Chance Me! (I'm worried about my first 2 years of grades)

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Hi guys, so I’m new to this forum, but I was wondering if you guys could possibly chance me. I’ve previously failed a class, but that whole first and a half year of high school, I went through tons of bullying, and teachers who put me down and thought I was a bad kid when I was suffering from depression and self-harm because of bullies. I really tried to bring myself up though, and I was wondering what schools you guys think I should apply to. I’ve always wanted to go to West Point, or cool engineering school like Harvey Mudd (interested in MechEng) but I know for sure that I cannot use mental health as a reason for my bad grades for at least the military academy, so I’m super worried. I’m Southeast Asian (Viet and Cambodian) but I don’t think Asians are really minorities.

ACT: 33 SAT Subject Tests: Math 2-800, Chemistry-780 AP Exams: World History (4) Extracurricular: Vice President of Asian Culture Club, Member for National Honor Society, Member of Advanced Concert Band (French Horn, first chair, soloist), Varsity Volleyball, Coach volleyball for middle schoolers, volunteer at a Cancer Foundation, Fluent in Khmer, first generation student

Grades (1st sem/2nd sem): 9th:

Algebra I: B/B

Spanish 2: B/B

English Honors: C/B

World Geo Honors: C/C

Music: A/A

Summer Session Geometry (A/B)

10th:

Algebra 2/Trig (F) then I dropped down to normal Algebra 2 (A)

English Honors 2: C/A

AP World History: C/A

Chemistry: C/A

Spanish 3: B/A

Music: A/A

Summer Session: Retook Algebra 2/Trig and got a A. However, F is still on my transcript, but it’s cleared from my GPA. Also managed to test into Calculus I at a community college, got an A in it

11th (only 1 semester finished so far, but I expect to finish with likely all As):

AP Chemistry: A

AP Statistics: A

AP English Lang: A

AP Spanish 4: A

Advanced Music Honors: A

Took Calculus II concurrently while in 11th grade and got an A first semester.

12th (Classes I plan to take senior year):

AP English Lit

AP Govt/AP Econ

AP Psych

AP Physics

AP Comp Sci

Advanced Music Honors

Can I have your guys’ opinions? I can’t help but be super worried because of my earlier performance during high school. Additionally, my brother went to Berkeley and is now heading to Wall Street, so it sets high expectations for me. I’m interested in military type stuff and mechanical engineering. So what schools do you think I can get in to/look into? My dreams are like West Point, Harvey Mudd, Caltech, but with my low initial grades, I’m very worried.

2

It sounds like you’re a California resident? Certainly you should have good options within the UC system, especially since the UC capped/weighted GPA calculation doesn’t include freshman grades, and you did grade recovery for the failed class. Yes, they will still see the F and the weaker freshman grades. But you’ve done a lot of good work since then. It’s hard to say whether you can crack the UCB/UCLA tier (engineering majors are particularly competitive) but there are strong engineering programs throughout the UC system, not to mention a lot of good options within the CSU’s.

Given your military interest, have you looked at Cal Maritime? This is a hidden gem - it has a Mechanical Engineering major, with small classes and great career opportunities. Unlike the military academies, there is not a mandatory service obligation, but there are multiple optional tracks into military careers: https://www.csum.edu/web/academics/military-options

If you are interested in West Point, start RIGHT NOW on the application to their summer seminar program: https://www.usma.edu/admissions/summer-program The other academies have their own comparable programs.

Then post on the military academy forums to get advice from people who know the admissions process well. It’s very different from civilian schools. I do not think your grades would keep you out, but there is much more to getting in.

Would you be interested in the private military schools like The Citadel and VMI? These schools have MechE as well.

The top-tier private STEM schools are not out of the question, but they are low probability even for students with perfect grades, so you need match and safety options you could be happy with. Have you looked at RPI, WPI, Stevens, RIT, Colorado Mines, Virginia Tech, Purdue…? (Most if not all of these have ROTC options as well.)

If music is important to you, URochester, Case Western Reserve, and WPI are strong STEM schools with strength in music as well. (Also reachier schools including Vanderbilt, JHU, USC, and Northwestern.)

But if you’re serious about West Point and/or other academies, then table everything else until you’ve done the Summer Seminar application(s).

3

The summer seminars (SLE at USMA and NASS at USNA) would be useful if you’ve never seen either post and would like to get a general feel for each place. Note that these camps are marketing tools aimed at demographics that might never consider attending a service academy. Attendance has no bearing on admission (though scholarships are available, they are pay-to-play and can’t be considered in the admissions rubric) and neither program bears any resemblance to what it’s actually like to be a cadet or mid, but you do get to play soldier or sailor for a week. They are useful for opening your candidate file and taking a Candidate Fitness Assessment (CFA) if you wish, but you can do both without attending either camp. Apply if they interest you, but don’t lose any sleep if you aren’t selected to attend. Slots are limited, and you need to match the demographics each academy is targeting to reach. Both posts are open to the public for touring, so you do not need to attend a camp to visit each. (Our son is a senior at West Point, did not apply to either camp, and was accepted to both academies.)

The best advice is to start early on the application process if you are interested in an academy as there are many more moving parts than applying to civilian colleges. You will need to interview with your congressperson’s and senators’ nomination panels and gain a nomination from at least one of them, pass the CFA, and undergo a DoDMERB physical along with submitting letters of recommendation, transcripts, and writing essays. DoDMERB will need full disclosure of your depression, self-harm, and the rest of your medical history.

To see how you compare to the incoming classes at the academies, you can take a look at class profiles from each. Here are links to USMA and USNA, for example:

https://www.usma.edu/admissions/class-profile

https://www.usna.edu/Admissions/_files/documents/ClassPortrait.pdf

You do not list any ECs or sports participation, though you may be involved in many. Note that over 90% of the incoming classes at both USMA and USNA are varsity, lettered athletes with many also being team captains. All of the five service academies place a premium on physical fitness and team participation. Your application will need to emphasize both as well as leadership skills.

I also recommend that you start reading on the serviceacademyforums.com board (CC for military applicants) where you can learn about the process and get all your questions answered by current and former military personnel.

Best of luck to you!

4

I don’t know the California schools well enough to chance you for west coast schools. However, I want to congratulate you on your huge improvement. Your impressive grades for the last half of 10th grade and all of 11th grade (at least so far) will make a big difference in terms of which universities you can get accepted to, and will also help you be prepared to do well in university.

Keep up the great work and I think that you will do well wherever you end up.

5

The upswing in your grades actually indicates you are a good risk, but it does not guarantee admission in very competitive Universities.

“aquapt” noted:
“The top-tier private STEM schools are not out of the question, but they are low probability even for students with perfect grades, so you need match and safety options you could be happy with. Have you looked at RPI, WPI, Stevens, RIT, Colorado Mines, Virginia Tech, Purdue…?”

I would add Norwich University to your list of private military universities. See https://www.norwich.edu/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gmb

Most, if not all, of these STEM Universities have ROTC options on or near campus The military wants recruits with STEM backgrounds.

If admitted to most of these STEM universities, they often have ROTC for all branches with scholarships. A grand nephew was admitted to West Point about four years ago and turned them down for a four year ROTC scholarship at a private university. He wants the military, but Mandarin was his big thing and the private university had a better academic program in that area. The Army had summer programs to expose him to the different branches. He graduated last May from Georgetown and he wasn’t even a STEM major! He was commissioned upon graduation.

There is more than one route available to obtain your goal. Just keep up the good work and you will succeed!