Current chances of getting into USNA

Colleges & Universities United States Naval Academy (USNA)
1

I’m currently a junior at my high school, which is an IB school and doesnt have class ranks. I do participate in many sports and have some leadership roles

Hispanic, US citizen

Stats:

Average GPA: 3.85

WGPA: 4.68
SAT: first time was 1170, but I’m going to retake it in March and may with heavy studying
ACT: none
Classes taken/currently taking:
Freshman year:
Hon Biology
Hon English 9

Hon US history AB

Spanish for Spanish speakers 3AB
Hon Geometry AB
Weight training

guitar HS 1AB

Sophomore year:
AP Comp Sci Principals TE AB

AP Government and Politics US NSL

AP Spanish LC AB

Hon Algebra 2 AB

Hon English 10AB

Hon Chemistry AB
Hon Health Education

Current year(junior):
AP World History
AP Economics (AP Micro/ AP Macro)

AP Environmental Science

AP language and composition

Pre-calculas AB

Law semester and personal finance semester elective

IB Spanish 7AB

Going to take(Senior year):
AP human geography

AP statistics
AP literature
AP Calculus BC

Hon physics

IB Business Management

Electives/extracurriculars:

Sports:
School Varsity soccer(will try to be captain senior year), Club soccer(I am the captain), School Wrestling team, School track and field, club Jiu-Jitsu

Extracurriculars:

Spanish honors society(leadership role), Trading club/financial literacy club (started it myself/president), Editor in Chief for the school, Spanish section. Volunteer in elderly homes to help elderly individuals get an understanding of new technology. Lots of student service hours.

I still do not have my government nomination, as it is too early still, but I will try to attend the summer seminar this coming summer.

If you have any tips or anything I should do, it would be greatly appreciated

1 Like
2

What was the SAT split and where did you have the most trouble?

What does your guidance counselor say about your chances?

The issue isn’t just getting in- the issue is STAYING in. The classes are rigorous and you will be surrounded by students with very strong academic profiles.

Have you tried a sample ACT and is it a better reflection of your academic performance?

1 Like
3

I can’t chance you but I want to thank you for your willingness to step up and serve our country.

And not saying it’s an equivalent but I know the Coast Guard Academy doesn’t require a Government nomination if that might be an easier path for you.

Best of luck.

1 Like
4

I agree that the Naval Academy students are just really academically and athletically strong students. They come in with high test scores and rigorous academics.

I know that a lot of my former students, who applied to the NA, were National Merit finalists. Their courses at the Academy included lots of engineering and calculus courses. They have tough academic and ability expectations.
I know personally that with our son, once he got his 1580 SAT score, he had Naval Academy recruiters calling him out of class. He was also invited to meet with our State senators. He was an athlete, and had a perfect 4.0 UW GPA. He and 4 other classmates were vying for valedictorian. He had absolutely no interest in becoming a valedictorian, nor in becoming a Naval officer. At that time in his life, he was only worried about his Eagle Scout project.

We just wanted him to study what he liked, to be content and to do well at his university. That’s what he did. Oh and for the record, he is Hispanic-Mexican-American kid who works as a Computer software engineer.

1 Like
5

Your athletics and leadership roles on your teams will count heavily in the plus column, and you will have taken chemistry, calculus, and physics, the three courses the academies scrutinize.

I will post a link here to my standard advice to anyone applying to Army, Navy, or Air Force (just substitute the academy of your choice in this particular post as the process is the same for each) as well as my standard response to any candidate considering attending either NASS or SLE.

To this poster, I will say that your curriculum and athletics are fine, but you need to focus your energies on being able to pass the Candidate Fitness Assessment, getting your medical record cleared by DoDMERB, and pursuing all nomination sources available to you. The nomination is the most important gate as, without one, the academy cannot offer you an appointment regardless of how stellar other parts of your application might be.

I will also highlight from my many repetitive posts here that academics are only one part of the intricate academy application process and are not evaluated the same as civilian colleges weigh them. All successful service academy appointees pass the minimum academic bar, but only a third of any incoming class is chosen for scholarship. This is not to say you shouldn’t do your academic best, but to explain (for others reading here) why there should be no surprise when applicants who were not at the top of their classes receive appointments over those with higher stats.

Every year on the service academy forum, someone will complain about “losing out” to someone with a lower academic profile, and I will reply that the service academies are war colleges whose mission is to produce capable officers for each branch of our armed services. It takes a certain kind of kid to go this route, and those kids don’t always look like the applicants to the usual civilian suspects. The SAs value a combination of brains, brawn, and leadership somewhat equally–as they must. Our son’s department head at West Point explained that the academy selects only about 1/3rd of any incoming class for academic prowess; the other 2/3rds are chosen for other equally shiny traits. All are academically capable, all pass the academic bar, but only that third is what you might label “scholarly.” The corps needs a balance of all of them in a way civilian colleges do not as they have very different missions. This is also why the academies do not shine as brightly, by average GPA and test scores, as the civilian colleges many consider their peers. So, it should come as no surprise that the racking and stacking of the academy admissions process does not align well with the civilian colleges these applicants may also be applying to, and there should be no expectation that what civilian colleges value aligns with what the U.S. military needs. So you have to let academic comparisons go. That’s not the way to think about this process. Remember, too, that USNA and USMA both have prep schools (NAPS/MAPS) to give less academically strong candidates they are interested in an opportunity to meet the standards and enter with the following year’s class.

That said, I would encourage the OP to take a look at a current USNA Class Portrait to ensure they meet or exceed the averages shown there.

Good luck!

4 Likes