It's an like an Iron Man competition
Written: May 16 '00 (Updated May 18 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Weeds out those that aren't serious
Cons: If you're willing to go here then there are no cons
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| Gemo's Full Review: United States Military Academy |
Well it all started with a simple letter that changed my life. One day over the summer I received a letter from West Point basically telling me that they thought that I had what it takes to get accepted. Without a hesitation I mailed back the pre-questionnaire card.
About a month or so later I was called up by my own personal admissions officer. His name is Lt. Hampton (he always was calling to check up on me and was always available for questions.....he always returned mmy phone calls....as well as my moms). He called me up and started asking me all these questions about why I wanted to go to West Point (this was my interview....I didn't realize until months later and when I did I realized I made a fool our of myself) at the time I didn't really know and just said "Well I’m just looking into it....I love the history associated with it....". He then went on to tell me that all my preliminary stats were looking good and then asked me about extra-curricular activities....he was quite impressed with what I had done.
He was blunt. He told me "We have rolling admissions....this means the sooner you apply the sooner we can accept you....the longer you wait the harder your chances are of getting accepted.....when do you think you could have this application done for me?" I jokingly said like 3 days or something (I love to procrastinate on everything) and he said "no problem I’ll just write that down on my file on you" that's when I realized how serious they were. After begging for forgiveness I was able to extend it up to two weeks.
The first papers that came in were pretty straight forward....fill in extra-curricular activities, sports, clubs, essays, grades, letter of recommendations. Along with this also came a sheet for a physical test to be administered by a Phys. Ed teacher. (I also applied to the Air Force Academy where they made us go down to a local ROTC office at R.P.I....which was very inconvenient for me.....and was appalled that people were applying to service academies that couldn't even do 1 pull up or 10 push-ups). I also had to get a background check done by my police department.
I finished all my applications by early October and also applied with early action (which Lt. Hampton told me would also increase my chances of getting accepted). I then proceeded to start taking care of my medical exams....3 total....I missed school 3 days...one day for an eye exam....one day for an all around physical (which included drug tests)....and then one day with the dentist. For some reason I didn't receive the results (I passed) until January. Some ridiculous number of doctors have to look over everything....so of course this delayed the precess....no matter how smart you are you will not get admitted if you do not pass the physical, the medical, or have a letter of recommendation from a congressman (I’ll get to that soon).
One Monday in November I came home after a grueling cross country practice only to find my whole family huddled around a letter from West Point....probably the only time my mom didn't open up something addressed for me......first word... "Congratulations...." I couldn't believe it...my mom started crying....this was my letter of assurance saying that a spot was saved for me pending the medical and nomination.
Over the summer I wrote letters to my congressman and my two senators....they basically all asked for grades and all that other good stuff...I only heard back from my congressman but that was not until Christmas time when I got called in for an interview. I went down and there was 14 people applying for only 10 nominations and of those 10 only 1 gets accepted.....the preliminary interviewer asked me if I’d rather have an appointment to the Air Force Academy because there was only 6 kids applying for 20 spots or something.....I told him that I had the letter of assurance....he sat back in his chair and said "Congratulation...you're going to west point". The rest of the interview was a breeze....it was a panel of different people including a soldier a secretary and a priest amongst others...
They would not tell me what happened until February.....when I finally got the official offer of admissions which was a really nice diploma and letter....along with a bunch of other stuff to get ready for June 29th...R-Day. All that's left now is to start running and to break in my combat boots.
I spent 3 days at west point shortly before their spring leave and was blown away by what I saw. I was there for Plebe appreciation day and was greatly inspired by the speaker that was there. I can't really go into too much detail about the speech but it made everything that I was going to go through all worth it. I also loved being there and not having to worry about drinking, sex, drugs or anything like that. One night at Lehigh I was taken to 3 frat parties where I witnessed probably some of the lease moral and ethical behavior ever. I'm sure West Point will have it's challenges but if working a little harder and living by a moral and ethical life is all I need to do to make my country proud...then it's all worth it.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Gemo
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Reviews written: 13
Trusted by: 19 members
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