no control. When you complete your application, your high school will submit a school profile that will put your grades in context, and your standardized test scores will also be used to corroborate you grades. You will not have to “explain” your grades, and you should not attempt to do so as that will only look defensive. Your record, along with the school profile, will tell the academy what it needs to know about your academic readiness for their program. You should also continue taking the SAT as the academy super scores. Have you taken the ACT? Some students do better on one test over the other.
So, what you can do is continue to try to increase the scores of the standardized test you do better at, continue to be the best student you can, pursue leadership and extracurricular activities that you are interested in, participate in team sports, and focus on getting a nomination from your members of congress and senators. Your application will not be read by the academy until you have a nomination, so you should be putting your effort there right now.
Good luck to you.
I got in because USMA converted my ACT Math score to an SAT equivalent. They may not do that anymore. I would still recommend taking the ACT. As @ChoatieMom says, academics are not the only thing they look at for admission. Seek out opportunities to demonstrate leadership in clubs, sports or other EC activities. Good luck, Beat Navy!
Thank you guys so much for your help! I will definitely get on everything you both said!