My son applied for both West Point and the Naval Academy. We are currently waiting to see if he will get an appointment. He was accepted and went went to both academy's Summer Leadership Experience the summer between his Junior and Senior year. He has received all 3 nominations for both academy's that our state has. Basically this how he stacks up:

ACT score 27
Ranked 9th in his class of some 400 something students, he's in the top 2%.
Boys State
Student council Vice President.
Has taken and is taking a lot of AP classes (Chem, Calc, Government, etc)
His GPA is higher then a 4.0 because of the AP classes.
National Honor Society
Junior Leadership Rapid City
Varsity Cross Country
Black belt in Jujitsu
Highest ranking JROTC cadet, Battalion Commander.
PT Commander and founded and commanded the Raider Team.
Pretty sure he has the most medals and ribbons of his JROTC class.
Varsity debate.
At the Canidate Fitness Assessment test he maxed everything but the run, missed that by 10 seconds. Knows he did good on the basketball throw.
DOBMER physical exam was a 100%

I'm sure I'm leaving some stuff out. West Point's Admissions has stated they have sent out 500 appointments and more going out every week. Naval Academy hasn't announced anything yet on their website or Facebook page.
He has stayed in contact with a lot of his squad members from SLE, some that have received appointments already that don't have as high of qualifications as he does (ACT score etc).

Truthfully it is driving all of us crazy. He checks the mail everyday and has that look of disappointment when nothing has come. He does have back up plans but has heart is set on attending. The wait truly sucks. I was prior service Army (82nd Airborne Infantry Sergeant) and have no experience with this stuff at all.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Did he apply for an ROTC scholarship as well?  I hope so but if he doesn't get an academy appointment and didn't apply for a high school scholarship, he can still apply for an Army ROTC scholarship when he gets to school.  Just talk to the ROO at the Army ROTC program.  He probably won't be able to start one in the fall but might be able to start it in the spring or sophomore year. Army ROTC scholarship are full tuition whether in state or out of state.  If he wants an engineering degree, don't go to SD School of Mines.  Come on down to Missouri S&T; we're better.  

If he doesn't get picked up for an academy this year, he can apply during his freshman year and possibly be picked up the next year.  We had one of our cadets do that a few years ago and we've got one right now applying for the USNA.  He really wants to be a Marine officer but if he's not picked up, will commission Army.

Yes on the ROTC scholarship as well as Marine Corp ROTC. He actually had an interview with a Colonel at SDSM&T a month or so ago regarding the ROTC scholarships. Apparently she was highly impressed and wanted to know if he had any free time.

Ah, see, SDSM won't work for him.  He needs to visit S&T this semester or transfer his scholarship here if/when he gets one.  IM me his name and I might be able to look him up and see his scholarship status.

Apparently he should know something next week about the Army ROTC scholarships, which was what the interview at School of Mines was about (not just that college but others). He' s still waiting for info on the Marine ROTC info. He's applied to VMI, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, and University of San Diego. He's been accepted to Texas A&M already (without any scholarships, yet).

Im a 2013 USMA Grad. Admissions personnel normally say its more difficult to get into Summer leader's Seminar than a full-blown appointment. That being said, there's a high probability your son will be accepted.

Best of luck. Pm me if you have any more west point questions.

He probably won't hear anything next week about the ROTC scholarship.  There are three rounds of offers; October, January and March.  The January offers found out the end of January and had until 1 March to accept or decline.  The March board is 8 March I believe so he won't hear anything from that board until probably the 3d week of March.  We will know before that but it takes a bit for Cadet Command to generate offer letters and mail them out.

Thank you for the replys! Sent you a PM Hellraiser7. Redleg13a, thanks for your advice, I may take you up on looking up his name next week.

ACT score is good but a little on the low side. The rest of his resume is solid. They look at the whole person though so one or two "weaker" areas can be made up in other areas.

ETA I didn't go to USMA or USNA. I got an appointment to USAFA but I decided not to go.

You're son looks solid.  With that said, I've seen less qualified accepted and vice versa.  


If it's any consolation, commissioning source doesn't really make the officer.


 

Who were you with in the 82nd?

2/508th for about the first 1.5 year, then we became regimentalized into the 3/504th.

Too late to apply to USMMA , but for next year? Merchant Marine is the forgotten service academy. He can comission out of there. It's very engineering heavy I hear.

He has no interest in the Merchant Marine. If he were to get an appointment with the Naval Academy, he would try to become a Marine Corp officer. He would really like to go aviation, helicopter pilot.

I was under the impression that USMMA grads could commission into any branch.

And you are correct. I had a Capt in the Corps who went to USMMA.

Great news! My son received an appointment to the Naval Academy yesterday! He was contacted by 2 of the Senators (staff) from our state with the good news. The official paperwork will be sent next week to give the congressional representatives time to contact the applicant with the good news. He is still hoping he will get an appointment for West Point, and there is still time, but he is incredibly happy to be accepted to the Naval Academy. Either way he will be going to a service academy, which is what he really wanted to do.

Why wait?  He got an appointment to the far superior school; congratulations to him.  His competition for a USMC commission will start on day 1 of Plebe Summer, and will continue until he has the commission in hand.

The son of a friend of my late wife got a USNA appointment... the little pussy quit the first day.

doubletap.

There is a one for one swap

Outstanding, you should be a proud dad!

I am extremely proud! Today he received an appointment to VMI (Virginian Military Institute).