@intparent : he wants to see his limit. Maybe, he listened to many audiobooks about military and law so he wanted to be related. It is important to me because he clicked with it and had fun.
If he won’t make through his dreams, I have plan B for him within my specialty.
Say it again: “None of the programs you have listed is more helpful at getting an appointment to one of the US military academies.” Nor an Ivy.
The reason people ask for more detail is because you’re asking the sort sof questions that have no absolute answer. You seem to be trying to “form him” and that only works when you already have a lot more understanding of ALL the points that matter.
I’m guessing he’s pretty young.
You can try to learn everything you can about the expectations of a service academy or Ivy. If you keep asking on an anon forum for what works, you won’t find one absolute or consistent answer. These colleges vet for far more than some few glossy elelments.
If you have to ask, “water polo for team sport, disc-golfing, unicycling, treetop climbing, boomerang for individual sport,” you’re way off. Sorry, but if you were becoming properly nformaed, you wouldn’t even joke about tree climbing.
@lookingforward : do you know what treetop zipline climbing is? You think it is just like for kids going up to the tree? It is a growing business & sport.
My main question is about staying being team captain or going to ODP team zone?
@lookingforward : I wish I could “form” my kid following the family’s business instead of working so hard for Service Academy. Don’t just guess!
Sport kids questions
I have a few questions for sport kids applying for Military Service Academy or Ivy school:
- Should your kid be a team captain in a school with boring sport team OR he should be nobody in ODP (Olympic Development Program) Zone Team?
- Team sport or Individual sport have a better admission chance to Military Service Academy?
- If you say it doesn’t matter, it depends on what your kids want to play. How’s about water polo for team sport, disc-golfing, unicycling, treetop climbing, boomerang for individual sport?
- If your kids do great in water polo but poorly in swimming, do you make your kids going back to practice swimming? I mean they can’t make to swim team due to playing in water polo for so long from the very young age. Their swimming techniques are horrible. Bad at swimming but great at water polo, will it affect on MAS application?
Why are you trying to find a program for him to show leadership? He should be doing what he wants to do and if he has leadership qualities they will show and he will get leadership responsibities. This isn’t something a parent can do for a kid. It is something that must come from the kid himself.
I know the dictionary definition of “cunning”. I asked what, specifically YOU meant by using that word. You felt the other scouts in your troop were being sneaky, and encouraging your son to do the same? Or is this something to do with a problem you see in the scouting organization in general?
Here’s the thing about your quest for a hook of some kind for the service academies: They are looking for a whole person who will bring value to the military. It isn’t just a four year scholarship. The candidate owes time as a payback for the scholarship. What can you (your child) offer as an officer in the military? Commitment to something bigger than himself, leadership, good grades, ability to pass the physicsl expectations are some of the qualitlies they are looking for.
Please understand that if your child is successful in graduating from one of the academies he is going to spend time deployed overseas. If law school is the goal, and he does that through the military, he’s going to owe payback time for that as well.
In terms of athletics, please understand that you can be a recruited athelete to a service academy and STILL NOT GET iN. We personally know a fantastic athlete, captain, nationally ranked in her sport, (a sport that is a varsity sport at that academy), had been recruited to play that sport at that academy, who, in the end, didn’t have the grades, and didn’t get in.
I was glad to read that you have a plan B in mind. We had a friend who everyone thought was a shoe in for the naval academy but he was injured playing sports near the end of high school and couldn’t pass the physical.
OP - be sure that you/your son aren’t pushing too hard. You don’t want to be dealing with burn out.
That’s all fine and good, but please realize, the answers to your questions will be very hollow or non-existent…without this information.
I’m going to start with the General but most important answers here. The Ivies are looking for commitment to EC activities. Could be sports, could be Orchestra, could be scouts, could be anything…with commitment.
Unless your kid will be a recruited athlete, really a sports EC isn’t going to have an impact on admissions to the Ivies.
@ChoatieMom has already indicated that being involved in sports is something the service academies expect. But I will add…don’t force your kid to play a sport that they don’t like. That’s not going to help them either. The KID should be figuring out which sports (if any) they want to play…and at what level. It’s not a “packaging” thing…which sounds like what you are doing.
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- Should your kid be a team captain in a school with boring sport team OR he should be nobody in ODP (Olympic Development Program) Zone Team?
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Your kiddo should pick a sport they enjoy and can play well enough to get some playing time. No one…repeat NO ONE needs to be in an ODP to get accepted to these schools.
Even individual sports are part of a team. But let’s just say…if your kid hates tennis, golf or swimming…then let him play baseball, basketball or whatever.
Does your kid excel at any of these? Can he show leadership, cooperation with others, and commitment?
Ah…I remember your post about this. Your son has been playing water polo since age six, but is not a good swimmer…
Does your kiddo like water polo? Is he playing at a competitive level yet? It’s a fine sport…but like anything else…it isn’t going to be a ticket to acceptance into the Ivies…or the Service Academies. It just isn’t.
YOU shouldn’t be forming your kiddo…your kiddo should be forming himself. Your kiddo should be picking things that are of interest to HIM…not YOU…and not to colleges.
Even ziplining might be the right sport if your kid got certified to lead groups. That said, it’s easier if you are involved in a sport that has some more concrete measurements of success. Generally speaking a kid should get involved in a sport that is right for his body type and that he enjoys doing. That said, running is an important part of the routine both at service academies and OCS. My son loathes running and is not very fast, but he made sure he was fast enough to not embarrass himself.
The tricky thing about Zip Lining is it may be perceived as an outlier activity, depending on the rest of his application. It may be fun and sweaty and a happy choice, but not evidence of what they look for. Depending on what major you have in mind, it may be the wrong thing to emphasize. None of this is about captain, nor finding a sport where there isn’t someone better to be captain. It’s about the team and collaboration.
The assumptions OP makes are not the right basis. It’s counterproductive.
And, “I have plan B for him within my specialty,” is wild.
Plenty of ODP and even better are rejected.
I’d like to see OP show some understanding of what it takes, not seem to be looking for shortcuts or formula.
I can speak a bit on the water polo front. In terms of service academies I think only Navy and Air Force field teams (I could be wrong) and my son has a friend on the Navy team. The individual at Navy never participated in ODP but was all american in high school and played club several years in the JO championships. There is typically no need to choose being a team captain or ODP zone, they tend to go hand in hand. You typically need to be affiliated with a club in order to go the ODP route and in some zones the club selects the players they will send to zone tryouts.
Being a small sport water polo is tough to find a spot at any school but typically a bit easier at the Ivys, provided the other pieces of the puzzle fit for an Ivy (or academy) admission.
@thumper1: definitely I don’t Form my kid, just your assumption. You can’t form a kid if he/doesn’t like it. I never mentioned about art/music because he didn’t like to be in the class. So please don’t assume that I am forming him.
His dad is guitar player but he is suck at music or art.
@momofsenior1 being injured is normal to any kid playing sport. Especially who does dangerous sports. I let him working on his dreams from sport, military, school, etc. If anything fails, he can find the next row. If everything fails, he can learn about my career.
I put 50% chance that he gets injured for being careless. It worries me a lot.
“he is suck at music or art”
Just letting you know I am stealing this phrase. It is perfect.
Since you have mentioned being in California, he should be aware that he will need to take 1 full year of music, art, or drama in order to be UC eligible. Not taking a class in these categories is a problem that comes up every year for out-of-state students who want to attend a UC.
@ServiceAcademy: I agree with many of the posters above telling you that you will not get good answers until you provide more context for your questions, but I will try to give you some general insight as our son is a rising senior (“Firstie”) at West Point, and I have learned a ton watching him travel this path.
You are pulling your child out of the number one program that the service academies understand, respect, and look for. Scouting was created by Robert Baden-Powell over a 100 years ago as a response to Britain’s not having a formal basic training program for its soldiers. The program specifically gives Scouts outdoor skills that are directly useful in the military. (Side note: Enlistees who are Eagle Scouts come into our Army with a higher pay-grade rank.) Our Army does a fine job of preparing all of our soldiers without the help of the BSA, but Scouts of any rank do seem to have an easier time getting through basic training with their land navigation and outdoor survival skills. But, the biggest benefits from Scouting are what @eastcoascrazy listed: leadership, goal-setting/accomplishment, and maturity. Note that the service academies rank applicants using a Whole Candidate Score (WCS=60% academics, 30% leadership, 10% physical), and Eagle/Gold adds top points to that leadership category. I understand if there is something specific going on in one of your local troops that is not true to Scouting or is due to some toxic behavior; if your child wants to participate in Scouting, find another troop.
As for SLE (Army) or NASS (Navy), both are simply marketing/outreach tools used to give students who might not otherwise consider an academy the opportunity to check out the posts, ask questions, play soldier/midshipman for a week, and see if the military is/isn’t for them, although neither program reflects what life at either academy is really like one iota. Also, because these programs are “pay-for-play,” they cannot be considered in the admission process as appointment to the academies must be equally accessible to all. So, these are simply summer camps that most appointees do NOT attend and often occur at the same time as Boys/Girls State which DOES add points to the WCS.
Between the two, applicants should choose State over one of the camps.
As for sports, I showed you the athletic stats in a previous post. Almost all appointees are varsity athletes, and team captainship adds top points to the WCS. The military is looking for fit officers who understand leadership; athletics provides opportunity for building strong bodies as well as teaching teamwork and experiencing leadership. In this regard, team sports trump individual sports although individual sports are still valued. During a cadet’s/mid’s time at the academy, both their bodies and minds will be heavily exercised, but their bodies will be pushed to the point of exhaustion almost every day (and all summer). All cadets/mids participate in sports/physical activity every single relentless day. Participation in endurance sports is most helpful but fitness is key as every candidate must pass both the DoDMERB medical exam and a rigorous Candidate Fitness Assessment (CFA), also part of the WCS. Your child should pursue whichever team sport(s) s/he loves as that is where s/he has the greatest chance of reaching a personal best.
Last, but most important, the single most important “hook” any candidate brings to the admissions process is a deep desire to serve as an officer in one of our armed services. Your child’s first formal step along this arduous appointment path will be pursuing a nomination from a member of Congress. Part of that process will be standing before at least one (potentially three) nominating panel conveying that desire. These panels are notoriously good at ferreting out motives, and their job is to find candidates who are in it for the right reasons and for the long haul. That is partly why the service academy appointment process takes almost a year of effort and there are so many moving parts. Successfully navigating this process is part of the test – and you will not be part of it. Your child’s internal motivation to serve as a U.S. military officer is what will get him or her through. Any indication that this dream is not the applicant’s or that there is some other reason for applying (free education, wants to fly jets/be a doctor/lawyer, etc.) will stop the process right there. Service academies are not civilian colleges. The application process and the mission are totally different.
There are good people here who will give you the best advice they can, but the best sources of information for students seeking appointments are the websites of each academy and the serviceacademyforums.com board. This forum is moderated by current and former military and is a good place for you and your child to lurk and get questions answered. If your child truly wants to follow this path, once his/her application is open, a Field Force Rep (Army) or Blue and Gold Officer (Navy) will be assigned to shepherd your child through this process and will be their main contact point.
Good luck to your child in figuring out whether or not the military is their right path.