The easiest way to get into the service academies, or to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Amherst, Williams, Columbia, etc. is to be a very good athlete (good enough to be recruited by those schools, which usually means some level of national attention/skill), AND be in the ballpark with academic stats for the average student at those schools.

That's what my son did! :)

It's odd and probably not 100% fair, but the front door to any of the tippy top colleges is very narrow. Most people end up getting in through one of the many side doors - athletics, legacy/"development" (i.e. high donor) families take a lot of the spots, underrepresented minorities and low income take another big chunk, it leaves relatively few spots for the rest who need to squeeze through the front door.

A dear friend of mine has a 17-year-old daughter who is applying to colleges in the US and Canada (she was born and raised in the US but is also Canadian.) I was talking to her about her college-application process this weekend. She has top choices for schools, but says she's not so concerned with getting into her top three since it is more important to her to have minimal debt and to do as well as she can at a good school even if not a great school, as getting into a great school is much more important for graduate work (she wants to go to law school.) I'm impressed at the extent to which she knows what's what. I didn't know that much when I was 17, for sure.

Got one kid off to College next year. This past week she got into Williamette and Pacific University of Oregon but still a few more to go. At first I was horrified at the annual cost of tuition and board but she is a 4.0 kid so the scholarships have made it slightly less painful. Don't get me wrong, the cost is still ridiculous especially to a guy like me that grew up in the UK and was paid to go to university. This was many years ago of course.

+1. Our son was recruited for swimming at Yale, Ga Tech, Duke and Princeton, etc. He ended up at Yale and is doing great with school. He loves it.

The 15th is the day, right? What choices did your son get?

Our son is a sophomore who will be doing college in high school next year. He gets brochures practically everyday. We are starting to visit a few. Vanderbilt will be next month. On paper I think Vandy would be perfect for him but I think he wants to stay close to home. At least if he goes local, it will most likely be free.

I've got a college freshman and a high school senior this year, so this makes two years in a row of doing the college dance.

My older son was a good athlete and scholar, but totally unmotivated in high school. He really had no idea what he wanted to do in college. He goofed around his junior year and fell out of the top 5% of his high school class, so didn't get the automatic admission to UT Austin he was looking for. Got straight A's his senior year, but by then it was too late. He's at UT Arlington now on a program to transfer to Austin for his sophomore year.

My high school senior this year has always wanted to join the military, and had aspirations of the naval academy, but he struggles with the academics. He does well in class, but tests poorly. After giving up on the academy, he's focused more on finding a good naval ROTC program. He's #3 in his NJROTC battalion, and does over 200 hours of community service per year. Great looking application until you get to the standardized test scores... He does have an acceptance from the Citadel in South Carolina, but he's looking at a few other state schools as well. I wish there was something in state he was interested in. I really don't like the idea of paying out of state tuition.

Anyone here know anything about the Citadel?

Gary

A little high strung on the response, but my outlook is basically the same.

My kids know I'm not paying for their college. I've put that in their heads for a very long time, and encourage them to do well so their financial burden is much lighter (scholarships). I have 3 kids and 2 step-kids. I pay a ton in child support, which is just one more reason why I won't be paying for college. My oldest stepson is graduating this year and has done horribly throughout high school. I married his mother when he was 12, and have been trying to coach him and explain the importance of grades, work ethic and saving (he's had a job for a little over a year now). None of it is registering. He is Native American, will go to Haskell which will be almost free for him, but I foresee him failing out. Just who he is. He is a smart guy, just lazy as can be. He got into a program last year where he went to college for half a day and HS for half a day--would have graduated HS already with an Associate's Degree under his belt. He failed out in the first semester. I couldn't have been more pissed.

Anyway...my parents didn't pay for my college. I joined the Army, did that for 10 years, going to school when I had free time between deployments and other work obligations, while married and raising my very young family. The Army paid for degree in IT (GI Bill), but I earned every penny of it. My Masters was paid for through scholarship, and I finished that in my late 30's. My kids have seen me go to school while working and supporting them. I'm the first in my family to get a degree. I'm hoping they're smart enough to see that going to college is not a privilege; it is something you work hard for if you actually want to get anything out of it.

Oh, my 3 kids are all straight A students...

I've got a senior this year as well. For some reason his thing has been West Point, and has been for as long as he knew what it was. We haven't encouraged or discouraged it, but it has persisted, and he's put himself in a position for it to happen. He crushed the SAT/ACT tests, captains his Track team, and is in leadership roles in Civil Air Patrol and Scouting. Like the other poster's picture of his daughter above, he is always coming or going in full fatigues or dress blues, color guard duty, Veterans Day parades etc. He's a real patriot and by any measure has a strong shot. Problem is there are probably 8,000 kids just like him going after 1,200 spots. We have had to use blowtorches to get him to apply to anything else. He just believes it's his destiny, which is great, but I don't think he fully grasps how long the odds really are (even with his degree of preparation).

Yeah, we're having to push a little "plan b" reality on our daughter. Don't want to dissuade her in the least, but the numbers are pretty sobering. Check out the graphic in this USA today article. The article suggest a lot of nominations go to those who contribute to politician's campaigns.
Pride and patronage

Ergo my post #17 Not being a downer but there is reality.

Thanks for the link. Best of luck to your daughter and her dream to serve. Come back and update this thread when she gets in!

I'm proud to be able to revive this thread with some good news: my son was just offered an appointment to the USMA at West Point! Huge relief to have the waiting game over with, and with such a fortunate outcome. He reports on "R-Day" June 27.

My oldest is finishing her 10th grade, and is applying to do dual enrollment at hte college I work for. She'll actually end up wtih an AA (fine arts) a few weeks before her high school diploma. Then back to it for an AA for a pre-science track, then a BAS in clinical lab sciences. Then off to the world for a masters.

Awesome news! Certainly worth of a separate post.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1453572445.jpg

This is such a great thread.

Kudos to all of the families.

Best.

Congratulations! What great news!http://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat6.gifhttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat6.gifhttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat6.gif

Congrats gsxr. I know that was a big relief.

My son and I just got back from a visit to the Citadel, and he's decided that's what he wants to do. I've got mixed feelings since I have to figure out how to pay for it... We're still in the waiting game to find out if the ROTC scholarship is going to come through.

Gary