Hey Freshman, Focus On These Areas

High School Underclassman: Prepare To Be Accepted

What should you be doing now, as a Freshman, to prepare to apply to the Academies? As a Freshman in high school, we encourage you to focus your time on the following areas:

1. Excel in challenging courses. Here’s the reality; your entire high school transcript will be analyzed. Its your cumulative GPA, not just one semester. So, as soon as high school starts, it’s game on! Get in advanced classes (AP, Hon, IB, DE) as soon as possible. And get on track where you are completing these 5 classes in as advanced level as possible: Chem, Physics, Bio, Pre-Calc, and Calc by senior year.

2. Get involved in clubs and/or community orgs. If you don’t get involved as a youngster, how will you be able to lead when you’re a Jr/Sr? You won’t. When you apply, the Academies take all your activities and quantify your activities/awards and leadership positions based on impact. The more selective and recognizable the activity, the better. So, step 1: get involved! Try stuff out! 

3. Athletics. Each Academy quantifies your athletic activities score by taking your years of varsity letters x your years of varsity team captains x your years of special honors/awards, and adding it up in a proprietary formula. Working backward, this means your freshman year is critical to getting involved in sports so you can get started on the varsity team captain path. Even if you consider yourself “unathletic,” get after it and don’t let fear of failure hold you back. A big goose egg in varsity athletics is incredibly difficult to overcome.   

4. SAT/ACT. Prep for the standardized tests should start as early as summer going into sophomore year. Yes, it should be that early. Why? Because the Academy application scoring system equates SAT/ACT as more points than even your HS transcript. Repeat: 4 hours of test performance matters more than 4 years of hard work! So, we like to say: take it early, take it often, take it serious. You will thank yourself for it.

Here’s a simplified version of the entire application process for Academies, Nominations, and ROTC, all in one picture. 

Your Next Steps to Ensure You Win

We are excited to announce the launch of our Underclassman Program for freshmen and sophomores, where we will take 50 underclassmen through an in-depth assessment process, so YOU can get on track to getting into an Academy.

Sign up now for FREE Academy Endeavors 1-on-1 for you and your parent!