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The Service Academies Application ProcessBy Mick Rivera BJPS 2015US Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD2015-2019Applying to a Service Academy (USMA, USNA, USAFA, and USMMA) is long and complex four year process that requires full commitment not only of the applicant but his family, the school, and the community. Each year for each Academy there are 15-18,000 kids applying and around 1,200 get appointments. Decide, commit and work hard in academics, athletics and community service. Below is an outline of requirements by year coupled with my personal insights that I hope helps future BJPS applicants succeed and get appointments to their preferred service academy. Freshman year at BJPSLog in to your favorite(s) service academy (SA) website and fill in a candidate questionnaire. This will establish your interest and will place you in the academy data base. You will also receive e-mails about academy events in your area.Develop an initial formal resume complete with picture, contact information and accomplishments. Start recording all your HS accomplishments. Enroll in the Naval Academy Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). USNA is the only SA to do this program for 9-11 graders. It is a fantastic one week camp at the USNA and a nice addition to your resume. They will provide certificates of attendance and will provide a best student certificate for each group. This best student certificate is a definite plus to any resume. This program like any other SA program will fill up quickly so make sure your application is in on the first day the web site opens. Attend any and all SA events in your area. Get to know the SA recruiters by name, establish email contact with them and send them periodic student resume updates. Show up to every event over the four years and make a point to introduce and re-introduce yourself to the SA reps every time. Normally SA recruiting events are sponsored by a Senator or a Member of Congress (MOC). They will have representatives present at each event. Introduced yourself to that rep and establish e-mail contact. When you have a developed resume send it to those reps and ask for their opinions and input. They are very helpful and this is a good way to keep your name in their sights.center53594000Review the required SA classes and programs posted on the website and map out how you will take all those classes in 4 years of high school. Here is an example of what USMA and USNA requires:Try to enroll in as many AP and Honors classes as possible. There is no required GPA but my experience tells me that anything below 3.5 GPA will hurt your chances. Keep in mind that it is better to get an A in regular Calculus than a C in AP Calculus. A’s and B’s are the preferred grades. Any C in Science or Math classes will lower your chance. If you get a C in a math or science class work with the department and do some sort of project on that specific subject that can be listed in your transcript. Get an A on the project. Enroll in team sports. The more “aggressive” the sport the better. Two to three teams minimum (not all at the same time of course) Football is king at the academies and they actually actively recruit players. Wrestling, Cross Country, Baseball, Soccer, Swimming, Volley Ball are great team sports highly sought out by the SAs. CREW (rowing) (IRC at Eagle Creek has a great program) is a great sport because not too many kids do it, but CREW is big at the Academies (especially USNA), if you are a good rower or coxswain Navy wants you. Stay away from individual sports (karate, judo, cage fighting, etc), although individual sports are better than no sports. Primarily the SA want to see how well you operate in a team environment. Work hard to be lettered in your sport and even harder for a Captain position. Captain of teams is a huge plus and the application process actually ask you to list your captain positions. Multiple sports, letters and captain positions are a must have if you want to be competitive. Start a record of Community Service. Focus on remarkable community service. Record your hours and list total hours in resume. Remarkable community services are things like using your entire spring break to help build homes for the poor. Or a mission trip to a poor country to help needy families. Teaching, coaching and mentoring kids in inner city schools, helping at the VA hospital, USO or other veteran groups and helping with Special Olympics and the like. Think big and complex. Helping at your local church on Sundays is not enough. Sophomore year at BJPSRepeat steps 1-10 of Freshman year and continue to update your resume.Visit the Service Academy and conduct a tour. Learn everything about the SA. History, leadership, buildings, grounds. Learn the lingo (middies, R-day, the yard, yuks, beast, etc) of the academies. Tons of informative youtube videos on the subject. Take the PSAT, SAT, or ACT. The Academies will super score your results meaning that they will select and count your max scores only no matter how many times you take the test. As a general rule you need to score above 600 in Math and Reading on the SAT (the higher the better) and 29 on the same subjects in the ACT. Take both and see how well you do. You will need the SAT or ACT Scores if you want to attend the Academies Summer Seminar in your junior year. Enroll in an ACT/SAT prep course if you scores are below of what I listed in step 3 above. Is better to have a high SAT/ACT test scores than to have a high GPA and low test scores. Start a concerted training program for the Candidate Fitness Assessment (CFA). The CFA is a very critical application step. Fail the CFA and you are out. There are no published minimum standards for the CFA (big secret), but there are published max standards. The events are follows: Basket Ball throw is from your knees. Throw the ball past the half line of a court and you are in passing rangePull-ups, push-ups, crunches and the run are the most critical try to max all those. Details of the test are in the website. No other way to pass but to practice, practice, practice. The CFA is a show stopper if you don’t successfully pass all the events. Junior year at BJPS (the most critical year)Key Step: Attend the Service Academy Summer Seminar (Summer Leadership Experience at West Point). You need to try your best to attend the SA Summer Seminar (SS) in the summer between your junior and senior year. The SS is a one week camp run by each academy and selection is highly competitive. Each academy selects about 800-1200 highly qualified kids each summer to each of the seminars (some academies have two sessions other three sessions). Although the academies won’t admit it and try to down play the importance of the SS, it is nonetheless a selective process and if you make it, your chances are looking very good. Key points:The application for SS opens on the SA website around JAN-FEB of the Junior Year. Be the first to submit your application on line at midnight the night of opening day. If you wait too long the process will close. Have 300 word statement ready on why you want to attend that SA. Cut and paste that statement online. Have all your math and science grades ready to post on line.Have your SAT/PSAT/ACT scores ready post on lineIf you don’t get selected no sweat. They only have so many spots and once those taken the application process closes. If you get selected there are a lot of advantages:Your application portal will open immediately and you will be able to start your application ahead of other applicants.You will take the CFA for record and that will count for your application. No more CFA for you unless you want to retake it. The Academies select best students during the seminar and that is an excellent certificate to have in your resume if you get best student award.Best thing about SS is you get to experience the Academy, sleeping, dinning, attending classes, participating in athletics and best of all you will make friends that will become your support group during the selection process. Once you get back home from Summer Seminar open the admission portal with your applicant identification number (given to you at summer seminar) and start completing the forms. Once again, try to be the first at completing all your application requirements. The academies open the application process around September 1. Your goal is to have everything done by the time the academies start reviewing packets for admissions. There is myriad of writing requirements and statements, to include specific letters from science and math teachers that you will have to provide along with official transcripts, SAT/ACT scores, etc. One requirement is to complete a Department of Defense Medical Examination Review Board (DODMERB). You will only be able to complete this requirement once most of your on line application is complete. The academies will notify you in the portal that you can take the medical and optical exam. Do this as early as possible because it is a cumbersome requirements that requires you to make appointments and complete many forms. Do not let this sit very long. Failing to complete the DODMERB is a show stopper. Your goal in the application is to become triple qualified (3Q) as soon as possible. Triple qualified means you have submitted SAT/ACT Scores, CFA Scores and you are medical qualified (DODMERB). Any of those qualification can completely disqualify you and your portal will be closed along with your hopes of attending the academies. During the application process you will have to schedule a local liaison officer (LNO) interview. The USNA calls him/her Blue and Gold Officers (BGO). Army and Air Force is LNO. This is a key interview because these individual have access to your application and also can assist you with any issues you may have. They will submit a recommendation to the academy. You will be evaluated based on your qualifications as Admissible, Qualified, Risk or Non-competitive. You need to get Admissible or Qualified or your chances of being selected are close to none. This interview is important dress well and bring a copy of your resume and any other documents that you think will help you stand out. After completing the application or during the process of completing the application contact your Senator and or Member of Congress for instructions on how to apply to be consider for their nomination board. Again you will need at least one nomination to be competitive for an appointment. Nominations. There are four types of nominations that everyone can apply and get and they are as follows:Two Senatorial Nominations One Member of Congress Nomination Vice Presidential Nomination. All those nominations are easy to apply for on line. The vice-presidential nomination requires no board just an online application. All other nominations are competitive and the requirements are different by each senator and MOC so go to their website and meet their requirements. The Nominations Board occur in your Senior Year. The Presidential Nomination. This nomination is only open to candidates with parents who are currently serving, served and retired from military service, receive compensation for 100% disability or are Medal of Honor recipients. This is an automatic nomination if you meet any of those criteria and you apply using a form found on line at the SA website. After applying, the SA will notify you by letter or post a nomination in your portal. Each year around 800 candidates submit presidential nominations and 100 are selected. The best thing about a presidential nomination is that it is automatic and requires nothing from the candidate. The bad thing is that there are only 100 candidates that can get appointed each year with that nomination. Therefore even if you qualify for a presidential nomination you need to try to get as many nominations from other sources as possible. The more nominations the better the chances that you can be appointed under one of those. The academies encourage and even like individuals with multiple nominations. If you have not done so by now run for leadership position of student body, club or organization in and out of the school. Continue resume building and continue working on all the requirements of Freshman/Sophomore/Junior Year to include taking the SAT/ACT until you achieve the highest scores possible.Senior year at BJPSBetween Oct and December of your Senior Year the Members of Congress and Senators will conduct their nomination Boards. The Board last about 30 minutes and is conducted by a panel of 3-7 members with military service backgrounds. Out of however many applicants apply for that nomination board (on the average 200-300 candidates) 20 - 25 candidates will be selected for interview. From that pool of 25 candidates 10 names will be nominated to the academies. The academies will grant an appointment to the most qualified individual, so each senator will have least one nominee appointed to the academies. The other nine nominees will then go into a national pool and compete for open appointments. The end result is that all nine nominees could end up with appointments or some or none could end up with appointment.If you have a strong file the academies may invite you back for candidate visit weekend (CVW) at the USNA or an overnight visit at USMA or USAF. If you get invited this is a clear indicator that you stand a pretty good chance of receiving an appointment, but not a guarantee. Like anything else in this process you are only fully in when you receive an appointment certificate in the mail. The academies will notify you between JAN and APR of your Senior Year if you are one of the lucky 1,200 candidates out of a pool of 18,000 applications nationwide. You will either get a thin white envelope (TWE) stating that you did not receive an appointment or you will get a big fat envelope (BFE) with your appointment certificate. You want the BFE, so seat patiently and wait. During your Senior Year you may receive a letter of encouragement (LOE) or Letter of Assurance (LOA). An LOE means that the academy is really interested in you and they want you to actively continue the application process. An LOE is a clear indicator that you are on the right track. An LOA is a preliminary offer appointment contingent on you completing a requirement (for example: get a nomination or complete the medical exam). An LOA is cause for celebration because the academies are actually holding an appointment for you. An LOE and/or LOA also is a good document to have for your MOC or Senate selection. One last thing, do not slack on your school work, athletics or community service in your senior year. The academies continue to monitor everything and require that you submit transcripts and records until you report. So keep up the hard work. One final thought. Once you receive your appointment, do not forget all those that help you get there. Take time to thank everyone including teachers, coaches, community leaders, senators, friends and your parents for helping you achieve this magnificent accomplishment. Attending a Service Academy is more than a great accomplishment. It is a commitment to serve the Nation for the next eight years (five in the regular service and three in the reserves) after graduation. In fact, many believe that earning an appointment to a Service Academy is the easiest part of what’s stored in your future. Becoming an Officer in the United States Armed Forces is one of the most demanding professions in the service of others, one that may even require you to give your life so others may live in peace and prosperity. So before you embark in this daunting application process make sure to research and become acquainted with the trials, tribulations and hardships of military service. In my opinion there is no better profession to promulgate the Brebeuf Jesuit Prep School message of “Men and Women for Others” Good Luck and Godspeed.Mick Rivera BJPS 2015 ................
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