From Homeschool to Officer: Your Path to a Service Academy

It’s difficult to get into the Academy as a homeschool student. You may feel disconnected from a brick and mortar school, and disconnected from many traditional opportunities that could fill up your resume or transcript.

We’ve helped about 500 families get into the Academy, and a small percentage of those have been homeschool or non-traditional school students. When people ask, “what advice would you have for homeschool students?”, here’s our answer.

Academics

The main challenge is that your transcript may be less credible and more heavily scrutinized because sometimes the parent is the guidance counselor, so grades can be inflated.

1. Importance of SAT/ACT. Because your transcript might be non-traditional, your SAT/ACT matters more than the typical applicant. Consider starting preparation as early as freshman year. Get a free Kahn Academy account, take the PSAT to get a baseline score, and then hire a tutor (Mindspire or Settele tutoring) to help you prepare. We advise applicants to take it 3+ times before December of their Junior year, which is when Summer Seminar applications open.
2. Importance of Course Rigor. Where possible, consider doing dual enrollment/dual credit (DE/DC) classes from a local community college or an online 4-year college to add credibility to your transcript.

Leadership

Because you have less opportunity for school clubs, you have to be more intentional and creative. For leadership opportunities, many of our homeschoolers found success in the following ways:

1. Rank up in Civil Air Patrol or Sea Cadets.
2. Rank up in Boy/Girl Scouts.
3. Join the Homeschool NHS equivalent = National Homeschool Honor Society.
4. Join school clubs at local public high school.

Sports

You’ll have less opportunity for school sports, which could hurt you compared to the applicant pool, so you’ll have to overcome it. For sports opportunities, many of our homeschoolers found success in the following ways:

1. Club sports like soccer, basketball, and swimming.
2. Non-school sports like martial arts, rifle, pistol, and 4-H sports.
3. Participated in their local public high school (ie. varsity swim captain)
4. Participated in their homeschool co-op athletics league

Action Steps

1. Start by scanning a list of clubs and athletics offered through your school (if at all)
   • if it’s slim/none, keep moving onto community organization opportunities
   • If its offered, those will be the most low hanging fruit
2. Experiment with intentionality.
   • Find the ones you are most passionate about and most proficient in, and…
   • Also find the ones that work with your schedule.
3. Goal: Your ideal goal should be a 1400+ SAT/32+ACT score, 2+ sports, and 4+ significant leadership roles on your resume by December of senior year.

Follow the link below to schedule a free 1-on-1 consultation with our CEO!